My first Build

[hankmarvin]

Xigmatek Asgard Case
Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2P (rev 2.3) Motherboard
OCZ SSD 60GB Vertex Series 2
2TB Western Digital Green HDD
CIT Silent ATX 450 Watt PSU
Corsair Dominator GT DDR2 1066 RAM (C5)
PALIT GeForce GTX 460 Smart Edition - 1 GB GDDR5
Windows 7 64 bit
LG Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive
Microsoft USB adapter enabling me to use a 360 gamepad, because I just can't get used to playing on a keyboard with a mouse.

I think that's it. I built the system around the RAM I had already, I just didn't want to waste good RAM. The motherboard is AM2/AM3 so when I need to I will upgrade to a x6 CPU and up the RAM to 8GB.

I want to be able to play every game on the highest settings, will this do the trick?...
Also I'm told I can add more fans to the case using the SATA plug by using a 3 pin connecter, is that right?. And if so would that be nescisary?.

As I said it's my first build, I'm upgrading from an old Pentium 4 with onboard graphics which I had never played games on, so I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[MadAdmiral]

You may want to follow the guidelines. We need more informtion than what you've given us to really help, mainly what you're looking to do with the build (I'm assuming gaming), how much you have to spend, and what parts you already own.

The first thing I'll point out is that the X6s don't work right with DDR2 (an AM2 board). Also, RAM is pretty cheap now days, so you shouldn't build a system around obsolete sticks. You won't save anything. I'd grab any DDR3 sticks not made by OCZ. These G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 mhz CL 7 sticks are perfect at $75.

Next, leave out the SSD. It's expensive and doesn't really do anything for gaming. You'd do better to spend that money on upgrading the GPU to something more like the HD 5870.

After that, that PSU is an absolute POS. Stick to the major brands (Corsair, XFX, Silverstone, SeaSonic and Antec). I'd grab at least a 650W (SLI/Crossfire potential) with the 460 (or anything under the HD 5850) or a 750W unit with the 5870. Here's the cheapest choices for quality:

XFX 650W $65 after rebate
Antec Earthwatts 750W $100

Next, I'm not seeing a CPU. I don't know if you already have one, but I'd check out either the X3 450 for $80 or the X4 955 for $145.

Going with the CPU, you'll need a different board. The ASRock 870 Extreme 3 is an excellent, somewhat future proof, high quality board for a low price ($95). You can't go wrong with it.

As I mentioned above, I'd spend something more on the GPU. The 460 is a nice card, but it really shines in a SLI (dual card setup). AMD CPUs don't handle SLI builds well at all, making a nVidia GPU a bad choice. I'd rather spend a lot less on the HD 5770 ($115 after rebates) instead o rthe HD 5850 ($170 after rebate). Assuming you've eliminated the SSD, you've got an extra $140 to play with. Given you're already spending $200 on the GTX 460, you've got a good $340 to spend on the GPU without sacrificing anything else. That puts the HD 5870 well within reach at $250 after rebate.

After that, I'd swap the HDD for a pair of Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TBs. They're roughly the same price at $140. You can throw them together in RAID 0 (making a 2 TB drive) and get a massive speed boost. Separately, they're still a lot faster anyway.

The next step is eliminating the horrible choice that is a BluRay drive. They're completely useless for gamers and pretty much everyone. They're overly expensive (up to $100), especially when a regular DVD burner would do just fine at around $20. You can always add one later when the prices are reasonable or the technology is useful for computers. Just get the cheapest SATA burner you can find as brand literally makes no difference.

Finally, that case is a poor choice. It doesn't have a lot of cooling, which makes it a bad choice to be putting in high performance parts. You'd need to stick in at least 1 more fan, possibly two, to make it useful. That makes the total cost $50-60, which means you could have bought a high quality case instead of a low quality one. Check out the Coolermaster Elite, Antec 300 (or the 300 Illusion with two extra fans), Coolermaster Centurion 5 II, Rosewill Destroyer (or Challenger), or Coolermaster 690 for some great lower end gaming cases. The HAF 922 (usually $90) is the absolute best case out there, so don't spend more than that.

The total of everything above (with the X4, HD 5870, 750W PSU and Antec 300 Illusion, excluding the OS and adapter) is $885. For that you'd get a mean gaming machine capable of playing every game out there with maximum details at 1920x1080 resolutions.

EDIT: Add links and prices. Agree with Screwy on the ASRock 770 recommendation if you never want to add a second GPU. You could drop the PSU down to a 550W for the 5850 or 5870 in that case.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I'd recommend an actual AM3 motherboard. Just $10 more gets you an AS Rock 770 AM3 motherboard with DDR3.

4 GB of Mushkin DDR3-1333 is only$45. any new build should use this, DDR2 is now outdated, and more expensive than DDR3.

The CIT 450W is not a good choice. I'd suggest the Antec Earthwatts 430W or the Colermaster Elite 460 or the Sea Sonic S12II 430W models, instead.

the rest of it looks pretty decent. what CPU are you looking at?

 

[hankmarvin]

Ahh sorry about the confusion. I would like to game with the system, and I use my computer for work. I multi-task all the time.
I have all those parts, some scavengd from my old PC, some bit's bought because they were cheap and I had some parts given as presents. The CPU is a AMD phenom x 4 5850 Black Edition. I did wonder about my old PSU but on the calculator page I found and system requirements I think it said minimum PSU was 450 so I was just wondering if that would do.
I was just keeping the cost down using my old stuff. I had the RAM, so I bought a cheap Motherboard where I could use that, the one I bought only uses DDR2 RAM and says it's x6 AM3 compatible, so one of the x6's must be able to use DDR2?...no?...
I had the Blu-ray/HD-DVD from ages ago. and I also have a arctic Cooler Pro Rev 7 which I already had. and some Ceramique paste. i was just working with what I ha to keep the cost down. The CPU was very cheap. The Case as all I could afford aand looked bloody great build quality from the owners pictures I saw, he was amazed at the quality. And I though that three fans would have cooled it right down?...they're only £2 each.
The SDD I just wanted in order to run windows 7 as well as possible. The HDD I had already.

i must have missed something but i'm getting it in the ear to get off the laptop!.

 

[Onus]

+1 @MadAdmiral.

Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, Enermax, or XFX for PSUs. Older Coolermasters (like the Elite; anything with a little voltage switch on it) are junk.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Out of what you've listed, the things I'd use are the HDD and the optical drive. Since you already own a 2 TB, I'd consider getting either the Samsung Spinpoint F4 320 GB. It's about $20 cheaper than the F3 1 TB, and slighly faster. Or you could just wait for the SSDs to come down in price and use the 2 TB drive you have as the boot drive for now.

As for the case, the only version I saw online was a single 120 mm fan version. You'd need at least one more than that. I'm also not sure if you're looking at the right fans. Typically, a case fan runs about $10 or about 3 or 4 times what you're saying it costs.

I could be wrong about the X6s using DDR2, but I was pretty sure they won't work in AM2+ boards (i.e. DDR2 boards). I know the X6s won't work in some older AM3 boards without a BIOS update (i.e. 7xx chipset boards), so I'd be amazed if they worked in even older boards.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

depends on the fans, Admiral. I see a lot of 120mm case fans for $4.99 each. And there is the Rosewill 4-pack for $9.99, often on sale for $6.99

 

[hankmarvin]

Please bear in mind that this might be befuddled as it's half ten on a Friday night here, I'm using a laptop with iffy keypad and my brain and eye balls hurt so I have doused them in bourbon.

OK, I already bought everything I listed. Really all I was checking was that I could run any game at maximum settings at 1920 x 1080 resolution. don't get me wrong, I actually want to know how these things don't go together in order to fix any problems i will encouner during the build, at the moment I'm still waiting for all the components to arrive. It might seem strange to you but if I don't know what's wrong I can't fix either now or in my next build.
Which brings me to my next point. I didn't build this sytem as any kind of ideal set up. I built it based on what I had, what I could afford and what I could buy with the money people gave me to in order to keep the price down.
I no doubt I have gone about all this arse about tit, but I knew absolutely nothing before I staarted this little project so mistkes are inevitable.
My main aim is as I said to be able to play any game out now or out in the near future at the maximum settings. I don't mind if the frame rates go down as long as they don't dip below 30 at my resolution.
My ideal system would be a i7 setup. But I have an old PC that I can from which I can reuse the motherboard, old HDD, cheap GPU and bog standard Ram that I originally bought many moons ago, in order to put together another system which will be solely designed to sell to whoever that specification would suit.
Then i woul take the HDD, SSD, GPU and ideally in the mean time the motherboard, to build my mid point computer (x6 based).
That way I can sell all my old stuff as a complete system to someone who dosent play games that that type of system would be suitable for, hopefully recouping some money I would have otherwise completely lost along the way.
I limited my motherboard selection to a micro ATX because the old case I have is micro ATX. The Gigabyte GA-M68M-P2 motherboard I bought was ideal because it also enabled me to use my existing RAM that I bought to make my old system usable until I could afford an upgrade that would still be usable with my this my mi range stepping stone setup, until I can find the resouces for my ideal set up.
I liked the Gigabyte as it is also x6 compatible, meaning that I can upgrade in between the inevitable CPU prices drops that will undoubtedy occour after the unveiling of some as yet unheard of x16 machine which as yet only exists in some microsoft engineer or man from the future (sorry that'll be Bourbon talking!).

I bought Windows 7 XP/Vista upgrade having heard great things about it. Also read that the ideal partner fo it was a SSD. After that I looked around for the cheapest one with the highest specification I could find which turned out to be the OCZ vertex Series 2 at the time. 60gb was all I could afford but I thought that if I only used that for the Windows 7 and relegate my gaming to the WD HDD then that would then be transferable to my ideal end set up based on how long in between XP and window 7 too (I'm not counting XP 64 and vista, we'll forget about that little hiccup hey!).

SO, then I picked up the cheapest highest specification CPU I could find to fit the motherboard that best suited my needs (at the cheapest possible price of course). That turned out to be the AMD Phenom x4 9850 Black Edition.
Then I went on to see what GPU's I could use without upping my existing PSU in order to avoid any additional costs. That way I had more to spend on a better GPU itself. If I have to buy another PSU so be it the Credit card is nearly dead now so it will just be an act of kindness putting it out of it's misery at this point.
So then I price hunted for the cheapest GPU I could find at the highest specification that would serve my requirements, which turned out to be the GTX 460 (Poor old mastercard!).

Then I posted here, now I'm drunk. I think that's about it.

Oh an the site I bought the Xigmatek stated that it comes with one 120mm fan and two more can be added. Two 120mm fans come to under £4 from the site I use and they have some very suprised sounding rave reviews, often after supposedly downgrading from ubertech.

Now, more Bourbon!. Please tell me where my I've gone wrong, undoubtably I have. Whether anything will bottleneck, if I will need more power with stock speeds, how much more power will be needed in order to overlock this system if and when it's required in order to prolong it's usefullness for my requirements in order to buy me more time to save for my ideal i7 setup when that becomes midrange and software developers are releasing games intended for that particular level, which will probably be around 2015 when the Xbox 720 and PS4
are knocking around at sub millionaire prices.

AND BREATHE.

Thanks.

P.S Editing will no doubt ensue to rid the post of typo's and/or nonsense.

 

[hankmarvin]

I'm looking into the PSU issue now, apparently my 450 watt PSU is actually only 300 watts once you factor in the 12v rail, that has got to be illegal, if not it should be, selling an item that claims to be something it's not!. Gits, Gits, Gits.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

very typical, sadly.

 

[hankmarvin]

I'd recommend an actual AM3 motherboard. Just $10 more gets you an AS Rock 770 AM3 motherboard with DDR3.

4 GB of Mushkin DDR3-1333 is only$45. any new build should use this, DDR2 is now outdated, and more expensive than DDR3.

The CIT 450W is not a good choice. I'd suggest the Antec Earthwatts 430W or the Colermaster Elite 460 or the Sea Sonic S12II 430W models, instead.

the rest of it looks pretty decent. what CPU are you looking at?

Screwy my old mucker, you say the Antec Earthwatts 430W or the Colermaster Elite 460 or the Sea Sonic S12II 430W models. I used a PSU calculator and it says I need 375 Watts for my setup. Obviously 430-460 is a higher wattage than that but will they actually provide that or when I get those through will it turn out that they can only provide a fraction of that?...I can't seem to figure out how to calculate the size PSU I will need to buy in order to actually provide a constant 450 watts as the graphics card specification states.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

All of those are from reliable brands. They deliver what they promise. I'd say the Antec or Sea Snic are better than the 460 Coolermaster, because they are newer with bete components are higher efficency. But also more expensive

The CM 460 is on sale for $29.99 right now (Usually $39), and has 2 12v rails of 17a and 15a, total 32a. but is only 75% efficiency

The Antec EA430 is $39.99, 80+ efficient, with 17a & 17a on its 12v rails, total 34a. his is a generation older however, and has 80% efficiency

A newer Antec Earhwatts Green 430 is 80+ Bronze, 17a + 16a for 33amp total at 82% efficiency, but is $59.99

The Earthwatts Green 380W is 17a + 15a and $44.99, which might be the best option. It'll run a GTS 450 or HD 5770

 

[MadAdmiral]

The 450W listed as the requirement for the GPU is a high estimate on the actual size of the PSU you "need". It doesn't mean the GPU needs 450W alone, it means the entire system will need a 450W unit. Generally, these requirements are a lot higher than what is actually needed.

As for determining how much power a given unit will actually provide, you need to find a specific review. Generally, high quality units (like Antec, Silverstone, SeaSonic, XFX and Corsair ones) can actually provide much more than what is stated. For example, a high quality 450W could likely supply up to 500W (a guess) with only sacrificing some efficiency. A low quality unit (like the Coolermaster) would likely provide less than what is stated. The wattage listed by a unit is very subjective.

You should be just fine with a 450W unit regardless.

 

[hankmarvin]

The 450W listed as the requirement for the GPU is a high estimate on the actual size of the PSU you "need". It doesn't mean the GPU needs 450W alone, it means the entire system will need a 450W unit. Generally, these requirements are a lot higher than what is actually needed.

As for determining how much power a given unit will actually provide, you need to find a specific review. Generally, high quality units (like Antec, Silverstone, SeaSonic, XFX and Corsair ones) can actually provide much more than what is stated. For example, a high quality 450W could likely supply up to 500W (a guess) with only sacrificing some efficiency. A low quality unit (like the Coolermaster) would likely provide less than what is stated. The wattage listed by a unit is very subjective.

You should be just fine with a 450W unit regardless.

I'm honestly not being pedantic here, I'm just checking. When you say "You should be just fine with a 450W unit regardless", what you really mean to say is You should be just fine with a 450W unit from Antec, Silverstone, SeaSonic, XFX and Corsair, yes?...any other brands I can safely rely on to actually deliver the wattage that they caim to provide. You know what I mean, I'm sure that they can legally get away with (just) stating some ridiculous wattage that the unit may peak at once in a blue moon, but would surely fry your components if you were to ask it to actually deliver those wattages on a constant basis.

The cheapest I've found for these so far is for the 430 watt from Antec. Would that be adequate?...I'm in the UK so I will buy from here so as to avoid pying the obscene taxes imposed on US imports.

Thanks.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

The antec Basiq is slightly lower quality than the Earthwatts Green, but should work fine

 

[hankmarvin]

Yep that was for a Earthwatts, I can also get a Corsair Builder Series CX430 delivered for £5 less (which is about $8 I believe).
What am I doing Mr Shepherd?...BAHHHH, BAHHHHH!

Edit: Make that £10 less.

Edit: Scratch that they want an extortionate price for delivery, dirty basta*ds!

EDIT: Corsair Builder Series CMPSU-430CX 430W Power Supply
"Best-in-class mainstream PSU for value-conscious system builders and upgraders"
Is that about right?...and the fan on those is at the top, I don't have an opening on the top of my case, do I mount it upside down or else the fan il be blocked?...

 

[ScrewySqrl]

Corsair is a good brand. That model isn't 80+, so it'll be slightly higher power bills, but it will work fine.

 

[MadAdmiral]

I'm honestly not being pedantic here, I'm just checking. When you say "You should be just fine with a 450W unit regardless", what you really mean to say is You should be just fine with a 450W unit from Antec, Silverstone, SeaSonic, XFX and Corsair, yes?...any other brands I can safely rely on to actually deliver the wattage that they caim to provide. You know what I mean, I'm sure that they can legally get away with (just) stating some ridiculous wattage that the unit may peak at once in a blue moon, but would surely fry your components if you were to ask it to actually deliver those wattages on a constant basis.

The cheapest I've found for these so far is for the 430 watt from Antec. Would that be adequate?...I'm in the UK so I will buy from here so as to avoid pying the obscene taxes imposed on US imports.

Thanks.

When I said that you should be fine with a 450W, I meant that the majority of PSUs with that wattage would provide enough power for what you've planned to build. Even the lower quality PSUs would provide enough power. I'd still stick to the high quality brands simply because getting a high quality PSUs will get you one that will last longer, have a higher efficiency (lower power bill) and aren't likely to fry other parts if/when the PSU fails.

Either the Antec you mentioned or that Corsair would be great.

 

[hankmarvin]

When I said that you should be fine with a 450W, I meant that the majority of PSUs with that wattage would provide enough power for what you've planned to build. Even the lower quality PSUs would provide enough power.

So is my 450 watt CIT PSU OK or not?...I don't mind buying the Corsair, but at this point I could really do without the added expense.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I would not trust the CIT power supply. It is probably made of inferior parts and is more likely to simply up and fry under stress, taking your other components with it

 

[hankmarvin]

I thought as much, I read a few reviews of cheap PSU's were people said that had happened. I know that this build won't produce an ideal state of the art system, but Ive never had anything anywhere near this level of peformance so it means a lot to me, I've gone from a clapped out old Pentium 4 with stock everything to this so I'm like a kid at Christmas.
I bought the Corsair CMPSU-500CX. I bought the 500 watt for two reasons, one I might want to overclock the CPU and/or the GPU at some point and hopefully that will provide enough steady voltage for that?. And Two because I just couldn't bring myself to buy a 450 watt PSU when I already had one, I know it's a shite one but still buying another one at the same watts just urked me on some level. I suppose that didn't feel like I was getting a new speification gizmo or something which is how I like to feel when buying something new.
It's not in stock at the moment though and won't be available until after Christmas!. The places that had it in stock were £10+ extra and as I said before it's hurting my pocket now so I will just have to wait because that exra £10 is needed for the extra fans. I'm going with the Arctic Cooler F12 fans, they're slightly more expensive but then not really once you factor in the extra Post and Packaging which brings the cheap fans up to nearly that price anyway.
One question about that though, I only have 1 x CPU fan socket and 1 x Case fan socket on my motherboard. The case comes supplied with a case fan already so unless I use a splitter cable that's both my sockets used right?...

So my new build now looks like this:

Xigmatek Asgard Case
Corsair CMPSU-500CX PSU
AMD Phenom II x4 9850 BE
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2
Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2P (rev 2.3) Motherboard
OCZ SSD 60GB Vertex Series 2
2TB Western Digital Green HDD
Corsair Dominator GT DDR2 1066 RAM (C5)
PALIT GeForce GTX 460 Smart Edition - 1 GB GDDR5
Windows 7 64 bit
LG Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive
1 Xigmatek System fan (included (120mm)
3 Arctic Cooler F12's
Microsoft USB adapter enabling me to use a 360 gamepad, because I just can't get used to playing on a keyboard with a mouse.

I know you don't think much of the Xigmatek case but I really like it. Have a look at this users pictures for a better sense of what the case really is for me when you get the chance please. I was supprised that it was so well built myself. If you still think it's pooh then that's fine, I'm a big boy I can handle it (sniffle, sniffle).

http://benchtec.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=6235

Edit: Looks like I got suckered again, I bought the gtx 460 Smart Edition!, I don't suppose there's any way to mod those into the full version?...no...thought not!.
My buying experience with PC's has been bloody horrible. Seems like you have to have been at this for years in order to know how to not get ripped off. I know, I should have asked here first, don't say it!

 

[ScrewySqrl]

My view on cases is that other than number of slots for hard drives/dvds, the number and placement of fans, one case is pretty much like another. Choice of case is an aesthetic choice. I don't like spending more than $80 on a case for any build.

ack on the GTX 460? Its not a terrible GPU, but its a bit overwhelmed at 2500x1400, though. a 2nd GTX 460, linked with the first in SLI , would outperform the 470 you originally were thinking of for about the same money

 

[hankmarvin]

My view on cases is that other than number of slots for hard drives/dvds, the number and placement of fans, one case is pretty much like another. Choice of case is an aesthetic choice. I don't like spending more than $80 on a case for any build.

ack on the GTX 460? Its not a terrible GPU, but its a bit overwhelmed at 2500x1400, though. a 2nd GTX 460, linked with the first in SLI , would outperform the 470 you originally were thinking of for about the same money

I wil be using a 1920x1080 screen, what's the Smart Edition like at that resolution do you know?, I can't find one benchmark on the Smart edition!.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

the smart edition 460 will be excellent at that resolution. You should be able to play almost any game at high or better quality with 8xAA

 

[hankmarvin]

the smart edition 460 will be excellent at that resolution. You should be able to play almost any game at high or better quality with 8xAA

Srcewy, don't take this the wrong way, but, I love you