Hi Folks,
I'm looking to build a new mid-range PC for myself. It'll be used for a mix of gaming and occasionally heavy-processing. I have no particular interest in overclocking; just want something simple, solid, but effective and "pokey". I'm in the UK so prices are GBP. No fixed budget but this setup will be around £350. I'm currently thinking along the lines of:
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 645 - http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-athlon-ii-x4-645-3-1ghz-2mb-95w-am3-74MY.html. Or maybe a 640, depending on deals available when/where I buy - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/242140
RAM: 2x2GB - no preference as to particular makes/models - whatever's cheapest when I buy. Not sure as to ram speed.
GPU: Undecided. One of the AMD/ATI Radeon range: 5570, 5670, 5750 or 5770. No dual-GPUing or anything fancy.
Motherboard: I'm flexible/unsure on this - ASUS M4A88T-M - http://www.dabs.com/752GWS - it's not the cheapest Mobo, but it's the cheapest that supports PC3-12800 that I could find. Plus it can do SATA-600, so if I do get a SSD in the future (and likely upgrade my HDD at some point too)...
HDD: I'll be using a current 500GB SATA 300 drive. Probably getting a SSD sometime down the line though, but not now.
PSU: Antec 380watt - 80PLUS rated - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/185183
Misc:
1x generic DVD-writer.
1x generic case.
Questions:
1) Would I be right in thinking a 380 watt PSU would be sufficient for that build? The GPU and CPU between them will use about 200watts (that's assuming I go with the 5770 GPU - it'll be less with any other) when loaded and I don't see the rest using much power.
2) I'd prefer DDR3-2000 (PC3-16000) for RAM, but am having trouble finding a cheapish AM3 mobo that supports it ( <£75 or so). Would there be much benefit over DDR3-1600 / PC3-12800? And even PC3-12800 doesn't seem to be available without overclocking. Hmmm. I've seen the numbers ( https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_device_bandwidths#Memory_Interconnect.2FRAM_buses ), but are there any real-world differences between PC3-10600 and the faster stuff?
3) I've never been clear on motherboards. There are a billion different types and all have something slightly different. My current shopping style for them is: decide what I want (i.e. PC3-12800), and look for the cheapest that has it. Given this, are there any suggestions for attributes I should be looking for in my mobo?
4) Suggestions on GPU? I see the 5770 recommended around here in some other threads. Would any of the "lesser" cards offer similar performance? I currently using a GeForce 6800, so pretty much anything is an upgrade. Comparing the numbers I'm kind of inclined towards the 5670 - about £30 cheaper - I'm most interested in price to performance ratio than absolute performance.
Thanks.
I'm looking to build a new mid-range PC for myself. It'll be used for a mix of gaming and occasionally heavy-processing. I have no particular interest in overclocking; just want something simple, solid, but effective and "pokey". I'm in the UK so prices are GBP. No fixed budget but this setup will be around £350. I'm currently thinking along the lines of:
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 645 - http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-athlon-ii-x4-645-3-1ghz-2mb-95w-am3-74MY.html. Or maybe a 640, depending on deals available when/where I buy - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/242140
RAM: 2x2GB - no preference as to particular makes/models - whatever's cheapest when I buy. Not sure as to ram speed.
GPU: Undecided. One of the AMD/ATI Radeon range: 5570, 5670, 5750 or 5770. No dual-GPUing or anything fancy.
Motherboard: I'm flexible/unsure on this - ASUS M4A88T-M - http://www.dabs.com/752GWS - it's not the cheapest Mobo, but it's the cheapest that supports PC3-12800 that I could find. Plus it can do SATA-600, so if I do get a SSD in the future (and likely upgrade my HDD at some point too)...
HDD: I'll be using a current 500GB SATA 300 drive. Probably getting a SSD sometime down the line though, but not now.
PSU: Antec 380watt - 80PLUS rated - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/185183
Misc:
1x generic DVD-writer.
1x generic case.
Questions:
1) Would I be right in thinking a 380 watt PSU would be sufficient for that build? The GPU and CPU between them will use about 200watts (that's assuming I go with the 5770 GPU - it'll be less with any other) when loaded and I don't see the rest using much power.
2) I'd prefer DDR3-2000 (PC3-16000) for RAM, but am having trouble finding a cheapish AM3 mobo that supports it ( <£75 or so). Would there be much benefit over DDR3-1600 / PC3-12800? And even PC3-12800 doesn't seem to be available without overclocking. Hmmm. I've seen the numbers ( https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_device_bandwidths#Memory_Interconnect.2FRAM_buses ), but are there any real-world differences between PC3-10600 and the faster stuff?
3) I've never been clear on motherboards. There are a billion different types and all have something slightly different. My current shopping style for them is: decide what I want (i.e. PC3-12800), and look for the cheapest that has it. Given this, are there any suggestions for attributes I should be looking for in my mobo?
4) Suggestions on GPU? I see the 5770 recommended around here in some other threads. Would any of the "lesser" cards offer similar performance? I currently using a GeForce 6800, so pretty much anything is an upgrade. Comparing the numbers I'm kind of inclined towards the 5670 - about £30 cheaper - I'm most interested in price to performance ratio than absolute performance.
Thanks.