Need a bit of help...

[dragonfyr]

Hi there,

Im new here, and really hoping i dont have to goto another site! lol

Right, as you may see from my profile, my current PC, its not great! (About 5 - 6 years old). Thats also the last time i bothered with building pc's, so iv missed a great deal is seems! Recently my graphics card fan has decided not to work! (Off and on whenever it wants). Meaning i have to then mess about with fan speed's and move the main fan around in the pc casing! A messy job lol!

So, iv spent the passed 3 hours looking on ebay, motherboard websites, CPU sites, case's, fan's, coolers, etc etc! Basically every site i need to research in order to build a gaming pc!

So, im building a pc (Will start in the next few days). I need it to be able to handle hard gaming. Warcraft at max spec, CoD at best spec and other top shelf games. I also need to be able to use Cinema 4D without any lagg / have fast rendering times. I also use the pc / internet for heavy online streaming of music and i use other design programs, such as Photoshop, Sony Vegas etc. I dont want to have to upgrade the new pc for a couple of years, i want it to be able to play top shelf games and high end design programs without lagging the pc out or crashing it! However, im not loaded haha! I need to be able to buy each part for around £100 - £180 MAX. At the end of every month. I dont mind however long it takes to build this, but to be able to use it asap would be wicked!

What iv found... (And need help confirming if these parts goto together, if there decent items, if they can be upgraded, if theres a better cheaper option for my needs etc etc)

AMD PHENOM II X4 965 3.4GHz CPU | SKT- AM3 PROCESSOR.
This looks like the best sort of processor im going to get, but... every time i look around sites, everyone says the Intel i5 and i7's are the best to get! Although iv heard the i7 can over heat?? Interested in spending about £120 - 150 on the processor.

Motherboards! What the hell? There is millions of them lol. Im wanting to pay around £150 (Lower the better). Must be able to support a decent amount of RAM. Like around 4+ gig (To start off), although as with designing, the more RAM = the better! So the option to upgrade would be perfect. Plenty of USB slots, onboard graphics, onboard sound, not bothered about a PS2 mouse slot or 3.5 floppy drives. The option to have a really decent CD/DvD/Whatever drive.

RAM. Not a clue what im looking for! DDR 2? DDR 3?? And all these differnt MHZ's etc. What? lol Help with that please.

Graphics Card. Well i am on a tight budget, and am building this over time. So onboard graphics will probably be better than what im currently running! But i will look into a nVidia / ATI card, with dual monitor support eventually.

Processor Cooling. From what i have read up about this, its a very important matter with a hardcore gaming pc! However, i think im ok with this.

Case. Well iv been looking at a few of them. Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 looks nice, aswell as the Antec Nine Hundred Two.
As far as im aware i just need to make sure the cases accept an ATX motherboard and im good to go!?!
Altho, i would love to have the ability to hotswap Sata Drives and have front usb ports. That would be really good.

ANY help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

All prices that i want to pay are in British Pounds, but don't worry about currency conversion, il do that.

Thanks for reading, sorry if i posted this in the wrong place,

Gaz

 

[minitron815]

Go with an Intel i5-2500k (when they get new motherboards lol) or i5-760 if you can spare the $50-100 more from that 965. Look up motherboard by socket type; AM3 for the AMD, 1156 for the 760 and 1155 (when they are fixed lol) for the 2500k.

Any new motherboard shoudl support 32 gigs of ram, just pick one with the number of PCIe x16 slots you think you need. Go with DDR3 1600; it's a pretty safe purchase right now.

You probably don't need that hefty of a case but that's entirely up to what you think you need; any Antec should be fine.

For a video card the best ones for their prices are the GTX 460 as well as the GTX 560 and HD 6950.

Go with quality 500W+ PSU from Antec or Corsair (Ultra from tigerdirect is also good).

 

[dragonfyr]

Hi, thanks for your quick reply.

I have actually emailed tigerdirect today asking if they deliver to the uk or not. As there prices are just wicked.

I was going to reply on here n say I think my budget may be a bit too high, as in I think I'm setting myself up for a fall. So your help is bang on the money so to say. An i5 I'm sure will do the jobs I need it to do. I mean yea everyone wants the best, but I don't think my budget could really go that far. Also any ideas for RAM?

Thanks for your help, I'm out n about at the mo, using iPhone to reply! So il check back at this later.

Also, I like the Tom's app for the iPhone. But was expecting a forum part to it

Thanks,

Gaz

 

[dragonfyr]

Ahh, DDR3 1600. Sorry never Noticed that before.

As I said il check these prices n whatnot out later.

Thanks again

 

[minitron815]

If you go with an i5 I'd strongly recommend waiting for a week or so and getting the i5 2500k for ~$220 (in US) when they have non defective 1155 socket motherboards.

If you can't wait or if it's significantly cheaper I'd get the i5 750/760 which are essentially i7s without hyperthreading which doesn't make any difference in most applications such as games.

One other thing is the value of the i5s are strongly dependent on your willingness to overclock. If you don't want to overclock then the i5 2500 or even i5 2400 non K versions would be a better choice.

 

[dragonfyr]

Ok so I just read up about hyperthreading. See the thing about that is, does watching a movie on one screen and playing Warcraft on the other screen count as hyperthreading? As I do that regulary. Ye I know my pc isn't great, but as long as the movie isn't full screen, and I'm not doing something intensive in wow, then my little AMD 3200+ handles it. Just!

 

[minitron815]

HyperThreading's benefits are really seem in multi-threaded applications such as video creation; watching a movie while playing WOW doesn't begin to compare.

The only people who really need hyperthreading or 6 cores should already know this and won't be coming to these forums for questions.

 

[dragonfyr]

Thanks again.

I have a question about all this...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MOTHERBOARD-BUNDLE-AMD-ATHLON-II-250-3-0GHz-DUAL-CORE-/190376021711?pt=UK_Motherboards_CPUs&hash=item2c534b8ecf#ht_2234wt_905

After searching Ebay for "Motherboards" I found that there is some motherboard bundle's.

That "Vibox" person seems to do some nice deals on his gear, at resonable prices!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MOTHERBOARD-BUNDLE-4GB-1333MHz-ATHLON-640-QUAD-CORE-/190457958869?pt=UK_Motherboards_CPUs&hash=item2c582dd1d5#ht_2534wt_905

That one is the one that interests me. Just wondering though, would it a) Do everything and then some that i need it to do? b) Can it be upgraded? c) What are your views on it?

Thanks

 

[minitron815]

Motherboards cant' be upgraded and people generally get a new computer when the motherboard is insufficient for their needs. That specific one looks like it's an AM3 with 1 PCIe x16, 1 PCIe x1, and 2 PCI slots. The Athlon II x4s are excellent for multi-tasking but the lack of L3 cache hurts them a little in games. This difference is very small in most cases (5-10%).

I don't know the prices of processors in the UK so I can't give you an educated opinion about the value of that link. As for the United States, the i5-760/750 is better than AMD's entire lineup and is comparable to some Phenom II's in price.

 

[dragonfyr]

Motherboards cant' be upgraded and people generally get a new computer when the motherboard is insufficient for their needs. That specific one looks like it's an AM3 with 1 PCIe x16, 1 PCIe x1, and 2 PCI slots. The Athlon II x4s are excellent for multi-tasking but the lack of L3 cache hurts them a little in games. This difference is very small in most cases (5-10%).

I don't know the prices of processors in the UK so I can't give you an educated opinion about the value of that link. As for the United States, the i5-760/750 is better than AMD's entire lineup and is comparable to some Phenom II's in price.

The Processor on that specific motherboard bundle is a Athlon II Dual Core. As im understanding it, Its a AM3 Socket, which means i could in theroy add a Phenom II / x4? Processor. Which is a "upgrade" yes?

And i gather the PCIe x16 is a good thing too on that board?

For around £150 for the motherboard, processor and the ram... thats really good! I mean i was looking to spend around £100 on each item! To find that... well ye... I just dont want to jump in. So asking you lot before hand, as you know a "little" more than me

Thanks,

Gaz
p.s. "little" meaning a lot! lol

 

[dragonfyr]

Also, the onboard Geforce 7025 graphics is better than my current Geforce 6600GT Card isnt it?

 

[minitron815]

AM3 motherboards support Phenom II x4 and x6s.

The Athlon II X2 is kind of slow; If you're going with a Athlon II go with a quad core.

PCIe x16 will be where you put your graphics card; that board only has one so you cannot use SLI or Crossfire.

Onboard video is slow; that 6600GT will be much faster.

 

[dragonfyr]

AM3 motherboards support Phenom II x4 and x6s.

The Athlon II X2 is kind of slow; If you're going with a Athlon II go with a quad core.

PCIe x16 will be where you put your graphics card; that board only has one so you cannot use SLI or Crossfire.

Onboard video is slow; that 6600GT will be much faster.

ah heck! Not the reply i was expecting lol. I was just about ready to hit the buy button haha.

Hmmm... SLI / Crossfire??

Ok, So, completely start from scratch it is then. Right, thank you once again for all your replies, everyone

Once again il check over this when i have more patience for all the research

Gaz

 

[dragonfyr]

I'm not asking to be spoon fed, just a point in the right direction would be nice

Hi again guys. I have had a look for some i5 stuff, and so far came up with processors that are like £200 each!! Far to much for me! I have the funds to start this project, and just in the nick of time! My Graphics card has totally lost it! I'm using it now, but the fan comes on very rarely! And in games i just crash every 2mins!

So, Can we start from the bottom / top please.
I'd like to buy most of my stuff from eBay UK as it seems the best cheapest place to go.

My Needs:: In Order:: Top item most need'd...
Play Warcraft - At a decent level of graphics and performance. With the ability to run say winamp in the background.
Ability to play other top shelf games. (CoD etc)
Graphic Design - Photoshop and Cinema 4D. Really dont want to have massive render times.
Audio and Video editing - Sony Vegas. Ability to run Adobe Elements would be nice!
Other general office stuff!
-------------------------

Motherboard: Cost no more than £100. (British Pounds). Prefer to keep it as low as possible.
Im thinking an AM3 Board. But it doesn't have to start off as the best there is. I would just like maybe a basic quad / dual core processor, with the chance to upgrade when i save the cash up. On-board Video would be an advantage. On-board Audio is a must as i don't plan on buying a sound card. Ethernet ports, plenty of USB ports (v2+).

The ability to support a decent graphics card, i think you guys said PCI-E x16? With SLI / crossfire? Whatever that is.

Extra. I would like to be able to have front usb / headfone 3.5m jack / mic 3.5m jack as well as the basic rear usb / audio slots.
Firewire, not a need but good to have.

-------------------------

Processor: As i said above, AM3 i think is the best area i want to look at. Intel i5 / i7 seem to be too expensive for me. So AMD? Unless you can find a decent i5 on ebay for not too much? :/

Otherwise, just anything that would fit the motherboard and then give me the chance to upgrade it down the line.
-------------------------

RAM: Not a clue about this. Like to start at about 4gig, with the option of course to add loads more
-------------------------

I'm really sorry if this seems a bit too much to ask, i just have no idea about this sort of thing these days, and pretty much no one to ask about it!

Thanks.

Gaz.

 

[dragonfyr]

If im asking too much, just tell me to get lost Sorry if iv wasted anyone's time

 

[minitron815]

Sorry I was a little busy over the weekend and this week.

Anyways you need to price out your system for yourself since you're in the UK.

As for a general recommendation: get an Athlon II X4 or a Phenom II at least. Any AM3 motherboard will do as long as it has the features that you want (like the number of USB connections or 7.1 onboard audio).

If you can find it for cheap, the Intel i5-750/760 are better than AMD's whole lineup and is $200 (here). In that case go with a 1156 motherboard with the features you want.

All high-end and performance video cards are PCIe (x16). Any motherboard you buy will have at least one x16 PCIe slot. Additional x16 slots are needed for SLI/CF which is two graphics cards working as one; this is a huge benefit in many games but support isn't always guaranteed. Another thing you can do with more than 1 PCIe x16 slots is have one dedicated video card and one PhysX card which is nice for games with PhysX (Mafia II, Batman: AA). Two video cards even if one is in PhysX requires more power and generates more heat.

Onboard video isn't needed if you are getting a video card and is horrible anyways.

Ports such as headphone jacks are more dependent on the case as long as the motherboard supports it. You would hook up the front USB jack to the motherboard, etc. The motherboard usually comes with rear bracket mounts for USB and firewire in case you get a case without these connections.

Get 4 gigs of DDR3 1600.

For the video card, the best ones for their price in the States are the GTX 460 768/1024, GTX 560 and HD 6950.

 

[dragonfyr]

Thanks that's perfect and put a smile on my face. Il look into it in mote detail when I get the time. I'm reading this on my iPhone in hosital! So ye, kinda re-occupied at the mo.

 

[dragonfyr]

Thanks for the reply. Thats perfect. Il look over this soon. Not up for anything at the mo.

Thanks

 

[dragonfyr]

Oh, i guess the other reply posted! I wasn't going to say "why" i wasn't up for it, i wrote the original "that perfect" reply on my iphone in the hospital bed! Really didn#t think it posted and wasn't going to post it! But ye, o well, il reply soon.

Thanks again

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey