First Time Build [AMD][~450 Budget]

[yummerzzz]

Approximate Purchase Date: Early Next Month

Budget Range: Around 450 Sterling Pounds (£)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, surfing the Net, Watching videos, General Use.

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Aria.co.uk, Overclockers.co.uk, Novatech.co.uk, Ginger6.co.uk, really any website that have good service

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Parts Preferences: Not really any now, but AMD seems to be cheaper for me right now ( From my research )

Overclocking: Yes. Little at first, but more when I get an Aftermarket Cooler.

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1024x768/1280x1024/1280*720/1366*768. Will upgrade this later on.

Additional Comments: None Really.

Parts :

MSI 870-C45 AMD AM3+ Motherboard

4Gb Mushkin Silverline 1333Mhz DDR3 (2X2GB)

HD 6870 with Shogun 2 and Stalker : CoP

500GB Samsung F3 7200RPM HDD

450W XFX Core Editon 80 Plus Bronze Power Supple (34A on Single +12V Rail)

Xigmatek Asgard Tool-Less Case

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (OEM)

24X Sony Optical DVD Writer

AMD Phenom II 955 Socket AM3 3.2Ghz

All of these come to a total of £475 inc. VAT.

Are there any problems with this build, and if there are any ways to solve these problems.

 

[Gobble45]

i highly doubt that 450W PSU will power the 6870..
to be safe i'd go with atleast 550W.

 

[yummerzzz]

According to this site it should ru it, if I'm not mistaken the HD 6870 only needs 28A on the plus 12V Rail.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/233

 

[Silvune]

Yes 450W will be plenty.
Based on:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-crossfirex-review/4
Which shows 295W drawn at the wall using an i7-965, which is more power hungry than a Phenom II X4 955. If the power supply they used was 90% efficient then only ~30W would have been wasted as heat, so ~260W actual system power consumption would only stress a 450W PSU to ~60%.

The motherboard only comes with one SATA cable - according to a youtube review I only watched until he showed the SATA cable.

No other problems I can see.

 

[yummerzzz]

Hm, Aria says it comes with 6, but I'm only using one HDD, also, a Disk drive uses SATA right?

 

[Silvune]

It has 6 SATA ports. It only comes with one SATA cable, so you will need another SATA cable to be able to connect up both the HDD and the optical drive.

 

[yummerzzz]

Ah, i'll make sure to get one of those then.

 

[yummerzzz]

Does it matter which brand the SATA cables are? and do I need a special type?

 

[ps3hacker12]

Does it matter which brand the SATA cables are? and do I need a special type?

nope, they all do the same job (well there are sata 2 cables and sata3 but that doesnt matter in your case), if you only need a sata 2 cable (both your HDD and optical drive are sata2) then this is good:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Cables/Drive+Cables/SATA+%28Serial+ATA%29+Data+Cable+?productId=7682

if you need/want sata3 then this is what you'll have to go for:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Cables/Drive+Cables/1.0m+Akasa+Black+Round+SATA+6GB%2Fs+Data+Cable+?productId=45455

 

[yummerzzz]

Wow, I though they would be like £10, thanks for the link,

 

[ps3hacker12]

Wow, I though they would be like £10, thanks for the link,

i would also reccommend this Phenom 955 with free PandP:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/processors/amdphenomx4/HDZ955FBGMBOX.html

this DVD-RW drive with free PandP:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190838

this windows 7 with free PandP and SP1 included:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/259863

this case (works out cheaper than from Aria, due to free PandP):
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/cases/cases/ASGARD.html

HDD: (works out cheaper due to free PandP)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146252

this card, (6870 + free shogun 2 £117, again free PandP):
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244473

this ram (brand new):
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4GB-DDR3-1333-240-pin-1333Mhz-Desktop-Memory-Ram-DDR3-/130431840556?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5e57f12c

with the money you saved, you could go with a better, USB3 SATAIII board (much better for the future or if you choose to get a SATAIII SSD in the future):
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/AMD+AM3%2B+Ready/MSI+870A-G54+AMD+870+%28Socket+AM3%2B%29+DDR3+PCI-Express+ATX+Motherboard+?productId=41131

[EDIT]:
here are some SATAIII (6GB/s) cables for only £1.98!:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/248882

 

[yummerzzz]

Thanks, but I made a few changes, I changed the RAM from Ebay to this : http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/memory-pc/ddr3-pc3-10666/1333mhz/g.skill/f3-10666cl8d-4gbrm.html

and that GPU is a HD 6850 not a HD 6870, and any other seem to be more expensive as aria doesn't have free postage, but I change it for a GTX 460 with good cooling and do some overclocking?

Or I could stay with the HD 6870, and still have a total cost of £473, but I have that SATA III, USB 3.0 and CF motherboard aswell?

 

[yummerzzz]

For some reason I cannot edit my messages, so I was thinking of getting a GTX 460 for £120 instead of the HD 6850 and overclocking it to save money.

 

[yummerzzz]

Thinking of getting Phenom II X2 555 or Phenom II X3 720 and unlocking them to a triple or quad core, and with the money saved, I could get a GTX 560 or HD 6870.

 

[ps3hacker12]

Thinking of getting Phenom II X2 555 or Phenom II X3 720 and unlocking them to a triple or quad core, and with the money saved, I could get a GTX 560 or HD 6870.

remember theres a 50% chance it won't unlock and the price beetween the phenom 955 and those two isn't that much (i think $10 off the top of my head?).

 

[yummerzzz]

Well that £20 ($32) means a GTX 560 or HD 6870, I'm just wondering which would be better to get for gaming, as I was planning to upgrade to a FX Zambezi processor in a year or two anyway, and there a %80 percent chance I can unlock it to a triple core, and a %50 I can unlock both cores, and I think a GTX 560 or HD 6870 and a Phenom II X3 (OC'd) will be better for gaming than a GTX 460 and Phenom II 955.

 

[yummerzzz]

Um, so which should I get?

 

[ps3hacker12]

Um, so which should I get?

is it a 560TI or just a gtx560?

 

[yummerzzz]

GTX 560 non-ti or HD 6870, both on par but I think the GTX 560 non-ti is a better overclocker and then will get me better performance.

 

[ps3hacker12]

GTX 560 non-ti or HD 6870, both on par but I think the GTX 560 non-ti is a better overclocker and then will get me better performance.

the GTX 560 is similar/slightly better in performance, if the price is similar than a GTX560 would probably be the one i'd go for, and yeah it is a good overclocker (depending on the company (eg asus, HIS etc.).

 

[yummerzzz]

I can only get the HD 6870 or GTX 560 if I get the Phenom II dual core.

 

[ps3hacker12]

I can only get the HD 6870 or GTX 560 if I get the Phenom II dual core.

in which case it would just be better to go for a 6850 instead. Its not worth the forfeit.

 

[yummerzzz]

But what if I can unlock it?

 

[ps3hacker12]

But what if I can unlock it?

there is not a 100% chance, AMD lock those cores for a reason most of the time, its not as common as most people think it is to unlock. the 6850 will still give great performance, even at 1080P, and will be able to play almost all games on max settings anyway. The Phenom 955 will give you the option to add another 6850 in the future without the fear of much bottlenecking too (if you go for a Crossfire board).

 

[yummerzzz]

Good point, also, I found an i7-2600(Non-K) for a really good price, cheaper than an i5-2500, and I'm thinking about buying a whole system without a GPU, or buying a cheap one (HD 5450) for 800*600 gaming or 720p gaming, and add a better GPU later.