Building a New PC

[richi3d10]

Hello,
I am putting together a new PC that I am hoping to use for gaming / light video editing / running virtual machines along with general us (Some of the virtual machines I will be running will be very resource hungry), my budget is about £450. I have built PCs before, but never one for gaming so I wanted to know if the components I have chosen will be ok and work together.

Spec:
- Gigabyte GZ-G2 Gaming Case
- Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 DDR3 ATX
- AMD Piledriver FX8-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8 Core AM3+ 4.0GHz 16MB 125W
- Corsair 16GB (2 x 8GB) LP Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3 240-pin DIMM CL10
- PowerColor RADEON HD6850 (1024 MB) (AX68501GBD5DH) Graphics Card
- Corsair Memory TX650 V2 650W ATX Enthusiast Series
- OCZ Petrol 64GB 2.5" SATAIII 75
- Samsung SpinPoint F3 2TB HD204UI 2000 GB SATA Hard Drive

 

[excella1221]

Get the 8320 instead and save yourself ~$40.

An ASRock motherboard should be cheaper, but it's your call.

Did you pick that Gigabyte casing because you want it or because of the price?

I have no clue what Petrol is. Get Vertex 4.

 

[richi3d10]

Did you have an idea of a similar spec ASRock motherbard? and thanks for the advice, i haven't looked at the 8320 to be honest, is the 8350 not that much o an upgrade?

 

[Deemo13]

I don't think the price jump of the 20 to the 50 is worth it in the performance numbers.

Also, if you are gaming, 16GB of RAM is too much. May as well save some money to get a better GPU.

 

[richi3d10]

The main reason for the extra ram is because of the virtual machines I have to run (which includes server VMs for customers), is there a better GPU you recommend for not to big an increase in price?

 

[Deemo13]

The 7850 is around $170-$180, and is much much better than the 6850.

 

[richi3d10]

I would love to get that GPU, but it would cost about £60 more than my current GPU, in the future I plan to upgrade however, what do you think is the best GPU I could get for under $300?

 

[Deemo13]

American or Euros? You kinda confused me there.

 

[richi3d10]

Sorry, £250, I noticed you were using Dollars so I changed to that

 

[Deemo13]

Oh I don't mind. I'd rather keep it in your currency, then I know what to look for.

I'm guessing UK?

Under 250 gets you this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-7950-Radeon-Graphics-Card/dp/B0071LP5ME/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1351618741&sr=8-3

and more conservatively this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11199-00-20G-HD7870-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B007MUJL2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351618756&sr=8-1

 

[richi3d10]

Thanks very much, the 7950 is a very good price, Ill look into that once I've got some more money together. Is there anything else I could spec better for the same price?

 

[Deemo13]

You've kinda got it all covered, but I would wait on buying until excella says something, because she usually catches something I miss.

 

[richi3d10]

Ok, thanks or the advice

 

[richi3d10]

Ok I could get a 7770 2gb instead, what do you think?

 

[Deemo13]

Well, the 2GB is kinda pointless on the 7770. You might as well get the 1GB model, which is cheaper and performs on par with the 6850 and faster in some situations.

 

[RedJaron]

Looking good. Like the RAM for the VMs ( I'm constantly asking for 16GB in my work desktop with the VMs I have to run. )

On the graphics cards, if you can swing the 7950, that's great. But the 7870 shouldn't disappoint either. I wouldn't go below a 7850 unless you absolutely have to.

And if you're only running a single GPU, you should be able to get by with a solid ~500W power supply ( it might save you some money over the 650W you have here. )

 

[richi3d10]

Yeah, I think I've decided to splash out all the cash I have and go for the 7870. Thats interesting, would I be ok with less power say if i got the 550w instead?

 

[RedJaron]

Yeah, I think I've decided to splash out all the cash I have and go for the 7870. Thats interesting, would I be ok with less power say if i got the 550w instead?

A good 550W from Antec, FSP, or Seasonic will have the power for that card, and even a little more. Just make sure it has enough PCIe connectors for the card you're getting, or may get in the near future.