Is this a good mid-price setup in 2012 still?

[mauhjt2007]

Hello all,

I'm contemplating building my own comp, so I've looked up parts, done some compatibility checks and think I've come up with an okay setup. I would like some second opinions if at all possible.

Case: CIT Vantage Midi Mesh
PSU: OCZ 600W
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965
Motherboard: ASUS M5a97
RAM: Corsair Vengence 2x4GB
ROM: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
DVD drive: Samsung SH-222AB
Video Card: XTX radeon HD6870 1GB

Again, this is mid range, so i'm not looking for any £200+ Video cards. Would anyone have any suggestions for other parts I should consider? Currently this would all cost me £409.73.

Thanks guys

 

[1337RPG]

(Assuming this is for gaming) Your current setup will run games like Skyrim and MW3 max settings with no problem. But if you want a better graphics card you could downgrade your hard drive to a 500gb and invest in a better graphics card, depending on if you really need the 1TB of storage or not.

 

[mace200200]

Looks good, my computer works just fine for me and your build is better at every point. The only thing you might want to consider is a different PSU. Some people swear that OCZ is good stuff and other will tell you to avoid it, since I've never owned one I can't really tell you anything more than that. The same thing goes with Samsung drives but I like them. My laptops been running the same one for a few years now and it continues to work just as well.

 

[mace200200]

Oh and one other thing, the 6870 isn't a bad card but in the US at least the 7850's are the same price and perform better. I would look into the prices at your end.

 

[clutchc]

Your system looks pretty good. There may be better price/combos, but it will be a solid gamer up to 1920x1080. Can't speak for OCZ power supplies, but I still have the only XFX PSU I've ever owned and it has been 100% stable, quiet, and dependable. It's been powering SLI and Xfire setups and power hungry Phenom II X4's in the past with no issues. Look for at least a 80 Plus Silver rating for better efficiency.

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

That setup is creepy-similar to one of my rigs:

Asus M5A97
OCZ ZT 550w
Phenom II X4 965 @4.1ghz
Asus HD 6870
16gb Corsair Vengeance PC3-15000
240GB SSD RAID 0 Array (Intel 520 + HyperX 3k 120gb)
500gb Caviar Blue
Pioneer BD-R/DVD-RW Drive

I can say safely that it's a very serviceable configuration. I see where graphics cards are starting to benchmark though, and I know that it's going to be time to upgrade to a $300-$400 GPU sooner or later .... I just really hope the next batch of FX CPU's is more solid than the FX-8150, or else I'll end up having to bail on the entire platform eventually. But, for now, we're good.

BTW- not sure which model OCZ power supply you have, but some are quite well built. I wouldn't go near their entry level just because there isn't enough good professional research out there on those units, but I picked the ZT over anything else in the price range from Corsair or Antec. If I could have found my most trusted PSU model in stock (Seasonic M12II 620w) I would have gone that route, but it's hard when Newegg or Amazon sell out of them once every couple weeks.

 

[mauhjt2007]

hey man,

yeah the OCZ is the "Mod X stream Pro" whatever that means. It's silver rated for efficiency and all, so I think I'll risk it. Plus with it only being £50 or so, it's really not that expensive to replace!

 

[mauhjt2007]

Oh and one other thing, the 6870 isn't a bad card but in the US at least the 7850's are the same price and perform better. I would look into the prices at your end.

Good shout, i'll have a look on my end.

 

[mauhjt2007]

Hmm, they're £20-£30 more that the 6870, and there doesn't quite seem to be as much of a rave about them compared with the 6870 (then again, the 6870 is under £100 so perhaps that's why they're raving about it)

Is there a noticable difference between these two?

 

[clutchc]

Here's an "on paper" comparison: http://www.hwcompare.com/12078/radeon-hd-6870-vs-radeon-hd-7850/

And Tom's places the HD 7850 two tiers above the HD 6780: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

 

[mauhjt2007]

Here's an "on paper" comparison: http://www.hwcompare.com/12078/radeon-hd-6870-vs-radeon-hd-7850/

And Tom's places the HD 7850 two tiers above the HD 6780: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

That is an amazingly useful list! by the looks of things the 7850 is a good buy. Hell it's payday tomorrow, I won't notice the £20 or so.

 

[mauhjt2007]

wow, so just bought the stuff..... now we play the waiting game.

 

[clutchc]

wow, so just bought the stuff..... now we play the waiting game.

Man, I know. I hate that. That's why I went in with some other folks on Amazon Prime. Here in the US it's $80/year and you can have up to (3?) people on your friends list that can use prime too. It shortens the shipping time down to 2 days or less. I usually buy my PC stuff from Newegg, but when I'm in a hurry, I'll check if Amazon has the item and order from them. You may want to look into Amazon UK to see if they offer that for your future orders.

Anyway, enjoy the new card when you get it. Don't forget to uninstall any old drivers first.

 

[mauhjt2007]

hey again guys, just bought a couple of components through WAE+ (an electronics company based near Birmingham in the UK). Don't ever buy from them, you don't get your stock, nor do you get your refund without taking legal action! what a ball-ache!

 

[Mousemonkey]

hey again guys, just bought a couple of components through WAE+ (an electronics company based near Birmingham in the UK). Don't ever buy from them, you don't get your stock, nor do you get your refund without taking legal action! what a ball-ache!

Have you tried Scan.co.uk?