~£600 New Build PC

[paynee89]

Hey guys, so i've spent the last week reading over benchmark tests and comparisons (mainly on this site) and have pretty much decided on what i want component wise; however, as i have never built a computer before i thought it prudent to ask what others think of my build... i'm not totally closed to entirely changing my choices (e.g. if i missed a good deal) but if you could let me know what you think i would appreciate that.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 23rd august 2010

BUDGET RANGE: £600 - £650

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Music production (nothing serious), surfing web...

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Scan.co.uk, Aria.co.uk, any reliable site...

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England - U.K.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe a tiny bit

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Not entirely sure, belongs to a relative and havn't seen yet.. don't expect it to be huge..

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Here's what i've got so far:

CPU:AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Ed. 3.2GHz, AM3, 125W - £113.85
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-BlackEdition-Sok-AM3-32GHz-8MB-Total-Cache-125W-Retail

Mobo:Asus M4A77TD Pro, AMD 770, AM3, PCI-E 2.0(x16), DDR3 1800(OC), SATA 3GB/s, SATA RAID, ATX - £67.88
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-M4A77TD-Pro-AMD-770-AM3-PCI-E-20(x16)-DDR3-1333-1600-1800-SATA-3Gb-s-RAID-ATX

GPU:XFX ATI Radeon 5770 HD 1GB PCI-Express 2.0 x16 HDMI (includes 2 games) - £124.98
http://www.dabs.com/products/xfx-ati-radeon-5770-hd-1gb-pci-express-2-0-x16-hdmi--inc-assassins-creed---cod-modern-warfare-2-games--71Z8.html

RAM:4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V - £75.34
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(2x2GB)-Corsair-XMS3-DDR3-PC3-12800-(1600)-Non-ECC-Unbuffered-CAS-9-9-9-24-XMP-165V

PSU:OCZ StealthXstream II 600W Power Supply - £53.61
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/204353

HDD:500GB Samsung HD502HJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM - £32.86
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb-Samsung-Spinpoint-F3-HD502HJ-SATA-3Gb-s-7200rpm-16Mb-Cache-8ms-OEM

Optical Drive:Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM - £13.74
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/Samsung-SH-S223C-BEBE-22x-DVDR-12x-DVDR-DVDplusRW-x8-RW-x6-SATA-Black-OEM

Tower:NZXT Beta Evo Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black - £35.67
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/NZXT/NZXT+Beta+Evo+Midi+Tower+Gaming+Case+-+Black?productId=40129

Keyboard/Mouse:Logitech Internet 350 Wired Keyboard, USB, Black / Saitek Cyborg V.3 USB Gaming Mouse - £7.60/£21.87
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/Logitech-Internet-350-Wired-Keyboard-USB-11-Black-(967740-0120) / http://www.scan.co.uk/products/Saitek-Cyborg-V3-USB-Gaming-Mouse

Soundcard:Asus Xonar D2X Ultra Fidelity 7.1 Hi-Def PCI-Express Sound Card, Dolby/DTS/Cakewalk/Ableton Live/PMP - £85.53
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-Xonar-D2X-Ultra-Fidelity-71-Hi-Def-PCI-Express-Sound-Card-Dolby-DTS-Cakewalk-Ableton-Live-PMP

Sorry if this is long but if anything does stick out (like the mobo/psu) as being a bad choice let me know... Total cost atm is about £635 and i don't have a cooler yet, think its needed for this build? I'd like to get the price down a bit but i think this comp will last a while (at least a couple of years) before any upgrades are required.. (Also i will probably upgrade to a larger monitor next year)

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[batuchka]

Hmm this was my 644 GBP config off Ebuyer UK

 

[Silvune]

What do you think about trying the onboard sound first? I know you said you do music production, but if onboard is good enough then you could save yourself £85. Which could be spent on getting a much more powerful video card. You could get a motherboard with on board graphics, which could allow you to test out it's on board sound without having to buy a graphics card. Make your decision about buying a sound card or not, then get an appropriate video card.
ATX With SATA6G/USB3: Asus M4A88TD-V Evo £85
ATX Without SATA6G/USB3: Asus M4A785TD-V Evo £72
mATX: M4A88T-M/USB3 £70 Get this if you don't mind potentially having your sound card right above your video card.

No I don't think you will need a CPU cooler for this build, as the AMD stock will be fine for a small overclock.

If you can you should get the MBOX version of the 955, as it is newer and overclocks better - which is a sign that it is a better processor - than the IBOX version.

The PSU is probably a bit overkill for a system with one 5770, but at most you're likely to save £10, and it gives you plenty of upgrade options, so I think it's best to stick with it unless you can find an amazing deal on another high quality power supply.

 

[asteldian]

For £35 more you can get a mobo with XFire as well as the USB/SATA III
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-M4A89GTD-PRO-AMD-890GX-S-AM3-PCI-E-20-(x16)-DDR3-2000(OC)-SATA-6Gb-s-SATA-RAID-ATX

For £200 you can get a 5850 (its powercolor so not the best, but mine hasn't broken so far)
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/ATI+5800+Series/VTX+ATI+Radeon+HD+5850+1024MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=40733

That's £110 more than your budget but gives you a better gaming PC with room to get even better with the extra GPU slot on mobo.
I would then forget about the soundcard, mobos these days have good sound, and if you decide in the future you want a soundcard, well it is easily added later on and at no extra cost (unlike buying a weaker GPU or lower end mobo and deciding you want to replace them).

Also, I would forgo the mouse and eyboard and just get a £10 keyboard/mouse bundle - they are more than adequate, and again are easily replaced with little cost in the future - not worth losing out on the core of your build with 'nice to have extras' that can be got anytime.

So, £110 more to improve mobo and GPU, £85 less without the soundcard and £20 less with a simple keyboard and mouse. So overall the build is £640.

Course, you may just want to go with a single card mobo, in which case the ones Silvune linked are good, with the money saved you could still get your mouse/keyboard.

The GPU change is assuming the monitor is 1920 x 1080, if it is less than that, a 5770 would likely do

 

[paynee89]

Ok first off thanks for the responses!

I've taken your advice and will hold off on the soundcard for a while.. adjusted the mobo to the Asus M4A88TD-V Evo which Silvune suggested but will probably stick with the HD 5770 for now.. Also thanks for the heads up on the newer MBOX version of the 955, i didn't know there was a difference if i'm honest..

zipzoomflyhigh as far as i'm aware i posted in the .co.uk site, whether that appears in the US forum too is nothing to do with me but i'll doublecheck in future anyway...

Thanks again guys!

 

[Silvune]

Maybe you should give it a rest zip, as I am in the UK forum according to what you just said and I came across this post, so chances are it comes up in both or there is no differentiation between US and UK, except for those little flags. Also even if he did post it in the US forum he got plenty of help didn't he.

 

[Griffolion]

^+1, i too am in the UK forum (or so i believe since its .co.uk) and i give American's help all the time on Newegg's site.

In the end, all the differs is the website you go to to look at parts, nothing else.

 

[asteldian]

I am from UK, I was always confused as to why US, Indian, Canadian and everywhere else shows up. I don't think it is really split. I am on co.uk and have a choice of Ireland and UK only, yet most posts are US

Anyway, on topic - if you are sticking with the 5770 and not getting the souncard, I would seriously consider getting the mobo I linked, that still leaves you £50 under budget but gives you the ability to add a second 5770 in the future if you find your one starts to struggle alone - works out much cheaper than having to get a whole new GPU in future and having no use for the old one

 

[batuchka]

If u are a purple skinned alien with a link of a pricelist from your native homeland i would still help you A link of benchmarks of the hardware on your planet would help greatly hehe