£300-£410 budget first build

ItsShepsy

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Jun 22, 2010
6
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18,510
Hey, this is my first build, i've already put together a rig so far, but i'm wondering if you guys could help me further (feel free to ignore my current build idea if you want) :D

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This month
BUDGET RANGE: £300 - £410

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, video editing, HD video.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: eBuyer (or any other reccomended for England)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE:Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440 x 900 (19")

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Here is my build so far :

MoBo : ASUS M4A78LT-M LE £53.93
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/181968

Cpu : AMD Athlon X2 245 2.9GHZ £48.39
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168975

Ram : Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 £81.78
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178943

Gpu : XFX HD 5750 512MB £94.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190258

HDD : Western Digital WD5000AAKS £35.49
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124228

Disk drive : Samsung SH-S223 22X DVD±RW £14.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145450

Case : Casecom Black Mid Tower Case £18.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/115479

PSU : OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W PSU £34.98
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159

Total so far : £383.54

What do you think? Can it be improved?
 
If you are willing to buy a single 2GB stick of RAM now and buy another one later when you have more money, then you could make a more solid foundation to put that extra stick into. As for video editing you will also want a strong CPU, which is a bit more complicated and a hassle to change against just installing another stick of (hopefully) the same RAM.

I would probably up the case, mobo and cpu in that scenario.

I would also suggest changing to either of these harddrives:
Spinpoint F3 500GB
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146252
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158860
As they use a single 500GB platter which means that they are a bit faster and quieter.
 

shovenose

Distinguished
i still use 2gigs of ram, but even with a faster cpu and hard drive, it feels slower than my (now dead) laptop that had 4gigs of ram. so i highly recommend u stay with 4gb
 
Firstly I don't know of any reason to discount the Seagate HDD, it is a very close second in performance to the Samsung drive at 500GB capacity. Obviously the Samsung is the better choice as it is cheaper.

That bundle is pretty decent. The RAM is not overclocked. It is stating that the motherboard can support RAM up to 1800mhz, but that can only be achieved if you go into the bios and set it up correctly and you have RAM that is capable of running that fast.
I was going to suggest the AMD Althon II X3 440 £65 which would have given you ~£20 more to spend on other components without your budget going up to much, altho a quad core would be more beneficial for video editing. If video editing is quite important to you then try and get the quad core, otherwise the x3 440 will be fine and is a good buy anyway. 2GB sticks of 1333mhz RAM cost ~£42: Kingston DDR3 2GB 1333MHz i5 Memory Module CL9 1.5V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147903
ATM I don't know exactly which stick (model number) the Geil is, so I don't know if it's readily available elsewhere. Perhaps the ~£5 extra is worth being more confident that you could find another stick?

I'd suggest having a look at these two cases as they are a bit more high quality, and the NZXT has more room for fans so has better potential for cooling.
Coolermaster Elite 334 £31
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160805
NZXT BETA EVO £36
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191831

i still use 2gigs of ram, but even with a faster cpu and hard drive, it feels slower than my (now dead) laptop that had 4gigs of ram. so i highly recommend u stay with 4gb
I'm suggesting to him that he go with 2GB for his initial build because it will be VERY easy for him to upgrade and that he will probably add another stick sooner rather than later.
Both the Samsung and Seagate are fast harddrives so that will help the system feel fast.
 

ItsShepsy

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Jun 22, 2010
6
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18,510
Alright, If i go with the bundle (maybe upgrade the ram later), get the Spinpoint and the Coolermaster, the whole lot would total up to £386.05
Im wondering; Will power supply support my build well enough? or would I have to upgrade it?
 
The OCZ StealthXStream 500W will be fine for a low-ish end card like a 5770. So obviously it would be fine for a 5750.
This one (Be Quiet 530W Pure Power) is only ~£10 more expensive, has two PCI-E connectors on it - which by itself shows you how much more powerful it is, in the region of 40 watts more on the 12V rail - is 80Plus certified, and would be decent for a single card like a 5850.
Your call on whether it's worth it.

You'd have to spend in the region of £60-70 to get a really high quality PSU that could potentially last into another build.
 

ItsShepsy

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Jun 22, 2010
6
0
18,510

Thanks man, I'd stick with the current one, I was worried that it wouldnt support the build as whole, not just the GPU, but I assume that it would. :)

So, the build now looks like this :
Cpu, MoBo, Ram bundle: £176.98
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/222495
GPU: £94.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190258
HDD: £33.09
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146252
Disk Drive: £14.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145450
Case: £31.02
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160805
PSU: £34.98
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159
Total: 386.05

Thanks for all the help so far people :D Sorry for all the questions :S
Is this build good enough to support newer games too?