New Computer Budget £1100

[ak22]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 1-2 Months BUDGET RANGE: £1100

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: 3D Animation: Maya 7 with Mental ray renderer, Autodesk Combustion & Photoshop CS3 and gaming.

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

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: overclockers.co.uk, Ebuyer.com COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England

PARTS PREFERENCES: Asus Motherboards & Corsair Ram, My last Pc was Intel & Nvidia (very happy) but I am trying to get maximum power for less money so I went with ATI / AMD.

OVERCLOCKING: No SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: N/A

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: This PC is for my Final year university project (Very Important) so I would need it to be Stable as it will be left on rendering over a week. Is the AMD/ATI myth of "Not as stable as Intel/Nvidia true?"


Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 DirectCU 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card: £260
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-225-AS

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition 3.40GHz (Socket AM3): £149
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-253-AM

Asus Crosshair IV Formula AMD 890FX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard: £169
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-398-AS

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit: £110 <<<<NOT SURE ABOUT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS

Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply:£105 <<<<NOT SURE ABOUT Enough Power?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-011-CS

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache: £55
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-342-WD

Pioneer DVR-S18L 22x DVD±RW SATA Labelflash ReWriter: £19
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-069-PO

Thermaltake VL10001W2Z Element G Case:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-TR

Thanks a lot for any feedback!

 

[epkfaile]

I dont think you need 890fx, so you could save some money with 890gx, as youre not going to crossfire. you could also save a bit more with the cpu, get the 955 instead and overclock it. The power supply should be more than enough, and the ram is fine. and i dont think that intel is necessarily more stable than ati. other than that, everything else looks fine.

 

[ak22]

thanks mate i was told to get 1333 ram works better with my cpu would u recommend that?

 

[Silvune]

There are cheaper 5850s available on OCUK, and the Asus DirectCU is aimed more at overclockers, so you could save some money.

For your uses one of AMD hexacores would probably be beneficial.

Agree with epkfaile that the Crosshair IV Formula might not be the best choice based on choice and features for your uses. You could save money here. Altho it probably is a good choice for stability, but there are probably plenty of other cheaper mobos that could fulfil this criteria.

On ebuyer you can get better, faster RAM, altho it is from G.Skill, who usually provide RAM that is just as good as Corsair stuff, but for less. G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-24) 1.65V F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM £102
You can also get that Corsair set for cheaper on ebuyer: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 £100
Your best chance of finding better RAM for the price on OCUK is to look out for a deal.
I've heard that the AMD memory controllers won't allow RAM to run faster than 1600Mhz, so it might be a struggle to get it at that speed, altho it is do-able. You could also get this Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Ballistix Memory Kit CL7 (7-7-7-24) 1.65V if you don't want to have to mess about in the Bios to get it set up properly.

If you aren't going to crossfire and don't want the option then a good 550W PSU would be my recommendation. These are probably the three best 550 watters you could find now:
Antec TruePower New Modular 550W £70
Corsair VX 550W £75
And the Antec Earthwatts 650W ~£65

 

[ak22]

Would you say these better choice to sale some cash?

Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-393-AS&tool=3

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-215-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411



Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666 XMS3 DHX Memory Kit
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148817

 

[Silvune]

Yea, the motherboard is good.

Personally I would want a graphics card with a larger fan - as that will help to keep it cooler and quieter; one such as this: HIS iCooler V ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 H585FN1GD. Altho that would be fine.

I think you might as well get the 1600Mhz set that I linked, as that is cheaper, and wouldn't have any problem running at 1333mhz, might even be able to lower the timings on it. But again that DHX set would be fine.

 

[ak22]

Thanks a lot for the help i think we have saved £170 heres my new rig:

Corsair 650W TX Series PSU: £77.99 <as might go crossfire in the future
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135514

Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 : £100
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173122

OR

Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.6V £90.00
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166463

Whats the difference? im guess 1600 is better? but i was told 1333 is better with my cpu?

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB: £229
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-215-SP&tool=3

Or

HIS iCooler V ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB £232
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-215-SP&tool=3

Are HSI / Sapphire any good? reliability wise? i usually go with BFG Nvidia have not brought ATI i a while.


ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 890GX Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard: £111.91

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 8MB L3 Cache 125W Retail Box Processor: £147.83

Western Digital WD5000AADS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 32MB Cache - OEM Caviar Green: £36.81

Pioneer DVR S18LBK 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM with Labelflash SATA - Retail Box Black with Software: £17.99

Coolermaster HAF922 Windowed Version bundled with FREE Coolermaster TX3 CPU Cooler :£79.99

 

[tb boy]

You could get a far better system on that budget. I spec'd a machine based on maximising the budget.

This is a solid machine built with highly recommended parts. You might want to switch the i7 920 for the newer i7 930 for £40 more. You could always compensate by saving on some of the other parts (i'm sure you can find some better deals from ebuyer).

 

[ak22]

ow man u confused me even more lol i check out Intel but i think i stick with AMD setup as i have reduced down to £800

 

[tb boy]

It purely depends wether you still want to maximise your budget or not.

 

[Silvune]

This reply is based on you sticking with AMD.

Yea, Sapphire is generally considered to be one of the best brands for ATI cards. HIS would be fine as well, altho they just aren't as well regarded.

I think you might need to buy some thermal paste to go with that CPU cooler.

What do you think about using this: AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T 2.80GHz It might be a bit better at 3D animation than the 965, possibly even an i7.

If you don't want to have to go into the bios to set up your RAM then I'd suggest the £90 set.

 

[ak22]

It purely depends wether you still want to maximise your budget or not.

Ok say my budget is £900 what i7 setup would u recommend?

 

[ak22]

Thanks for helping me mate just need to decide on the cpu lol I was just looking at the Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Instead of the AMD Phenom II X4 but for extra 10 pound can get AMD Phenom II X6 Core 1055T 2.80GHz Or save up get the i7 920 going to see what motherboard i would need if i got Intel

 

[ak22]

Ok if i go for Intel and max my budget: http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/9997/beastg.png

 

[tb boy]

Actually, from looking at this comparison (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/47?vs=109) I really don't thin it's worth going with the i7 & I say you should go with the i5 750. It's at a similar price to to the 6-core 1055t & beats it in most benchmarks apart from highly-threaded ones (it sees a significant lead in games).

I'd say go with an i5 build as it offers far better value for your money or go for the 1055t if you're using multi-threaded programs (I don't know anything about 3d animation). Use this comparison to help you decide: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=109

Considering the fact that you're not overclocking & a 5850 would probably be fine, you can save some money with this build:

 

[ak22]

Thank mate and great website link u sent me i do some research.