PC Build

[odgalvin]

Hey,

I building a budget gaming PC. I think I know what I'm doing but any advice would be appreciated.

This is what I'll probably be getting: HERE.

 

Questionz:

Will it all work together?

The CPU, is AMD. Does this mean its any harder to overclock than an Intel? It's Black Edition, so I thought it'd be simple, but a friend of mine begged to differ.

Is that graphics card any good? It looks it. And whats the equivalent Nvidia one?

Any advice for better hardware for similar price? How I could improve it?

 

Thanks guys!

[anus]

What's your budget?

 

It will all work together, yes.

 

The CPU, despite being a BE, won't really offer overclocks that are high as Core 2s or i7s. It isn't really hard as the multiplier is unlocked, you just won't be able to overclock as high as Core 2 and i7 chips.

 

The graphics card is good, the nVidia equivalent would be a GTX260 with 192 stream processors I think.

 

To improve your build, forget about any AMD CPU unless it's a Phenom II. Everything else simply sucks ass compared to it's Intel counterpart. Also get a better CPU cooler and more than just one case fan. Oh and don't spend additional money on factory overclocked cards like that 4850, get a normal one for cheaper and overclock it yourself. It's extremely easy.

 

Give me a budget and I'll try and get the best possible for your cash .

 

 

[odgalvin]

Budget is about what it said the the list, about £400 give or take, excluding an OS.

 

If you could reccomend a better CPU, I know Intels cost more which is mainly why I chose a AMD, but if I saved money on the graphics...

 

Plus, 1 120mm fan is included in the case, with 2 slots, hence the buying only one more.

 

EDIT: The 4850 I chose is the cheapest they've got, so I'll keep it i guess, its pretty cool. In fact the other standard version is more expensive...

Edited April 9, 2009 by OliG

[Wolf68k]

Do you really need a new case?

Do you really need a new keyboard and mouse or DVD drive?

Do you really need a 500W PSU? Do you really need one at all?

The reason I ask is because if you can use any of these from your old system then do it. It'll save you money or better still allow you to redirect that money to a better CPU or graphics card.

 

If you like ATI then get it, and something tells me you do other wise you'd have picked out a nVidia card or already know what the equivalent is, so don't worry about it.

[odgalvin]

So, could you give me some advice on a better CPU then?

[nemesi5]

Go for a Phenom II 940 or 920, best bet for a cpu. It overclocks tremendously well, but I also recommand upgrading to a Asus M4a79 or m3a79. As for the 4850, if you want to make your computer last for a while, go for a 4850.

[Saggy]

On the whole Intel or AMD thing. Well, it's no competition, in terms of raw CPU performance, Intel has the leading edge. The Phenom and Phenom II are more than capable of keeping up with most of the C2D and Quad lines of Intel chips ( and in some cases outperform when overclocked ), but they still cannot compete with a stock i7 or any overclocked intels.

 

However, from most of the benchmarking I've seen, systems with a combination of AMD CPU, chipset, and graphics ( in this case ATI actually ), or the "Spider" platform do consistently as well and often times better than Intel systems.

 

The AMD chipsets you'll want to look for with a Phenom or Phenom II are the 790GX and 790FX. As far as I know, the GX is the best one available.

 

 

If you really want to overclock, then I would spend a little extra money on a Phenom II. They overclock much better than the original Phenoms. As far as the ease of overclocking. It's technically easier to raise your clock speed a little by bumping up the multiplier. However, that will only get you so far without causing instability, so you'll still need to fiddle with bus speed and voltage at the very least, if not modify your RAM timing. You can get a decent clock out of just increasing your multiplier and bus speed, but you'll still run into instability without increasing your voltage and that's kind of dangerous territory. Expect a max 1 ghz overclock, if you're lucky.

[Vicetopia]

Video card: Probably overpriced, XFX's original 4800's (Not 4890) are all overpriced. I imagine the XXX Edition is even worse.

Processor: E5200 would be better (for the same price). Google "E5200 vs 7750" you should find a lot of interesting benchmarks.

PSU: Fine I guess.

Memory: DDR2-1066 is kind of pointless, but if you're getting a good deal then stick with it.

Board: I don't like MSI.

Everything else personal preference, pretty much.

 

I'm not so sure about that cooler/fan.

Can't even find it on the FrostyTech rankings:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?...eid=2383&page=5

 

So I can only assume it's terrible.

Stock cooling would be fine for the 7750 or E5200 so you're essentially wasting money on it.

[anus]

I couln't put up the build yesterday, sorry about that.

 

For £469.45, you can get the following:

 

Case: Asus TA-B11 - cheap case, but it has three 80MM fans and a side air duct.

 

Power supply: CoolerMaster eXtreme Power 550W - enough power to power that whole PC without problems.

 

Motherboard: Asus P5QL Pro P43 - good, up to date chipset.

 

CPU: E5200 - 2MB cache and 800MHz FSB coupled with an insane 12.5 multiplier. Can overclock to 3.33GHz at stock volts.

 

Memory: GeiL 4GB DDR2 800

 

Video card: CCL GTX260 - this is with 216 cores and is faster than that 4850.

 

HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 320GB SATAII

 

DVD burner: Samsung 20x

 

CPU cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - a very good cooler and great price too.

 

Keyboard and mouse: Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 - chose the same one as yours .

 

A tad bit over your budget, but it is definitely faster than the system you listed. The extra cost is worth it IMO . Hope this helps.