Building my first PC

[cold killer pov]

I have decided to make myself a gaming pc, that will last a couple of years before needing much changing, this is what i have so far and i think it is a good set up, the main thing i am thinking about is. is it worth getting quad core over dual core for running new games? mainly will be playing FPS's some low end such as CSS and higher end like MW2.

so here is the set up: http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5772/26159984.jpg

this is being built to a budget of around £500 hopefully cheaper where possible.

Also, i was browsing Ebay and came across this deal - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-GANGSTER-GAMER-PC-TOWER-CASE-ATX-650W-SATA-PSU-/140348908411?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL&hash=item20ad72637b

thought it was a good bundle. Any help would be most appreciated, along with if any parts clash/something would better with current parts.

Most appreciated

Edit: also any ideas for good, cheap keyboards and mice would be helpful. And would just simply chucking a HDMI cable into the back of my 32" LG LCD, be just as good as using a monitor?

 

[trickyfingers]

Been awhile since i built a rig but that looks good to me hombre. Triple channel? check. Quad-core? check. And i've heard only good things about ASUS boards.

I'm a bit behind on graphics card tech so i can't comment on that.

I'm not in a financial position to build a rig at the moment, but NVidia started making their own motherboards a few years back and they look mighty nifty, especially if you want the option to upgrade to a multiple graphics card setup in the future. That depends on your preference between ATi and NVidia o'course.

All around, that will be a sweet machine compared to the piece of shit i'm typing this on.

Best of luck man!

 

[cold killer pov]

Thanks for the help. yeah i spoke to a mate today who said that i have to make sure there are enough right ends on the psu and to make sure i spend some decent money on it so it doesnt frazzle everything. Thanks for that list very helpful yeah, iv heard simlar from a few people. Make sure you get psu and graphics, changed my system a bit sinse that, mainly the case though as well as fiddling with the graphics card. so this is what i have atm.

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/1970/37639505.jpg

i am fully aware i am going to more than likely have to change the PSU, but i think the GPU is fairly sound for under £100, doesnt break my bank to be honest thinking of saving for a bit and upping the price of the build just for the gpu.

Yeah the tv is full 1080p (or whatever the best is )

As for the mouse, thinking of like a £10 razer one from what i was breifly looking at, and just some cheap keyboard

thanks for the help!

 

[cold killer pov]

thinking of spreading the buy out a bit now as well starting with like case and Psu, then motherboard, CPU then something along the lines of RAM, GPU. Then the other cheaper things can come where ever such as hard drive, Disk reader, fans etc

 

[Continuity]

The antec 300 is a nice case, I have one, cable management isn't great but otherwise its very good all round for the money.

build looks good, as has been said the weak points are the GFX card and the PSU, my rule of thumb is always to spend 50%+ on my budget (my budget for the card that is i.e. spend 50% more than I originally intend to on it) for the graphics card because thats the one component that will really give you a performance boost per extra £ spent. The PSU has be a little worried but not too worried, OCuK are a good retailer and they have had some good stuff un their own label before now- they really know their shiz - however it doesn't tell us who the OEM is or what the rails/amps are or the efficiency or whether is is using solid caps... not good, if I were you i'd up the budget to £600 and split the extra £100 between upgrading the PSU and the GFX card, it will make a big difference to your rig.

Also it must be said OCUK is a great retailer but by no means the cheapest, if you're on a tight budget you may make your money go further by looking elsewhere.

 

[Arachon]

Will you be doing any overclocking? Otherwise, the CPU-cooler is practically worthless, non-OCd CPUs will be just fine with the stock cooler.

 

[cold killer pov]

Also it must be said OCUK is a great retailer but by no means the cheapest, if you're on a tight budget you may make your money go further by looking elsewhere.

care to share any sites? im going to browse ebay definatly

 

[cold killer pov]

Will you be doing any overclocking? Otherwise, the CPU-cooler is practically worthless, non-OCd CPUs will be just fine with the stock cooler.

No im not, so i can drop that from the list then?

 

[cold killer pov]

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9559/96945630.jpg

Decided to go for a XFX HD 5770, people iv spoke to have said XFX are better than most other's. and iv thrown in a better PSU put the price up a lot, but i think iv decided to buy it a bit at a time and save up inbetween, allowing me to get better GPU and PSU and not bankrupt myself

 

[Continuity]

Also it must be said OCUK is a great retailer but by no means the cheapest, if you're on a tight budget you may make your money go further by looking elsewhere.

care to share any sites? im going to browse ebay definatly

Ebuyer : http://www.ebuyer.com/

Dabs: http://www.dabs.com/

Scan : http://www.scan.co.uk/

and

Aria: http://www.aria.co.uk/

My builds usually come from a mix of OCuk and the above sites, though I often get at least 1/2 the stuff from OCuk. Aria is a bit random with their pricing so watch out, sometimes they way overcharge but other times they way undercharge so its always worth a look. Ebuyer and Dabs are two of the biggest mainstream retailers and they usually have big stocks and baseline prices, Scan will often get you the rarer stuff but can sometimes be pricey.

I have used others too such as:

Misco: http://www.misco.co.uk/

CCL: http://www.cclonline.com/

Et al

but these are not my main suppliers.

 

[cold killer pov]

you werent lieing about those sites looking at the same gxf card on another site, at least i think its the same, £5 cheaper and comes with 2 games assasins creed 2 and AVP

 

[Continuity]

Remember also that some sites charge delivery and some don't.

 

[Continuity]

Personally I think you should find a good place to get reliable, decent quality used gear. That 5670 isn't going to be all that good. Also, I'm not sure about Asus. I've seen four of them with my own eyes have epic memory related phail.

He has changed to an XFX, though I have personally had 2 Asus cards artifact on me and die.

 

[shaboinkin]

Are you planning on overclocking that cpu? If not, you don't really need an aftermarket cpu heatsink. It's retail so it should come with one (If not, then go on ahead) Would have you a few bucks

Also, unless the case doesn't come with fans, you don't need to replace the fans in the case if you aren't trying to overclock. To me, that's just money going to waste on flashy fans when you could invest in a fan with a better flow rate.

 

[Continuity]

Also, unless the case doesn't come with fans, you don't need to replace the fans in the case if you aren't trying to overclock. To me, that's just money going to waste on flashy fans when you could invest in a fan with a better flow rate.

the antec 300 doesn't come with front fans, it has a rear exhaust and a top exhaust but there are spaces for 2 extra fans at the front and one in the side, i'd recommend getting at least 1 at the front as an intake.

 

[Continuity]

I was referring to the motherboard, actually. I've had one on an Intel P4 chipset(775 DDR1) fail pretty epically, that never ran right at all. I've seen a couple P35 Asus boards have memory-related issues, and one P45 that would randomly forget the ram is even installed.

Never heard anything negative about Asus video cards though.

Asus are one of the better mobo makers, some swear by them - personally i'd always get either Asus or Gigabyte. However with mobos its always worth doing your homework and checking to see if the particular model has problems. plus the mobo's have evolved a lot since the p4/DDR1 days, probably not fair to judge them by such an old anecdote.

 

[Bob_F_It]

Looks like an ok setup (pretty close to mine, actually). The graphics card is some way behind the power of your CPU, but if you're considering replacing it down the line (along with sticking a third identical memory stick in), it's a good plan for the future. And then with the heatsink, you could perhaps overclock a bit to keep that CPU in the game later on.

 

[Continuity]

(along with sticking a third identical memory stick in)

Does AMD support triple channel now?

 

[Bob_F_It]

(along with sticking a third identical memory stick in)

Does AMD support triple channel now?

http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desktop/processors/athlon-ii-x2/Pages/AMD-athlon-ii-x2-processor-model-numbers-feature-comparison.aspx

Seems that x4 processors do.

 

[Continuity]

(along with sticking a third identical memory stick in)

Does AMD support triple channel now?

http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desktop/processors/athlon-ii-x2/Pages/AMD-athlon-ii-x2-processor-model-numbers-feature-comparison.aspx

Seems that x4 processors do.

Well i'm not sure exactly what you're looking at on the spec sheet that leads you to believe quad core Athlon II's use triple channel memory architecture.

With a quick look this is all I can find but it indicates the AM3 socket is dual channel only:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-channel_architecture