New Pc build

witnessmenow

So about 6 months ago i built a budgety PC:

Here is the main list with these ammendments

Its OC to 4Ghz

Now Im after getting a job and i could do with a second PC, one for Limerick and for Athlone.

Now I always said I would build a **** hot PC when i got a job, but to be honest the other PC is fine for me! on a 22" It runs everyhting i throw at it maxed bar crysis , so why would i bother spend more?

So I spent about €500 ish back then, im looking to spend around the same again, well a small bit more as I need a KB, mouse and a monitor (want a 22" that supports HDCP) A clone of my other PC would do me fine, but Im wondering can my money be better sepnt now?

Just out of curiosty i tried to reproduce my machine on HWS, €510 with delivery, with some minor changes (e5200 ->e5400, 4850 512->4850 1gb I know not great but It was the closest to the original i could find), on that note, man Ram has really gone up in price, almost twice as expensive as it was last time

Just focusing on the PC, does anyone have any recomandations to what I should be looking at to get the best value? Pc needs a TB hard drive anyways.

I'd prefer to buy of HWS, but if the price is right I'll go else where

Thanks

Mister Man

Honestly i wouldn't go with a pentium again... here's my list




It will give you a basic idea, i wasnt sure if you wanted a gaming mouse and keyboard, so i just stuck with something simple, Motherboard, it's cheap but the reviews say its pretty good, RAM is the cheapest on the site, i actully dont know why i put it in your list, so fell free to swap lol, graphics card seem's good, was thinking about getting it myself reviews seem good, Screen, i don't know if it has everything you want, but there it is anyway, and the ADM Athlon II X3 435 Is a pretty good CPU... If you do want to stick with Intel im sure someone will do up a nice Intel build
Good bit of cash left over to make parts better (RAM most of all)

jonny72

Mister Man wrote: »

Honestly i wouldn't go with a pentium again... here's my list




It will give you a basic idea, i wasnt sure if you wanted a gaming mouse and keyboard, so i just stuck with something simple, Motherboard, it's cheap but the reviews say its pretty good, RAM is the cheapest on the site, i actully dont know why i put it in your list, so fell free to swap lol, graphics card seem's good, was thinking about getting it myself reviews seem good, Screen, i don't know if it has everything you want, but there it is anyway, and the ADM Athlon II X3 435 Is a pretty good CPU... If you do want to stick with Intel im sure someone will do up a nice Intel build
Good bit of cash left over to make parts better (RAM most of all)

Swap out that 4670.. and put in a 4770 or 4850, much better than a 4670 and the same price as the one listed there
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4670_IceQ_Turbo/26.html


Don't worry about getting the '1 gig' version of cards, they make v little difference except at very high res and to be honest you won't be using a 4850 for that. The AMD tri-core is good though.

Solitaire

If you can't afford a HD5750, get a cheap HD4770. Don't bother messing with HD4850s, especially if you don't have a spare €70 for a suitable PSU to run it! The HD4770 uses less than half the power of the HD4850, the HD5750 less still.

That HDD is a joke. For another tenner you can get much better ones... with over three times the capacity

Mobo is okay but would need BIOS updates. Keep an eye out for more recent chipsets (760, 770, 785V) if you can find them for under €60.

Bear in mind that some people have been having issues with that Elixir RAM. If you ignore it then you may find that the gap between DDR2 and DDR3 isn't that large at all any more... so don't count out AM3 mobos just yet!

marco_polo

Speaking of Ram prices I was looking at the invoice from my last build in July, 2 X 2GB OCZ DDR3-12800 were only 55 euro + vat from komplett at the time. .

On the flip side cheap AM3 boards were pretty much non existent at the time, and there are plenty of budget options around now.

Solitaire

Just checked: no decent mobos on HWVS cheaper than the MSI 770-C45 are compatible with the X3-435. If you're on a tight budget and are looking at a cheaper mobo you're stuck with an X2-250 or similar

Oh, and HWVS don't have any HD4770s or similar. You go straight from a HD4670 to a HD5750... :rolleyes:

Methinks eBuyer waxes as HWVS wanes

witnessmenow

I might be able to use ebuyer, you see, as with the last one, this will be for work purposes and HWS are very convenient for that if you get my drift, might be able to do the same thing with ebuyer, I'll pop them a mail.

witnessmenow

Not heard back from ebuyer yet, but in the mean time what do you think of this?



Its higher than I originally wanted to spend, but i think i'd be willing to spend it.

Firstly opinions on the build?

Secondly, anywhere i could cut corners?

EDIT: I notice i have no disk drive.... oops so thats an extra €20

Jock Strap

witnessmenow wrote: »

Firstly opinions on the build?

So much for sticking close to the budget. :rolleyes:

witnessmenow wrote: »

Secondly, anywhere i could cut corners?

Yes.
Cheaper RAM. Do you need CL7?
Get rid of that cooler.
I'd say change the case or get rid of the extra fans. I don't see why all this cooling is needed.
Swap PSU for CX 400W.
I've no comments on that monitor, but I don't see why change it from the one in Mister Man's build.

Solitaire

AFAIK MSI 770-C45 > MA770-UD3P. And its cheaper too! Of course, if you fancy your chances you can try to unlock the other two cores on the X2-550BE with the MSI... 3.1GHz quad core for cheap

RAM is silly, get the RipJaws, far cheaper. ~€73 for the CL9 stuff and about a fiver more for the CL7 Rips!

CPU cooler is silly, if you intend to OC or unlock the other cores then get an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Rev2 at most.

I know the A300 has no intake fans but you should spend less on the intakes if you can! If you really need them at all... the bottom-mounted PSU should help draw air from the front across the graphics card anyway!

Drop the PSU down to a CX400.

I've seen cheaper monitors than that... there's even a 1080p 22" lurking for €115, but its misfiled under 21"

And if you can't find a cheap HD5750 in stock on HWVS it could end up cheaper grabbing one off Pixmania... could end up cheaper even with the added shipping!

witnessmenow

Well I was planning on OC it so I would have though a decent cooler and the fans would be essential? Which also brings me to the 400W PSU, will it still work if I OC the GFX and the CPU?

I wouldnt mind a diffrent case, as i have that one already! But i am very happy with it at the same time and would be prefer to keep it rather than take a drop in quality.

I want HDCP in a monitor, you need it to connect a PS3 to it. Its definitly worth €14 to me

Nope I dont really, will drop to the cheaper RAM thanks the rip.. whatevers you first said before the edit

Effluo

Right well if you're getting the VAT back then believe it or not Komplett suddenly become competitive!

Rate you pay
Britain 17.5% €100 = €85.11

Germany 19% €100 = €84

Ireland 21% €100 = €82.65


So you can see when getting the vat back you have to calculate that into the component costs!

witnessmenow

Yes but with komplett you have to pay the VAT up front and claim it back, with HWS you ask them to remove the VAT from the invoice alltogether

Solitaire

If you're serious about OCing then spend the extra on a 550W PSU like the Basiq Plus or VX550.

Effluo

witnessmenow wrote: »

Yes but with komplett you have to pay the VAT up front and claim it back, with HWS you ask them to remove the VAT from the invoice alltogether

overclockers.co.uk also take the vat off b4 you pay

leninbenjamin

witnessmenow wrote: »

Yes but with komplett you have to pay the VAT up front and claim it back, with HWS you ask them to remove the VAT from the invoice alltogether

do HWS actually do this? I went as far as getting a native German to try and contact them to find out but they didn't respond to emails and we couldn't even get them to answer a bleedin' phone. Have to say, I'd be wary of using them so were so hard to get in contact with.

Overclockers will also deduct at point of sale but only if you order over the phone I was told.

witnessmenow

So we made improvements AND saved money, wooo go forum!

Still forgot the disc drive :P But saying that I'm actually considering do i need one at all. 2 Pc agos has a Nec DVD-RW running cutom firmware that was the bees knees for burning 360 games... may aswell just use that, is IDE though.

Yes Lenin they certainly do, I have done it twice with them. It does feel pretty awkward though, you never know whats going on with them!