Advice on a new build

deconduo

Wondering if I could get some input on a PC build. Never done it before so I'm not too sure if all the parts are compatible or not. Main use of it will be playing SC2 probably, with a bit of mathematica, and browsing of course.

Solitaire

Few complaints but...

• I find its better to get one decent case than two mediocre ones Look at the Antec 200/300, Thermaltake V3 and NZXT Gamma (the latter even has cable routing!) and try to get only one of them this time
• Are you overclocking this rig? If so, look for a cheap Corsair VX550 or Antec Basiq Plus 550D. If not (or at least not heavily), you can just get a Corsair CX400 and have done with it. The Basiq 500W is an older FSP-built PSU and not as good as those alternatives.
• If you have any spare money it might be worth your while getting a bigger CPU, not so much for games as for Mathematica (although stuff like SC2 will benefit too). Although its hard to gainsay that ludicrously cheap X3-435 - its incredibly good value. Getting a similarly quick Athlon with the fourth core would take another €30, and another €30 again for a Phenom quad with all that lovely L3 cache.

If you're feeling particularly intrepid you should either overclock the CPU or try and unlock the fourth core, then OC it regardless You'd need a better cooler though - at least an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Rev2 or more likely a Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus. And a 550W PSU!

deconduo

Cool, thanks a million for the advice. The 2 cases was a copy/paste mistake, first basket still had the right price. This is the updated one:



The original GPU I had was out of stock, so I had to change it, everything else is the same. Don't think I can really afford a cooler as well right now for OC, but I got the 550W PSU so I still have that option open. How does it look now?

Solitaire

Good. Shame about the cooler though, I would only expect you to pay €15-25 for a decent model though, a Hyper 212 Plus would be more than enough

deconduo

Dropped the 1TB HDD for a 500GB, and added the arctic freezer 7. Total comes to €550 + €30 shipping. Any last things you can think of before I order? I shopped around a bit, and even with the expensive shipping, this seems like the cheapest site. Once again, thanks for the help

Solitaire

Maybe you should stick with the 1TB? That's a hell of a price for it - do Pix have it reduced right now?!

deconduo

That one is from hardwareversand actually. Its probably so cheap because its the 5400rpm version instead of the 7200. Pix doesn't have the 5400 version, and the 7200 is €75 on both sites.

Solitaire

D'oh! Dealing with loads of Pixmania stuff today and forgot this build was on HWVS

Yeah, stay away from the 5400rpm (rebadged F2) versions, they're worthless in comparison to the real F3!