First Time Gaming PC Help/Advice

marco_polo

Sure it is the first step to efficiency , however a PFC of .09 says little about the efficiency of the PSU when it come to using the working power available

If cheap PSU were so power efficent just on this basis, then there ought to be plenty of 80Plus certified generic PSUs floating around the EU, and that is clearly not the case.

Monotype

While there's standards here, are they actually always kept? - Auditors can be given key samples or they can be overlooked during import. I would be interested in seeing how a Dabs best value 520W compares to other PSUs (aside from the dated connectors). Unfortunately, I don't have the resources or the skills... yet.

Curry Addict

marco_polo wrote: »

Sure it is the first step to efficiency , however a PFC of .09 says little about the efficiency of the PSU when it come to using the working power available

If cheap PSU were so power efficent just on this basis, then there ought to be plenty of 80Plus certified generic PSUs floating around the EU, and that is clearly not the case.

i agree with ya that it seems odd. tbh it is such a gray area its hard to know the facts. PFC should be a function of full load ideally and you would like to think it is but usually the detail is omitted so no conclusion can be made.

who knows how long and how much trouble it is to get 80plus certified, particularly if your a chinese based manufacturer exporting world wide where u have many markets other than the EU.

maybe i will go and test my own PSU and draw some usefull conclusions

marco_polo

Monotype wrote: »

While there's standards here, are they actually always kept? - Auditors can be given key samples or they can be overlooked during import. I would be interested in seeing how a Dabs best value 520W compares to other PSUs (aside from the dated connectors). Unfortunately, I don't have the resources or the skills... yet.

The OEM is a company called Ace so it is either one of these of very similar.

http://www.trymarket.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1480

As you can see it is a combined 12V rail of (12 + 14) = 26 amps, less than the single 30amp rail on the CX400W.

Compare that with the corsair HX520, which has three beefy 18a 12V rails.

http://www.corsair.com/products/hx/default.aspx.

The first thing to note is that the Ace unit carries the CE mark which signals full compliance with EU standards (meaning including IEC/EN61000-3-2), and yet is clearly not a 520W PSU. I don't think that there are any EU standards on labeling to the best of my knowledge.

Another indicator of cheaper PSUs is that they tend to only supports 240V input not (110-240V) and thus are not switchable power supplies (SMPS). Non-SMPS tends to correlate with lower quality PSUs as they are cheaper to manufacture.
Non-SMPS units also invariably have passive PFC systems instead of active PFC systems which have a lower power factor at the wall as well.

Does it mean that the Ace unit is dangerous? Of course not, but it is entirely unsuitable for any medium to high end build as the maximum 12V power it could possibly supply in theory is (12V X 26a) = 312W (I am not even sure if it could do so continuously).

What else they have done to drive the cost down to £13 who knows.

Ryan451

How's this for an AMD build?
Would it be as good as the other intel build i showed earlier?
Will it play in full HD?

Monotype

If you went AMD, I wouldn't downgrade the graphics card so much. 5750 and the 460 is a substantial gap.

Ryan451

Taking that into consideration and seeing how much the AMD would cost with the GTX460, i might just stick to the intel build but downgrade the case to save extra money to go towards an OS. Thanks

Ryan451

Will the Corsair TX650 be enough for the PSU?

Monotype

The tx650 would be fine for any of those systems listed, with 'room' to spare.

Ryan451

This is what i've finally decided to stick with.



Will all the cables needed be supplied or will i have to buy extras?

Are all the parts compatible with one another?

Do the components come with instruction manuals? Will they be in English or German?

Any recommendations on a good Internet Security software?

Monotype

Manuals-
You'd usually get a manual with the motherboard with about six different languages. You can dowload it if you get stuck anyway.
You'll probably get a quick guide with the case, more pictures than writing.
CPU, quick manual, many languages, mostly pictures.
Harddrive and RAM - probably nothing.
PSU - Maybe some pictures.
GPU - Probably a manual telling you about drivers etc., in a few languages. You won't need this.

The only ones you'll really be looking at are the case and the motherboard.

Those parts look fine for each other.
Your motherboard comes with two SATA cables and one IDE cable for harddrive/DVD.
Your PSU will have all the power cables.

You might need an adapter for the PSU plug, depending on what they send. Somebody who has ordered from them might be able to tell you. Or you could use the plug from an old PC.

Edit: GA-P55A-UD3 Motherboard manual.

Ryan451

Is a network card an important add on or is one included?

Trevor451

99% of the time the ethernet port is built into the motherboard like the one you are going to purchase however if you use wireless connection you can always buy a USB wifi dongle or you could buy these (Ethernet over power)

Ryan451

Thanks Trev

Ryan451

Will this monitor be ok to run games at Full HD?

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/6795205/art/acer/x223hqbbmd-21-5-wide-tft.html#tech-specs

And how is this for a PSU instead of the other one?

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29234&agid=240

Do i buy the 32bit or 64bit of Windows 7?

Antec 300 or 600?

Monotype

I'd stick with the corsair or the amazon series of the superflowers.

Definitely 64-bit.

Ryan451

What about the monitor? Is it 1080p?

marco_polo

Ryan451 wrote: »

What about the monitor? Is it 1080p?

Its sure is, 1,920 x 1,080 in the tech specs tab.

Ryan451

Ok, so clicked order on HWVS, got the email with account details, now all i have to do is finish the bank transfer and my order will be sent?

Ryan451

I ordered and the shipment is at the airport according to DHL.de

Thanks to everybody who helped me out over the course of this month or so. I really appreciate it and i will post some pics when i have it finished.