Recommend a build for me please!

Tinie

1. What is your budget? [up to €400-450]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [office computing, programming (dreamweaver etc.), internet browsing, music production, graphic design, college work, watching movies, the odd bit of gaming (games such as football manager, Team fortress 2, Day Z etc.) )

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [No]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [N/A]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1080p LED TV

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? HDMI + a DVI/RGB port for dual monitor setup, USB 3.0 (one or two ports will do)

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No]

8. How can you pay? paypal/laser/visa

9. When are you purchasing? [In the next week]

10. I might need help building it. Waterford/Kilkenny area
thanks!

Serephucus

How's this look? I went mostly for all-round speed, rather than a pure gaming rig.

Item|Price
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Core 1000 black|€29.36
Corsair VS Serie VS350, Non-Modular, 80+|€29.29
ASRock FM2A75M-DGS, FM2, mATX|€54.07
AMD A10 5800K Black Edition mit AMD Radeon HD 7660D Grafikeinheit, Tray, FM2|€107.58
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.94
8GB Corsair XMS3 PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€53.97
Samsung SSD 840 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€149.57
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€472.77

BloodBath

A little over budget but a very good build for that kind of money. A couple of items out of stock at the moment but they might be back by the time you order. The fx-6300 is a steal for that price. They must have just dropped it.

Item|Price
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€104.00
ASRock 970DE3/U3S3, AM3+, ATX|€55.64
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws PC3-10667U CL9|€50.95
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€56.69
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€32.32
ARCTIC COOLING ARCTIC F12|€3.29
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 400W|€39.76
XFX DD RADEON 7770 1000M 1GB D5 mDP HDMI DVI|€102.98
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€464.62

Tinie

Serephucus wrote: »

How's this look? I went mostly for all-round speed, rather than a pure gaming rig.

Cheers for that. Looks good, but id say id never really use the SSD drive. Im guessing, just from a quick look at the specs, that the AMD FX 6300 that Bloodbath posted, is the better processor for the price?

BloodBath wrote: »

A little over budget but a very good build for that kind of money. A couple of items out of stock at the moment but they might be back by the time you order. The fx-6300 is a steal for that price. They must have just dropped it.

Thanks for that. The AMD FX 6300 does look like a good offer at the moment yeah. Im not really experienced on processors, but how would that compare to the typical i3 or i5 ivy bridge's?

Serephucus

What do you mean, you'd never use the SSD? If you haven't looked into them already, you should. They're the best thing to happen to computers in a while. They speed up absolutely everything, and make a crapheap of a computer feel extremely snappy. Ten second boot times, all of your applications instantly loading... They pretty much mean your computer will never be "getting slow".

Bloodbath's build has more power, but whether you'd use that with games like football manager is questionable (I don't know, not interested in that sort of thing, but I'd imagine not) in which case an SSD would be far more beneficial.

Tinie

Serephucus wrote: »

What do you mean, you'd never use the SSD? If you haven't looked into them already, you should. They're the best thing to happen to computers in a while. They speed up absolutely everything, and make a crapheap of a computer feel extremely snappy. Ten second boot times, all of your applications instantly loading... They pretty much mean your computer will never be "getting slow".

Bloodbath's build has more power, but whether you'd use that with games like football manager is questionable (I don't know, not interested in that sort of thing, but I'd imagine not) in which case an SSD would be far more beneficial.

I meant, id probably not notice the difference in speed with an SSD over a typical 7200rpm HD, but since you give a good argument, and ive been meaning to try them for a while, I may go with one. The graphics card bloodbath listed seems very good, just from a quick look on youtube (games running on ultra at 1080p res with 30fps) so I may get it for future proof.

Also, one thing I forgot to mention was id also be looking to get a blu ray drive if possible. Im guessing a read only blu ray drive still allows you to rip DVDs and CDs fine? Any recommendations? cheers

Serephucus

Tinie wrote: »

I meant, id probably not notice the difference in speed with an SSD over a typical 7200rpm HD, but since you give a good argument, and ive been meaning to try them for a while, I may go with one. The graphics card bloodbath listed seems very good, just from a quick look on youtube (games running on ultra at 1080p res with 30fps) so I may get it for future proof.

Also, one thing I forgot to mention was id also be looking to get a blu ray drive if possible. Im guessing a read only blu ray drive still allows you to rip DVDs and CDs fine? Any recommendations? cheers

The difference from mechanical drives is huge. Put it this way: I'll never be using a mechanical drive again. I can't stand them now.

You could always throw in the graphics card later on if you wanted. It's probably one of the easiest upgrades you can make. I'd maybe swap the PSU to this instead if you're thinking of that though. The 350W unit will handle a 7770, but not much else. The 450W unit will handle pretty much any card out there.

I don't know anything really about blu-ray drives other than they can be a right pain in the hole to get working with certain things. Something about DRM or regions or the like. I'll leave that one to someone else.

BloodBath

The processors are around the same performance wise. The 6300 doesn't have an integrated graphics processor while the 5800k does. The 5800k has the best integrated graphics of any processor at the moment but it's still nowhere near as good as the 7770.

The ssd will make a very noticeable difference to the overall speed and loading times of anything installed on it. It won't effect the frame rates of games though.

Basically Sereph's build will be better for general use and mine is better for gaming although his is still capable of running most games with the settings turned down.

If you go with the 5800k I'd get higher speed ram though as it will improve the performance of the integrated graphics by quite a bit.

Serephucus

Can you use (I forget what it's called) Hybrid CF, or similar, with something like a 7770 and the IGP?

BloodBath

You can but only with a certain card. I think it's a 6670 or something like that.

Serephucus

Fair enough. I was just thinking if he did add a dedicated GPU - later on or right away - he could eek out a bit more performance.

Tsar_debean

BloodBath wrote: »

Item|Price
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€104.00
ASRock 970DE3/U3S3, AM3+, ATX|€55.64
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws PC3-10667U CL9|€50.95
XFX DD RADEON 7770 1000M 1GB D5 mDP HDMI DVI|€102.98

using a similar build as listed above with 2 exceptions

1)i have the overclocked 2gb version of the 7770 and works a dream on most things

& as the op pointed out

2) i have a SSD who doesn't love 9 seconds to boot up windows, I'm using this little fellow here http://ocz.com/consumer/agility-3-sata-3-ssd (no longer listed on any website was sub €80 in pc world on clearance)

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Solid-State-Disk/58241/Intel+SSD+330+Series+60GB%2C+SATA+6Gb+s.article for an extra €70 euro on top of bloodbaths build maybe worth a shot, you will need either the h/d he pointed out for storage or go for something cheaper(i recycled the 3 * samsung 500gig sata's i had from a previous rig)

just thought i'd throw a couple of pennys worth of advice in

Tinie

Yeah I may go for that 60gb Intel SSD for purely installing Windows, programs and the few games I have on it, and possibly reuse an old 500GB hard drive I have here.


Possibly a noobish question, but figured id ask anyway. I have a dell inspiron 501 desktop thats been lying here for a while. Can I reuse the case for that on this new build, or will it be too much hassle to save €50? Reason being is it has a working DVD drive in it, which I could leave in to use also.

BloodBath

If getting an ssd you might as well get this. Twice the storage space and faster transfer speeds for only €15 more.

I don't know about using the Dell case tbh. If it's a standard atx it should be ok but I'd go with the new case.

Tsar_debean

the recyled case idea might not be a runner i noticed that the as rock board was about 3 inches longer and 2 inches narrower then the micro atx board i had in my case previously(mine takes a full board so no issue there for me)

Tinie

BloodBath wrote: »

If you go with the 5800k I'd get higher speed ram though as it will improve the performance of the integrated graphics by quite a bit.

Could you recommend me some higher speed ram to go with the 5800k please, im just trying to keep my options open.

Also Serephucus, is there a HDMI connection in your original build above, as I cant see it.

Monotype

Most dell cases would not be compatible.

Given that gaming is being classified as "the odd bit" and office uses being the primary function, I would try to get an SSD in there too. It really helps in just general computer usage when you're flicking between programs. However, the FX6300 is really excellent value at the moment if processing power was high priority at low cost - paired with the 7770, you have a great system for budget gaming.

Here's some possibilities for faster RAM.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/1866+Low+Voltage/66606/8GB+G.Skill+RipJawsX+PC3-14900U+CL10.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/2133+Low+Voltage/66733/8GB-Kit+G.Skill+RipJaws-X+PC3-17066U+CL11.article

Here's a better board with HDMI. + €2
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/66940/MSI+FM2-A75MA-E35%2C+FM2%2C+mATX.article

Serephucus

My build actually doesn't have HDMI, I thought it did, sorry.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/1024+MB/75780/ZOTAC++GeFORCE+GT+210+with+CUDA+Synergy+Edition++HDMI.article

That will give you DVI and HDMI connections, so you'll get digital signal for both your monitors.

As for RAM:
1600MHz:http://www.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/74314/8GB+G.Skill+PC3-12800U+CL11-11-11-28.article
1866MHz: http://www.hardwareversand.de/1866+Low+Voltage/66606/8GB+G.Skill+RipJawsX+PC3-14900U+CL10.article

Tinie

Ok think I might go with this:

8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws PC3-10667U CL9: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44312&agid=1192

ASRock 970DE3/U3S3, AM3+, ATX: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=59310&agid=1232

Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=67795&agid=1145

XFX DD RADEON 7770 1000M 1GB D5 mDP HDMI DVI: http://www.hardwareversand.de/1024+MB/56014/XFX+DD+RADEON+7770+1000M+1GB+D5+mDP+HDMI+DVI.article
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30074&agid=1627

ARCTIC COOLING ARCTIC F12: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49250&agid=1989

AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=68997&agid=1242

FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Core 1000 black: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49193&agid=635


All OK? Anything I should upgrade/downgrade to with a few euro in the difference? Or anything im missing that is essential?

Serephucus

Looks good. You'll end up with two 120mm fans in the front (the case comes with one), and the PSU should take care of exhaust air. This means you'll end up with a positive air pressure setup, which is better on temperatures, and also helps stop dust build-up. Looks like a nice rig.

Monotype

That a large motherboard and small case. Either get a smaller board or bigger case.
E.g., this for the case:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/Midi/50576/BitFenix+Merc+Beta.article

All mATX AM3+ motherboards are a bit sh1t for some reason as they seem to be where all the low end old chipsets go (which is strange as there was better than this about two years ago).

wallyMe

7790 if you can manage it

BloodBath

Get the merc Alpha. It has more cooling options than the beta.

Monotype

Not if you don't put fans in. Leaving empty spaces where fans could go disrupts airflow. Beta has 5 places for fans, alpha has 7. If you were going to fill all of those, then certainly buy the Alpha. It could get noisy with that many fans, but I suppose you could just buy all low rev ones and still have a lot of air moving when there's 7!

BTW, two fans is fine for a basic build.

Tinie

Ive changed a few things to try and bring the price down a bit.

8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws PC3-10667U CL9: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44312&agid=1192

ASRock 970DE3/U3S3, AM3+, ATX: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=59310&agid=1232

Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=67795&agid=1145

XFX DD RADEON 7770 1000M 1GB D5 mDP HDMI DVI: http://www.hardwareversand.de/1024+MB/56014/XFX+DD+RADEON+7770+1000M+1GB+D5+mDP+HDMI+DVI.article

Corsair VS Serie VS350, Non-Modular, 80+: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=74207&agid=1626


AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=68997&agid=1242

Cooltek K3 Evo 3.0 Midi Tower, ATX, schwarz, ohne Netzteil: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=53235&agid=631


Total: €489 delivered.


Thoughts? Is there anything im missing thats needed or has to be changed? I changed the case as its got USB 3.0 and looks nicer :pac: Or do you guys have any recommendations for a case for sub €50? Does the processor come with its own cooling and do I need any more fans? Thanks.

BloodBath

If you decide to upgrade your processor and/or graphics card down the line then the psu might struggle.

I'd go for at least the super flower amazon 450w or the be-quiet system power 7 450w.

The merc beta is a better case than that one for less imo.

The mainboard doesn't have usb 3 headers. A pretty common thing with lower and mid end am3 boards.

You won't be able to use the front usb's 3's with it.

marco_polo

Yeah unfortunately the cheapest front USB 3.0 AM3 option appears to be the €80+ Extreme4, there is an R2.0 version of the Pro3 listed on the Asrock site that has a single USB3.0 front header, which would probably be a good deal cheaper but HWVS (indeed most places) don't appear to stock it yet.

Tinie

Oh I dont mind that USB 3.0 wouldnt be on the front, I dont mind using back ports. i just assumed it had usb 3.0 headers.

marco_polo

Tinie wrote: »

Oh I dont mind that USB 3.0 wouldnt be on the front, I dont mind using back ports. i just assumed it had usb 3.0 headers.

Might as well save a tenner and go with the merc alpha then, you don't need a USB 3.0 case for the back ports on the motherboard.

Although I would put that €10 towards a better PSU as bloodbath suggests rather than pocketing it, the extra wattage will come in handy should you ever decided to overclock the FX6300 and/or upgrade to a more powerful GPU.

Tinie

Would the Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W be sufficient for the XFX RADEON 7790 CORE 1075M 1GB? As I might spend the extra €20 and get that instead of the 7770. Anything else I would need if I was to upgrade to that GFX card? More fans perhaps? I have a fan from an old dell desktop here that still works.

Also, both the 7770 and 7790 support dual monitors right? Like one HDMI TV and DVI Monitor at the same time? Thanks

Gumbi

Tinie wrote: »

Would the Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W be sufficient for the XFX RADEON 7790 CORE 1075M 1GB? As I might spend the extra €20 and get that instead of the 7770. Anything else I would need if I was to upgrade to that GFX card? More fans perhaps? I have a fan from an old dell desktop here that still works.

Also, both the 7770 and 7790 support dual monitors right? Like one HDMI TV and DVI Monitor at the same time? Thanks

Plenty

Tinie

Would this motherboard be compatible and good enough for my setup above: http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=46234&agid=1232&apop=1

I've tried googling, but cant find much info. Reason im asking, is the ASRock motherboard is OOS until the 16th may, and I cant wait that long, as I will probably be gone off when delivery arrives. So need to get this shipped soon. Everything else is in stock. I can live without USB 3.0 for a few more years after consideration (I dont even own any 3.0 devices yet).

Quick specs of the build are: Bitfenix Merc case/ XFX Radeon 7790/ AMD FX-6300 CPU/ SSD 120GB Samsung/ 8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws PC3-10667U CL9 and Corsair CX Series Modular CX430M, 430W PSU.

Thanks in advance.

Monotype

Yeah, that motherboard would do, but I think that it would be worth paying the extra as you'd be down SATA 6Gbps ports which are important to get good speeds from an SSD, as well as no USB 3 and less USB 2 ports. Don't skimp too much on the board. It could last you through a few CPU and graphics card upgrades.

This one looks good enough. A bit dearer but you get a few extras.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/72465/MSI+970A-G43%2C+AMD+Sockel+AM3%2B%2C+ATX%2C+DDR3.article
Can't really find much evidence on its performance with overclocking, but apparently it has less heatsinks which could cause problems with high overclocks of their top end CPUs.

marco_polo

Monotype wrote: »

Yeah, that motherboard would do, but I think that it would be worth paying the extra as you'd be down SATA 6Gbps ports which are important to get good speeds from an SSD, as well as no USB 3 and less USB 2 ports. Don't skimp too much on the board. It could last you through a few CPU and graphics card upgrades.

This one looks good enough. A bit dearer but you get a few extras.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/72465/MSI+970A-G43%2C+AMD+Sockel+AM3%2B%2C+ATX%2C+DDR3.article
Can't really find much evidence on its performance with overclocking, but apparently it has less heatsinks which could cause problems with high overclocks of their top end CPUs.

It would be grand for the FX-6300, although for 100% maximum overclocks of an FX-8350 you'd probably need to head into the €80 category anyway to boards such as the the ASUS M5A97, Asrock Extreme4 or Gigabyte GA-970-UD3 , as by all accounts even very solid but slightly cheaper boards like the Extreme3 and G46 can slightly throttle the FX8350 in some cases.

Tinie

Monotype wrote: »

Yeah, that motherboard would do, but I think that it would be worth paying the extra as you'd be down SATA 6Gbps ports which are important to get good speeds from an SSD, as well as no USB 3 and less USB 2 ports. Don't skimp too much on the board. It could last you through a few CPU and graphics card upgrades.

This one looks good enough. A bit dearer but you get a few extras.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/72465/MSI+970A-G43%2C+AMD+Sockel+AM3%2B%2C+ATX%2C+DDR3.article
Can't really find much evidence on its performance with overclocking, but apparently it has less heatsinks which could cause problems with high overclocks of their top end CPUs.

Thanks for the info. I found this MSI board for over a tenner cheaper which doesnt seem to have much in the difference, so might go with this one. http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=73366&agid=1232&apop=4


Im not sure if ill be overclocking, but may do so in the future.

Or is there anything you can see thats different? Sorry about the constant questions, its just I want to have everything right, and have it ordered by this evening, and the board is the last thing I need, and want one thats in stock now preferably.

Monotype

Older chipset for starters, which would probably have a few effects here and there. Less SATA 6Gbps ports and a PCI-E slot less are the things that catch my attention anyway.

Tinie

Monotype wrote: »

Older chipset for starters, which would probably have a few effects here and there. Less SATA 6Gbps ports and a PCI-E slot less are the things that catch my attention anyway.

Would that matter much though for my build? ill only be using one SSD and max of 2 hard drives at any time. Will only be using one graphics card and wont be adding any more components after my build id say. am I right in thinking it has one USB 3.0 header?

Would the older chipset hinder performance or anything?

marco_polo

It will be fine if that is about as far as the mobo budget can stretch, at least it has a couple of SATA3 and USB 3.0 ports anyway.

Its fully up to date with support for the latest Vishera CPUs, so just make sure to grab the latest BIOS version from the MSI website when it arrives.

Its not going to break any world records but it should be alright for some moderate overclocking of the FX6300 as well if you decide to dabble down the line.

Tinie

Ok bought and paid for my build. €480 in total. Good for what ive got I think.

Im just having some trouble now doing the bank transfer.

Im using AIB internet banking, so what do I put under receiver name, is it
Financial institution Deutsche Postbank AG Dortmund

or

Remittee: hardwareversand.de GmbH


Also, what do I put in for "Senders message to receiver:" ?

Do I put in my order number and name?

Any help welcome, ASAP also please!

GHOST MGG

RECIEVER: hardwareversand.de gmbh
senders message to reciever:put your purpose number you got in your email.thats what i do all the time and it works fine.

Tinie

GHOST MGG wrote: »

RECIEVER: hardwareversand.de gmbh
senders message to reciever:put your purpose number you got in your email.thats what i do all the time and it works fine.

Thanks, but I missed your message, as I was in a rush to put the payment through before heading out. I put in hardwareversand.de for receiver, and in receiver message, I put in the Order Number. I put the Intended Purpose and the number in the message during over IBAN. Hope everything goes ok.

GHOST MGG

yeah tinie that should work also,let us know how long it takes for them to receive your payment
as i also put a new order in last friday and im still waiting for bank transfer confirmation from hardwareversand:-)

Tinie

GHOST MGG wrote: »

yeah tinie that should work also,let us know how long it takes for them to receive your payment
as i also put a new order in last friday and im still waiting for bank transfer confirmation from hardwareversand:-)

Just received this email saying:

Dear Mr,

in the context of your online order of the 2013-05-13 we want to inform you that your payment amounting to XXX EUR was received on the 2013-05-14 at 09:26.

Hopefully it gets shipped today then.

GHOST MGG

thats great tinie thanks.i had to phone them this morning to make sure my transfer went through
they hadnt emailed me because one item was out of stock until tomorrow,which to be fair i thought was a bit strange because ive always received an email when the transfer was recieved..its an awful lot of money to be left floating around without confirmation of some sort glad its sorted now:-) good luck with your build

Tinie

It now says this on the order history: 2013-5-14 at 10:30 Due to your payment the order was cleared for delivery.

I didnt receive a despatch email, is this normal, or has it not yet been despatched?

Serephucus

Dispatch is a different thing. "Cleared for delivery" just means it's sitting in the warehouse waiting for a DHL van to come pick it up.

Tinie

Cool.

Tinie

My delivery on the UPS website is for end of working day on friday. Do UPS deliver to your house when delivery HVS packages, or do they give them over to An Post who deliver them the next working day?

Serephucus

UPS will deliver directly.

Tsar_debean

Serephucus wrote: »

UPS will deliver directly.

yups can't fault the ups delivery could track it all the way here arrived nice and prompt too, gave an english delivery a 2 day head start and it got here before royal mails did

Tinie

Got the parts yesterday, built it and its working fine. Bar 2 little things. firstly the DVD drive I added, is recognised, and works, but it doesnt run dvds automatically, and sometimes when I right click the drive and select autoplay/run, it will start spinning, but nothing comes up off the DVD. Sometimes it does though, its very odd.

Second thing is, my MSI mother board http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/73366/MSI+760GA-P43+%28FX%29%2C+Sockel+AM3%2B%2C+ATX%2C+PCIe.article has 6 sata ports, 1-8, with the first 6 being black, and the last 2 being grey. Im not sure if I have the correct sata port selected for my SSD though. Theyre is nothing in the manual telling you which one to select for an SSD, to get the fastest speeds. The motherboard has 2 x SATA-600, 6 x SATA-300 (RAID). Which sata port should I pick, or does it matter?