How would you spec this build?

mikom

Hello there folks.
Here is what I am running at present.....

Dell vostro Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 processor (2.40GHz, 1066MHz, 8MB cache)

ATI Radeon 2600 XT graphics card

1680 x 1050 monitor, with no hdmi inputs.

Savage machine, I know. :cool:

I am looking to build a new Pc to last me a good few more years.
Here is the filled out questionnaire as required.

1. What is your budget? [around the €900 mark]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Internet, Gaming, for example Just cause 2, Battlefield 3 and GTA 5 when it arrives

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes. I was going to buy it off these lads...... http://www.pcfritz.de/software/betriebssystem/windows-7-professional/10264/windows-7-professional-64-bit]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Can I, looking at what I have listed?

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes, I'd like to upgrade to a similar size as the one I have now, a 1680 x 1050 monitor, approx 22 inches. However the new one should have one, preferably two hdmi inputs for both the new pc and an existing PS3]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? I reckon I could I get away with using my Dell vostro keyboard, speakers, and the gaming mouse I already have.?

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Willing, but probably won't. I mean look at how long my present pc at the speed it's listed at lasted me.

8. How can you pay? [cash/cheque/credit card]

9. When are you purchasing? [In approx 7 days time]

Looking forward to seeing ye deal with this mess.

Monotype

You might be able to re-use the DVD drive if it's SATA. That's about it.

Item|Price
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.12
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-17066U CL11|€66.14
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€45.97
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€101.96
MSI R7870-2GD5T/OC, 2048MB DDR5, PCI-Express|€184.54
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.68
NZXT SOURCE 210 ELITE Midi-Tower - black, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€47.66
Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€85.04
ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0, AM3+, ATX|€70.79
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€706.89

Monitor (€165)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-VS239HR-inch-Widescreen-Monitor/dp/B008J77QQM
http://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-24EA53VQ-inch-Widescreen-Monitor/dp/B00BSOT2LA

So that totals around €870 and you need windows on top of that.

BloodBath

You could treat yourself to a new set of speakers and a nice mouse. I assume the ones with the Dell aren't great.

Assuming you can use your old dvd drive and get that cheap copy of windows this should come to under €900.

Do you need a wireless card?

You might it as well overclock it as well. The parts are there for overclocking safely and you could easily get a 1ghz overclock out of it which over 6 cores is going to be a lot of extra performance.


Item|Price
8GB-Kit A-DATA XPG G Series PC1600 CL9|€60.59
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.12
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€45.97
Sharkoon Drakonia Gaming Laser Mouse|€24.37
Sharkoon Fire Glider Gaming Mat|€6.99
Wavemaster MX-3+|€39.99
LG 22EA53VQ-P|€125.83
SanDisk SSD 64GB 6,4cm S-ATA 600|€50.68
Cooltek Antiphon Black, ohne Netzteil|€60.73
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€101.96
ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0, AM3+, ATX|€70.79
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.68
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€692.69

Graphics card. €150. Not sure what pixmania delivery is.

mikom

Thanks for the replies folks.
I dig into your builds, crunch the numbers, and I see how I get on.
Will keep ye updated.

mikom

Well folks, with your help I've I put together a build for a new pc.
Could ye have a look over the parts please.


AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€101.96

Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€17.85

8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€56.58

WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.12

Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€85.04

Samsung SH-118AB schwarz|€12.45

MSI 760GA-P43 (FX), Sockel AM3+, ATX, PCIe|€51.58

Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€45.97

Cooler Master Elite 335U black, ohne Netzteil|€34.56

Graphics card €160

Windows €45

All this teamed with my existing 22in E228WFP WIDESCREEN (1680 x 1050) TCO99 DVI-D monitor.

I can run the pc through the monitors VGA input (as the current one is) and the ps3 through DVI-D, I reckon.
I would use this LogiLink HDMI zu DVI Kabel , 2m, 19-pin Typ-A zu DVI (18+1) |€5.13 to adapt the ps3's HDMI to DVI, and run the audio through my existing (fairly decent) speakers.

This deal would work out at about 654.39, that's if you think it would all go together OK and play most current games well.

Am I missing anything here.

Like has the case got enough fans to cool the pc?
It has one rear mounted one as standard, and a processor cooler is included in the build.

Would you believe it is worth my while spending a bit more on a "gold" branded power supply.
I think it will save me electricity charges over the long run....... Am I mad?

Monotype

That RAM is out of stock. Here's some slightly faster modules with heatsinks for €2 more (although timings are a bit higher).
http://www.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/66620/8GB+G.Skill+RipJaws-X+PC3-12800U+CL10.article

If you don't want to pay for the extreme 3, then what about the pro3 instead? Worth the money over the 760G board, IMO.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/79812/ASRock+970+Pro3+R2.0%2C+AM3%2B%2C+ATX.article

VGA probably won't look quite as good as VGA, but you can always try and see for yourself and upgrade to another monitor in the long run. You can use a HDMI to DVI adapter fine but you'll lose the sound - I see there's digital audio out on the PS3 as well - is this what you plan on using for the speakers?

About the gold PSU - it's worth it if you leave your computer on all day. Not really otherwise. You might save €2 per year or so with an average computer. After 5 years, that's still only €10. I gave a few examples in the PSU guide - you might save a bit more now since electricity prices would have gone up, but it'll still depend on your kind of use.

Also, check out the really cheap sharkoon cases on hardwareversand. I'd say they're not great, but they have USB 3 on the front, which isn't on many budget cases and there is a USB 3 connector on the Asrock Pro3 970 R2. You might want to throw in a few fans in as well.

BloodBath

Looks good.

I wouldn't worry about the psu too much. They are usually most efficient in the 40-60% of their max power consumption range. There's not going to be much difference between gold and bronze anyway especially in a low power consumption pc. It's more of an issue if you are running some monster power hungry pc. Leaving the pc on isn't normally an issue either as modern pc parts have power saving features, cpu and gpu's downclock and advanced standby modes that use almost no power.

mikom

Monotype wrote: »

That RAM is out of stock. Here's some slightly faster modules with heatsinks for €2 more (although timings are a bit higher).
http://www.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/66620/8GB+G.Skill+RipJaws-X+PC3-12800U+CL10.article

How will timings being a bit higher affect me, Monotype?

Monotype wrote: »

If you don't want to pay for the extreme 3, then what about the pro3 instead? Worth the money over the 760G board, IMO.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/79812/ASRock+970+Pro3+R2.0%2C+AM3%2B%2C+ATX.article

My main problem with the extreme 3 and the the pro3 is their lack of VGA or DVI outputs.
It seems they only have HDMI outs.
I suppose I could use an adaptor if you feel they would serve me better as boards.
How much better are they?

Monotype wrote: »

VGA probably won't look quite as good as VGA, but you can always try and see for yourself and upgrade to another monitor in the long run.

Running VGA here, and TBH I'm used to it.

Monotype wrote: »

You can use a HDMI to DVI adapter fine but you'll lose the sound - I see there's digital audio out on the PS3 as well - is this what you plan on using for the speakers?

Was going to take the audio from the two phono plugs on the PS3 A/V cable.
I am led to believe it wil work.

Monotype wrote: »

About the gold PSU - it's worth it if you leave your computer on all day. Not really otherwise. You might save €2 per year or so with an average computer. After 5 years, that's still only €10. I gave a few examples in the PSU guide - you might save a bit more now since electricity prices would have gone up, but it'll still depend on your kind of use.

Righty-o, scratch that so.

Monotype wrote: »

Also, check out the really cheap sharkoon cases on hardwareversand. I'd say they're not great, but they have USB 3 on the front, which isn't on many budget cases and there is a USB 3 connector on the Asrock Pro3 970 R2. You might want to throw in a few fans in as well.

Will have a look at that.
Any fans you suggest?

Monotype

Timings - lower times are faster. But the RAM is clocked faster and there's usually more gain to be had. Basically the RAM is a bit faster overall if it's faster speed and lower timings. Timings refer to the latency in doing certain operations. They make small differences so it's worth paying a few euros for better RAM in many cases, but it's not worth forking out for very high speeds. In the first component set that I posted, I picked particularly high speeds because I had previously picked out an APU build (where fast RAM makes a huge difference) and there were few modules much cheaper and in stock.
A bit of extra speed is also useful in overclocking an AMD system as the RAM is overclocked automatically when you overclock the CPU. If you pick a lower speed to start with for the RAM, your overclock will bring it back up to normal speed (or you can try overclocking the RAM too).
There's CL9 1600MHz ripjaws RAM as well for €2 more than the one I picked out as well.


Motherboard - you can't use the video outputs on the motherboard and on the graphics card. You will be connecting to the graphics card only. The motherboard ones won't work. The newer AM3+ boards don't have integrated graphics at all, hence no DVI/HDMI/VGA connectors on them. They don't have HDMI either... maybe you're looking at the eSATA port on the extreme3?


Fans... well if the motherboard supports it, you can connect them to that and usually configure them to rev down if they're noisy.
I think this is one that I got a while ago and it was pretty quiet.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/120mm/36288/Enermax+T.B.Silence+12x12cm.article
or get an Arctic Cooling F12 which are cheap enough.

Edit: Before you ask, you can probably use an adapter for one of the DVI outputs on the graphics card to convert to VGA. You will usually get one of these in the box with the graphics card.

mikom

Ok folks, changes made.
I think I am learning a bit here, as that speed and timings thing was new to me.


Could ye have a look over the parts once more please.
The changes on advisement are.....

1. The ram with fast speed and lower timings.
2. The motherboard, now that I see it will work with my setup.
3. The case, usb 3 and two fans come as standard.
4. Two extra fans added.

____________________________

8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL8-8-8-24 |€68.62

ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0, AM3+, ATX|€70.79

NZXT SOURCE 210 ELITE Midi-Tower - black, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€47.66

Enermax T.B.Silence 12x12cm |€6.64

Enermax T.B.Silence 12x12cm |€6.64

AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€101.96

Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€17.85

WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.12

Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€85.04

Samsung SH-118AB schwarz|€12.45

Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€45.97

Graphics card €160

Windows €45

____________________________


This deal would work out at about €729 plus delivery.
I think I might chance building it myself............... might learn some more.

I'll just ask again, am I missing anything here?
Also the graphics card on pixmania has this listed in its specs "required Power Supply 500 W", so am I underpowered with the original Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|?

BloodBath

I'd probably go for the Cooltek case over the nzxt source. It would be the same price as that with those 2 extra fans and it comes with 3 fans + a fan controller.

Monotype

I thought that you already had a DVD drive? There's DVD writers for €4 more. E.g., http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=69324

Graphics cards put that power thing on to cover themselves for people who buy crap overrated PSUs that aren't capable of half of their advertised output. You're fine with the 450W amazon.

mikom

BloodBath wrote: »

I'd probably go for the Cooltek case over the nzxt source. It would be the same price as that with those 2 extra fans and it comes with 3 fans + a fan controller.

Seems to be out of stock, BloodBath.
This one looks the biz, gets good reviews, comes with two fans, fan controller, and a HDD docking station.......... http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=53007&agid=631&apop=5
A few bob more, but I might go for it.

Monotype wrote: »

I thought that you already had a DVD drive? There's DVD writers for €4 more. E.g., http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=69324

After a chat at home I may give the old pc to my brother, and I believe he will want the DVD drive within it.
For €4 I think I'll change my selection for your suggestion.

Monotype wrote: »

Graphics cards put that power thing on to cover themselves for people who buy crap overrated PSUs that aren't capable of half of their advertised output. You're fine with the 450W amazon.

Thanks for clarification.