Buying a new PC: It's a nightmare

[Letum]

Going mainly with Peto's advice:

M.B:
Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H AMD 790GX Socket AM2+ VGA DVI HDMI 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard.
~ £125

Processor:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition
~ £170

RAM:
Cosair (TWIN3X2048-1333C9DHX) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
~ £50 per 2gb

Graphics:
Don't know yet. Anyone got some ATI suggestions?
How about the Sapphire HD 4890?
~ £190

Case:
As cheep as I can get. I don't care if it looks like a pile of crap.
How can I tell if my case will fit everything in?
Less than £100

Cooling:
I have been advised to overclock a little, so I suppose I need some good
cooling, but I don't want to pay for looks.
~ £20

Power Supply:
I have been told that a cheep 700W is just as good as an expensive 700W.
Is this true?
~ £30

HDD:
Don't care. Cheep. I have lots of networked storage in my old PC.
~ £40

Optical:
I can use my old IDE DVD drive, right?
~ Free

Sound:
On board only; I only use headphones.....unless anyone thinks I need
something more...?
Free(?)

OS:
Vista 64 - Right guys?
~ £100


Total:
About £850, perhaps £900 and some with P&P

How does that sound?
Any bottle necks or incompatibilities?

How much RAM should I go for? 2GB seams a little small.

[Arclight]

For cooling I'd suggest a Thermalright tower-design. Ultima-90 is what I have, absolute winner, though it's probably a bit more expensive then what you estimate.

PSU: cheap = not good. I would suggest Corsair 650Watt (make sure it has Seasonic components). Corsair TX650w

HD > Western Digital gets my vote

Yes, you can use optical IDE drive, if board has IDE port. Knowing Gigabyte, it likely has 1.

Onboard sound is decent, dedicated soundcard is great. Not strictly nescesary, but recommended. X-Fi Titanium - Fatal1ty Professional, for example.

OS: what you prefer. Vista would be obvious choice for DX10 and DX11 in the future. Could hold out for Win7. 64-bit for 4gb+ memory support.

RAM: 4 to 8GB. You're board likely has 4 slots, I'd fill 2 of them with dual-channel kit (2x2GB). There's also triple-channel, but I'm not up to speed on this.

Personally I'd go with Kingston HyperX memory, but that's just personal preference (lifetime waranty), Corsair is fine.

* that board has integrated graphics. I'd suggest looking for one without.
** according to Gigabyte site, that board is DDR2 board, not DDR3.
*** think this is what you want: GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
This does mean moving to AM3 socket, make sure the CPU matches that. Or go with DDR2 and AM2+

[HunterICX]

Originally Posted by Arclight

Ever tried updating the BIOS during those 4 years?

Asrock have decent boards, but not really geared towards the enthusiast. They lack the full page of tweakable memory timings, for example (last time I chacked anyway).

I've updated the BIOS on that Asus, but it didn't improve.
it was the P4P 800SE with Soundmax as onboard soundcard.

I'm not a PC tweaker so I wouldn't know what can be done with this board, all I care about is that it works that it is stable and does what I want it to do...the current PC is doing just that

this is the one I have:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.as...1333-eSATA2&s=

HunterICX

[Arclight]

Soundmax? Not a popular choice, might explain the issues. BIOS upgrades can work wonders for troublesome Asus boards.

But it's not magic.

That Asrock looks like a well-rounded board. Has everything you need. As an enthusiast, I miss 1600FSB and 1200 memory support, but that's not needed for most.

Have an Asrock board in older box (AMD Duron 2GHZ). Simply works, no complaints.

[Arclight]

Letum, if it was me building that thing, this would be my pick (sticking with your choice in brands):

MB: GigaByte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P E165,-
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 945 Black Edition 3.00 GHz, 4000 MHz, 4x 512Kb, 8 MB, Boxed E210,-
RAM: Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DHX 4 GB, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz, 9, Non-ECC, Kit Of 2 E82,-

That would kick serious ass. Not i7 ass, but serious ass.

[Letum]

Originally Posted by Arclight

PSU: cheap = not good. I would suggest Corsair 650Watt (make sure it has Seasonic components). Corsair TX650w

Why?
My old and very cheep 500W PSU has been great since the early 90s. What
do I get if I pay more?

MB: GigaByte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P E165,-

Looks good. it's on the shopping list. Same with your RAM and CPU.


So! System so far:

M.B:
GigaByte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P E165
Processor:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Black Edition

RAM:
Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DHX 4 GB, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz

Graphics:
Sapphire HD 4890(?)

Case:
As cheep as I can get. I don't care if it looks like a pile of crap. Or makes a loud noise.
How can I tell if my case will fit everything in?

Power Supply:
???

OS:
Vista 64 - Right guys?
~ £100



Am I good to start buying yet?

[Peto]

Originally Posted by Letum

Why?
My old and very cheep 500W PSU has been great since the early 90s. What
do I get if I pay more?

Graphics:
Sapphire HD 4890(?)

Case:
As cheep as I can get. I don't care if it looks like a pile of crap. Or makes a loud noise.
How can I tell if my case will fit everything in?

Power Supply:
???

OS:
Vista 64 - Right guys?
~ £100

Am I good to start buying yet?

IMHO (and I'm not always hunble )... You're on the right track so far except regarding power supplies. I see PWS failures all the time and they "can" take out other components when they fail. Spend the extra few dollars (Pounds) and get a good one. It's much better to too much power than find out later you were one watt short do to a power fluctuation...

I can understand your feeling about cases but make sure you get something that moves the air through. CPUs aren't the heat problem anymore--it's you Video that needs cooling the most. My old 486 133 DX ran hotter than today's cores. I don't do any special CPU coolers and haven't had a problem.

Video: I've become an NVidia guy and am currently behind on ATI tech (I really should check it out more). I really like my EVGA 9800GTX though and think it's a bargain at $130. Others can chime in on that.



EDIT: OS is dependant on how much old software you want to use. 64 bit can be a hassle but it's nice to have.

[Letum]

OK, OK, I'll get a more expensive PSU.

My current case has all it's panels taken off to increase cooling and a few
holes drilled into it.
I think I will do this again and add a case fan as well, just in case.


Thankyou very, very much for all the help!

[Arclight]

Good PSU remains efficient even at high loads, produces stable voltages at all loads, and typically has higher amperage than cheaper units (important). Overall efficiency is also higher, saving you a few bucks on your bill.

Better units usually also have multiple rails (circuits?), meaning there's 1 rail dedicated for graphics hardware (or was it CPU?) and the other(s) for all other components.

My brother had crappy PSU. He installed a graphics card, upgrading from onboard. 1 month later his HD died...



Anyway, with those specs it's gonna FLY!

[NeonSamurai]

Originally Posted by Letum

My current case has all it's panels taken off to increase cooling and a few
holes drilled into it.
I think I will do this again and add a case fan as well, just in case.

Ok time for a quick lesson on cooling computers.

1. Taking the panels off generally does not aid cooling. Computers are set up to have air flow from the front of the case, and out the back/side. Taking off the panels disrupts proper airflow over the system and can cause hot spots. Also there are parts on the computer which do need cooling but don't have a fan, and with the panels off they don't get sufficient cooling due to lack of airflow.

2. Don't drill your own holes unless you know what your doing and how to place them. Holes also don't generally help unless there is a fan attached, or there is negative pressure where they are (most cases are set up to cause negative pressure so that air is sucked in from the front and blown out the back). Good cases usualy are already designed with optimal air flow in mind, and designed by people who almost certainly know more about it then you would.

3. If you want to cool your system effectively, fill all the case fan spots on the case, and have the air flow from the front to the back. Side mounted fans can be good or bad depending on where they are placed, and what sort of CPU heat sink you are using.

Never go cheap on your system's cooling, It is the key factor in keeping a system stable and functional for a long period of time. Modern computers in particular tend to run right on the edge heat wise. Proper cooling is even more critical if you live in a hot area.


As for video cards yours looks to be a excellence choice. Nvidia's competition towards it is the GTX 275 if I recall so you may want to check it out as well.

Originally Posted by Peto

OS is dependant on how much old software you want to use. 64 bit can be a hassle but it's nice to have.

Its necessary though if you want to have full use of 4+ gb of memory (including video card memory). You can also dual boot too which is what I do on my laptop and run xp 32 and vista 64.

Speaking of vista I would recommend Home Premium over the other flavors. It has what most users want and need and is 50$ less then Ultimate.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...s/default.aspx

[Letum]

Case....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137

?

[FIREWALL]

The dull suggestion. Compare warranties. Some of my hardware (psu) has lifetime. Vid cards double lifetime.

[AVGWarhawk]

EVGA(Nvidia 9800GT) is very good at RMA if a card goes bad. I have had two EVGA cards and both are still working away. I like the EVGA video card products.

I have a MSI mobo. I was not to happy at first because the machine was to have an Asus mobo. Turns out it is a great mobo and I like it.

PSU, yep, Peto is dead on. Better to have more power than less. Plus, you my not SLI right now but a year from now you might attempt SLI. You will be ready if the PSU is a good solid unit. (make sure you mobo you select is SLI capable)

[Peto]

Originally Posted by Letum

Case....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137

?

That'll work! The main thing for me is having 120mm fans as they're quieter. That's another benefit of having a case you can keep the side cover on ! 3 fans is a plus. No reason for putting a Ferrari engine in an old VW Bus body, is there?

[Arclight]

Good case.