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Building First PC - Help Needed!

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    #2
    Charlington
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29 ✭Charlington


    Greyian wrote: »
    I'm looking into building my first PC this summer and could really use some help. I'm looking to get everything (I don't need mouse/keyboard or speakers yet though) for under €1000, so any advice on parts/places to buy would be appreciated.
    This is what I'm looking at buying at the moment.

    Part Name Price
    CPU AMD ATHLON PHENOM II X6 1055T €189
    GPU SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY RADEON HD 5770 - 1 GB GDDR5 €150
    MoBo ASUS M4A77TD PRO/U3S6 - SOCKET AM3 - CHIPSET 770 - ATX €94.90
    RAM OCZ PLATINUM LOW VOLTAGE 2 X 2 GB DDR3-1333 €110
    HDD WESTERN DIGITAL WD CAVIAR BLUE 3.5" HARD DRIVE - 640 GB - 7,200 RPM €51.41
    PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-650TXEU PC POWER UNIT - 650 W €95
    Case COOLER MASTER CENTURION 590 PC CASING €69.61
    Monitor LG W2361V-PF 23" TFT WIDESCREEN (2MS) €169
    Total €928.92

    I know I haven't included a DVD-Drive, but that is because I'm not sure where to find them on Pixmania.

    Can anyone give me any suggestions? I obviously want to make sure that everything is compatible, but also any suggestions regarding cases, PSUs, mobos (or anything really) would really be appreciated.
    Cheers
    Will you be overclocking?


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    #3
    Greyian
    Registered Users Posts: 983 ✭✭✭Greyian


    Not at first, though I might in the future. I've never done any overclocking before, so I'd prefer to be safe at first. I know that if I'm overclocking heavily, I'll need to invest in extra fans etc, but I just want to get a good gaming PC up and running first.
    Also, is that mobo capable of supporting crossfire?


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    #4
    Pacifico
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,115 ✭✭✭Pacifico


    DVD Drives are here

    Build looks fine. The mobo is crossfire capable

    If I was changing something it would be the hard drive to this


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    #5
    Lu Tze
    Registered Users Posts: 3,495 ✭✭✭Lu Tze


    If its mainly just for gaming, solitaire put up a buil from pix in another thread with a better GPU for less

    http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=66223755&postcount=7

    Might be helpful as a reference


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    #6
    Greyian
    Registered Users Posts: 983 ✭✭✭Greyian


    Lu Tze wrote: »
    If its mainly just for gaming, solitaire put up a buil from pix in another thread with a better GPU for less

    http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=66223755&postcount=7

    Might be helpful as a reference

    The system won't just be for gaming, but that is admittedly probably going to be the most strenuous activity on it. I am looking at getting into game development in the future (obviously it won't be incredibly complex, HD console quality stuff) so I'd prefer to overshoot on the processor to ensure that it won't need to be upgraded in just a few months when I start developing (possibly).


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    #7
    Greyian
    Registered Users Posts: 983 ✭✭✭Greyian


    Ok, I've looked at redesigning it somewhat. This is what I'm looking at right now:

    Part Details Price
    CPU AMD PHENOM II X4 945 - 3 GHZ, 2 MB L2 CACHE, 6 MB L3, SOCKET AM3 €139.90
    Motherboard ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO - AM3 SOCKET - 785G CHIPSET - ATX €84.00
    GPU MSI RADEON HD 5770 - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI-EXPRESS 2.0 (R5770-PMD1G) €145.00
    Hard Drive SAMSUNG SPINPOINT F3 DESKTOP CLASS HD103SJ HARD DRIVE - 3.5"- 1 TB - 32 MB - 7200 RPM - SATA-300 €76.50
    Hard Drive SAMSUNG SPINPOINT F3 DESKTOP CLASS HD103SJ HARD DRIVE - 3.5"- 1 TB - 32 MB - 7200 RPM - SATA-300 €76.50
    Memory OCZ PLATINUM LOW VOLTAGE 2 X 2 GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 PC MEMORY MODULES (OCZ3P1333LV4GK) €110.00
    DVD-Drive SAMSUNG SH-S223C 22X INTERNAL DVD±RW REWRITER DRIVE - BLACK €17.90
    Case NZXT BETA PC TOWER CASE €51.00
    PSU COOLER MASTER GX 550W PC POWER UNIT (RS-550-ACAA-E3) €59.90
    Monitor LG W2361V-PF 23" TFT WIDESCREEN (2MS) €169.00
    Total €853.20


    So, I think that should be good for everything I intend on doing. I could upgrade the GPU, but I don't actually think I'll utilise it enough to warrant going up to the 5830 or 5850.
    I am a bit...curious about the PSU. It seems to be quiet cheap, considering the wattage. I have heard that Cooler Master make good PSUs though (did I hear right?), so can I feel happy enough about that PSU?

    Now, the 2 hard parts.
    Firstly, I run 5+ Firefox windows (not tabs, actual windows) about 12 hours per day, 7 days per week. I run iMacros (some of you might know that add-on), and it can seem to be quite stressful for my laptop CPU, but I'd assume this desktop CPU would be sufficient to run it safely enough? It will see me go from 2.3ghz dual core AMD to 3.0ghz quad core AMD, so that should be fine right?
    Secondly, is there anywhere you can see that I can trim the cost slightly? I have €755 in PayPal at the moment and would like to buy the parts ASAP. This is because I want to get the cheap monitor, reduced price mobo (also, is that a good mobo, I know next-to-nothing about them) etc. I don't really want to just buy parts though, so I'd prefer to buy enough to actually build a functional desktop. Can you see where I can save some money, perhaps by getting a comparable mobo for less, or maybe going for a 500gb or 640gb hard drive? Also, I'd be more than willing to go for a cheaper case, I just don't want one that looks gaudy, and I want to make sure it is decently built. Or, can I find a cheaper seller for some parts that you guys might know about?

    Lastly, is the current build compatible (will it actually work?!?). Also, how do I go about BIOS updates?


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    #8
    Solitaire
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    • You could drop down to an Athlon X4, losing a little clock speed and a buttload of L3 cache, but saving €40-odd.
    • You could drop the Asus mobo in favour of the MSI 770-C45 (or G45) and save a good €20. No VRM heatsinks though but as we're not dealing with OCing a 140W CPU here that's not a huge issue.
    • I'm loath to say this, but given the HD5770's price increases lately you could drop down to a 1GB HD5750 and OC it, saving €20-30-ish.
    • Your choice of case is just a tad last-gen and comparatively naff given that current budget cases have upped their game greatly. For that price you could get an Antec 300... and an Antec 200 or NZXT Gamma would be a good tenner less for a better case than the Beta! :o
    • If you're not going to do loads of OCing and stick with a HD57*0 then you could drop down to a good ~400W PSU like the Corsair CX400, if its back down to ~€40-50 on Pix. Coolermaster do good high-end PSUs but their mid-range offerings have been decidedly mediocre for years now :o


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