Thinking of building a new PC

Tim131

Hi guys,

I've built two computers before, so I have a pretty decent genreal knowledge, but havent looked into it for more than over a year, so obviously a lot has changed, and I'm wondering if you's can give a hand!

I'm going to be mainly using it for gaming, not to major gamer, just want to get back into it, but wanting to be able to play the likes of the CoD games, and Far Cry II say, I use it for college too, so would be using it for databases and programming, I'm studying computing science!

Other than that, I will probably photo and video editing occasionally, basically I just want a computer that will boot up fast, and just stay fast during general use.

So I was thinking something like:

Processor -

i5 - 750

RAM -

2 to 4GB of RAM, I'd be more concerned about the speed, so DDR3 is probably the way, if someone wanted to explain me about that?

HDD -

Maybe a raptop 10,000rpm for the OS, and then maybe store applications like photoshop etc on it, there are 15,000rpm ones, but not a lot of info on it - does that sounds wise, then have maybe a 1 or 2TB for data.

Mainboard -

This is the least I've looked into, I've always used ASUS and really liked them, but I guess I'd be looking for one with quite a fast FSB, and maybe a HDMI as well? - that would be good as I'd like the option to connect to telly, as it will transfer sound, so better than DVI or VGA

Graphics Card -

I've got access to a ATI HD 4850, which I think is ace, and has been able to play anything I've thrown at it in the past, though I've not used it in a while, but I think that should be grand.

Case -

I've used the antec p-180 and NZXT tempest in the past, and I like them but they were BIG, so was thinking the Antec 300, as its not THAT big, and decent cooling, and enought HDD bays etc

DVD drive -

probs wont bother with Bluray, so a cheapo one I can pick up anywhere is grand.

PSU -

I'm thinking 600 - 750 would suffice?

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Do you think that would be a good build, maybe you'se could explain and reccomend me some components, what the jazz with USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0, are many people using them?

Thanks so much,

Tim

cherryghost

First and foremost, what's your budget?

Just some notes on that build
- The i5 750 is a great processor but has been succeeded by the even better i5 760 now.
- 4GB DDR3 would be enough. The speed in ram generally doesn't make noticeable differences, but it makes overclocking far easier with faster clocked ram (that's another talk altogether tbh :P)
- As for the mainboards, Asus have been in the wars lately with some bad entry/mid range boards. It's high end boards however, are very very good. MSI and Gigabyte have got their act together in this generation and are making good boards all round
- I'm not sure on the raptor HD idea. If you really want to go down that route, I recommend an SSD any day. A 30/60GB would be enough for what you're looking for. 60GB probably after all the stuff you have is installed. It can be expensive though.
- If you're not looking for a new card, grand. Otherwise I recommend a 5770/GTX460/6850
- Antec 300 is nice. Other than that the Coolermaster CM690 II is the king of the mid range cases IMO
- 50-60 euro PSU with 550-650 would be more than enough

Monotype

I agree with cherryghost. An SSD would be a better idea.
I'd also recommend that you consider RAID 0 on two drives if you're working with large files (with backup).

Tim131

Thanks lads for the replies!

As for my budget, not really sure, I'm living in the UK just now, I guess I could stretch to 800 sterling, so say 850 euro, at the very most, but I'd want that to include a monitor and keyboard and mouse! you reckon its possible?

I know about hardwareversand.de but it just seems a lot of hassle buying from there, do you know any good sites that would deliver to the UK, I love komplett but they're on shipping to Ireland!

With regards to the SSD drive, what is the major benefit over say a WD raptor driver, I think they're very expensive like!

The problem with the RAID is, id need more than one drive, I'd prefer to have one massive drive than three smaller ones, though having said that, I'm not entirely sure theres that much of a benefit, other than 3 hard drives showing up in my computer as opposed to one!

Overclocking doesn't interest me too much, I've done a lot of that with my other machine, had the q6600, that was a beastin processor like. I just think the stock levels would do what I need!

As for the latest i5, I'll look into that one!

But do you think its possible, to build one in my price range?

What do I need to look for in a mobo these days anyways?

Cheers

Tim131

Was thinking something like this!



Total price - 643,03 €

cherryghost

Not bad, but you're missing a PSU :pac: I also think you have 2 optical drives there.

Again I think an SSD is the better choice. Much much faster and longer life than the raptor. Each to their own I suppose

Monotype

The price of the veliciraptor on ebuyer is £121.69
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146081
Space = 300GB

You could get three 500GB drives for that much.
Two in RAID 0 and one for backup. Or even three in RAID 0. Up to double the speed for two drives. Total space would be 1500GB.
Good for large files - games, big photoshop files and databases.

An SSD would be great for working with small files (and random access of databases) and stays fast. You would need the extra drive for storage. So keeping to the £120, you could get a 64GB SSD or 40GB SSD and a 500GB drive.

Seagate does an SSD/HDD hybrid.

I've just seen that you have €200 worth of HDD in your cart. With that much money, you could RAID-0 a load of drives or a good SSD makes sense. Think about the kind of programs you'll be using.

uberpixie

Tim131 wrote: »

With regards to the SSD drive, what is the major benefit over say a WD raptor driver, I think they're very expensive like!

I have a 150 gig raptor, my 60 Gig SSD replaced it and the difference in speed is night and day. My poor Raptor will be decommissioned shortly as it just isn't being used any more, it's just sitting there eating power doing nothing.

For day to day use for the OS, a SSD is incredibly responsive, windows boots very quickly and once you are in your in ready to go, any applications you have installed on the SSD launch in 2-3 seconds.

Ditch the raptor, these days it's a waste of money, regular harddrives such as the Samsung Spinpoint have caught up with it in speed, they are no longer worth buying.

SSDs, while expensive, are much faster for running windows on than a regular harddrive/raptor and really SSDs has made the raptor defunct.

I will never buy another Raptor after using a SSD.