Some advice on this build? :)

[JadieBabie]

Hello!

First off, I'm a total newbie when it comes to building computers, and also putting together the parts. After much searching, I've come across the following, and according to a friend of mine, the build was decent, but I'd like to have some more opinions. It's gonna be a, hopefully, semi-decent gaming computer, and I'm basically gonna update the parts in my old computer.

I've been thinking about getting the following:

• ASUS M4A89GTD PRO
• Asus 1GB Radeon HD 6850 DirectCU PCI-E 2
• AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3)
• Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache
• Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz
• Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' (would a 530W be enough though?)

My budget is around $650-750, preferably as low as possible though. So, any thoughts would be appreciated. Anything that should be changed? Cut down on (motherboard and Processor?) Getting something better? Thanks in advance. ^^

 

[digibucc]

psu is plenty wattage, you will probably use closer to 300 , thought i don't
recommend getting anything cheaper.

other than that, as you say - it's a semi decent gaming pc. truth is, games
in the last few years haven't upped the ante, i have no issue playing 95%
of new games on my single 5850, on high. some do require me to for
example drop shadows to mid, and that kicks it back above 60fps

 

[Mussels]

530W would be enough if it was a quality PSU (say, corsair)


rest of it looks alright for a midrange system. its what most modern games need to run at high settings at 1080p

 

[JrRacinFan]

Is it going to be more geared towards gaming w/occasional office work or vice versa?

 

[JadieBabie]

Thanks for the feedback. I had another look at the PSU, and realised I've got them mixed up, thought that it was Cosair that had the 530W one, but it turned out it was Be quiet! though. Is it still worth getting the 530W one, or should I go for a 500W Corsair?

As one post said, though it's deleted now, I don't need a graphics card on the motherboard, so I checked up Asus M5A97 PRO AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 and decided to go for that too.

Is it going to be more geared towards gaming w/occasional office work or vice versa?

Mostly geared towards gaming, picture-editing programs like Photoshop etc. My laptop is still good enough to take care of the office works.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Mostly geared towards gaming, picture-editing programs like Photoshop etc. My laptop is still good enough to take care of the office works.

Stick with the 600w corsair. Unsure if it might be an option, Sandy Bridge (would have to scrounge an extra $100 or so). Although with it geared more towards gaming, I would look at a better gpu(6950 GTX570-esque), what display are you planning to pair this with? How soon do you plan on building?

EDIT:

Yeah if you drop down to the M5A97 you could up that though to a 6950 and be about the same budget.

This could even be an option also:

Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, L...
ASRock A75 PRO4 FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA ...
CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 ...
SAPPHIRE 100312-1GDP Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GD...
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 ...

 

[JadieBabie]

Stick with the 600w corsair. Unsure if it might be an option, Sandy Bridge (would have to scrounge an extra $100 or so). Although with it geared more towards gaming, I would look at a better gpu(6950 GTX570-esque), what display are you planning to pair this with? How soon do you plan on building?

EDIT:

Yeah if you drop down to the M5A97 you could up that though to a 6950 and be about the same budget.

600W it is then, cheers. And if by display you mean monitor, I'm just planning on getting a LG W2243T 21,5", it seemed good enough imo. Building isn't that much of a rush actually, been thinking about doing it for 6 months now.

That card does seems to be pretty good. Sadly enough I'm buying stuff from UK, and the cheapest 6950 I found ended up at $320-ish, which is a bit of a difference. Gonna keep it in mind though. But would the 6850 be a real bottelneck? To be honest, I'm not -that- picky about how good the graphics are. It definately doesn't have to be maxed out on everything.

 

[Mussels]

if he's getting a high end card like a 6950, get a 2GB. 1GB wont let him run things maxed out with the next gen games, while a 2GB will (games like bad company 2 already toe that line)

 

[JadieBabie]

if he's getting a high end card like a 6950, get a 2GB. 1GB wont let him run things maxed out with the next gen games, while a 2GB will (games like bad company 2 already toe that line)

I'm a girl btw.

Cheapest 6950 2GB would end up at $370, and I'm not really that keen about spending that amount of money on a graphics card only. Also, not sure how many of the next gen games I will be playing. At the moment I'm playing WoW, so if that, and also some other random one year-a few years old games, can run at a nice resolution, I'd be happy.

 

[gumpty]

Sadly enough I'm buying stuff from UK, and the cheapest 6950 I found ended up at $320-ish, which is a bit of a difference.

Why are you buying in the UK but quoting budget in dollars? Where abouts are you based?

 

[Mussels]

I'm a girl btw.

Cheapest 6950 2GB would end up at $370, and I'm not really that keen about spending that amount of money on a graphics card only. Also, not sure how many of the next gen games I will be playing. At the moment I'm playing WoW, so if that, and also some other random one year-a few years old games, can run at a nice resolution, I'd be happy.

another female forum member, we dont have many of those, so please stick around. most of them seem to hang around on our sister site generalnonsense.net more than TPU these days (they just lurk)


personally i'd go with a slightly slower 2GB card over a faster 1GB (say, 2GB 6950 is better than 1GB 6970, imo) for future proofing, but that isnt really an option with a 6950. the 6870 is too much of a performance drop to be worth getting a 2GB model there.


if you arent obsessed with the maximum of in game settings, then a 6950 1GB will do you well. just remember that some games, even today (bad company 2 really comes to mind) are extremely demanding, and will require a few settings like shadows or antialiasing to be reduced off their maximum settings for smooth gameplay when things get hectic.

 

[brandonwh64]

If you have a budget up to 750$ then this would be the best combo I would get

 

[JadieBabie]

Why are you buying in the UK but quoting budget in dollars? Where abouts are you based?

Sweden. But I got the impression that most people on this forum work with US dollars, so figured quoting it in dollars would make it easier for everyone. My boyfriend also lives in England, and buying parts over there is still way, way cheaper than getting them from Sweden.

personally i'd go with a slightly slower 2GB card over a faster 1GB (say, 2GB 6950 is better than 1GB 6970, imo) for future proofing, but that isnt really an option with a 6950. the 6870 is too much of a performance drop to be worth getting a 2GB model there.

Yeah, as I said, the 6950 does seem to be a great card, but I'm not sure about spneding that amount of money on a graphics card only, since I'm a cheapstake. So how bad would the 6850 be compared to the 6950? I've also recived suggestions about the 5850, but it wouldn't be any major differences between that and the 6850, would it?

If you have a budget up to 750$ then this would be the best combo I would get

Once again, it seems to be a great system, but I checked it up and the price was quite a bit different in the UK, sadly enough. But t'was really kind of you to suggest it. I'm actually very surprised about how helpful people are here.

 

[kurosagi01]

Should provide some swedish computer company and we might be able to work out the budget a bit better.

 

[JrRacinFan]

I along with many others would prefer you quote in pounds. Oh and you are quite welcome!

 

[TheMailMan78]

Can you wait to build man? We have some new CPU's coming soon. VERY soon. IF you have to build "right now" I would go with a Sandy Bridge platform.

Edit: brandonwh64 has a nice build IMO.

 

[JadieBabie]

Of course, I'm sorry. Here's the price for my first draft (only changed the motherboard that's it) in pounds:

Asus M5A97 PRO AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
Asus 1GB Radeon HD 6850 DirectCU PCI-E 2 £119.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) £83.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache £29.99
Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz £29.98
Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' £59.99
= around £415, including shipping. Add a monitor for around £96 to that. I'm willing to push the budget by, let's say.. £50-100, but I'd do prefer as cheap as possible. :]

 

[brandonwh64]

Once again, it seems to be a great system, but I checked it up and the price was quite a bit different in the UK, sadly enough. But t'was really kind of you to suggest it. I'm actually very surprised about how helpful people are here.

Didn't notice you were over seas, sorry would be awesome rig if you were in the states!

 

[BarbaricSoul]

I'm actually very surprised about how helpful people are here.

That's what makes this site one of the best tech sites on the net. Welcome to our little family. Enjoy your stay and ask any questions you have.

 

[Dent1]

I would swap the X4 for an X6 and swap 4GBs of DDR3 for 8GBs. Other than that the build looks solid.

Edit:

500GB hard disk is tiny. You'll run through that in no time. Get 1.5TB+

 

[kurosagi01]

I would say try get a GTX560 not Ti as its out of your budget,its faster than 6850 and 6870 for great deal and their only £20 more its worth it.
But if you want push it definitely get the Ti they are amazing for the performance and for great price.
@Dent don't you mean 1.5TB?? not 1.5gb lol.

 

[JadieBabie]

I would say try get a GTX560 not Ti as its out of your budget,its faster than 6850 and 6870 for great deal and their only £20 more its worth it.

Isn't the GTX560 non Ti very similar to the 460 though, or am I getting something mixed up? Had a look at it either way, it does seem kinda tempting. Bah, the graphics card business is confusing.

And Dent1, thanks for the suggestions. Think it should be alright with the harddrive tbh, but I might be looking into some more memory.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Isn't the GTX560 non Ti very similar to the 460 though, or am I getting something mixed up?

You are correct my dear (hope you don't get offended ) Basically we will just call it a pre-overclocked GTX460.

 

[JadieBabie]

You are correct my dear (hope you don't get offended ) Basically we will just call it a pre-overclocked GTX460.

Haha not at all, don't worry. But alright, would it be worth getting a 560, if it's 'only' like an overclocked 460? The 460 is on par with the 6850, i.e. the card I was looking at at first, isn't it? o.o

Guys, what are your opinions about the 6870 btw? Sorry for all the questions, but I appreciate the help sooo much, believe me.

 

[Hotobu]

I would swap the X4 for an X6 and swap 4GBs of DDR3 for 8GBs. Other than that the build looks solid.

Edit:

500GB hard disk is tiny. You'll run through that in no time. Get 1.5TB+

Other than the HDD comment I completely disagree with this. 4 is plenty as this is a quasi-budget build. Also X4 -> X6 doesn't do much for anything except increase the price.

I don't feel like looking through the entire thread, but do you have a case?

The only other points of note are that you should see if the mobo comes with a SATA cable, if not you'll need to buy one. Also the monitor will probably come with a VGA cable, if it does buy a DVI cable.