Guide me with my new PC build! :)

PhireSide

PhireSide

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Sooo as I mentioned in this thread (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/320191-8800gtx-woes) I have a stuffed 8800GTX that I bought a while back that I thought was in good nick - or so it seemed. I have decided to rather go with a new build:D

So far I have settled on the following - please bear in mind I have a limited budget :)

AMD Phenom II X 555 BE
Gigabyte GA 880GA-UD3H CrossfireX Motherboard
2* 2GiB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 RAM
Gigabyte Odin 585W PSU
Lite-On internal DVD-RW
500GiB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 HDD

I opted for AMD instead of intel purely from a price point of view - and this way I can upgrade to a quad core Phenom and flog the Dual Core when I tire of it.

The GPU I am as of yet undecided on, but the GTX460 1GiB model sounds like what I would want.

Now I have a few questions, mostly related to the motherboard. Every retailer says the motherboard supports 2*16x PCI-X slots, but the Gigabyte website says that it is one full-speed slot and another at a reduced speed. Also, it does support Crossfire, but does that mean it can support SLi should I want to go that route?

Thanks ouens...looking forward to any criticism or hints/tips :)
 
Last edited:
RAM should be DDR3, not 2
PSU should be anything but the garbage odin. A 500W corsair or Cooler Master will be worlds better
GTX460 is good, HD6850 and HD6870 are in more or less the same price range. Any will be fine
I would not recomend a dual GPU setup unless you have a strong CPU to go with it. And on that motherboard the second card will be severaly limited, another reason not to go dual GPU.
 
Archer said:
RAM should be DDR3, not 2
PSU should be anything but the garbage odin. A 500W corsair or Cooler Master will be worlds better
GTX460 is good, HD6850 and HD6870 are in more or less the same price range. Any will be fine
I would not recomend a dual GPU setup unless you have a strong CPU to go with it. And on that motherboard the second card will be severaly limited, another reason not to go dual GPU.
Click to expand...

Whoops, my bad...typing too fast again.

Are the ODIN's really that bad? Why? I will only get a dual gpu setup if I get the quad or six core upgrade, that's why I want a dual core CPU and single GPU for now. Unless I win the lotto, tie hie hie
 
Rather go for a cheap Sandy Bridge setup, like the i3 2100 + H67 chipset motherboard, which would cost you around R2100.

It's silly to get a CrossFire capable motherboard if your PSU isn't strong enough to run 2 cards.
Rather just sell the old card when the time comes.

Currently the VTX3D HD 6870 @ R1,999 is very good value for money, but even that might be out of your price range. You might be able to pick up a GTX 460 768MB card for roughly R1400, but it's performance under Full HD resolutions isn't as good as the slightly more expensive HD 6850 or GTX 460 1GB cards.
 
What is the limit on your budget?

The tough part here is certainly the card/motherboard option. Most systems we've sold in this 'genre' are Intel with a single GTX460 which users plan to add another when the time calls for.
The alternative is to build with 1x 6850 for now and then add in another 6850 at a later stage as your board does not support SLi but note you'll need slightly more power on the PSU (a good 650W will do).
You will have Hybrid Crossfire to play with so long to give you a little extra power in the GPU department.

One more thing, rather go for the Amd Socket AM3 Phenom2 x4 Quad-core 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz. It'll cost a bit more now but well worth it as a lot of games and applications are moving towards quad core computing.
 
i would suggest getting the new i5 sandy-bridge... something between a radeon HD5850 and H6950, 4gb DDR3-1600 ram, definitely an asus motherboard, Western digital hard drive, at least a 500W power supply and well whatever you want to add to that.

What is your budget, then i can help more accurately
 
I am looking at a budget of around R5000. I have it worked out that I can get the above with a GTX460 for a smidge under 5 grand, so anything more would be pushing it. The thing that has put me off Intel is, to be honest, the naming schemes and the different socket designs. AMD has AM3, which is fine and dandy, but Intel has, after the LGA775 motherboards, introduced the 1155, 1156 and then the older 1366 for good measure. I don't earn a lot and I don't want to be stuck with yet another board that the new processors will not be compatible with. AMD seems a bit more stable with their socket layouts - for instance, some AM3 chips are backwards-compatible with socket AM2+ boards.

I guess it's petty of me to not choose Intel because they advance a bit more than AMD, but for futureproofing, I really don't know what to get
 
wabbit16 said:
Whoops, my bad...typing too fast again.

Are the ODIN's really that bad? Why? I will only get a dual gpu setup if I get the quad or six core upgrade, that's why I want a dual core CPU and single GPU for now. Unless I win the lotto, tie hie hie
Click to expand...

Yes ODINs are scum of the earth power supplies. Gimme some time, I'm sure some of the 800 series motherboards can actually take the soon to be launched Bulldozer chips. iirc its only Asus that has so far confirmed this. Would be a much better upgrade path. But as everyone has said, how much do you have to spend right now?
 
Archer said:
Yes ODINs are scum of the earth power supplies. Gimme some time, I'm sure some of the 800 series motherboards can actually take the soon to be launched Bulldozer chips. iirc its only Asus that has so far confirmed this. Would be a much better upgrade path. But as everyone has said, how much do you have to spend right now?
Click to expand...

R5000 approx, might be able to stretch another R500 to R700 if needs be. Then I still need a new monitor...eish
 
R5000 is a bit tight.
My new rig is a slight step or 2 above what you have there, total R10k.

Minus case, total 9k.
5k really is rather "middle of the road" - and in my experience, the performance difference between brands/models/etc is much smaller in that range.

Any chance you can stretch that limit a bit?
 
I might be able to stretch to R6K max, but that would be my upper limit if my other plans fall in place. I am not really worried about asthetics and such so I am not going to worry about a flashy case or anything.

I read a bit online and it seems as if the board cannot support SLi as the slots are not full 16x. So SLi is out for me then. Crossfire is apparently supported, so that is a good thing.
 
wabbit16 said:
I read a bit online and it seems as if the board cannot support SLi as the slots are not full 16x. So SLi is out for me then. Crossfire is apparently supported, so that is a good thing.
Click to expand...

SLI has got zero to do with the lanes speed. SLI needs to be paid for, so not having a board SLI certified just means that Nvidia was not paid. You can hack the bios to get SLI capabilities. Its literally just a cash cow for Nvidia. Crossfire licensing is free and hence you'll never see a board without it.
 
Okay, I get it. I just thought it does maybe have something to do with lane spd...I have noticed some boards have the full phiyscal slot but some data lanes (the physical 'wires' for lack of a better term) are missing from inside the connector. BIOS hack you say? *Keen face* :D
 
Okay, so the general consensus would be to ditch the Gigabyte PSU, maybe I'll go for a Thermaltake unit (LitePower 500W)?

Also, I was looking at an online retailer and saw a certain EVGA GTX460 had a 10 year warranty...surely this must be a typo? Anyway back on topic. I think I'll rather not opt for a board capable of Crossfire yet, as I don't want to spend a lot of cash on a board that might just be replaced soon. To put it this way, I might just see if I can get a good board in the mean time. So no Dual-GPU set-ups and so forth.

So now the motherboards will be between these three (Just quoting the Gigabyte ones as I have their data on hand, and the major differences):

GA-880GM-USB3 - smaller board, 1 PCI-X16 slot, 4 DIMM Slots, less PCI slots than the rest, DDR Speed 1800
GA-880GA-UD3H - bigger board, 2 PCI-X16 slots, 4 DIMM Slots, DDR Speed 1866
GA-880G-UD3H - bigger board, 2 PCI-X16 slots, 3 DIMM Slots, some sort of chip that aids in overclocking, DDR speed 1866

My CPU will for sure be the Phenom II X2 555 BE. I will use two matched pairs of Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 DIMM's. I think I'm going to opt for the GTX460 1GiB/256-bit edition, not sure of manufacturer yet.

Can anyone give me any other advice or caveats? Sorry about the dof questions, just making sure before I commit to something :)
 
wabbit16 said:
Okay, so the general consensus would be to ditch the Gigabyte PSU, maybe I'll go for a Thermaltake unit (LitePower 500W)?

Also, I was looking at an online retailer and saw a certain EVGA GTX460 had a 10 year warranty...surely this must be a typo? Anyway back on topic. I think I'll rather not opt for a board capable of Crossfire yet, as I don't want to spend a lot of cash on a board that might just be replaced soon. To put it this way, I might just see if I can get a good board in the mean time. So no Dual-GPU set-ups and so forth.

So now the motherboards will be between these three (Just quoting the Gigabyte ones as I have their data on hand, and the major differences):

GA-880GM-USB3 - smaller board, 1 PCI-X16 slot, 4 DIMM Slots, less PCI slots than the rest, DDR Speed 1800
GA-880GA-UD3H - bigger board, 2 PCI-X16 slots, 4 DIMM Slots, DDR Speed 1866
GA-880G-UD3H - bigger board, 2 PCI-X16 slots, 3 DIMM Slots, some sort of chip that aids in overclocking, DDR speed 1866

My CPU will for sure be the Phenom II X2 555 BE. I will use two matched pairs of Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 DIMM's. I think I'm going to opt for the GTX460 1GiB/256-bit edition, not sure of manufacturer yet.

Can anyone give me any other advice or caveats? Sorry about the dof questions, just making sure before I commit to something :)
Click to expand...

Are you buying from Rectron?

The Odin GT power rupplies are good. You could get the 550watt Odin GT. As for GFX card why not get a 6850 or 6870?

I'd take the GA-880GA-UD3H.
 
Do not get the LitePower version of the Themaltake PSU, rather the ToughPower version - they have better components and are designed with better tolerances and heavier usage in mind.
 
@ Qwksilver, yup, it is from Rectron, but it is the standard Odin and not the GT ones. Is there a reason you stated I should go for the middle board of the three I mentioned?

@CritConsumer, the ToughPower is also Tough on me wallet :P

To throw a spanner in the works, a friend of mine has offered his PC up for sale to me.

The specs are as follows (as read off his sms):

E6850 Core 2 Duo w/ Coolermaster Gemini fan
2*2GB DDR2-1066 Viper RAM
Antec Silver P180 case, unsure exactly which one
850W Coolermaster PSU
Asus P5N32E-SLI Motherboard

He is offering it to me at a very good price, and it is kind of swaying my decision, even if I do just eventually strip it down for parts and sell the rest.

This is getting very confusing...
 
wabbit16 said:
@ Qwksilver, yup, it is from Rectron, but it is the standard Odin and not the GT ones. Is there a reason you stated I should go for the middle board of the three I mentioned?
Click to expand...

The Standard Odin is crap. The 550watt GT is better than the 720 Odin.

Usually when motherboards are mini atx it's to save cash.
 
Qwikslver said:
The Standard Odin is crap. The 550watt GT is better than the 720 Odin.

Usually when motherboards are mini atx it's to save cash.
Click to expand...

Cool beans. I figured I might as well do things a little differently since I was offered the other C2D PC for relatively cheap. My plan is to maybe but the second hand PC, sell the Motherboard, CPU and RAM, get the Phenom X2 555BE (although I don't know what advantages it will have over a E6850 except more Cache) with a matching motherboard and RAM. Then all I need to do is get hold of a decent GPU :)
 
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