The PC Building Thread

Thanks Jonney, and also Dags and Northzzz for their suggested builds.

You've kind of answered a question I was going to ask - a 750W PSU seems like overkill for the kind of setup I want to build. Something like this is what I have in mind......

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w...us-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx

....but I'm open to suggestions. I'd rather save a bit on the PSU if it's more than I need and spend it elsewhere.

Another question - is a modular PSU recommended and is there much of a price difference compared to non-modular?

Also, would I be ok to scavenge the DVD drive from my current HP Pavilion rig? It's nearly six years old but I guess not much has changed in the DVD drive world?
 
I'm not sure how rated Antec are by people, I think they're pretty good? But 650w will be fine.

I'd definitely go for a modular PSU if I was buying a replacement now. It just makes cable management so much easier, which also helps the airflow as there's not as much cable blocking the air.

If your DVD is SATA then sure, bring it over.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys, especially Northzzz with the Aria recommendation, will save quite a few quid there.

Is itt not worth getting a 2 gb graphics card then? I saw some tests where the 1&2 gb cards were almost identical but I thought it may be worth it fo future proofing?
 
Ern Dog said:
Thanks for the suggestions guys, especially Northzzz with the Aria recommendation, will save quite a few quid there.

Is itt not worth getting a 2 gb graphics card then? I saw some tests where the 1&2 gb cards were almost identical but I thought it may be worth it fo future proofing?
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At the moment, 2GB is only really useful for people using multiple displays, like Eyefinity. If you're just using one display, generally you don't really get games using more than 1GB.
 
DagsJT said:
At the moment, 2GB is only really useful for people using multiple displays, like Eyefinity. If you're just using one display, generally you don't really get games using more than 1GB.
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OK thanks dags, that a few more pennies to redirect :BOP:.
 
But does Aria have good CS? ocuk and scan have decent CS.

And is that really a branded seasonic psu? looks suspect in that price.

Wouldnt risk it myself though,

For PSU you want seasonic, corsair or enermax. Those are the top dogs. OCZ/Silvestone PSU'S are "Ok" to go with as well if you are on a budget.

anyways 650w may be fine. i was running a 650w on my i7 920 which is more power hungry then the new 2500k i5's, along with a 260gtx and for about a few months, with a 480gtx but thats pushing it.

You dont really wanna run your PSU at near 100% lol.
 
jonneymendoza said:
But does Aria have good CS? ocuk and scan have decent CS.

And is that really a branded seasonic psu? looks suspect in that price.

Wouldnt risk it myself though,

For PSU you want seasonic, corsair or enermax. Those are the top dogs. OCZ/Silvestone PSU'S are "Ok" to go with as well if you are on a budget.

anyways 650w may be fine. i was running a 650w on my i7 920 which is more power hungry then the new 2500k i5's, along with a 260gtx and for about a few months, with a 480gtx but thats pushing it.

You dont really wanna run your PSU at near 100% lol.
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Yep, I've read on a few places that XFX PSU's are Seasonic's just rebranded.
 
The reason I suggested the Antec True Power 650W is that I've seen it mentioned a lot on AVForums and it's well regarded. Seems a good price too. Also most over there say that 650W is plenty for a standard gaming rig.
 
Yea 650w is fine as like i said, i ran a 480gtx + i7 920 + 3-4 hdd's and it was fine although it was running near max lol but for most peoples cases here, it will be fine as for these below reasons:

1. the 2500k i5 cpu uses half the power as my i7 920(its an overclocking monster)

2. 6870 uses less power then a power hungry 480gtx(Its soo power hungry that you can hit 95c temps on stock cooling, no overclocks)

3. Will you be using 3-4 hdd's like me?

The reason why i went for 850w is because i run a lot of stuff on my pc. i have now installed a water cooling system as well so that adds mor epressure to your psu
 
DagsJT said:
Yep, I've read on a few places that XFX PSU's are Seasonic's just rebranded.
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Thats quality. i would go for that then if on a budget. With the combinaton of using both aira and scan, we can easily spec a machine for around £650.

I would definetly get a p67 board though as they are good for overclocking.

Overclocking btw on those 2500k is a doodle and can easily get you a few years worth more on your cpu before it begins to show its age.

my i7 920 is 3 years old now and i just overclocked it from default 2.6ghz to 3.8ghz and i gained about 10-15fps on a few new games.
 
jonneymendoza said:
Overclocking btw on those 2500k is a doodle and can easily get you a few years worth more on your cpu before it begins to show its age.

my i7 920 is 3 years old now and i just overclocked it from default 2.6ghz to 3.8ghz and i gained about 10-15fps on a few new games.
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Thats the reason I overclocked mine like.
 
jonneymendoza said:
Thats quality. i would go for that then if on a budget. With the combinaton of using both aira and scan, we can easily spec a machine for around £650.

I would definetly get a p67 board though as they are good for overclocking.

Overclocking btw on those 2500k is a doodle and can easily get you a few years worth more on your cpu before it begins to show its age.

my i7 920 is 3 years old now and i just overclocked it from default 2.6ghz to 3.8ghz and i gained about 10-15fps on a few new games.
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Isn't the Z68 good for overclocking too?

My MSI P67-GD53 has an "Overclock Genie" button on the board itself. Pressing that in and booting automatically clocks my CPU from 3.3Ghz to 4.2Ghz, quite handy :))

http://micro.msi.com/mc2/features_ocgenie2.php
 
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My recently built system:

Intel Core i7 2600k @ 4.4ghz
Corsair Vengeance 16GB RAM
ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe/GEN3 Motherboard
Sapphire Radeon 6950 unlocked to 6970 BIOS
Mushkin 120GB SSD
Corsair TX750 V2
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ (push-pull)
Cooler Master HAF X Case

If anyone is looking for air cooling get the Hyper 212+, for the price you pay it does an amazing job.
 
Ern Dog said:
After a bit more research I have settled on this setup:



Its a bit over budget but I think its made up of decent components and should last me a while.
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Yep, that's a smart system right there :TU:
 
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On the AVF PC gaming section, two people have recently bought parts from Scan and are having problems with returning it with Scan claiming it's user damage. Not great support and I'd probably look at eBuyer or Aria at the moment.
 
Ern Dog said:
After a bit more research I have settled on this setup:

http://imageshack.us/f/401/image2gm.jpg/

Its a bit over budget but I think its made up of decent components and should last me a while.

Thanks for the help guys.
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Make sure the CPU cooler won't obstruct your RAM, I have the Corsair Vengeance and looking for a cpu cooler was hard since after reading alot it seems that the heatsinks of the RAM are too tall. Now that you have 2 sticks of RAM it might be ok but when you want to upgrade to 4 sticks or get a better high end air cooler you might face a problem.

I wanted a good high end air cpu cooler but couldn't because of the RAM, I got the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ and it's a really really tight fit, there's literally 1mm between the cooler and the RAM, but again I have 4 sticks of RAM so you should be ok... for now. :)
 
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Interista said:
Make sure the CPU cooler won't obstruct your RAM, I have the Corsair Vengeance and looking for a cpu cooler was hard since after reading alot it seems that the heatsinks of the RAM are too tall. Now that you have 2 sticks of RAM it might be ok but when you want to upgrade to 4 sticks or get a better high end cooler you might face a problem.

I wanted a good high end air cpu cooler but couldn't because of the RAM, I got the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ and it's a really really tight fit, there's literally 1mm between the cooler and the RAM, but again I have 4 sticks of RAM so you should be ok... for now. :)
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I've got the same cooler and had to make sure I got low-profile RAM otherwise the cooler wouldn't fit etc. But I think Ern Dog is getting the same RAM as I've got and it's as small as you can get really. Not sure how big the cooler is but I imagine it'll be fine.

Agree with recommending the 212+ too, a very nice cooler and REALLY quiet. If only my 6950 fan was so quiet.
 
DagsJT said:
I've got the same cooler and had to make sure I got low-profile RAM otherwise the cooler wouldn't fit etc. But I think Ern Dog is getting the same RAM as I've got and it's as small as you can get really. Not sure how big the cooler is but I imagine it'll be fine.

Agree with recommending the 212+ too, a very nice cooler and REALLY quiet. If only my 6950 fan was so quiet.
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Which 6950 do you have? I have the Sapphire Dirt3 Edition and it's really quiet. Did you overclock it?

edit: those Jet Blacks are low profile?
 
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