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Building a desktop for a friend. Need help
Ok so I got all these parts together and need some confirmation that they all work together, also open to reconmendations.
Graphics Card: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vertex3d-Radeon-1024mb-Express-Graphics/dp/B002SUXUD4/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286657198&sr=1-6
Ram x2: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-2GB-1333MHz-DDR3-Memory/dp/B002BXA7UC/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1286657872&sr=1-3
This all comes out at £455 ( not including a monitor, keyboard etc.)
thx in advance cheers.
sorry I took so long to edit did not expect such quick replies. also I have already built my own computer, but someone else choose the parts.
Comments
What are "these" parts? Did you already pick parts and want to know if it's a good computer? Or do you need help picking parts?
All right, I see that you've edited your original post to give a bunch of messy URLs. Try editing it again to make them into links. The icon with the globe and chain is the one that makes links.
Please, for the sake of being a good friend, stop what you're doing.
If you're asking questions like this you don't need to be building a computer for someone else.
If you're intent on doing, spend your own money and learn (not someone elses). Also, never use Amazon. Use newegg.com or tigerdirect.com.
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Try to get some other Motherboard brand, AsRock is shit. Maybe Asus or EVGA
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-M4A78LT-M-Motherboard-Gigabit-90-MIBB90-G0EAY00Z/dp/B0038MVX62/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286658709&sr=8-1
noones gonna hlp you unless you make all those urls go away. (turn um into links)
ASRock is ASUS
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???????
ASUS
ASRock
What?
ASRock is owned by ASUS.
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Where do u get that false info? xD
Here is a good resource for building a computer http://www.hardware-revolution.com/ . He doesn't sell anything but tells where to get it usually at the best price.
First of all, get him a Corsair PSU instead, and I recommend 550W instead of 500 because that could run most things, 500W might be a problem if he ever changes the GFX card or puts in many hard drives. The difference in price is small and a regular Corsair 550W is really solid.
I would go for a Gigabyte or MSI MB instead, they are somewhat better, Asrock is acceptable but compare the prices to those 2 brands, they are better.
I would also go for a Intel if I was going to get a dual core. I have a AMD hexacore myself but the Intels do perform a bit better. Here is a performance chart that tells you about how well they run games, have a look and see if your buddy can afford any that performs acceptable.
Also, 2 GB is somewhat little today, 4 is more or less needed in the future. a 3,0 dual core with 2 GB is something he probably can get second hand for very little money, it is not a big step to get a quad with 4 GB instead, or he should try to get a pre-owned one instead.
Ummmm....
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What size desktop are you looking to make?
Do you have any material preferences (such as stainless steel, MDF, aluminium)?
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LIES!! next you're going to tell me Future shop is owned by bestbuy, and gateway owns acer.... oh wait they do.. lol.
and to help the OP
PSU: http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-500W-STEALTHXTREME-PSU-CERTIFIED/dp/B0045YGL9Q/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1286654963&sr=8-8
Motherboard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-M3A770DE-Motherboard-Socket-5200MT/dp/B002LFYYAY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1286656851&sr=8-4
Processor: http://www.amazon.co.uk/164834-Athlon-3-0GHz-Processor-ADX250OCGQBOX/dp/B003D1O2CA/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286656800&sr=1-6
Graphics Card: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vertex3d-Radeon-1024mb-Express-Graphics/dp/B002SUXUD4/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286657198&sr=1-6
Case: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-Three-Hundred-Gaming-0761345-08300-3/dp/B003B36EX0/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286657709&sr=1-4
Hard Drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Caviar-3-5-inch-Internal/dp/B002ZCXJZE/ref=sr_1_11?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1286657817&sr=1-11
Ram x2: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-2GB-1333MHz-DDR3-Memory/dp/B002BXA7UC/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1286657872&sr=1-3
And next you'll expect us to believe that Sapphire = Zotac? Oh wait...
But where it's really going to get confusing is that BFG went bankrupt and their name and logo and so forth got bought by the same company that owns Diamond. My guess is that they plan to try to make money off of BFG's reputation until they've destroyed it.
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I wouldn't get an OCZ power supply. OCZ's power supplies are of too widely variable quality, so it's hard to tell what you're getting. Try this for a power supply:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Power-Supply-Version-CMPSU-550VXUK/dp/B000WF2TSE/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1286661813&sr=1-2
Also, most of your links don't work.
If you want a Radeon HD 5770, you might as well get a cheaper one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Radeon-5770-Interface-DisplayPort/dp/B002SP113K/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1286662016&sr=1-3
You might want to get something faster than a Caviar Green for a primary hard drive, as that's going to be painfully slow.
Usually if you want to buy 4 GB of memory, it's cheaper to buy it in a kit with two modules of 2 GB each than as two separate 2 GB modules.
Before you go around and recommend that everyone buy a Corsair power supply, you might want to look at their new Builder Series that they mysteriously aren't sending to any review sites. The specs on it sure make it look like Corsair is trying to use their reputation for good higher end power supplies to sell some not very good lower end ones. See, for example, a new CX430 that can't deliver nearly as much power as their old CX400. I guess if you were to say "Corsair but not CX", that would be kind of like saying "Antec but not Basiq".
Regardless, that's a lot more power than you'll realistically need for a system that will never draw 200 W. I should try to find a lower power option. Actually, I just didt his a couple of days ago. Try this:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/powersupplies/corsair/cmpsu-400cxuk.html
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Yes, an Intel Core i3 is faster than an AMD Athlon II X2. But it's also more expensive. Once you add in motherboard costs, you could probably get a Phenom II X4 for the price of a Core i3, and the Phenom II X4 is a lot faster than the Core i3. A Pentium G6950 is cheaper than a Core i3, but still more expensive than an Athlon II X3, and slower, too. Going Intel in a desktop doesn't make so much sense unless you want something faster than AMD will offer, namely, their Lynnfield, Bloomfield, or Gulftown processors.
Does this look better?
Power Supply: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/powersupplies/corsair/cmpsu-400cxuk.html
Motherboard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-MA770T-UD3-Motherboard-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B003DKBEQS/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286662945&sr=1-8
Processor: http://www.amazon.co.uk/164834-Athlon-3-0GHz-Processor-ADX250OCGQBOX/dp/B003D1O2CA/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286656800&sr=1-6
Graphics card: http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Radeon-5770-Interface-DisplayPort/dp/B002SP113K/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1286662016&sr=1-3
Case: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-Three-Hundred-Gaming-0761345-08300-3/dp/B003B36EX0/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286657709&sr=1-4
Hardrive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Caviar-3-5-inch-Internal/dp/B002ZCXJZE/ref=sr_1_11?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1286657817&sr=1-11
Ram X2: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-2GB-1333MHz-DDR3-Memory/dp/B002BXA7UC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286663398&sr=1-1-fkmr0
I find it weird that the 5 pages I checked (including NewEgg), not a single one gave an RPM speed for the Hard Drive.
I've never seen that before.
It probably means it's a 5400. You need at least a 7200.
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No, because a 400W PSU is not enough. 550W is the minimum you should get a for a new computer, and I doubt that something under 450W even can boot up the computer, modern GFX card uses more power today then they did 10 years ago (and I still had more than 400W 10 years ago, it was bad enough even then).
Change to corsair 550W and double the ram. The rest is fine I guess even if the processor is pretty old.
Even the worst Corsair is still better than the PSU he originally thought to buy. But sure, there is a big difference between Corsair and corsair.
Anyways, ATI themselves recommend at least 450W for the GFX card so getting 400W is a bad idea.
The "Green" WD is slower than the regular ones, that is correct. It uses less power but is slower.
For a main drive a regular one (or a Seagate) is better, the green drive is best for media drives. Most people I know who uses it have a small SSD for the OS and all stuff they don't need to run as fast on the WD drive.
Look at the other parts he's picking, not just the power supply! That system may never draw 200 W from the power supply. A good quality 400 W power supply would have plenty of power for it.
The power supply "requirements" on a video card are rather inflated because they don't know what else you've got in your system. For all they know, maybe you're going to get something awful like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817165023
(Don't buy that, by the way, as it's terrible.) And they need to say, that isn't good enough.
And for all they know, you just might buy a Bloomfield Core i7 and clock it at 4 GHz so the processor pulls 250 W by itself. Doing that takes a much stronger power supply than if you have a lower power processor and leave it at stock speeds.
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It might be better to pay a bit more for a third CPU core. Same architecture, with a third core and clocked higher:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/processors/amdphenomx3/ADX450WFGMBOX.html
And it's only about £10 more expensive than what you had picked, for something much better.
Also, here's a much faster hard drive:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/harddrives-internal/sata500gbto1tb/WD6402AAEX.html
Find out how much capacity your friend needs. There's no sense in paying extra for a 1.5 TB drive if he's only going to use 100 GB.
Listen, to actually get a PSU under the recommended power is not a great idea and even if it runs the computer he will have to upgrade the PSU if he changes GFX card, puts in more harddrives or something else that uses power. Sure, Corsair usually actually give out 400W when they say so unlike many others but that still is a big risk to save a couple of bucks.
It is also my experience from my old server that if you max out your power your harddrive risk dying, I lost 3 HDs (1 Maxtor, 1 WD and 1 Seagate) in that server during 3 years, that is as much as I lost in 15 years otherwise.
It is not that much money and it is far better to be safe than sorry. The only reason to use a PSU under 500W today is if a buddy have it lying around and gives it to you for free. Most computers actually changes GFX card once during their life time and with 400W PSU (that I'm not 100% convinced is enough to even boot it up) he will also have to change that too.
It is a nice drive but I also recommend this one: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/harddrives-internal/sataover1tb/ST31500341AS.html
It is a bit slower but will give both acceptable performance and large storage for a good price. Seagate is as solid as WD too.
But it depends if the guy watches movies or listens to music on the computer or if he just plays a few games. The "WD Black" is a better choice if he only games, but the Seagate is best for someone that needs a bit more space (I have 7 TB myself, it all depends on what you need).