Building computer, UK

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Phenomenological

New Member
Budget: As far below £500 as possible. Cheap is good here. So the best bang for your buck is what I'm looking for.

I already have: SATA Hard drive, monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, 3gb DDR2 RAM

I am looking for: Case, DVD-RW, Motherboard, CPU, PSU. Graphics card and sound card preferable.

Other details: Looking to run Windows 7 on it. Uses will range from office and internet to gaming, and although I'm not looking to run the worlds highest spec games, it would be very nice if it could hold its own.


I'd also appreciate it if someone could tell me the best place to buy from in the UK. Thanks in advance. :)
 
AMD Phenom II X3 720
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159071

Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174223

PowerColor HD 4770 PCS 512MB GDDR5 DVI VGA HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173741

Antec EarthWatts 500W 80%+ Efficiency PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/120377

Antec 300 Three Hundred Black Case - No PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854

Sony AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW DL Internal SATA Black Bare Drive - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170014

Asus Xonar D1 7.1 Soundcard - PCI Connection
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149266

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173784
 
Thanks for the recommendations - I'd like to ask a few questions, if I may.

Firstly, what, if any, benefits are there to having a quad core CPU over a triple core CPU? There is an Asus quad core I was looking at for about £90 that has the same clock speed as the triple core one you linked to. Would there be any performance difference?

Also, for the PSU, to use a cliché here is bigger always better? If you get a more powerful PSU than you need, does it scale back the power it draws to match your requirements or always draw the amount of power specified?

And finally, what are the benefits to the more expensive motherboards?

Thanks very much for your help. :)
 
Weather you need a Quad core/ Tri core depends on what application you are doing.
Tomshardware article - Part 2: How Many CPU Cores Do You Need?

Asus Quad core?? what are you talking about??
Do you mean AMD Athlon II X4 630??
I haven't seen a direct comparasion between AMD Athlon II X4 630 and Phenom IIx3 720. But I do saw one on Athlon II X4 620 vs Phenom IIx 3 710, I would expect similar result.

PSU - since you mentioned you are not going to run games in highest setting, I don't expect you run really high end graphic card. Even though you are running core i7 with 4870/ 4890, the full load would probably taking about 300W - 350W. A 500W 80% Efficiency would definately handle 4770.
If you want to a higher power PSU, the next one caugh my eye would be Consiar 650W. But it would overbudget.

Benefits of more expensive motherboards?? Functions and heatsinks and build quality...
 
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Sorry, Asus slipped out there, I did indeed mean AMD. Looking at computers for hours muddles your brain!

About the power supplies - They seem to be shown in pictures with the fan up, and since they're mounted at the top of the PC case that implies there needs to be a vent on the top of the case, which restricts those available. But closer examination of the pictures seems to indicate that for some reason they've photographed the PSUs upside down. Am I right in thinking therefore it won't be an issue as the fans are, infact, on the bottom?

I'm slowly narrowing down my choices and figuring out what I should need, but as to retailers I'm not sure which are good ones. The ones I've looked at so far are the one you linked to (ebuyer), maplins, and one called scan.co.uk

All three seem to get dismal reviews online, despite the fact I thought at least the first two were legitimate. Frankly a reputable ebay seller is sounding appetising!
 
Phenomenological said:
Sorry, Asus slipped out there, I did indeed mean AMD. Looking at computers for hours muddles your brain!

About the power supplies - They seem to be shown in pictures with the fan up, and since they're mounted at the top of the PC case that implies there needs to be a vent on the top of the case, which restricts those available. But closer examination of the pictures seems to indicate that for some reason they've photographed the PSUs upside down. Am I right in thinking therefore it won't be an issue as the fans are, infact, on the bottom?

I'm slowly narrowing down my choices and figuring out what I should need, but as to retailers I'm not sure which are good ones. The ones I've looked at so far are the one you linked to (ebuyer), maplins, and one called scan.co.uk

All three seem to get dismal reviews online, despite the fact I thought at least the first two were legitimate. Frankly a reputable ebay seller is sounding appetising!
Click to expand...

Antec 300 - the PSU install at the bottom of case
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTEzMQ==

Don't go to maplins, they are expensive. I personally go to ebuyer.com/ overclockers.com
Other site you can have a look - scan.co.uk/ dabs.com/ novatech.co.uk
 
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