First gaming PC build, any good?

[B00M123]

Hi, new to the forums so apologies if this is in the wrong section. This will be my first gaming PC build. It will be from a company who build it for me. Just want to know if the parts I list are decent. Cant spend any more than £650. At first Ill be gaming on a 720p HDTV but later will get a proper monitor, will this cause me any problems?

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Motherboard: Asus M4A87TD USB3
Memory: 4.0GB Corsair DDR3 1600mhz XMS3 CL9 (2x 2GB)
Hard Drives: 500GB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 6870 1GB
Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio
Case: Zalman Z9 Plus
PSU: 500W Xigmatek

Product Subtotal: £648.60

So what do you all think?

 

[AtenRa]

Very nice for 720p and even for 1080p most of the time

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Here is a good guide to help us help you and welcome to the Anandtech Forums !

 

[supahnoobie]

You're golden. You can even go w/ AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition, it will OC the same for a less price.

 

[Idontcare]

Welcome to the forums B00M123 :thumbsup:

 

[-Slacker-]

Get an x4 955be - you'll yhen be left with enough money to get an aftermarket cooler, like the cooler master hyper 212 plus, or that other cooler that everyone seems to be getting now instead of the 212 plus ... can't remember the name, but you can't go wrong with the hyper 212 plus either.

PSU: 500W Xigmatek

Ah, this wouldn't happen to be an ibuypower prebuilt pc, would it? At any rate, that psu is a no-no. Get a corsair instead.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

OP get the 955Be version.
Mobo
ASRock M3A770DE: Socket AM3, 770 Chipset, ATX

Ram
GeIL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CAS 9

Gpu
Since your playing at Xbox resolutions get the
MSI Twin Frozr II SOC GeForce GTX 460

Hdd
Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s

Optical
ASUS SATA 24XDVD Burner

Psu
SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS

Case you can pick yourself that always a matter of person choice and taste

Cooler
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

You'll need it since your playing at 720p which puts a lot of pressure on the cpu

 

[B00M123]

Thanks for all the replies! I've changed the CPU to the 955. Will I lose much performance from this? I will probably just use a 1280 x 1024 monitor from another computer, instead of the 720p HDTV. dinopc.com will be building it. Whats so bad about the 500W Xigmatex PSU?

 

[wuliheron]

The 955 overclocks about the same as any AMD until you start getting into the hex cores.

Power supplies are one the biggest scams in PCs today. If you check around you'll see power supplies that put out the same watts and volts, but cost anywhere from $13.oo to $150.oo. There are too many rip off artists in the industry and you need to be careful and buy from a reputable manufacturer like Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, etc.

 

[B00M123]

Ah ok I've changed it for a Corsair 650W TX utra quiet. I dont think I'll be overclocking anything to soon as this will be my first gaming PC. Will it still be powerful enough without overclocking?

 

[fffblackmage]

Ah ok I've changed it for a Corsair 650W TX utra quiet. I dont think I'll be overclocking anything to soon as this will be my first gaming PC. Will it still be powerful enough without overclocking?

A 650W psu seems kinda overkill for just a 965BE and 6870, but whatever.

Yes, it's powerful enough without OCing. I often don't see any benefit OCing my unlocked 550BE from 3.1GHz to 3.6GHz. You'll probably see more improvement OCing the graphics card, but I hardly ever notice it unless framerates are flirting around 30fps before OCing.

 

[B00M123]

Well I think a more powerful PSU will allow more upgrades in the future. And I think I agree with having a more reputable PSU brand such as Corsair.
So this is the final build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Motherboard: Asus M4A87TD USB3
Memory: 4.0GB Corsair DDR3 1600mhz XMS3 CL9 (2x 2GB)
Hard Drive: 500GB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 6870 1GB
Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio
Case: Zalman Z9 Plus
PSU: 650W Corsair TX Ultra-Quiet

 

[fffblackmage]

Well I think a more powerful PSU will allow more upgrades in the future. And I think I agree with having a more reputable PSU brand such as Corsair.
So this is the final build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Motherboard: Asus M4A87TD USB3
Memory: 4.0GB Corsair DDR3 1600mhz XMS3 CL9 (2x 2GB)
Hard Drive: 500GB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 6870 1GB
Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio
Case: Zalman Z9 Plus
PSU: 650W Corsair TX Ultra-Quiet

Depends on what you mean by upgrading. Upgrading from mid-range to other mid-range components in the future does not mean you need more power, because TDP usually doesn't change much. It's typically only when you move from a mid-range component to high-end component that you'll actually see a need for more power, but even then, 650W is more than enough.

I just hope you're getting a decent deal for it, otherwise, it's probably not worth it.

BTW, is there no way to do a Sandy Bridge build? It shouldn't be much more than the 955BE + 770 mobo, but then again, I'm not sure what the prices like are outside the USA. I can't imagine putting my own money on an AMD build for a gaming computer today. If you can't squeeze SB into your budget, then I guess there's no other choice, but make sure you've considered the alternative.

Edit: Ok... dinopc.com doesn't even seem to have much selection of Intel CPUs...

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

If you intend to ever do dual GPU and run Crysis, a 650w might be cutting it close with today's GPUs

 

[B00M123]

So are you saying if I do dual GPU's AND Crysis? Or if I run Crysis alone with one GPU?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Sry,dual GPU + Crysis

Check this link for reference just to give you an idea. I know the 6870 isn't on there but down the road (when you upgrade GPUs) , like you were saying, this might be a problem.

EDITED

 

[B00M123]

Ok cheers. Well atm I really cant afford any more. I will upgrade sometime but the current build should last me quite a while as its my first gaming rig. Hopefully order it all tomorrow.

 

[mfenn]

Depends on what you mean by upgrading. Upgrading from mid-range to other mid-range components in the future does not mean you need more power, because TDP usually doesn't change much. It's typically only when you move from a mid-range component to high-end component that you'll actually see a need for more power, but even then, 650W is more than enough.

I just hope you're getting a decent deal for it, otherwise, it's probably not worth it.

BTW, is there no way to do a Sandy Bridge build? It shouldn't be much more than the 955BE + 770 mobo, but then again, I'm not sure what the prices like are outside the USA. I can't imagine putting my own money on an AMD build for a gaming computer today. If you can't squeeze SB into your budget, then I guess there's no other choice, but make sure you've considered the alternative.

Edit: Ok... dinopc.com doesn't even seem to have much selection of Intel CPUs...

I agree. The build is not bad (PSU is overkill as hell though), but maybe 70 pounds more would buy you a huge increase in CPU performance.

 

[B00M123]

So will the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition be good enough for gaming on? And fffblackmage whats so bad about AMD builds? Hopefully be ordering this all tonight so want to make my mind up.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

It will be "good enough" but why would you spend the same money on something that is just good enough, while for minimal difference you can get the best out right now?

 

[B00M123]

Whats the alternative then? The problem is that dinopc doesn't offer any intel CPU's, no i5's.

 

[B00M123]

Would the AMD Phenom II X4 955BE CPU bottleneck the 6870 GPU? What resolution should I run this at?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Would the AMD Phenom II X4 955BE CPU bottleneck the 6870 GPU? What resolution should I run this at?

I don't think that it will bottleneck it too bad. You could stand to overclock the CPU a little bit. Did you get a heatsink for overclocking? That could be a good investment.

 

[B00M123]

Might get a decent CPU cooler when I come to OC the CPU. What resolution would be best for running the 6870 and the 955?

 

[B00M123]

Right. Just found another websight 'cyberpowersystem'. This is the build I've come up with from them:

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
CoolerMaster HAF 912 Mid-Tower
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Maximum Case Cooling Fans for your selected case, and match the colour of the fans already in the case
CPU: AMD Phenom™ II X4 965 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU
Cooling Fan: Coolermaster Hyper TX3 with 3 x Direct Contact heat-pipes CPU Cooling Fan
MOTHERBOARD ASUS M4N68T-M V2 NF630A AM3 DDR3/1066 SATA PCI-Express MBoard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, &7.1Audio
MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair XMS3 w/Heat Spreader)
VIDEO CARD ATI Radeon HD 6870 PCI-E 16X 1GB DDR5
Power Supply: CoolerMaster Elite 500W
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache Hard Drive
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE.
SOUND HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Ultra Care Option: Professional Wiring for All WIRING Inside The System Chasis

Is about £30 more but is it much better? Also, would the 500W PSU be enough? Dont want to buy all this over the other build if I wont notice much performance difference.