Building a new Computer for my Dad

[d3fu5i0n]

Firstly, Admins move my post if it is in the wrong section please.

So... I'm building a new computer for my dad.

The parts I was looking at are:

ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3 - Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition - CPU

PowerColor HD 5670 1GB DDR3 (It's not the 1GB I'm choosing [that's all pointless for my dad], it's the GDDR3 Mem. inteface) - GPU

Cooler Master Hyper TX3 - CPU Heatsink

4GB kit (2GBx2) Ballistix Tracer, DDR3 1333 - 7-7-7-24 1.65V - RAM

Corsair CX 430W - PSU (Do I need a 500W?)

Coolermaster Elite 342 [Black] - Case

Seagate 320GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache ~ OEM - HDD

Samsung SH-S223L 22x DVD±RW with LightScribe - ODD

Comes to a total of just over £380

My dad says he's not to worried about going Intel or AMD and NVidia and AMD/ATi. But I'm curious if I should pop for Intel, or if AMD will be fine. I've been with AMD on the long run once before and had them last longer than Intel chips.

I'm not really looking to OC to remove any bottlenecks, if there are any that is. I'd only OC after the warranties have gone. I am looking however to use the Core-Unlocker on the Mobo, to try and get 4 Cores going, at least 3 if 1 was actually dead.

What are your opinions on Intel - AMD, Nvidia - ATi (I have a bit of a matching thing: NVidia Chipset, I'd end up going for an NVidia GPU; AMD Chipset, I'd end up going for an AMD/ATi GPU... heh).

No biased opinions please, just pure experience.

Cheers

 

[SieB]

I can't advise you on AMD CPUs/Motherbords because I don't know anything about them, the rest looks ok thou. The only suggestion i'd make is get a Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD instead of the Seagate 320GB you have listed, they are only £40 and you get triple the size.

As far as Intel vs AMD goes, that is an eternal battle that will never end, just go for what ever is best for you, AMD offer great price/performance but are not as powerful as Intel CPUs so it's up to you whether you want to save a bit of money and go AMD or spend a bit extra and go Intel for the extra power.

It's also the same for ATI vs Nvidia, I have seen 1000+ post threads of people arguing which is better and which is worse. As I said for AMD vs Intel the same goes for ATI vs Nvidia, except Nvidia becomes Intel and ATI becomes AMD (in case there is confusion ATI is now AMD in the GPU market). Personally I have a Intel/ATI setup which does what I need it to do and I am happy with.

 

[CallumB]

Have you looked at Toms £600 budget rig,

 

[adicool96]

I dont think his dad is gonna game so what your gonna build is good maybe get a 5770 instead.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

I can't advise you on AMD CPUs/Motherbords because I don't know anything about them, the rest looks ok thou. The only suggestion i'd make is get a Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD instead of the Seagate 320GB you have listed, they are only £40 and you get triple the size.

As far as Intel vs AMD goes, that is an eternal battle that will never end, just go for what ever is best for you, AMD offer great price/performance but are not as powerful as Intel CPUs so it's up to you whether you want to save a bit of money and go AMD or spend a bit extra and go Intel for the extra power.

It's also the same for ATI vs Nvidia, I have seen 1000+ post threads of people arguing which is better and which is worse. As I said for AMD vs Intel the same goes for ATI vs Nvidia, except Nvidia becomes Intel and ATI becomes AMD (in case there is confusion ATI is now AMD in the GPU market). Personally I have a Intel/ATI setup which does what I need it to do and I am happy with.

I do know my stuff

(e.g. ATi being AMD etc).

I just want to decide whether any companies will be better for a computer that is left. I asked FuenfamTag on YouTube to look at this post, and he said the board even though it will do core unlocking, that it's not a good idea to.

So I'm thinking as the system is for my dad, of the best company choices for a computer that is going to be more-or-less, 'left alone'.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

I dont think his dad is gonna game so what your gonna build is good maybe get a 5770 instead.

Exactly, but even a 5670 is overkill, but futureproofness is what my dad is thinking will be a good idea. And as I said... anything lower spec isn't much cheaper but around 10 times weaker.

 

[bertdasquirt]

Sounds good, but if its just for home use and you still want quad, go for an athlon 2 x4 as they are only like £70 anyways and definately have 4 cores... or tbh if u want a better cpu go for the aria i3 bundle which would be much better and use onboard graphics, i think they will be perfectly fine when browsing the web and looking at images and watching videos, and if it struggles in the future just wack in a 5670+ and it should be fine and as for watts, my psu is tx650w and im only using 360w's of it and thats with a HD6850... which uses twice as much power than a 5670 so... i think you will be fine but i will have to reccommend a 500w for future proofnesss... look at the cx500w from corsair thats pretty cheap for a branded psu and c'mon its corsair so its bound to be good!

 

[d3fu5i0n]

Sounds good, but if its just for home use and you still want quad, go for an athlon 2 x4 as they are only like £70 anyways and definately have 4 cores... or tbh if u want a better cpu go for the aria i3 bundle which would be much better and use onboard graphics, i think they will be perfectly fine when browsing the web and looking at images and watching videos, and if it struggles in the future just wack in a 5670+ and it should be fine and as for watts, my psu is tx650w and im only using 360w's of it and thats with a HD6850... which uses twice as much power than a 5670 so... i think you will be fine but i will have to reccommend a 500w for future proofnesss... look at the cx500w from corsair thats pretty cheap for a branded psu and c'mon its corsair so its bound to be good!

Yes, but frankly you're not supporting any logical reason to go for an i3 (I said unbiased. I need a logical reason for why, and built around the reasons that I stated). In my experience they don't deliver a 'snappy' feeling to a GUI, and onboard graphics, that's a "no-no". Always. That's why I said, since it's not really any cheaper for really low end dedicated graphics card, I'd go for a 5670. I've used CX500s when building computers for other people, good PSUs actually.

That's why I chose the Phenom II (of course, I haven't purchased anything yet). I can get the PII 555 Black for a little cheaper than an Athlon II X4 640. The Phenom is not only clocked higher at stock but even as a dual core it has 3 times as much cache. I've used a 640 before when building a computer for someone. It's fairly quick, but not that 'snappy' feeling again.

The motherboard does support core unlocking so it's possible to make it a PII X4.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

Yes, but frankly you're not supporting any logical reason to go for an i3 (I said unbiased. I need a logical reason for why, and built around the reasons that I stated). In my experience they don't deliver a 'snappy' feeling to a GUI, and onboard graphics, that's a "no-no". Always. That's why I said, since it's not really any cheaper for really low end dedicated graphics card, I'd go for a 5670. I've used CX500s when building computers for other people, good PSUs actually.

That's why I chose the Phenom II (of course, I haven't purchased anything yet). I can get the PII 555 Black for a little cheaper than an Athlon II X4 640. The Phenom is not only clocked higher at stock but even as a dual core it has 3 times as much cache. I've used a 640 before when building a computer for someone. It's fairly quick, but not that 'snappy' feeling again.

The motherboard does support core unlocking so it's possible to make it a PII X4.

Also, my dad is planning to watch some HD content on his screen as his study is a mini-gym as well, so he'll be watching some TV on it. Probably Sky through Media Centre when I grab him a copy of 7 Home Premium x64.

 

[GBcf]

Well the new sandybridge onboard gpu's H67 are a huge performance boost over the "old generation" H55...

My server is an I3 H67 and it is far more powerfull than I expected really

Should take this in consideration if i were you.

They are futureproof, affordable and are very eco frendly, just pure experience

Cheers!

 

[d3fu5i0n]

Well the new sandybridge onboard gpu's H67 are a huge performance boost over the "old generation" H55...

My server is an I3 H67 and it is far more powerfull than I expected really

Should take this in consideration if i were you.

They are futureproof, affordable and are very eco frendly, just pure experience

Cheers!

Okay, thanks for letting me know.

1) They've just come out, so support is at it's top.

2) It's eco efficient and reliabe (and futureproof, except Intel usually make new chips only work with new sockets).

As long as the price point is right, I'm willing to go H67 and i3. I bet my dad would be happy, especially since I'm still on P45

 

[d3fu5i0n]

Okay, thanks for letting me know.

1) They've just come out, so support is at it's top.

2) It's eco efficient and reliabe (and futureproof, except Intel usually make new chips only work with new sockets).

As long as the price point is right, I'm willing to go H67 and i3. I bet my dad would be happy, especially since I'm still on P45

Here's a new setup:

ASUS P8H67-M PRO

Artic Cooling Freezer 7 1155/1156 Heatsink

2X2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3-1333 RAM 7-7-7-24 1.65V

Antec VP450P 450W PSU

Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.12 SATAII 16MB Cache ~ OEM

CoolerMaster Elite 430 ~ Black Mid-Tower Case with Side Window

CPU: Waiting for i3 1155 chips to be released

GPU Temporary - My 2600XT 512MB GDDR3

ODD Temporary - My Plextor PA-712A 1.09FW IDE

 

[adicool96]

Thats a pretty powerful setup i would say give ur rig to ur dad, get this setup with an i5 and maybe change the mobo to a p67.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

Thats a pretty powerful setup i would say give ur rig to ur dad, get this setup with an i5 and maybe change the mobo to a p67.

It's not that powerful of a setup. I've spent a lot of money on mine that I wouldn't want to give it to my dad, considering its my first proper rig.

I'd be looking at the P67 Deluxe anyway or even the Maximus IV Formula.

Of course, I wouldn't give all my rig to my dad anyway. I'd still take out the PSU, the case, the two 5770s of course, the ODD, the HDD, the heatsink would also need changing and I'd have to wait for a high end 1155 heatsink. Mine is only 775, 1366 and AM2, AM2+ and AM3

After all that, as it's a mobo change, I'd need to re-install Windows. I've got too much stuff installed, and don't feel like reinstalling all sorts of profiles, OS tweaks etc.

My dad would then still need to get some other parts etc. It's just too much. I'm happy with my system(-ish

~ "we always want better stuff"), and my dad wants something futureproof. When the i3 2xxx come out in February, that'll be good. He just needs to save up for a bit, as he's gone through two sets of brand new wheels in a month (pot-holes).

I told him that he could have the latest stuff (not necessarily in power), and he's quite pleased about that.

 

[adicool96]

Whoah okay ur right i did not forsee that.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

Whoah okay ur right i did not forsee that.

Heh

I think it'll be a good setup.

I'm planning for an i3 2000(S) 3.1GHz Dual

The GPU - A 5670 512MB GDDR5 (around the £60 mark at the moment) or a new NV 5xx series GPU that's lower end. Hopefully something that's more powerful than a GT430 but less powerful than a GTS450

Q: Is the GT430 as powerful as a GT240? (If so, I'd just look into that).

 

[dhicks001]

Well the new sandybridge onboard gpu's H67 are a huge performance boost over the "old generation" H55...

My server is an I3 H67 and it is far more powerfull than I expected really

Should take this in consideration if i were you.

They are futureproof, affordable and are very eco frendly, just pure experience

Cheers!

I'd recommend a H55/57 board and an i3 something or even a G6950 CPU (1156 just to confirm). Onboard, especially on these chips is nothing to be sniffed at. Especially as what you described your dad would be using it for. The onboard graphics options these allow are more than adequate, I have one of these in my HTPC and HD content works fine, I use it especially for Blu-rays. A display card isn't really needed at all...

 

[d3fu5i0n]

I'd recommend a H55/57 board and an i3 something or even a G6950 CPU (1156 just to confirm). Onboard, especially on these chips is nothing to be sniffed at. Especially as what you described your dad would be using it for. The onboard graphics options these allow are more than adequate, I have one of these in my HTPC and HD content works fine, I use it especially for Blu-rays. A display card isn't really needed at all...

I did say my dad might play GRID (at max) once in a while (also streaming Sky TV through Windows Media Centre). He wants something new and futureproof anyway. He's happy to go i3 2300 (February) and H67.

Unless the H57 and high end i3 chips are a vast amount cheaper, I think he'd still run to 1155. I know the G6950s are Pentium chips for the 1156 platform

.

I've even priced everything, and even H55 and an i3 540 is still a LOT dearer than H67 and an i5 2300... heh.

 

[dhicks001]

I did say my dad might play GRID (at max) once in a while (also streaming Sky TV through Windows Media Centre). He wants something new and futureproof anyway. He's happy to go i3 2300 (February) and H67.

Unless the H57 and high end i3 chips are a vast amount cheaper, I think he'd still run to 1155. I know the G6950s are Pentium chips for the 1156 platform

.

I've even priced everything, and even H55 and an i3 540 is still a LOT dearer than H67 and an i5 2300... heh.

Fair enough. GRID is an awesome game. Can't blame the "old man" for wanting to have a go at that. Sounds like you have it all sussed out...

 

[TMaksimov]

I'd advise you to read this: Sandy Bridge Faults before going into sandy bridge. Just thought I'd give you a friendly warning