New PC for £500

[yuklunc]

Hello.

I need your help! I'm planning to build a new pc(gaming and general tasks eg writing documents) after new year to replace the one(a oem pc, was doing so badly i had to replace some components + the customer service was horrible) I have. The budget is £500(the less the better). I don't have a clue about motherboards and I'm totally lost with power supplies.

I live in the UK so don't give me prices in us dollars .

Currently the components(they are used with the current pc) I can reuse for the new build are:
P180 case
dvd burner
Antec neo hd 550w(currently powering a pentium d 830 and a xfx 7900gs xxx)
19" lcd monior, mouse, keyboard and speakers.

I was thinking of something like(prices are from ebuyer.com):

Processor:e6750 ~£110 or q6600(g0 stepping?) ~£150, overclocked to 3 ghz
Heat sink:thermalright ultra 90?
Motherboard:No idea what motherboards are good. I heard that gigabyte and asus are good motherboard manufacturers.
Ram:2x1Gb 800mhz for around £40. Not sure about brands.
Graphics:anything good for gaming within reasonable price. Maybe a 3850/3870 or even one of the 8800s once the prices go down,
PSU:either reuse the neo hd and buy a "cheap" psu for the other pc or get a new one
HDD:2HDDs 250gb or 320gb.

Thanks.

 

[cozumel]

Motherboard = Asus P5K-E / WIFI-AP £92.46
CPU - C2D E6550 £104.56
Memory - Geil PC2-6400 Ultra £37.59 (Should be good over clockers due to Micron ICs)
GFX - EVGA 8800GT 512MB £176.11 (EVGA is good due to their Step-Up Program' which offers you an upgrade within 90 days)
HDD - 2x250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II £85.70

Total (incl tax) £496.42 - Not including shipping

If you want a Q6600 SLACR G0 add about another £40

All of the above offer you a good gaming rig. The motherboard will take the new chip 45nm CPUs.
The GFX 8800GT offers the best 'bang for buck' money can buy which is why you have to pre-order this item. It has only been on the market a matter of weeks and has the latest G92 chip.

The PSU you have will do for the time being but I advise you not to overclock until you can afford an upgrade as overclocked CPU draws a lot of extra power. If the PSU goes down it can take the rest of your rig with it.

Hope this helps

EDIT: CAUTION. DO NOT BUY A 'CHEAP'PSU WHATEVER YOU DO. MAKE SURE IT IS A PRODUCT FROM A BRANDED COMPANY SUCH AS ANTEC, CORSAIR, ENERMAX ETC. A CHEAP PSU THAT FAILS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE CRITICAL FAILURES OF ALL OTHER COMPONENTS. A PSU IS THE CORE COMPONENT WITHIN YOUR RIG.

 

[cozumel]

Oh yeah. You can use the stock cooler if you want for now if you won't be overclocking until new PSU. When uou do get an aftermarket CPU cooler I advise for a 120 model like Thermalright Ultra for example. 120mm fan blows more cool air not just on CPU but also on to GFX, RAM and across much of the board and is also quieter. The cooling will a 120mm product gives increases the potential overclock compared to 90mm model.

When you put the rig together don't forget to use thermal greas between heatsink and cpu.

 

[yuklunc]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ika]

Your PSU will be fine. There are people running the same hardware cozumel recommended on PSUs like the Earthwatts and other various low-wattage, but top-tier, PSUs.

 

[yuklunc]

I know what happens if the psu fails but when I was saying "cheap", I didn't mean some random £3 psu. More in the £30-40 range

Also wouldn't the thermalright ultra 90 achieve similar results (some degrees warmer) than the 120 one just by replacing the 90mm fan with a 120mm one?

 

[cozumel]

I'm not sure a 120mm fan will fit without alterations

Anyhow, better cooling by the Ultra-120 is achieved by the larger surface area allowing more heat to be quickly transferred away from the CPU. Makes an overclock better.

I'm not saying it has to be the Ultra 120. The Tuniq-120 also offers great performance. the 90mm versions of both heatsinks also give massive increase in cooling compared to to the stock HSF. The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is also good.

Basically, any aftermarket HSF that you get will be much better than the stock model. Thermalright and Tuniq are more complicated to install due to backplates while the Arctic Freezer has a simple installation. But I believe the choices are Thermalright or Tuniq 120mm models and Arctic Freezer 7 Pro.

 

[yuklunc]

http://images.anandtech.com/re...t-ultima-90/120fan.jpg Here's the ultra 90 with 120 mm fan.

I am aware that the ultra 120 or tuniq 120 or anything else cool better than than ones with smaller fans and surface area but they also cost at least £10 more and often don't include fans. My computer currently uses a freezer 7 pro and I always feel as if it is going to fall into my graphic card.

PS I know what is required to put together a computer and what I need to look out for. I just don't know what brand I should buy.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: cozumel
GFX - EVGA 8800GT 512MB £176.11 (EVGA is good due to their Step-Up Program' which offers you an upgrade within 90 days)

EVGA 8800GT 512MB @scan.co.uk
Pre-Order Item
Item overdue since 29/10/2007

I don't think scan have had this in stock since it was officially released. Don't order unless you are very patient - I'd suggest looking for an alternative card and/or supplier.

 

[yuklunc]

We will see how the situation is in January...

 

[cozumel]

Originally posted by: betasub

Originally posted by: cozumel
GFX - EVGA 8800GT 512MB £176.11 (EVGA is good due to their Step-Up Program' which offers you an upgrade within 90 days)

EVGA 8800GT 512MB @scan.co.uk
Pre-Order Item
Item overdue since 29/10/2007

I don't think scan have had this in stock since it was officially released. Don't order unless you are very patient - I'd suggest looking for an alternative card and/or supplier.

I just got an email from overclockers saying the evga will be arriving with me tomorrow. They got delivery of a large quanitity KO and SCC 512MB 8800GTs. I only waited 11 days and now I can build the rig in my sig this weekend. The problem is if you look at the website they have already sold out as all they're doing are supplying people with back-orders like myself. None are actually going on the shelves. They can't make them quick enough lol. I'll be using the 'step-up' in late Feb 2008 for my upgrade - works almost like an easy payment plan.