PC parts...

[CODER]

G'day everyone.

as some of you may remember, a while ago i asked for some help with building a computer. Ive now gone and done some reading and have chosen some parts (i still dont know what a lot of the numbers actually mean...). I would really appreciate any advice, whether it be about the parts, suggestions about better parts or suggestions for new ones. BTW, I'm 15, have minimal technical knowledge, am intending to build it myself and would like it to cost less that $1000AUd (~$996USD). Thanks.

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition AM3

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda (1TB 7200RPM 32MB cache)

RAM:
Patriot PSD34G13332H 4gb (two of the 4gb ones i think)

Disc Drive:
Samsung TS-H663B

Graphics cards:
Sapphire Radeon HD 5870
or
Radeon HD 6870



So far the parts im not sure about are the motherboard, Sound card, PSU and cooling.
thanks for any advice.

 

[Kabutos]

Swap the Seagate HDD out for a Samsung Spinpoint F3, and I would advise going for a 6870 instead of a 6850.

For the mobo, just get an AM3 board, preferably with USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0. As for PSU, get an 80+ certified 650w or higher, and stock cooling is fine unless you're planning on OCing, in which case you can get a Hyper 212+ or something. Onboard sound should be fine, but if you really need a soundcard then I can't help you there.

EDIT: Also, for the RAM, do you mean 2 as in 2x2GB or 2x4GB?

 

[MrTub]

I would change your cpu to a sandy bridge intel i5 or an SB i7 and perhaps this motherboard -> http://global.msi.eu/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=170&prod_no=2225

With that mobo you will get UEFI instead of bios

as for ram, perhaps these? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

 

[CODER]

firstly, thank you.
sorry for the errors, it was late at night. the Samsung Spinpoint F3 is probably a good idea. sandy bridge is referring to the new i7 CPU that is being released today, right? the i7 2600k? also, what is UEFI? i have some idea of what bios is. some. is the difference between the Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 and the Radeon HD 6870 a lot, because it the actual cash difference is only $70. also, is patriot a decent brand for ram?
thanks.

 

[MrTub]

firstly, thank you.
sorry for the errors, it was late at night. the Samsung Spinpoint F3 is probably a good idea. sandy bridge is referring to the new i7 CPU that is being released today, right? the i7 2600k? also, what is UEFI? i have some idea of what bios is. some. is the difference between the Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 and the Radeon HD 6870 a lot, because it the actual cash difference is only $70. also, is patriot a decent brand for ram?
thanks.

Sandy bridge is the latest generation from intel (so yeah i7 2600k) You can read about UEFI here -> http://www.uefi.org/about/ its like BIOS but more user friendly and nicer looking =). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLwHKHqBitc UEFI preview.
As for ram I never heard of patriot, if you feel unsure about them I would highly recommend corsair(If you going to get 8gb (2x4gb) I would recommend Corsair vengeance)

 

[Hairetos]

I wouldn't jump on Sandy Bridge just yet. I don't trust Intel's graphics cards enough to trust their APU's. I'd look into AMD's Fusion line, celebrating it's acquisition of ATI (I noticed some AMD love in your build). Fusion does the same thing as Sandy Bridge, fusing CPU and GPU power, but is backed by ATI's graphics cards, so they seem more reliable.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I wouldn't jump on Sandy Bridge just yet. I don't trust Intel's graphics cards enough to trust their APU's. I'd look into AMD's Fusion line, celebrating it's acquisition of ATI (I noticed some AMD love in your build). Fusion does the same thing as Sandy Bridge, fusing CPU and GPU power, but is backed by ATI's graphics cards, so they seem more reliable.

AMD Fusion is aimed a portable devices and HTPC (home theatre PCs) not gaming. Much like the problem with Sandy Bridge APUs, the GPUs being put on the APU will be the equivalent of the usual integrated line of GPUs. If you look at the specs of the current Fusion APUs available, you'll see that the CPU side specs are the same as current laptop (mobility rated) CPUs and the GPU side specs are for integrated/multimedia level GPUs. Essentially APUs as they stand now (and in the near future) have simply moved onboard graphics (*spits*) from the motherboard to the CPU die. An impressive engineering feat but anyone who spends anytime in the guts of a computer can tell you it's not a gaming solution.

Best of all AMD aren't intent on weighing down their new line of Bulldozer CPUs by only making them available on APUs as Intel have done with Sandy Bridge (so far, anyway - they might have to if non-APU Bulldozer CPUs start making a BIG market impact).

There's another reason you won't see enthusiast (gaming) level GPUs on an APU anytime in the future... Slapping one of those on the same die as a high performance CPU is going to generate so much waste heat that the standard Heatsink/Fan cooling won't be able to cope with it. That means expensive water cooling systems, and if you're interesting in over-clocking even more exotic cooling methods.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

You can read about UEFI here -> http://www.uefi.org/about/ its like BIOS but more user friendly and nicer looking =). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLwHKHqBitc UEFI preview.

The most important thing about UEFI is that it's not weighed down with 2 decades of legacy code.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Here's a quick build I just threw together

---

CoolerMaster Centurion 5 II Black (No PSU) - $77.00

ASUS M4A87TD-USB3 Motherboard - $99.00

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition - $165.00

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ - $69.00

Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB - $279.00

Samsung SH-S223C SATA DVDRW Drive - $29.00

CoolerMaster eXtreme Power Plus 700W - $99.00

Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 x2 - $118.00

---

Total : $935


That's in AU$ and from an Aussie supplier (pccasegear.com) so you don't have to worry about currency conversion or allowing for our crappy taxes.

 

[Hairetos]

I wouldn't jump on Sandy Bridge just yet. I don't trust Intel's graphics cards enough to trust their APU's. I'd look into AMD's Fusion line, celebrating it's acquisition of ATI (I noticed some AMD love in your build). Fusion does the same thing as Sandy Bridge, fusing CPU and GPU power, but is backed by ATI's graphics cards, so they seem more reliable.

AMD Fusion is aimed a portable devices and HTPC (home theatre PCs) not gaming. Much like the problem with Sandy Bridge APUs, the GPUs being put on the APU will be the equivalent of the usual integrated line of GPUs. If you look at the specs of the current Fusion APUs available, you'll see that the CPU side specs are the same as current laptop (mobility rated) CPUs and the GPU side specs are for integrated/multimedia level GPUs. Essentially APUs as they stand now (and in the near future) have simply moved onboard graphics (*spits*) from the motherboard to the CPU die. An impressive engineering feat but anyone who spends anytime in the guts of a computer can tell you it's not a gaming solution.

Best of all AMD aren't intent on weighing down their new line of Bulldozer CPUs by only making them available on APUs as Intel have done with Sandy Bridge (so far, anyway - they might have to if non-APU Bulldozer CPUs start making a BIG market impact).

There's another reason you won't see enthusiast (gaming) level GPUs on an APU anytime in the future... Slapping one of those on the same die as a high performance CPU is going to generate so much waste heat that the standard Heatsink/Fan cooling won't be able to cope with it. That means expensive water cooling systems, and if you're interesting in over-clocking even more exotic cooling methods.

Damn, I was hoping fusion would slap on dedicated cards. I still hold out for better future prospects from AMD than Intel though.

 

[MrTub]

I wouldn't jump on Sandy Bridge just yet. I don't trust Intel's graphics cards enough to trust their APU's. I'd look into AMD's Fusion line, celebrating it's acquisition of ATI (I noticed some AMD love in your build). Fusion does the same thing as Sandy Bridge, fusing CPU and GPU power, but is backed by ATI's graphics cards, so they seem more reliable.

AMD Fusion is aimed a portable devices and HTPC (home theatre PCs) not gaming. Much like the problem with Sandy Bridge APUs, the GPUs being put on the APU will be the equivalent of the usual integrated line of GPUs. If you look at the specs of the current Fusion APUs available, you'll see that the CPU side specs are the same as current laptop (mobility rated) CPUs and the GPU side specs are for integrated/multimedia level GPUs. Essentially APUs as they stand now (and in the near future) have simply moved onboard graphics (*spits*) from the motherboard to the CPU die. An impressive engineering feat but anyone who spends anytime in the guts of a computer can tell you it's not a gaming solution.

Best of all AMD aren't intent on weighing down their new line of Bulldozer CPUs by only making them available on APUs as Intel have done with Sandy Bridge (so far, anyway - they might have to if non-APU Bulldozer CPUs start making a BIG market impact).

There's another reason you won't see enthusiast (gaming) level GPUs on an APU anytime in the future... Slapping one of those on the same die as a high performance CPU is going to generate so much waste heat that the standard Heatsink/Fan cooling won't be able to cope with it. That means expensive water cooling systems, and if you're interesting in over-clocking even more exotic cooling methods.

I might be wrong about this but Sandy bridge atm is the "middle class" and later this year they will release a more "high end" version which has atleast 6 cores and no built in graphic.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Damn, I was hoping fusion would slap on dedicated cards. I still hold out for better future prospects from AMD than Intel though.

No one will be slapping dedicated GPUs on APUs anytime in the near future. Dedicated GPUs run as hot as CPUs (well, close enough) so sticking them both on an APU die would be asking for trouble. It's just too much waste heat to expect standard HSF (HeatSink/Fan) cooling to deal with.

I might be wrong about this but Sandy bridge atm is the "middle class" and later this year they will release a more "high end" version which has atleast 6 cores and no built in graphic.

Hmmm... that would make more sense but will piss off a lot of early adopters.