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View Full Version : Hardware gurus. Please critique my new build



Swerve1000
April 14th, 2010, 03:52 PM
edit for privacy. :)

madnessjack
April 14th, 2010, 03:55 PM
Just out of interest, what do you do with your computer or what are you planning on doing with your new computer?

Bachstelze
April 14th, 2010, 03:56 PM
Seems good

But you probably won't need to buy an additional CPU fan, the one bundled with the CPU should be good enough.

hackb0y294
April 14th, 2010, 03:57 PM
Everything sounds great, I'm a big Intel fan though, so I recommend the Core iX architecture, although I noted that you're on a budget, so this may be out of the question. Also, I recommend a 600 watt or higher PSU, especially if you're going to upgrade your GPU in the future; you'll just have to upgrade the PSU later if you don't now.:smile:

Swerve1000
April 14th, 2010, 03:59 PM
Thanks guys!!

I'll be running a lot of macros and bots on it, hence my choice of CPU.

The computer will have to last me a long time (as you can probably guess from my current machine).

My main concern though was the onboard ATI card. I know Nvidia is better for Ubuntu.


Thanks for the feedback!

hackb0y294
April 14th, 2010, 04:00 PM
No problem.

Frogs Hair
April 14th, 2010, 04:03 PM
Looks Nice!

The psu is too small for many newer graphics cards , you will find that many require a 550 to 650 Watt minimum. If you havent paid for it yet, get a bigger high quality psu.

Swerve1000
April 14th, 2010, 04:08 PM
Looks Nice!

The psu is too small for many newer graphics cards , you will find that many require a 550 to 650 Watt minimum. If you havent paid for it yet, get a bigger high quality psu.

Thanks buddy :)

No not bought it yet, maybe in a couple of hours though!

This may be daft question, but if I get say a 650watt PSU, if the computer isn't using it all, will it still consume the same costs in electricity?

Paqman
April 14th, 2010, 04:09 PM
But you probably won't need to buy an additional CPU fan, the one bundled with the CPU should be good enough.

Stock fans are naaaasty. I reckon it's wise to protect your investment with a good fan and a good PSU.

Swerve1000
April 14th, 2010, 04:10 PM
Stock fans are naaaasty. I reckon it's wise to protect your investment with a good fan and a good PSU.

Yes, this was why I wanted to get one. I won't be overclocking, but even so, since it has to last me a loooong time, I figured it would be wise to get one.

Thanks!

Paqman
April 14th, 2010, 04:11 PM
This may be daft question, but if I get say a 650watt PSU, if the computer isn't using it all, will it still consume the same costs in electricity?

It'll only actually draw as much power as your machine is using, regardless of how it's rated.

But raw wattage isn't the main issue with PSU's anyway. Take a look at the actual stats of what they can put out on various voltages. Two PSU's with the exact same overall wattage can actually have quite different capabilities.

Frogs Hair
April 14th, 2010, 04:17 PM
Thanks buddy :)

No not bought it yet, maybe in a couple of hours though!

This may be daft question, but if I get say a 650watt PSU, if the computer isn't using it all, will it still consume the same costs in electricity?

Newer psu's are much better when it comes power consumption than in the past, in fact it's a major selling point for some brands.

Swagman
April 14th, 2010, 04:38 PM
Don't cheap out on the PSU, It'll bite you in the end. Either by crapping out early or by frying your components.

Lash out an extra £20 or so.

I used an Akasa 450 which is now in my daughters machine (it's now about 4 years old and still going strong) which has an AMD² 5000 with a Nvidia 250 gpu.

My machine is considerably slower than hers (AMD 3200 single core) and Nvidia GTX 8800 GPU but I has lots of hard drives so I use a Corsair 750

Otherwise your spex look ok.

Swerve1000
April 14th, 2010, 04:49 PM
Thanks guys, appreciate all the help.

The next one up of the that PSU model is 500w. the 600w one is too expensive.

This is the 500w one:

http://i42.tinypic.com/289ee8.jpg

Apparently it is 2 x 12v rails at 16amps.

That doesn't mean a great deal to me, but from reading it would be enough to run a 9800GT graphics card.

moster
April 14th, 2010, 04:52 PM
Everything sounds great, I'm a big Intel fan though, so I recommend the Core iX architecture, although I noted that you're on a budget, so this may be out of the question. Also, I recommend a 600 watt or higher PSU, especially if you're going to upgrade your GPU in the future; you'll just have to upgrade the PSU later if you don't now.:smile:

I must say i definitely agree with you. Core iX is much advanced tehnology then AMDs currently. Not even to talk about INTEL optimized aps that was compiled with intel compiler.

undecim
April 14th, 2010, 04:55 PM
I'm a big Intel fan

http://keesoon.com/images/fan_Intel%20775.gif

Grenage
April 14th, 2010, 05:03 PM
Lol.


This may be daft question, but if I get say a 650watt PSU, if the computer isn't using it all, will it still consume the same costs in electricity?

No, just don't get a cheap piece of crap.

Regarding the CPU fan, they are fine; do you really think AMD/Intel would ship something that won't keep their CPU cool at stock speeds? Unless you have a particular requirement (over-clocking/noise level etc), don't waste your money.

undecim
April 14th, 2010, 05:04 PM
Thanks buddy :)

No not bought it yet, maybe in a couple of hours though!

This may be daft question, but if I get say a 650watt PSU, if the computer isn't using it all, will it still consume the same costs in electricity?

Efficiency isn't constant. a 650W PSU will draw slightly more power than a 400W PSU of the same manufacturer and efficiency rating on the same system, but the difference isn't significant. If anything, you will spend less money and do less harm to the environment getting a 650W and using a little more electricity as opposed to buying a new PSU when you need to upgrade or draw too much power and fry it.

Also, that being said, look for a high-efficiency PSU. It makes a lot of difference on your power bill.

cascade9
April 14th, 2010, 05:15 PM
Welll....nothing wrong with what you have listed, but for myself I perfer to avoid the onboard video motherboards. I'd consider getting a AMD 770 board and a video card. Of course, if you wanted to do that for the same money you would have to drop the aftermarket cooling (probably not a bad thing, like Bachstlze said the stock cooler should be more than fine) and get a MSI 770-C45 (I'm not that fond of MSI but I know I am biased)


Thanks buddy :)

No not bought it yet, maybe in a couple of hours though!

This may be daft question, but if I get say a 650watt PSU, if the computer isn't using it all, will it still consume the same costs in electricity?

It will eat more power than a 400watt....even if your load remains the same. As load decreases, so does the efficiency of the power supply- drop under about 20% or so (like your computer will at idle) and the efficiency can drop quite a bit.

BTW, while I agree with the general 'dont skim on the power supply' throwing more watts at a system isnt always a good idea. Its nice to have a safety margin, but because of the efficiency dropping at low wattage, there is a point after which its not just useless, it will cost you more as well. An AMD X4 965/4GB DDR3/WD VelociRapto/ATI 5870 has an 'absoloute maximum' draw of aprox 360watts (420 if you overclock to 3.9Ghz)-

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/power-consumption-overclocking_6.html#sect0
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/power-consumption-overclocking_16.html#sect0

See also-

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cases/display/system-wattage.html

I'd still go for 500watts just 'to be sure' if you can afford it. But your system wont use that much.

*edit- single stick DDR3? I spose you do know that all the modern chipsets for AMD are designed to use dual-channel memory. Single sticks will be slower than dual. BTW, that board is 1333Mhz RAM unless you overlcock the RAM..not that I can see a cheaper option in 1333Mhz RAM.