Possible PC Spec (self-build) - thoughts?

Hi guys, it's about time I replaced my 6 year old PC built for homework with something a little.....meatier. I'm no PC expert, but these are the specs I've come up with. It'll be built by my friend who does this for a living.

So here's the spec

CPU:
AMD FX 6100 Black Edition, Orochi Core, S AM3+, 3.3GHz, 12MB Total Cache, HT 5200MT/s, 95W

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3, AMD 990X, S AM3+, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, RAID SATA, PCIe 2.0 (x16), ATX

RAM:
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-10600 (1333), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V

GFX:
1GB Asus GTS 450 DirectCU OC, 40nm, 3800MHz GDDR5, GPU 850MHz, Shader 1700MHz, 192 Cores, DVI/ HDMI

Memory:
Corsair 60GB Nova Series 2 SSD - 2.5" SATA-II - Read 270MB/s Write 240MB/s

Case:
Casecom KM-9188 Black Mid Tower Case with Full Black Interior/Exterior 120mm Blue LED Front Fan - No PSU

PSU:
Compucase Z-Power 650W PSU - 12CM Fan 20+4pin 2x SATA

OS:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 32-bit - English

DVD/RW:
Current one from this PC (writemaster)


Total cost is £559.59


Anywhere I can improve/switch parts in order to get a better PC for about the same price? It's main purpose will be gaming, but it won't be running anything like Crysis 2 on max settings. Mid range sorta thing.

I would actually advise getting Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit has better Networking and Internet Security customisation. Also helps with with high-end graphics more. Of course, this will add about £70 to the cost, so it is a matter of what you think will work better in the long term.

No mention of a Hard Drive I see...

Memory and RAM, I is confused, especially as one is much larger than the other. They are generally the same thing.

I meant memory as in Hard Drive, or in my case, SOLID STAAAAATE

60GB seems very small, I have a 500GB external drive, or did you mean 640GB?

Are you sure you want Windows 7? Would it be extreme on my part to suggest Xp instead? (since you're making this yourself, it won't be hard to come by).

I've got XP at the minute, and I'm sure I want 7 DirectX11 will be well-used, as will the extra compatibility with newer games and hardware

@Vek: The SolidStateDrive will be my 60gb main drive, for general use (on my current 320gb, I've only used 30-40gb) but if I need to I can store documents on a 500gb Seagate drive.


What are your views on the new AMD FX processors from what you've heard? It's between a 6-core FX and a 4-core i5 2300

Marky, could you post direct links to each part on whatever site you used to find those parts? This would make checking prices and compatibility much, much easier.

Before looking at anything else though, I can go ahead and say that only having a 60GB SSD hard drive for all of your storage is ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH. It would have been fine 10 years ago or in a tiny netbook meant for note taking and light internet browsing, but it is ridiculously small for a desktop. It is fine for a boot drive so you can keep Windows 7 and a handful of often used programs on it such as photoshop or some games.

I would say get a 7200RPM 750GB or 1TB Western Digital internal hard drive either in addition to the boot drive or instead of it. They are plenty fast and are better quality than Seagate drives and cost only a little bit more.

Also, get Windows 7 64 bit edition. The maximum amount of RAM the 32 bit version can use is 4GB, so you wouldn't even be using the hardware you payed for.

I'll try and get links when I get home from school

The SSD will simply act as a boot drive for things like games and my more system-intensive applications. Nearly all documents will be on a 500GB seagate external drive until which I already use for graphics

Just checked, and you're right. I'll flag that up and add an extra £14 for the 64 bit home premium.

Mostly sourcing the parts from scan.co.uk and ebuyer.com

MarkyDMan wrote:I'll try and get links when I get home from school

The SSD will simply act as a boot drive for things like games and my more system-intensive applications. Nearly all documents will be on a 500GB seagate external drive until which I already use for graphics

Just checked, and you're right. I'll flag that up and add an extra £14 for the 64 bit home premium.

Mostly sourcing the parts from scan.co.uk and ebuyer.com

Marky, from what I know, using an external drive as your primary "working" drive is a bad, bad idea. Most external drives are designed to be portable and to back up data. Those that are not are meant for backing up data more quickly and efficiently than their portable counterparts. However, no external drive is meant to be used as a primary drive for a computer. They simply aren't built to withstand constant use and the data transfer speeds are awful compared to internal drives since you're likely having it plugged in with slow, slow USB instead of a SATA cable. Also, if the external drive fails, you just lost all your data. Get an internal drive and use the external one to perform backups and to keep copies of important documents safe. If money is an issue, ditch the SSD. A decent internal drive will likely blow you away with its speed anyway compared to whatever you are using.

Short version: Buy an internal hard disk.

Edit: Also, build it yourself. Have your friend standing by to help you out and guide you through the process if you don't feel comfortable doing it all on your own.

I'd prefer it if he did it, bearing in mind

a) I failed miserably at the circuitry part of the DT course in school
b) He runs a business dedicated to doing this sort of thing
c) He's doing it for 0% markup and £0 build fee

MarkyDMan wrote:I'd prefer it if he did it, bearing in mind

a) I failed miserably at the circuitry part of the DT course in school
b) He runs a business dedicated to doing this sort of thing
c) He's doing it for 0% markup and £0 build fee

It has nothing to do with circuitry. You either push parts into slots or connect things with different cables.

If you don't at least try, you'll be learning nothing from this experience.

I'll ask if I can watch and do some of the simpler tasks I'd love to learn to do it, just preferably not with my own PC that took 2 years to save up for

Must agree, your main drive needs to be internal. I, personally, am also VERY picky about the way I use disk drives. I have two in my desktop, both he same size, and my OS and Applications are on one and my games and documents are on the other.

Also,as Didzo has pointed out, most of the circuitry is done for you as it is built into the boards, it is just a matter of connecting the cables correctly internally. I rebuilt my desktop a few times, which is how I know how to do it.

If not on your PC, than whose?

Also, how about those links?

Additionally, what are you going to be using the computer for? What sort of programs do you run? How many applications do you have going at once?

I am almost certain that you do not want or need an 8 core processor. It would likely perform more poorly in games than one with 4 cores. I would still support AMD (Intel doesn't need a monopoly) and get one of their processors, but maybe one that is better suited for your use.

Glancing through your list again, you could probably use some faster RAM (1600 rather than 1333, maybe, or even more if your budget or motherboard can support it). Your case is from a brand I've never heard of so I can't comment on features, quality, or popularity. In general, more fans = better in terms of features. Same with the power supply. I'd buy one from a trusted brand such as Thermaltake, Corsair, or Cooler Master and pay a little extra. If you pick a cheap, crappy PSU, you could end up with a roasted PC (I'm thinking this is what happened to Remmy's computer) or house fire. You could probably get a cheaper motherboard though, but I don't feel like hunting down parts for you at the moment.

About the HD, if you want to make up for the lack of speed when selecting a less powerful processor or RAM you should definitely go for the SSD. However, 60GB is far too little to host both Windows and your most used games. I have that setup on my MacBook with a 250 GB SSD of which I used 60 for Win7 on bootcamp. I keep running out of space to just hold the simplest games and programs. You also need a minimum of 20GB for the 64-bit version of Windows 7 alone. And forget adding XP as a secondary OS.

So I suggest, get the SSD for Win7 and your main games (SSD really speeds them up) as well as a secondary internal HDD for other programs and documents. You can alway back them up on your SeaGate.

If money is the issue, get a larger internal HDD and later replace it with a bigger SSD when they drop the prices in a couple of years.

Could I just re-use my current HDD?

It's a 250Gb I think...


@Didzo: Sorry, links will come in a bit. I have someone round Main uses at once tend to be:

Firefox
Steam client
Team Fortress 2
Spotify
Skype
Kaspersky Idle Scan
Some form of windows explorer


I guess I could go for a 6 core FX, which would be cheaper.

I'll price it up in a bit, on my Dads PC, while my friend has a few games of TF2 My budget is around 560/570 pounds, which is $892.53 USD

Case is pretty budget, but with the 8-core being downgraded and some other tweaks I might be able to get a better one

Here are the links:
CPU:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-fx-6100-black-edition-orochi-core-s-am3plus-33ghz-12mb-total-cache-ht-5200mt-s-95w-retail

£131.53

GFX:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-asus-gts-450-directcu-oc-40nm-3800mhz-gddr5-gpu-850mhz-shader-1700mhz-192-cores-dvi-hdmi

£89.34

MOTHERBOARD:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-990xa-ud3-amd-990x-s-am3plus-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-%28x16%29-atx

£94.79

RAM:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-%282x4gb%29-corsair-ddr3-xms3-pc3-10600-%281333%29-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-150v

£38.16

HARD DRIVES:
http://www.ebuyer.com/271731-corsair-60gb-nova-series-2-ssd-2-5-sata-ii-read-270mb-s-cssd-v60gb2

£71.07

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=873099f4fa74c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

FREE (current drive - would have wiped to be reused for file storage)

CASE:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-elite-430-all-black-mid-tower-case-with-side-window-120mm-front-led-blue-fan-and-120mm-

£38.38

PSU:
http://www.ebuyer.com/124927-arctic-power-700w-psu-4x-sata-1x-pci-express-p2-arctic-700td

£43.98

OS:
http://www.ebuyer.com/259863-microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-w-sp1-licence-and-media-1-gfc-02050

£71.02


Updated specs, coming to £578.27

Overview:

6-core processor
8Gb of RAM at 1333
1gb Nvidia 450 graphics card
700w supply
Coolermaster case
64-bit Win7


Comes to £578.27

Anywhere I can shed that down to under £560? Anywhere I'm overspending for an entry level gaming computer?

Nothing wrong with re-using your current HDD if you have no intention of using your old PC. I tried it with one of my old desktops, but the HDD in that is damaged.

If you already have an HDD what do you need the new SeaGate one? That'll shell of another £71.

My current one isn't that great :/ Plus, an SSD is just awesome

Then get the SSD for main and use the old HDD for the secondary drive. Later, when you've saved up again you can replace it with a new one.

You still have an external for backup, right?

Wait, are you talking about the Seagate Barracuda? That's in my PC at the minute. That's the one I'll recycle. The SSD is £71, but yeah, I'll replace the HDD that I'll reuse later on.

I still have a Seagate 500gb external drive

That's the one I meant. Use the one you have as a secondary drive and then replace it later when you've got the money for it.

Great idea

Anyone have any other suggestions on spec? I need to save some money, but not sacrifice power or quality too much

MarkyDMan wrote:Great idea

Anyone have any other suggestions on spec? I need to save some money, but not sacrifice power or quality too much

Get an AMD Phenom II x4 or x6 (if that floats your boat). The new AMD stuff isn't really an improvement over what they already have. You won't be using more than a core or two at once anyway, so even a dual core would suffice.

Also, find some 1600+ RAM instead of 1333.