low budget

[mush]

Hi im building a new pc with a low budget(£200) with the following spec any advice would be helpful thanksMSI K9VGM-V VIA K8M90 (AM2) (file:///C:/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+AM2+%28AMD%29/MSI+K9VGM-V+VIA+K8M90+%28AM2%29+?productId=24449)1x£24.18AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Retail AM2) (file:///C:/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/AMD/Athlon+64+X2+Socket+AM2/AMD+Athlon+64+X2+Dual+Core+5000%2B+2.60GHz+%28Reta il+AM2%29+?productId=25078)1x£46.50Arianet HTPC Media Centre case - mATX (file:///C:/Products/Components/Cases/Desktop/Arianet+HTPC+Media+Centre+case+-+mATX+?productId=27730)1x£21.95Samsung SH-S203 20X DVDRW - SATA - Black (file:///C:/Products/Components/CD%2FDVD+Drives/Internal/SATA/Samsung+SH-S203+20X+DVDRW+-+SATA+-+Black+?productId=29919)1x£14.20Arianet 2GB PC2-6400 CL5 (2x1GB) (file:///C:/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/Arianet+2GB+PC2-6400+CL5+%282x1GB%29+?productId=30865)1x£21.95250G B Maxtor/Seagate SATA2 (file:///C:/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/250GB+Maxtor%2FSeagate+SATA2+?productId=28704)1x£2 5.95

[wonderlust]

I would avoid Via chipsets.

They had their day in the Athlon days, but now they are way behind, and in some cases suffer from compatibility issues with some graphics cards.

If you don't mind a little overclocking you could get a better system by going Intel.

[wonderlust]

Asus P5GC-MX/1333 £26.99, Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 £38.95

[mush]

ive got an ati 1650 in my old system that im going to use use in this one thats the main reason ive gone for amd but if anyone can suggest an intel base for the same price ill go for it

[mush]

lol thanks wonderlust

[wonderlust]

The Asus board will overclock but not as well as a p35 board, but that would strech your budget by another £40 (20%)

[mush]

how much could i overclock this cpu with the asus board?

[wonderlust]

I built a system for a mate but using a E1200 and we got a 20% overclock, lack of memory settings in the bios holds it back from more.

Where as a P35 board will allow getting on for 100% overclock in some cases ymmv

[mush]

ok youve sold me which p35 board should i go for?

[wonderlust]

well...

What do you want/need from a board?

Gigabyte do some great boards that over clock well as do MSI and Asus

[mush]

I need it to be micro atx apart from that im on a budget so the best for the price

[wonderlust]

Ah not sure of a P35 board in micro ATX...

BTW your case selection is fitted with 60mm fans, smaller fans tend to run at higher speeds and make more noise...

[mush]

im a bit snookered with the case because of budget, only one of its kind in that price range

[mush]

how does this board sound ASUS P5N-MX NF610i Socket 775

[wonderlust]

I understand, The Antec which again is over your budget, was actually designed alongside Silent PC Review.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article591-page1.html

May be worthwhile saving for the extra performance/silence

Opps thats Micro ATX too :(

[wonderlust]

In most cases Micro ATX boards don't tend to overclock as well.

[mush]

hmm so where does that leave me nice case btw but budget busting

[wonderlust]

Aria don't sell them but look out for a Acase CS-GL-3 Black Case (let google be your friend)

[mush]

yep nice case but which mobo?

[wonderlust]

i am bias so MSI P35 Neo2-Fr :D (if your talking full atx still)

[mush]

no still micro atx

[wonderlust]

Well the Asus board is the only one I personaly have used.

[mush]

ok thanks that ones an 800fsb would i be better giong for 1333fsb for overclocking?

[wonderlust]

It nay be worth while, The only advice I can give is see if you can find a review of the board you choose, most sites will give an idea of the overclocking potential.

What are you planning on using it for? do you require HDMI (with HDCP) or Optical Audio out etc?

[mush]

no ive got a digital tv tuner still got an old tube tv not to bothered about the sound as comp is linked upto tv

[mush]

what do you think of this board ASROCK CONROE1333-D667 R3.0 S/V/L Socket 775 ?

[wonderlust]

but will you want to in the future?

Both Intel and Nvidia have new chipsets on the very near horizon that will enable the decode of HD media with lower CPU utilization

[mush]

problem with hd media is ive no source or anything to play it on

[wonderlust]

possibly not, me neither. but will you have in the neer future? if so it may be worth waiting if not then pic a board in your price range, check for a review, if the reviews are good then buy.

Asus, Gigabyte and MSI have a range of good boards, but have all had boards with problems in the past.

As I said I can recommend the Asus Micro atx board, but it is held back as far as overclocking,

[mush]

so bearing in mind the asus is limited for overclocking would i be better off going for my original amd spec or could i overclock the asus to a quicker speed than the amd?

[wonderlust]

Ok, found something that may help

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3111&p=8

[mush]

thanks thats looks just what im after

[wonderlust]

It would seem that the Asus board that Anandtech tested seems to be good as is the Msi, depending what you are after.

[mush]

ok that looks like more than enough speed for me just one more question i have never overclocked before can you point me to a decent beginners guide?

[wonderlust]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide

Try that one.

Just take it slowly step by step and don't start playing with voltages until the system starts to become unstable

another read you may find interesting:-

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentium-e2160_14.html#sect0

[mush]

thx wonderlust im still thinking of buying the arianet media centre case as i prefer to do eveything in one shop(i live 20mins from aria) one problem, it seems the psu has no sata leads does this mean it wont take sata drives?

[wonderlust]

No, you just need one of these for every sata device

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Cabling/Serial+ATA/4pin+Molex+to+SATA+Power+Connector+?productId=7683

[mush]

so they would work for sata 11 as well? oh is it worth getting an E2180 instead of the E2160 or is it not worth it?

[wonderlust]

There isn't any such thing as sata 2 yet, it is sata 150 and sata 300 (which gets called sata 2 in error)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

But all sata drives have the same connectors

As far as the difference between the two is I am not sure, as with overclocking no two chips are the same, IE my Q6600 (native 2.4Ghz) does 3Ghz with no voltage adjustments required, others require a slight jump.

[marsey99]

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Gigabyte+GA-G33M-DS2R+iG33+Express+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productI d=30568

is a great clocker but its uatx, not sure if thats much help....

the higher multi on the 2180 might help you get a better overclock due to the extra options of having the higher multi but i think that you will ultimatly get to around the same speed with both.

[mush]

thanks but its a bit over budget what do you think of quickcode 30340

[mush]

ok ive finally settled on Asrock WOLFDALE1333-GLAN/M2 i945GC Socket 775 mobo and E2180 cpu if anybody thinks im wasting my time or has a better spec for the cash post it here

[wonderlust]

I run 2 asrock boards and have run 4 others in the past, they are not usually that good for overclocking.

Also the I945 chipset is very old...

[mush]

ok im not settled then lol do you think i should go with your original suggestion Asus P5GC-MX/1333, i945GC, Socket 775

[wonderlust]

If it were me I would wait a while and save extra and get a
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Asus+P5K-VM+Intel+G33+LGA775+Core2+Quad+%2F+Core2+Extreme+% 2F+Core2+Duo+?productId=28609

Which seems to be , according to anandtech, a good all round board that also overclocks very well

[mush]

yea i think so too no point in rushing ill go for this one thanks for all your help

[wonderlust]

If you go for anything less, I think you may end up regretting it.

Keep checking the Super specials and deal for the day as Aria often dop the prices by £5-10

[marsey99]

the 2 places you should not try and scrimp on are your psu and mobo, you can overclock your cpu, ram and gpu to get more performance but if your psu or mobo isnt up to much it will let your system down.

[mush]

ok im listening btw what do you think of the psu in the arianet htpc media case? quickcode 27730

[wonderlust]

one word... suspect

[mush]

why?

[alexnifty]

Its probably unbranded. Which we reckon equates to likely to die soon.

[marsey99]

i wouldnt trust it with a high end gaming setup but i do think that it will be fine for a low power draw htpc.

it claims to be 520w but tbh i recon thats a max rating and it could only do about 400w constant.


i do think it will be noisey tho and a better 1 should be on your list of things to upgrade to make it a better htpc, better fans might also be on that list too?

[mush]

yea I know problem is budget im already over thx to the motherboard and aria dont seem to do any similar cases for the price so its hobsons choice

[wonderlust]

Does the case take a standard ATX psu? If not you may have an issue upgrading at a later date.

[mush]

err im not sure how would I find out?

[wonderlust]

Er Best bet would be to ask JonWoad to have a look!

[mush]

at the risk of soubding simple whos jonwoad

[wonderlust]

He is a member of the forum and he works at Aria

[mush]

ok how do i contact him?

[wonderlust]

He may pop up here during the evening, or tomorrow during the day, you could send him a PM

[mush]

ok ill keep an eye out for him btw latest hopefully final specASUS P5K Intel iP35 Socket 775 Motherboard (file:///C:/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/ASUS+P5K+Intel+iP35+Socket+775+Motherboard+?produc tId=27298)1x£58.94Arianet HTPC Media Centre case - mATX (file:///C:/Products/Components/Cases/Desktop/Arianet+HTPC+Media+Centre+case+-+mATX+?productId=27730)1x£21.95250GB Maxtor/Seagate SATA2 (file:///C:/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/250GB+Maxtor%2FSeagate+SATA2+?productId=28704)1x£2 5.95Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2.0GHz (Retail 775) (file:///C:/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Pentium+Dual+Core+E2180+2.0GHz+%28Retail+775 %29+?productId=29175)1x£39.95Arianet 2GB PC2-6400 CL5 (2x1GB) (file:///C:/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/Arianet+2GB+PC2-6400+CL5+%282x1GB%29+?productId=30865)1x£21.95Sams ung SH-S203 20X DVDRW - SATA - Black (file:///C:/Products/Components/CD%2FDVD+Drives/Internal/SATA/Samsung+SH-S203+20X+DVDRW+-+SATA+-+Black+?productId=29919)1x£14.20
Total: (exc. VAT)£185.72

[mush]

what do you think?

[wonderlust]

sent you a pm about the case, that board will not fit in your case! you need

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Asus+P5K-VM+Intel+G33+LGA775+Core2+Quad+%2F+Core2+Extreme+% 2F+Core2+Duo+?productId=28609

[mush]

ahh atx dohhhhhhhh so is the matx board as good as the atx?

[wonderlust]

lol, I thought we went through this earlier,

For what you want http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Asus+P5K-VM+Intel+G33+LGA775+Core2+Quad+%2F+Core2+Extreme+% 2F+Core2+Duo+?productId=28609
is perfect

[mush]

yea sorry i didnt make myself clear is Asus P5K-VM Intel G33 LGA775 as good as ASUS P5K Intel iP35 Socket 775 Motherboard (file:///C:/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+(Intel)/ASUS+P5K+Intel+iP35+Socket+775+Motherboard+?produc tId=27298)as you guys keep saying the latter is the dogs b*******s

[wonderlust]

Micro atx boards tend not to be as good at overclocking as atx boards,

Thats why I pointed you to the Anandtech page where they reviewed microatx boards that perform almost on a par with their atx brothers.

The P5K-VM was shown by them to be a good overclocker, as it's microatx it is perfect for the case you looking at.

Did you take a look at the pics on the link I pm'd you?

[mush]

no sorry my pop up blocker put paid to that could you possibly send them again?

[wonderlust]

ok you can access the link via the usercp button above

[mush]

sorry wonderlust at the risk of sounding simple again its looks the same as the arianet htpc case if im being a complete nugget a apologise

[wonderlust]

Thats the point, it's the same case but lots of different pics, ie it shows it's a full atx powersupply rather than a microatx or a nonstandard one

[mush]

sorry wonderlust if im being a complete nugget i apologise but it looks the same as the arianer htpc case

[wonderlust]

That is because it is.

The pics answer the psu question, ie can it be upgraded to a quality unit at a later date.

Answer yes it can

[mush]

ahh ok thx so the case is ok?

[wonderlust]

from the pics on newegg it looks like a fairly good case, psu is still suspect long term mind

[mush]

thats ok if it goes its not the hardest or the dearest to replace.
So......what do you think of the spec?

[wonderlust]

with the VM board it should be a good system, it may be worth spending a little more on the ram, something like the Patriot 2x1gb kit which is a couple of pounds dearer than you are looking at (or the similarly priced crucial) they are spec'd to run upto 1000Mhz with a voltage bump.

[mush]

so im looking at quickcode 26802

[marsey99]

just reading that anand link, it makes no sense to me the ds2r would not clock as high when an addin gpu was used as it would using the onboard, of all the boards i have tried with onboard it has always been the oposit for me.

i wonder if thats a bios issue more than a board?

i have seen that board hit 600 fsb on the xs forums....hhmmmm...i wonder if they got a duff sample?

[mush]

ok marsey now would you repeating that in english