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peahouse05

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Hi All
Have three Athlon socket 754 PCs crunching - two in my shed and the other is my main PC. One of the shed MBs has failed due to a PSU fault.
Would like to shift my main PC MB to replace it and buy a MB bundle for the main PC. It has a Vantec 420W PSU and a Zalman cooler which is compatible with socket AM2 so would keep these.
I have looked at various MB bundles and read some articles on single-core v dual-core but am still confused. I don't play games and would like more than 2GB RAM and on-board graphics and sound.
Any advice most welcome.
Thanks in advance
peahouse05
BTW - quite important want to spend approx £130.:)
 
Hi peahouse05, I recently put together a budget combo for my media machine and I'm extremely pleased with it.

Here's the details of what I settled on after some debate in a thread here (EDIT: Hmm, motherboard no longer listed and memory out of stock - let me take a look at what's available).

Asus M2N68 Motherboard

2 x 1Gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 PC6400 Memory CAS-4-4-4-12

AMD AM2 Athlon 64 5050e CPU, dual core, 2.6Ghz

Which came to around £130.00

Runs like a dream and your cooler and PSU would do just fine with it.

Here's a link to the thread and if you follow the thread through you will see I changed my mind a couple of times. Settling on the CPU I chose was a good move, it's excellent.

The thread
 
Ok, that motherboard is no longer stocked by Aria & Novatech as well as Scan so I'm going to assume it's discontinued.

I'll be back ;)
 
If I were looking to build a similar setup, this is probably what I'd choose, though I must confess I haven't had an extensive look around. Cost inc. postage: £133.50

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Links to individual products:

Motherboard

Memory

Processor
 

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http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...ir+2GB+PC2-6400+XMS2+(2x1GB)+?productId=27405

Corsair 2GB PC2-6400 XMS2 (2x1GB)



http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...720D+Socket+AM2++Motherboard+?productId=34972

Asus M3N78 SE NF720D Socket AM2+ Motherboard


http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...re+8650+2.3GHz+(Retail+AM2+)+?productId=31241

AMD Phenom X3 Triple-Core 8650 2.3GHz (Retail AM2+)


£22.43 + £48.24 + £65.49 = £ 136.16

Thats a couple of quid over budget but is very good value. I think it will use slightly less power than the other build mentioned.

happywave.gif
 
Abarbarian said:
I think it will use slightly less power than the other build mentioned.

happywave.gif
Click to expand...

Why? How?

Do you have details of current drawn by all six products both in quiescent and full load modes?

No, really, I'm interested :)

Also, from the reviews I've read, Phenom CPU's were not greeted that enthusiastically whereas AMD dual core CPU's were seen as a fine thing.

It's also ironic that you were the guy who recommended the 5050 CPU to me ;)
 
Thanks for that folks,
Had plenty of time to browse during the golf - lots of my stuff has come from eBuyer and found this special offer -
Gigabyte GA-M61PME-S2 AM2 MATX MB + AMD 64x2 6000 + Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) 800MHz RAM for £133.09.
Still not sure about single v dual core for my needs.
Any comments most welcome.
Cheers peahouse05:wave:
 
Some observations.

Single core now most definitely out-dated.

Only Intel manufacture quad cores that are any good at this time.

If the machine is going to be used for crunching the more cores the better.

A 420W PSU is going to feel current drawn by anything more than dual core and possibly struggle. Which is one of the reasons why I specced dual core rather than triple or quad.

If the machine is not going to be overclocked memory timings don't really matter.

And that's about it really.

If it were me I'd go for what I've listed, most definitely, considering the budget.

Abarbarian's system is fine too.

As for the E-buyer system, 4Gb of memory is good, I don't know the speed of the CPU and I'm not familiar with the motherboard (and there are no links to it).

If it has onboard graphics then I wouldn't have picked it myself, even with budget builds I have certain standards to keep ;)
 
Flops your quite right me statement was not very scientific. Could not find the review page for the 8650 but found this for the 8750 and it includes the 6000. Shows the power used at load for the 8750 to be 250w so a 450 psu would suffice.
The 5050e that I suggested for your pc was a good recommendation at the time. Prices have dropped lately for some cpu's. With an Asus board and Cool and Quiet enabled you have a very economical set up. It is a pretty close call between the 5050e and the 8650 in the power stakes though. Just wish I could find that review.

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=550&type=expert&pid=10


:)
 
Last edited:
Just searched for the mobo peahouse listed, it's Here

It has onboard graphics. I'd rather have a better motherboard (like the one I linked to) than more memory, but that's just me. 4Gb of memory will not give any distinct advantages over 2Gb unless you're gaming or doing some very intensive CAD work.

Here's another motherboard that's cheaper than the one I posted which would make the package price of the system I outlined about £122.00.

GA-M52L-S3

No onboard graphics.

And both my prices include postage.
 
That mobo flops linked to looks pretty good.

However here is a pretty beefed up selection for just £140 thats only ten quid over budget and it will be pretty darn quick.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130415

Corsair 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 Lifetime Warranty



http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150948/show_product_specifications?spectype=extended

ASUS M3N78 PRO GeForce 8300 Socket AM2+ onboard graphics 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard


http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155158/show_product_reviews

AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 2MB (2x1MB) L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor



happywave.gif
 
Thanks a lot both - plenty to think about there!
Will need a SATA HDD as these MBs have only one IDE socket. Only need 80GB but quiet. Also if I don't go for on-board graphics - what about a graphics card -I don't play games?
Points taken about the dual-core and no need for 4GB RAM.
It's my main PC so could push the budget a bit!
Cheers
peahouse05:)
 
Whenever folks give a budget for system recommendations, rarely do I stray from that budget as it's often the most important criteria.

However, in this instance as the goalposts keep shifting ;) I'll say this.

1) If no gaming or CAD work, onboard grafix ok I suppose though I'd never in my life entertain onboard grafix in a desktop. Laptops & netbooks is different, imo it's acceptable with those. But that's just me, others may very well disagree with me.

2) If crunching will form a big part of this machine's functions I'd seriously consider a Socket 775 motherboard with an Intel quad core, go for the most economical quad CPU there is, all-in-one motherboard and that should make the budget not hurt too much.

3) I almost always list postage costs when speccing equipment, seems only right when the budget is as tight as £130.00 not to mention that extra tenner that clobbers you on the checkout.

All prices I mentioned above include postage.

I actually get free postage with Scan, which is why I often list their products.

And lastly, Scan's packaging knocks E-Buyer's into a tin hat.

For quiet hard drives, I haven't heard quieter than Samsung though I note Seagates are quiet, I haven't purchased a Seagate HDD for some time now.

And with that, I honestly don't think there's anything else I can contribute here :)

Good luck with the build peahouse :thumb:
 
If its a crunchin machine and your main pc then as Flopp's has said in his earlier post a quad core processor is the way to go, I certainly wouldn't entertain anything else if I was upgrading now and it was my main pc and it was crunchin 24/7..worth paying a little extra imo..

Windows can only see a little over 3GB so 4 gigs a waste of money unless your running 64bit windoze..

All in one MB with onboard graphics will suffice if your budget doesn't allow for a MB and seperate Graphics card..

I know plenty of peeps running onboard graphics who don't play anything remotely resembling a game and to be honest they wouldn't know the difference anyway..;)

end of the day up to you mate...You pays your money and takes your choice as they say..Good luck..:nod:
 
Thanks to both for info and encouragement,
Always a temptation to stretch the budget and it is a non-gaming 24/7 cruncher. Good point about the packaging and postage. Have only dealt with eBuyer to date but definately look at Scan.
Cheers
peahouse05:thumb:
 
You may get away with a quad core, one hdd if you go on board graphics with your psu. Otherwise you may need a better psu.

Spend a week or two reading up on stuff< Sexy Bex's posts here are full of reviews and comparisons on stuff , well worth reading.

happywave.gif
 
Hi Abarbarian
Quite right - a bigger PSU is going to add £60+ - will go into study mode!
Thanks
peahouse05:nod:
 
Also if you are crunching then you nwant to get the most productivity from your machine so with a quad core cpu you will need a 64 Bit os. Now you could go Vista or XP or i7 but they will cost plenty. A very good alternative would be a 64 Bit Linux. I can recomend Mandriva Free. As you do not play games this would also suffice as your main os. Unless you use some special Windows applications of course. Just a thought.

Penguins love to feel that money in their pockets.

:p
laughingsmiley.gif
 
I don't think a projected budget of £130.00 will stretch to an i7 system :rolleyes:

The budget price did not include an OS so I would assume there's already one put by to use.

It's true a 64 Bit OS would make the most of a quad core but a 32 Bit OS isn't too far behind in the productivity stakes.

Linux isn't for everybody though I would agree it's a good idea to use a free 64 Bit OS.

Mandriva 2009 did not work for me at all, whereas other Linux Distros, notably Mint, have worked for me.

I do think it's worth paying a little extra for a quad core setup considering the crunching angle but basically the system we all seem to agree on would consist of an economical CPU, a motherboard with onboard graphics and 2Gb of DDR2 800 memory.

And I also think it's not worth paying money for either XP or Vista now, XP is 8 years old and Vista is in it's death throes with W7 soon come.

If I had to install a legal copy of a Microsoft OS right now I'd probably go with the current Beta version of W7.
 
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