Scotty needs help building a computer

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[Scotzmen]

Well, i have 2 jobs now and a new flat to move into. Rent's pretty cheap and i really need to upgrade my piece of shit computer. But i'm no tech wiz. I can pull apart a computer and build it. That's no problem. I just need help with the parts and shit.

Big factors: Don't want to spend a ton, need to keep it relatively cheap.

I've decided on some parts that i will be buying:
CPU: AMD A8-3850
Graphics Card:AMD Radeon 6870
Storage: Samsung spinpoint f3

Apart from that, i need everything else, so suggestions and recommendations would be nice

[aeroblade56]

Copy and paste a alienware pc specs give it a bigger fan and power supply. then look for the items.

[Demon767]

dont tell scotty cuz scotty doesnt knowwww scotty doesnt knowww that he needs a new computers to kill zombies but dont tell scotty cuz scotty doesnt knowwww

[Sachaztan]

scotty, beam me up.

[Ahnungsloser]

CPU:
I would recommend you not to buy the A8-3850. You don't need the integrated graphics and the peformance of the new AMD Plattform isn't
really good, invest a bit more money and buy a i5-Core from Intel. (Or even a i3-Core)
In the end the power consumption will be lower ( ~15W@ Idle and up to ~60W and full load) and you will get less problems with cooling the system.

RAM:
Just buy the cheapest RAM you can get, but don't grab some 3rd-Party bullshit. If you want to have more than 8GB make sure that you buy 2x 8Gbyte instead of 4x 4GByte. (1. It need all your RAM slots and you can't upgrade in the future easily 2.They will more valueable in the future and you will have no problems with selling them)

Mainboard:
Take the cheapest one you can get, but again don't grab 3rd-Party bullshit. Just make sure it has enough I/O stuff you really need. Don't pay for something your don't need.

GPU:
The Radeon 6870 is a good choice.

PSU/Cooling/Case:
Don't be stingy at this part. If you do, your PC will suffer at overheat problems in the summer and the lifetime of temperature sensitive components
like the hard disk drive and the motherboard (The voltage converter for the CPU for example) will be reduced significantly.
Buy a good PSU from Enermax/BeQuite (or similiar) and select a case you like, but make sure it has some extension slots for big fans. (bigger fans can rotate with lower frequency to be good at cooling, and so they are more quite then smaller fans which had to rotate with high frequency to be effective)

[Scotzmen]

scotty, beam me up.

Shey just wone work cap'n!

CPU:
I would recommend you not to buy the A8-3850. You don't need the integrated graphics and the peformance of the new AMD Plattform isn't
really good, invest a bit more money and buy a i5-Core from Intel. (Or even a i3-Core)
In the end the power consumption will be lower ( ~15W@ Idle and up to ~60W and full load) and you will get less problems with cooling the system.

RAM:
Just buy the cheapest RAM you can get, but don't grab some 3rd-Party bullshit. If you want to have more than 8GB make sure that you buy 2x 8Gbyte instead of 4x 4GByte. (1. It need all your RAM slots and you can't upgrade in the future easily 2.They will more valueable in the future and you will have no problems with selling them)

Mainboard:
Take the cheapest one you can get, but again don't grab 3rd-Party bullshit. Just make sure it has enough I/O stuff you really need. Don't pay for something your don't need.

GPU:
The Radeon 6870 is a good choice.

PSU/Cooling/Case:
Don't be stingy at this part. If you do, your PC will suffer at overheat problems in the summer and the lifetime of temperature sensitive components
like the hard disk drive and the motherboard (The voltage converter for the CPU for example) will be reduced significantly.
Buy a good PSU from Enermax/BeQuite (or similiar) and select a case you like, but make sure it has some extension slots for big fans. (bigger fans can rotate with lower frequency to be good at cooling, and so they are more quite then smaller fans which had to rotate with high frequency to be effective)

Thanks, that's a great help

[Ahnungsloser]

Just beam me up. 

[PonySlaystation]

CPU:
You should go for a six core. The AMD FX-6100 6-Core Processor has great performance. It can run BF3 on highest graphics, so it's more than enough to run most games on high settings.

GPU:
The Radeon 6870 is a good choice and also enough to run most things.

Motherboard:
Find one that is compatible with your CPU, like Ahnug said it shouldn't be expensive.

RAM:
Depends on which OS you plan to have. For 32-bit windows you'll want 4GB RAM. For 64-bit you'll want 8GB. No more, no less. They also have to be DDR3 SDRAM. Usually they're not very expensive. 1333MHz is more than enough.

[Sachaztan]

CPU:
You should go for a six core. The AMD FX-6100 6-Core Processor has great performance. It can run BF3 on highest graphics, so it's more than enough to run most games on high settings.

GPU:
The Radeon 6870 is a good choice and also enough to run most things.

Motherboard:
Find one that is compatible with your CPU, like Ahnug said it shouldn't be expensive.

RAM:
Depends on which OS you plan to have. For 32-bit windows you'll want 4GB RAM. For 64-bit you'll want 8GB. No more, no less. They also have to be DDR3 SDRAM. Usually they're not very expensive. 1333MHz is enough but if you like to spend more money you can buy one with 1600MHz.

Lol either you didn't read his post or you missed this crucial part:

"Big factors: Don't want to spend a ton, need to keep it relatively cheap."

[PonySlaystation]

It costs less than the CPU that he suggested.

[Sachaztan]

It costs less than the CPU that he suggested.

No it doesn't

[PonySlaystation]

You're right, it costs 10$ more. OH MY GOD HE'LL GO BACKRUPT!

[Scotzmen]

It's more, but meh, it's justifiable

Thanks Pony

Anyone got any recommendations on a motherboard?

[Sachaztan]

You're right, it costs 10$ more. OH MY GOD HE'LL GO BACKRUPT!

According to pricerunner the difference is 76 dollars.

[PonySlaystation]

AMD A8-3850 Quad-Core Processor 2.9GHz

AMD FX-6100 Socket AM3+ 6 Core Processor 3.30GHz

[Scotzmen]

Hey look, theres a nice recomandation for motherboard and ram. I like....

[Scotzmen]

http://shop.amd.com/us/All/Detail/Motherboard/M5A78L-M?SearchFacets=category%3AMotherboard

It's compatible with the CPU and the graphics card, also has DDR3. What do you guys think?

[Ahnungsloser]

Mainboard:
It's a smaller micro ATX board, but if you don't need the PCI slots for a Soundcard etc. it's ok. If you have already selected a CPU Fan, check if it's compatible with this mainboard. (Sometimes the bigger CPU fans collides with components on the mainboard espacially on the smaller ones)

RAM:
Nearly one year ago i bought 8GByte 2x4Gbyte DDR3-1333 Corsair XMS for 30 bucks. It's cheap, but solid stuff from a good brand. I could recommend these RAM.


Edit:
Maybe you should pick another one. The Voltage Converter on the board is just for processors with <=95W. Even if you're CPU is compatible with this board, it good less reserves for the hot summer days. (A A8-3850 takes up to 100W - that's hard on the edge of the possiblities of the board)
I would not recommend this!

[Scotzmen]

I really have no clue what im looking for, im open to any suggestions on motherboards.

Thanks for the suggestions on ram, i was looking at them ealier actually

[Ahnungsloser]

Just give me more input and today evenning I will read some tests about mainboards and pick a good one for you.

Socket: AM3
CPU: You picked the A8-3850

- How many PCI slots do you need?
- Do you need a RS232/LPT Port on the Mainboard?
- Do you need IDE ports, or do you have stuff with S-ATA only? (These are interfaces for hard disk drives and optical disk drives)
- Do you need fancy stuff like Extern-SATA or Firewire?
- How many USB ports do you need at least?
- Do you need a 7.1 Onboard Soundcard?
- Any optional stuff you want to have?