Asus / AMD build advice

My current system has been on the go for five years now, and it's showing its age. So I'm thinking of building a new machine this week and have a short list of core components that I can get for under £400:

• ASUS M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 880G Socket AM3 HDMI DVI VGA Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard
• AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz 9MB Cache Socket AM3 Retail Box Processor
• Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V
• Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache

I have a few questions on it, though - firstly, of the items above, is the motherboard a good starting point or would I be better off with something else?

Secondly, is it worth going for the 3.4GHz Phenom II over the 2.8GHz one?

Thirdly, I recently bought a OCZ StealthXstream 600W PSU to replace the failing unit in my old system (hence the idea of building a completely new rig!), and wondered if that's got enough grunt for all of the above should I go with a 3.4GHz processor?

Finally, I'm going to hold off on a dedicated graphics card for now and just use the onboard graphics and sound, but had looked at a ATI Radeon HD 4770 as a potential sub-£100 card. Would this be a worthwhile upgrade, considering I'm not a really hardcore PC gamer, and with regard to the PSU, would I have enough spare horsepower to run it?

Use-wise, I'll be doing a little bit gaming - namely rFactor or iRacing, and some picture and video editing on the new system, so it needs to be a good all-rounder. I'll probably end up running Windows 7, too.

Any suggestions for alternative parts would be most welcome, although I do want to stick with Corsair memory as it's served me so well in the past.

Thanks!

I would get an 890GX board with 2 PCI e slots if your budget allows. Also, I would go with a 5750 over the 4770 if you can. The 5750 is the same speed class as a 4850 so will be much faster than the 4770. If you go with onboard video or one video card then that power supply should be fine.
It all depends on where you want to emphasize the performance and your budget.

Thanks for that man.

Why would the two PCI e slots be an advantage? Is that in case I want to run two graphics cards at some point?

To be fair, I don't think I'll ever want or need that kind of grunt - most of my gaming is done on the PS3, it's just for sim driving I use my PC.

Yes mostly for future upgrade pathways. Adding a second video card is always a good option to have if you can. Usually by the time you might want more graphics horse power you'll be able to get a second card of the same type for next to nothing. I would also get a board with the SB750. I did not notice what south bridge your board has. As for a board with 2 PCI e slots get one if you can get it into your budget that's just what I'm saying. If not then 1 slot will due.

Nice one man, that does make a lot of sense - adding an extra graphics card in 18 months or so will boost it nicely, I guess.

I'll see what I can get that mobo for - looking forward to building it this weekend. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Infoxicated

My current system has been on the go for five years now, and it's showing its age. So I'm thinking of building a new machine this week and have a short list of core components that I can get for under £400:

• ASUS M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 880G Socket AM3 HDMI DVI VGA Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard
• AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz 9MB Cache Socket AM3 Retail Box Processor
• Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V
• Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache

I have a few questions on it, though - firstly, of the items above, is the motherboard a good starting point or would I be better off with something else?

Secondly, is it worth going for the 3.4GHz Phenom II over the 2.8GHz one?

Thirdly, I recently bought a OCZ StealthXstream 600W PSU to replace the failing unit in my old system (hence the idea of building a completely new rig!), and wondered if that's got enough grunt for all of the above should I go with a 3.4GHz processor?

Finally, I'm going to hold off on a dedicated graphics card for now and just use the onboard graphics and sound, but had looked at a ATI Radeon HD 4770 as a potential sub-£100 card. Would this be a worthwhile upgrade, considering I'm not a really hardcore PC gamer, and with regard to the PSU, would I have enough spare horsepower to run it?

Use-wise, I'll be doing a little bit gaming - namely rFactor or iRacing, and some picture and video editing on the new system, so it needs to be a good all-rounder. I'll probably end up running Windows 7, too.

Any suggestions for alternative parts would be most welcome, although I do want to stick with Corsair memory as it's served me so well in the past.

Thanks!

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[*]Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V

Why 3 sticks?

Good question.

Why not? :)

I've traditionally always got Corsair matched pairs.

As an aside, the 3-stick kits are for the triple-channel memory controllers found on newer high-end Intel CPU's, not AMD's which are still dual channel memory controllers. So you will want to populate the DIMM slots evenly if you want to get the best performance, which means either 2 or 4 DIMM's, not 3.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention, James - I'd probably have found out the hard way. :)

Wait, if the rule in your sig is correct and I'm going for the 6x Phenom II then won't I need 12Gb?! ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Infoxicated

Thanks for bringing that to my attention, James - I'd probably have found out the hard way. :)

Wait, if the rule in your sig is correct and I'm going for the 6x Phenom II then won't I need 12GB?! ;)

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Absolutely. :D

I would rather get Western digital HDD than samsung.