Pyxis Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 (edited) Is a good processor enough to deal with decoding 1080p HD? I want to build a new PC in a month, but I want to wait until ATI release their Evergreen processors at the end of the year before buying a graphics card to go with it. I'm thinking about getting the following so far: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164047 £146.18 Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Memory Kit CL9 1.5: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166995 £44.31 Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H 785G Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170230 £69.07 LG CH08LS10 Super Multi Blu-Ray Reader & DVD±RW with LightScribe SATA Black - Full Retail Box With Software http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169682 £79.99 I have a hard drive, case and PSU, but I need to have a look at the latter and I'm sure that I'll need to replace it. Any suggestions on the wattage? Edit: I suppose that the motherboard comes with integrated ATI 4200 HD graphics. I guess that will be enough. Edited August 21, 2009 by Pyxis
Nolan Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 The Onboard graphics of that board should be enough for 1080p if I remember the review correctly. If you're unsure, or if after the build is done the onboard aren't enough, a cheap card like This would do just fine for HD, not games though.
Pyxis Posted August 21, 2009 Author Posted August 21, 2009 The Onboard graphics of that board should be enough for 1080p if I remember the review correctly. If you're unsure, or if after the build is done the onboard aren't enough, a cheap card like This would do just fine for HD, not games though. yeah, silly me! Thanks, I kind of forgot about integrated graphics.
Nolan Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 Until you get a Video Card I think a simple 400W will do fine. 400W is probably more than enough, but it never hurts to make sure, with a DX11 Video Card (evergreen series) I'd say at least 600W if not more. All of your other parts are quality though.
McPhee Posted August 21, 2009 Posted August 21, 2009 I thought the Evergreen cards were going to be more energy efficient, down the lines of the 4770? Might be wrong, but if they are then a good 400W PSU should be fine for all except maybe the top of the line card. I'm currently running a 4850 on a 350W PSU, have been since i upgraded in May and i've had no trouble. The IGP on the 785G is definitely enough for HD video btw. ATi haven't done a card or chip in years that won't deal with HD video
Raining_again Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 if you buy a quality PSU you should have no problems. Just don't (for the love of god) buy a cheap one!
Deathjam Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 Cheap ones aren't all bad. I have a...400W one with the 4850 and have had nooo problems.
Nolan Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 Cheap ones aren't all bad. I have a...400W one with the 4850 and have had nooo problems. Cheap doesn't entirely refer to price. It refers to brand as well.
Deathjam Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 Cheap doesn't entirely refer to price. It refers to brand as well. actually the one I got was 550W but Extra Value..basically ebuyer.co.uk own brand...
Raining_again Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 Well if you buy a rubbish one, poor quality, cheap price (whatever) and intend to push it to the limits, its far more likely to conk out than a better quality one. PSUs are something that should have a decent budget and plenty of research imo =) They are firing electricity into all of your components and if something goes wrong it could have a knock on effect, something I wouldn't like to chance it to save a few bucks :P
S.C.G Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 Quick question - do Mesh PC's tend to use quality PSU's? I'm considering ordering a new PC from them soon so was just wandering.
Raining_again Posted August 22, 2009 Posted August 22, 2009 a pre-built will have sufficient power to run what its built with (well that's common sense - they cant sell a computer that bsod's or won't run properly). Any mods or upgrades will change the power requirement and therefore be risky, unless you know what you are doing.. (Most of above was speaking in terms of buying parts separately and is irrelevant for pre-builds)
S.C.G Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 Ah cool, I was thinking of going for a pre-build from Mesh... http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?GCLID=CKK3wevFuZwCFVUA4wod5l-vnw&PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=548528 Specs * AMD Phenomâ„¢ II X4 955 Black Quad Core Processor AM3 (3.20GHz, 8MB Cache) * Genuine Windows Vistaâ„¢ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English * Super Tower 98 XGS+ Xtreme Gaming Chassis - Black Mesh + 700W PSU * ASUS M4A79T Deluxe Mainboard - AMD 790FX CrossFireX- AM3 Phenomâ„¢ II, DDR3 - ATX * 8GB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM - ( 4x2GB ) * 1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer * Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM * 1GB ATi HD4890 Graphics accelerator DVI, DirectX 10.1 PCI Express 2 * 7.1 High Definition onboard sound card - for 8 Channel Cinema sound * 1 Year Hardware Warranty - Return to Base Parts and Labour (UK Mainland only) It comes with a 700W PSU, now I reckon that's more than ample for that setup surely? Also they offer a free upgrade to Windows 7... that's gotta be better than whatever version of Vista it comes with I'm guessing? If I had the choice I'd stick with XP but I heard that Windows 7 - even in it's early days - is more reliable than Vista has ever been so it seems a no-brainer to me unless there are a load of compatibility issues. Sorry for the thread-hijack, :/ I just had a few questions so I figured I'd ask them here rather than create another thread.
McPhee Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 Might be worth spec'ing that up at DinoPC, PCOption and PC Specialist too. My brother recently bought a PC from Dino and it worked out quite a bit cheaper than Mesh (as did the other two, but Dino were the cheapest).
S.C.G Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 (edited) Oh nice, thanks I'll give them a try. Edit... Seems that for about the same price I can get this at Dino PC... http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=94&idproduct=546 CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition AM3 CPU Cooler: Standard heatsink & fan Motherboard: Asus M4A79T Deluxe (AMD 790FX Chipset, 4x DDR3, Crossfire) Memory: 4.0GB Corsair DDR3 1600Mhz DHX (2x 2GB) Hard Drives: 500GB S-ATA2 3.0Gb/s Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA Lightscribe Graphics: 2 x ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio OS: No Operating System - I will install my own PSU: 600W Thermaltake Toughpower Case: Coolermaster Cosmos Warranty: 3 Year Bronze Warranty Actually scratch that... it's £30 more, doesn't come with an OS installed - they want nearly £90 for Vista - plus it only has 500mb whereas the MESH has 1TB, think it has less RAM plus the only 'extra' thing is has is another gfx card... Edited August 23, 2009 by S.C.G
Shorty Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 To be honest, I would never buy a pre-built system from someone like Mesh anymore, you're paying for the brand name and for having all the parts pre-decided for you. Whereas if you go to somewhere like PC Specialist you can choose every aspect of the PC, skip out things you don't need and ultimitely get a better price. That's a very good video card in that Mesh package, if you're not looking to play the biggest best new games at ultra-high graphics, you could save £100 or so by getting something from the 4600/4700 series instead.
S.C.G Posted August 23, 2009 Posted August 23, 2009 (edited) Hmm interesting... I think I would keep the card tbf as there are some recent games that I'd want to play, I may check out PC specialist though and see what I could get for the same price. Edit So I keyed in specs and it gave me a price of £729... but I think there were some features of the Mesh it either won't have or that I missed, plus the Windows 7 upgrade... Mesh seem to get all that sorted before they send it to you, with PC specialist they send you a voucher? odd way of doing it... Anyway I'm in two minds about who to order from still tbh, the PC specialist doesn't seem bad at all but still Mesh seems easier to order from plus I think I can get a £50 discount from Mesh which will mean the price difference won't be that great between the two, still both are worth considering, I'll have a think about it. Edited August 23, 2009 by S.C.G Automerged Doublepost
Pyxis Posted September 6, 2009 Author Posted September 6, 2009 (edited) I thought the Evergreen cards were going to be more energy efficient, down the lines of the 4770? Might be wrong, but if they are then a good 400W PSU should be fine for all except maybe the top of the line card. I'm currently running a 4850 on a 350W PSU, have been since i upgraded in May and i've had no trouble. The IGP on the 785G is definitely enough for HD video btw. ATi haven't done a card or chip in years that won't deal with HD video Thanks, I found a good page which backs up what you said: http://hothardware.com/Articles/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-295-Unleashed/?page=12 My PSU is a cheap 350W one that came with my case and it has lots of ugly cables, so I will upgrade to a Corsair 400W to make my PC look better and to be quieter. Final specs: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164047/show_product_reviews £146.09 Corsair 4gb (2x2gb) Ddr3 1333mhz Xms3 Memory Kit Cl9 (9-9-9-24) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166463 (the other memory vanished!) £60.02 Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H 785G Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170230 £69.07 LG CH08LS10 Super Multi Blu-Ray Reader & DVD±RW with LightScribe SATA Black - Full Retail Box With Software (when it is in stock) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169682/show_product_reviews £79.99 Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM Caviar Blue http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124228/show_product_reviews £37.95 Corsair 400W CX PSU - 12cm Fan 80Plus Certified Efficiency 6x SATA 1x PCI-E http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985/show_product_reviews £37.38 Total: £430.50 2 weeks to go before pay day! I will wait and see what the Evergreen cards are like this week when they are announced. I know Nvidia might announce their new cards soon as well. I will probably end up with the ATI 5850, but my budget is a max of £140. Total: £570 hmm, and in November (planning ahead;) ), i will upgrade to this case: Antec 300 Three Hundred Black Case - No PSU http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854# £44.92 Final total: £614.92 Edited September 6, 2009 by Pyxis
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