New Build, Your Advice Please?

hi, I'm looking at building a new pc for myself, old one is just about shot.

Here's the spec I have from Aria, what do you think? It's been about 5 years since I last built so am very grateful for any advice, tips or even, you're doing it wrong comments.

Many thanks

Qty Product Name Price (inc. VAT)

1 500GB Samsung HD502HJ F3 3.5" SATA II Hard Drive £ 31.19
1 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - OEM 65.10
1 Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 700 Keyboard and Mouse Set - Black (M7A-00027) £ 21.59
1 Intel Core i3 550 3.2Ghz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) Processor - Retail £ 92.02
1 Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM / 16x DVD Writer Drive - Black Retail) £ 47.47
1 4GB Kingston HyperX Blu (2x2GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit £ 29.93
1 430W Corsair Builder Series 430CX V2 Power Supply £ 37.20
1 Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 CPU Cooler £ 18.14
1 Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2V Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 PCI-Express Micro-ATX Motherboard £ 61.08
1 BitFenix Shinobi Black with Window Midi Tower Chassis £ 59.39
1 22" IIyama Prolite E2271HDS Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £ 139.19

How long is a piece of string ??

If you do not intend to change this set up in the future, the 430W PSU will be OK.
If you want to add any further disks etc.in the future, I would opt for a bigger one.
You may not intend to add bits in the future at the moment but you may well change your mind.
I would go for at least a 650W PSU, bigger if your budget allows.

Aria are great on a lot of prices but for PSUs (and some other things), they are not so good.

For the PSU I would go and take a look at Novatech. For instance, here is a 600W Corsair CX V2 PSU for £12.78 more;

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/...

List properly sorted for you: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/...

Make sure the PSU has enough SATA connectors for your components

(By the way, are you going to get a graphics card? Chipset ones are not very good )

Have fun

Edited by chris6273 (Mon 04-Jul-11 18:08:34)

You seem to be spending a lot on quality components just to get a system without any real oomph.

In reply to a post by Gypsydog:

How long is a piece of string ??

If you do not intend to change this set up in the future, the 430W PSU will be OK.
If you want to add any further disks etc.in the future, I would opt for a bigger one.
You may not intend to add bits in the future at the moment but you may well change your mind.
I would go for at least a 650W PSU, bigger if your budget allows.

Do the I3 CPU use that much power then?

I got a AMD Phenom II 3.5 quad core, 3 hard drives, two optical drives, one is a blu-ray burner, 8GB or ram and a Nvidia 9800GT video card running of the the same power supply, corsair 430 and all is fine.

the only time the OP may have a problem is if he decides to add a high powered video card in. Corsair are good units, and pretty efficient.

Saying that, there is no harm going for a power supply with more wattage, but go for a good make.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

You seem to be spending a lot on quality components just to get a system without any real oomph.

£602? nothing to be honest to get a pretty decent machine, I spent over £700 for mine

Not sure how poky the I3 processor is mind you, I prefer AMD to Ijntel.

I paid 350 for mine with a quad core amd, and this was when ram was double the price it is now. The i3 550 does look like a pretty good chip though, might even be better a quad core amd where it counts. I think if I was spending that sort of money the first thing I'd get is a fractal design define r3, but that's just personal taste. I'd get a better power supply too, something like a modular bequiet.

eta: oh, I would definitely not get the Arctic Cooling Freezer. I have a similar one and they simply do not shift enough air.

Edited by deleted (Mon 04-Jul-11 22:35:15)

In reply to a post by 12eason:

I paid 350 for mine with a quad core amd, and this was when ram was double the price it is now. The i3 550 does look like a pretty good chip though, might even be better a quad core amd where it counts. I think if I was spending that sort of money the first thing I'd get is a fractal design define r3, but that's just personal taste. I'd get a better power supply too, something like a modular bequiet.

eta: oh, I would definitely not get the Arctic Cooling Freezer. I have a similar one and they simply do not shift enough air.

Built a pretty good machine a few weeks back for £220, Athlon dual core, Asus main board, 4GB of ram. a nice cooler master case and power supply and it is pretty fast, the Hard drive is only a 250GB mind you, but that can be expanded. It was done on a budget, but it is still a good machine.

Stuck a Venom on a mates overclocked I7, and i got a nano Venum on mine, does the job.

I forgot I also got a 23inch full HD Hanns G monitor as well, so that was £125. bluray writer about £80. so i suppose it cost me about £600 for the main computer bits, but not the power supply as i had that already.

Never really got into the modular PSU, put one in a my mates machine, the same mate that got the I7 and it did not make a lot of difference, I tied up the cables I have not used in my machine. Then the case is a good case, a Cooler master Haf, all the cables are stored behind the motherboard plate.


I am happy with my machine, it should last now for a few years, you could go on and on, the next thing now is PCI-E 3.0., not going to amke much difference to me. at least my board got Sata 3 on, which is a bit more important to me.



The only thing I may get at some point is a SSD unit and a larger mechanical hard drive.