Upgrading to new build

[Dos]

Hey. My current build sucks now adays and i wanna upgrade. Things i am getting is the motherboard, cpu, psu, memory and graphics card.

Here are my parts i have picked out -

PSU
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(15480)...-fan-SATA.aspx

MoBo
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(16222)...M900-Core.aspx

CPU
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(14430)...e-2x28GHz.aspx

RAM
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(15237)...TU88A2B3C.aspx

Graphics Card
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(16426)...Hz-400MHz.aspx


That reachers my budget for this, the rest of the hardware i have. So simple question, what do you guys think? (Particular attention to the psu please )

[glc]

Sorry - all substandard components except the CPU and the video card. This is as CHEAP as I would go:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(16556)...compliant.aspx
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(15517)...d-Skt-775.aspx
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(9378)C...512MB667D.aspx

Sorry if this puts you over budget - but don't build with junk. 512mb of ram isn't enough these days either. I'd buy 2 ram modules and hold off on the video card - use the onboard video for now till you save up some more quid.

[Dos]

Hmm, 350w not sure i want to do that. Also i dont want antec anymore, had to much bad luck with them. Two of them ranging from 300w to 500w have blown on me so im defonately not getting antec. I've heard good things from Color-IT, and read some reviews which were ok. I just wanted to find out more about them.

I am holding back on the graphic card for a while yes, and i can't offord to get more RAM at the moment, 512 will hold me fine at the moment.

I was more after how well these components will work together. Thanks for the reply anyway.

[glc]

I would not trust a 500+ watt PSU that is THAT cheap, I don't care WHAT the reviews say. Go over to overclockers.co.uk and get a 400 watt FSP Sparkle if you don't want an Antec. 400 quality watts will power any video card that you can afford.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=123&subcat=

You motherboard may be an Asus, but it's got a bottom of the barrel Via chipset. The Foxconn board has a good Intel chipset and Foxconn is decent quality, they are the actual OEM for Intel, Dell, and others.

The Elixir ram is a crapshoot. It may or may not work well, it's not a quality brand.

[Dos]

Ok, all good advice. To be honest the ram issue does not bother me at this point in time, as long as i can get something in it to work. I will changed this later on. As for the motherboard i was unsure about that chipset myself, so you have just cleared that up for me.

As for the psu i really do want to pick the most suitable one obviously, but with having such bad luck with them holds me back. I have looked on overclockers beforehand and may well just go back there yeah. Will 400-500w be satisfactory?

[glc]

As I said, 400 watts will power any low to midrange video card.

Try some other vendors - see if you can find an Asus P5L-MX board - that's what we use here in the US for low end 775 builds.

[flanzig1]

With the video card you selected, a 350w supply would be plenty.

[freakitchen]

Here's the ASUS P5L-MX

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/121144

It would make sense to get all your components from one vendor, to avoid paying for lots of shipping costs. I haven't heard many good things about Micro-Direct.

If you won't buy Antec power supplies, then your choices of quality units are limited at Ebuyer. This is a great unit, though.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/115238/rb/25489738945

Avoid Colors-IT like the plague. Basement price, basement quality.

FK

[Dos]

Thanks allot for that. I was looking for the motherboard and thats the cheapest!

Ok great. I think i have the components sorted now, thanks guys/girls.

One thing to add, i will be using, a sata hardrive, an idea hardrive, dvd/rw, floppy ect... Will this PSU be ok that you have linked there?

[freakitchen]

Note that the P5L-MX only has 1 IDE channel. Therefore, you'll be limited to two IDE devices, and practically, this will probably involve choosing between your IDE hard drive and Optical drive. Why not consider buying an enclosure for that IDE hard drive and turning it into an external USB2 drive?

That Power supply will power your components no problem. The amount of power is largely dictated by the video card - and the unit I recommended will power a low-mid range video card if/when you get one.

FK

[Dos]

Alright thanks. Well couldn't i have the ide hardrive on master and the dvd/rw on slave?, and then my main hardrive on sata. Would that still work?

[freakitchen]

It's not something I'd usually do, but theoretically it will work. You'll probably see some slow down when copying from that drive to your optical (burning a disc) and vice-versa. You might also have problems with the length of the cable - you'll have to be creative depending on the size of your case.

I stand by my suggestion of turning that drive into an external, but if you do decide to connect them both internally, use an 80-wire cable (very fine ridges, coloured connector on the motherboard end - you'll get one with your motherboard), and jumper both drives to 'cable select'.

FK

[Dos]

Alright man, thanks allot! You've been great help.