(18/04/2010 06:53 PM)Assassinator Wrote:  I actually had a PSU blow up on me before, when i upgraded my comp about a year ago.  But that was an extremely shitty PSU with really no brand (I spent like 5 minutes looking for the brand, can't find it), that I got from my old computer that wee got many years ago...  Couldn't handle my quad, popped and died.  Now sitting on some 460W Coolermaster CPU that came with the case I bought, works fine.

Branded PSUs of the lower end should still be pretty cheap.  Can get a 430W Thermaltake PSU (the basic one, not the fancy/silent/80+/whatever ones) for like $40AUD (~25GBP) here.

No idea about Arianet.  Never heard of them, don't think you can get that brand here in Australia.

Arianet is Aria's own brand. They're no-brand components that Aria themselves have tested and inspected meaning they have some kind of quality control. They're still no brand but they're the best of the no-brand.

(18/04/2010 06:53 PM)Assassinator Wrote:  I think I heard somewhere that at the same clock, Phenom2 is about 10-20% faster than Athlon2, don't know how accurate that is, so you may want to do some research yourself.

A bit of benchmark hunting shows a pretty small difference. The Athlon has the shared L3 cache disabled. It does make a difference but it's pretty small. Not worth the extra money IMHO.

(18/04/2010 06:53 PM)Assassinator Wrote:  

(18/04/2010 10:45 PM)ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:  Depends on your case's airflow, your temperate surroundings etc, as well...
Ultimately, I'd put the money for making the system MUCH quieter, since performance isn't an issue.  I'd go for a lower CPU just to fit the cost of the cooler in.

It won't be all that loud, I found the case fans to be louder (which is why I have the front case fan disabled).  Stock fan isn't like THAT bad.

And I heard the design changed (slightly) during the transaction to Phenom II... Has copper heat pipes and stuff on it now, and also looks quite a bit better than whatever I had.

Remember it's a cheap case. I'll do my best to improve the airflow but it still won't be amazing. I'd rather keep the cooler personally. Plus then it means I have a spare stock cooler to kludge onto my old Athlon Thoroughbred for experimentation purposes. Currently using a Pentium II cooler and case fan cable-tied on. It works but obviously not briliantly.

(19/04/2010 12:02 AM)Assassinator Wrote:  

(18/04/2010 10:45 PM)ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:  Warhammer isn't that graphically demanding from memory...

Probably isn't the only game he's going to be playing in the next 3 years, or however long until he decides to upgrade again.

It'll be around for a while but he's not into cutting edge games. Mostly plays tactical games and sometimes a spot of the Unreal Tournament series. Anything is better than what he's got at the moment. A Dell bought in 2003 that was spoon when it was new. Came with a Celeron 2.5GHz, 128MB (now 768MB) of DDR RAM, 40GB (now 80GB) hard drive and Intel pre-GMA graphics not upgradable due to a lack of AGP slot and free PCI slots. The motherboard has 3 but one doesn't work, another is used by a TV tuner and the third is for a NIC because the onboard one died too.

(18/04/2010 10:19 PM)ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:  Don't need 1066MHz, stick to 800MHz.  Up to 4GB if you can, otherwise, probably doesn't matter much.

I was just following what the motherboard manual said. I'll drop in a 2x1GB 800MHz kit intead. 4GB would be a waste of a GB as it'll be running XP. I could add an extra GB in future if 2GB isn't enough.

(18/04/2010 10:19 PM)ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:  4670 is like double performance of the 4650.  Also check prices on the 5570, should be comparable to a 4670.

Aria don't sell the 5570 but a quick look on eBay puts them around £70. Reviews of the 4650 said it was pretty good for it's price. If the 4670 is a lot faster than the 4650 as you said then that's what I'll go for. It's only about £10 more than the 4650 on Aria.

(18/04/2010 10:19 PM)ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:  Yeah, you can cheapen the PSU if you want.

Done. Swapped it for a case/PSU bundle with a 500w PSU.

(19/04/2010 06:58 AM)Assassinator Wrote:  There'll definitely be more difference than just the L3 cache disabled... I know they have different die sizes at least (Athlon 2 being smaller).

Toms Hardware Wrote:Still, they’re very similar inside. The Athlon II X4’s cores, including their L1 and L2 caches, are identical to the Phenom’s. AMD didn’t change cache associativity. In fact, the only real change here came when AMD switched the Athlon II X4’s cache off to be able to utilize processor dies that failed validation due to L3 issues (Ed.: Note that this is only the case for early Athlon II X4s. Moving forward, more and more of them will center on a completely different, more economical processor die).

It seems wee're both correct.

I was talking with my brother again. He wants it Riced with a side window and glowy blue bits. That means the case/PSU bundle had to go. Here's a list of everything I have now.

Motherboard:
Asrock K10N78 (Socket AM2+) DDR2 PCI-Express Motherboard

CPU:
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) Processor - Retail

RAM:
Crucial 2GB (1x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 800MHz Single Channel Memory Module

I know I said I'd use a 2x1GB kit but I couldnt find any decently priced.

Graphics:
ASUS 512MB RADEON HD 4670 PCI-E 2.0 HDMI

HDD:
Samsung HD502HJ F3 500GB 3.5" SATA II Hard Drive - OEM

DVD Drive:
LG GSA-4167B Super Multi DVD Drive that I have lying around. Also solves the issue of being 1 SATA power connecor shoert as this is an IDE drive. I've got a spare round IDE cable somewhere as well.

PSU:
Arianet Stealth 500W "Silent" ATX Power Supply for AMD and Intel Motherboards 20Pin + 4Pin

CPU Cooler:
Coolermaster Hyper TX3 (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/775/1156) CPU Cooler

Case:
Arianet 1004 Black Gaming Case, 14cm Front Fan, Side Window, inc Colour Fans (No PSU)

Rice:
Extra Value 12" Blue Dual Cold Cathode Kit


My brother has also decided that he wants a new monitor and keyboard to go with it. He's currently rocking the oricinal Dell 15" CRT and PS/2 Keybaord (which is actually pretty decent.) He's already got a standard USB optical mouse that works well enough.

For these I've chosen:

LG W1934S-BN 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black

and

Trust BlackStream USB Keyboard - Black

He's paying for these extras himself. I've told him about the RAM issue and he's happy enough. My dad is competent enough to add an extra 1GB stick in future when I'm away as long as I do the actual choosing of memory module.

Everything gets ordered tonight. I'll keep you posted on any problems/damage to components caused by my incompetence/explosions I may encounter.