What Hardware Should I Buy? - July 2009

Enthusiast Overclocker

The Enthusiast Overclocker is a PC designed for those looking to buy a PC that maximises performance, without spending out on premium hardware. If you're not into hardcore video encoding and more extreme multi-tasking, but still love your high definition gaming, we've worked with this PC to generate the best balance possible, providing that is, you spend time learning how to overclock it.

After many (still continuing arguments) in the office, we've settled for an AMD tri-core, because the potential performance over a dual core is still there, as is the extra free core overhead and the potential to unlock the fourth given the right board. We've offset this with a fast graphics card and some high performance DDR3, but have managed to squeeze in a cheaper motherboard to make sure the price doesn't sky rocket.

For just £220 more than the Affordable All-Rounder (yet we've still got it under £600!) it also allows us to include much better cooling for the system, with an improved CPU cooler and high quality chassis going a long way towards helping you get the maximum performance out of your hardware, without deafening you at the same time of course!

Graphics Card

First Choice: Radeon HD 4870 1GB
UK Pricing: £106.98 (inc. VAT)
US Pricing: $149.99 (ex. Tax)

We've gone for the Radeon HD 4870 1GB alone this month because we've found one with an aftermarket cooler (very important for noise concerns!) for under £110. Don't be fooled by cheap GTX 260s - these are 65nm 192 core, not 55nm 216 core, which retail for over £130 now. That's still a very good buy, but it's just the Radeon is better.

In addition, don't be tempted by the 512MB cards - we've always maintained it's not worth it for higher resolutions, despite the slight cost saving.

Offering as much as 30 per cent performance advantage over their respective cheaper alternatives: the GTS 250 and Radeon HD 4850, this extremely capable high end card is now incredibly affordable, and for the sake of the cost of a new game, we think it's well worth the extra cash over a slower card.

The performance difference between the HD 4870 and GTX 260-216 is negligible, although naturally varying slightly from game to game. The only thing that really separates them is the GTX 260’s better folding performance and the inclusion of PhysX, but this only has limited game support right now.

CPU

First Choice: AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
UK Pricing: £106.98 (inc. VAT)
US Pricing: $139.00 (ex. Tax)


We've argued very much in the office this month whether we should recommend the Intel E7000 series of dual core CPUs that overclock to ~4.2GHz or more with a good P45 board, or, a tri-core 720 Black Edition that'll hit "just" 3.7GHz, or, if you employ better cooling and more voltage - maybe a stable 4GHz. The tri-cores are a contentious middle ground, with some people seeing the negative side only: as damaged quad cores or not quite necessary - if you get three, why not have four? While others see it as essentially an extra core for only only 20 percent more, with the possibility of four if you're lucky enough to unlock it.

With the right boards, both the Intel E7000 series and AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition can provide plenty of overclocking fun for very little money, however, as we evolve our PCs to do more - we think that an extra core might benefit more in the long term, not to mention the possible upgrade path from tri to quad core on the AM3 socket later.

Motherboard

First Choice: MSI 770-C45
UK Price (as reviewed): £59.23 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $81.99 (ex. Tax)

In this months issue of Custom PC, the guys have tested a number of AM3 boards and found a surprising result - the £60 MSI built on the AMD 770X chipset is actually not only worth buying, but it's also a solid overclocker too! Don't expect too many features for the price, but it has enough to build a good PC: six SATA, plenty of USB 2.0, a single PCI-Express 2.0 x16 lane for graphics and plenty of PCI-Express x1 and PCI slots for additional hardware as well.

Our aim for the enthusiast overclocker is to provide not only the best value for money parts, but also the most fun too - the MSI 770-C45 hits this margin just right here.