Hi guys I am in a position where I have to upgrade a machine that certainly wasn't planned, and as such I don't have much of a budget. The machine is to be used for gaming - nothing massively high end, and specifically for the mmorpg EVE online, which can get quite hungry at times. I am looking to spend around £300 on mobo, cpu, gfx, ram and possibly a case. I have been looking at the AMD PHenom II X4 840 3.2Ghz chip on a Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 board, 4Gb DDR3 1600 ram which comes in at around £160. Add £40 for a case, and I have no idea where to go with a gfx card for around the £100 mark. Any suggestions? Also, the computer area isn't very well ventilated - this current AMD gets to 70°C at times. I've always gone down the AMD route, but would I be better going for an Intel chip to keep things a bit cooler? Any advice on the above greatly appreciated
CustomPC did a PC with similar specs that you listed as a budget quad core machine! For a GPU the 5850 Xtreme is good value currently at just under £120... http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/item-detail.php?products_id=4373117 It was at under £100 from overclockers.co.uk but prices are rising!
Thanks for the reply. I found that card for £106, but sold out when I tried to order. Was also looking at the Radeon XFX HD 6850 at a similar price. How do these stack up against each other? Looking like the job is getting more expensive now. I'm going to need a new PSU. I think I saw a thread about budget PSUs somewhere. Best go do some reading, but what wattage would be sensible for the above rig?