Budget: £500 - £600 Main uses of intended build: Internet, Movies (Watching and Encoding), Music, Programming (Android), Gaming Parts required: Main System, OS Not Required, no peripherals required at this stage (KB, Mouse, Monitor) Previous build information (list details of parts): Dire 2005 spec Fujitsu Desktop Monitor resolution: 1280 x 720 (I think) Storage requirements: 500GB - 1TB Will you be overclocking: yes/no (delete as required) Would like the option to yes Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): Would like it to be upgradeable in future, perhaps with capability for using two GPU's, gaming is not the main focus but a decentlt fast pc to play some good games on won't hurt especially if I can upgrade later. Extra information about desired system: Really needing a replacement for a 5 year old desktop which has just sadly died, as said above its really for everyday usage, media, browsing etc but I would like to be able to play games on it, that said I know that a £600 rig isn't going to be anything as good as say £1000 so gaming isn't the main focus.
Hi chrism_scotland, Welcome to the forum. I suggest that you start here. This is the 'affordable' pick of hardware from the nice folks at bit-tech. That's a dual-core. I always suggest going up one step to an AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 440 3.00GHz (Socket AM3). You should still have just enough cash left for a monitor - it looks like you need one of those?
Apologies not been clear, don't need a monitor at the moment although might treat myself to a new one later!
something like an i5-750 with 4GB of RAM DDR 1600 if gaming isnt a big deal but you would like to play look at 1GB 5770 will play newest stuff on 1680x1050 MAX i would suggest a 460 but i tinhk thats out of your budget and a waste if your not aiming for a gaming PC. 500W PSU from corsair, seasonic etc. samsung F3 1TB for HDD pick up a titan fenrir for overclocking
Good call! Also, I think Aria had ATI radeon 4890s for £110 the other day - so that would be a good GPU to pair that CPU with.
i gotta agree with adam_bagpuss on this one, Xigmatek Utgard i5 750 G.Skill RipJaw 4GB (2x2GB) Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 Intel H55 700w OCZ PSU Gefore 460 Comes to about £570
I count about £610 - P55 boards are better with a i5-750 - Missing CPU coller - Missing Hard drive(s) ! But I do agree that if the budget does stretch to £600 and there's no monitor, then there may be a better choice. The one I suggested came in a bit under £500 I think.
mhmm, i 750 - £150 G.Skill RipJaw 4gb - £90 700w OCZ PSU - £70 GTX 460 - £150 Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 - £100 ---------------------------------------- £560 £40 for Samsung F3 1tb sata drive £600 total as for the cooler, the intel stock cooler should do, considering it's provided by intel it should at least be able to keep the CPU cool at stock and turbo boost. Its a very up to date specification and will out preform a athlon 2 for just £200 you will probably see 3x performance differences, Features: Quad Core Hybrid multi-graphics support (Crossfire + SLI) USB 3.0 SATA III DX 11 card DD3 Memory 7200 + 32mb harddrive (300mps write) for £600 I'd say that's a bargain.
scan prices rounded up: xigmatek utgard - £65 i5 750 - £150 Corsair XMS3 DDR1600 - £77 Corsair VX550W - £70 gigabyte P55M-UD2 £86 any DVD writer - £12 Total = £460 leaving £40-140 for GPU 1GB 5770 = £130 768MB 460 = £150 1GB 460 = 170 if you can stretch and gaming is something you will do then a 1GB 460 is worth the extra £40 over the 5770, the 768 isnt worth considering as its only £20 cheaper than the superior 1GB version.
So chrism_scotland - looks like we have a basic yet solid AMD system @ around £480 ... could use the X4 quad core probably still under £500 (sorry, am at work so will not add it up right now). If you can stretch to £600 then you can probably hit i5-750 territory, which is undoubtedly faster CPU-wise. Also a better case. I'm a bit worried about that monitor you have - sure you don't want something a bit better?
I think as the above posts, you can go for the i5 setup which should fulfil your needs. Will need an aftermarket heatsink to overclock/have the option. If the games are not a main focus then you would be fine with one GPU. The i5 setup would not be good for multi GPU setup. Buy the Nvidia GTX460 and you will good to play games for some time to come.
^^ this with the 1GB GTX460, only slightly over budget but a much more capable system. Like others, I too am worried about the monitor.
Just had a quick revisit on this @ Scan... http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/b4ab405b2ba84e8488efe39e52840bbc LN28456: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) £76.52 LN28564: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2, Intel P55 Express, S1156 £85.25 LN28746: 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 £46.93 LN29445: Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6 £13.97 LN31984: 520W Seasonic S12II-520 Bronze 12cm Silent S2FC Fan, 80+ (85%) Eff. £64.50 LN32679: Xigmatek UTGARD, Pure Black, Gaming Mid Tower Case w/o PSU £64.59 LN34549: Intel i5 760, S 1156, Lynnfield Quad Core, 2.8 GHz £151.75 LN34608: 1GB EVGA GTX 460, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 675MHz, Shader Clock 1350MHz £170.92 Comes to a grand total of £694 which is way over budget. The i5 760 is only £2 more expensive than the i5 750 so why not. You could drop to an Antec 300 case which would knock £22 off the bill but you would need a fan for the front of it, adding £10. If the budget can't stretch then we will have to have a rethink.
lets be honest anything below LGA 1156 AM3 is old stuff, and although costs less will soon be worthless, Anything below is out of the question. i think this is definitely going to be a AMD build if it's going to have a good graphics card and enough money for a screen. I don't know how you program on such a awful monitor, i have several friend that web design and C++ script, all of them have 2 screen HD or more..
Okay, a quick tally up on Scan: LN15216: 520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V £70.03 LN22762: Antec 300 Three Hundred, Black Midi Tower Ultimate Gaming Case £42.86 LN28227: AMD Phenom II X4 945, Deneb Core, Socket AM3, 3.0GHz, 8MB Cache £110.98 LN28456: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) £76.52 LN28632: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro v2.1-S1366/S1156/S775/AM3/AM2+/AM2/939 £16.43 LN28751: 500GB Samsung HD502HJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm £32.77 LN28876: MSI 770-C45, AMD 770, AM3, PCI-E 2.0(x16), DDR3 1600(OC) £52.64 LN29445: Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6 £13.97 LN34608: 1GB EVGA GTX 460, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 675MHz, Shader Clock 1350MHz £170.92 Grand total = £587.12. I am not an AMD CPU expert so others please advise a better choice? Under budget but that monitor bothers me.
