Any help on best cpu/mobo for £300?

[Mark C.]

Hi guys as the title says I'm looking to get the final pieces of my new build, got a budget of £300 max and I'm hoping that some of you techno guru's could point me in the best direction?

I'm not tied down to any brand just want something that'll be stable and have a bit of longevity.

I wont be overclocking initially but perhaps later down the line?

It's gonna be used mainly for gaming, gotta be ready for when my boy diablo 3 apears hehehehe, but I also do some photo editing and video conversion.

I7's gonna be out of my price range for sure, an to be honest with the news concerning I7 going ultra high end only I'm not sure its an upgrade path I could afford to follow, if ya see what I means?

Oh and if possible I would love the board to be crossfirex compatible, to begin with it'll be running a 4870 but I'd love the chance of adding another at some point.

Seriously guys any help would be apreciated greatly!

Mark.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is what I would go for:

Phenom II X4 940BE ~ £144

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Asus M3A79-T Deluxe ~ £130

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

There are other cheaper Crossfire capable motherboards but they either used the older SB600 southbridge(the older versions of the 790FX had this southbridge) or can only run two graphics cards in PCI-E 2.0 8x and not 16x as the 790FX can.

4gb PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM ~ £36

With the free Scan postage the total should come to around £310.

[Mark C.]

Wow thanks for the quick reply cat!
I gotta admit I was leaning towards amd myself but its been a while since I had one.

And the ram's sorted got exactly what you suggested..hehehehe maybe shoulda mentioned that eh?

Again thanks !

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Wow thanks for the quick reply cat!
I gotta admit I was leaning towards amd myself but its been a while since I had one.

And the ram's sorted got exactly what you suggested..hehehehe maybe shoulda mentioned that eh?

Again thanks !

This means you should be within budget or you could go for the fastest available AMD processor, the Phenom II X4 955BE!!

It is on Today Only for around £183:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

This shoukd bring the price to around £312.

I would not spend any more for an AM3 motherboard and DDR3 RAM because this would push up the cost even more.

Also you can get a Core i7 setup and 6gb of DDR3 RAM for around £438:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

[Mark C.]

Again, appreciated man!

The only thing thats tearing me away from the whole I7 route is this whole doing away with the lower end cpu thing, if its true wont I be stuck with realtively new socket which I'll need 700/800 + to upgrade just the cpu?

I must say it is tempting though, do the I7's out perform the Amd 955be by enough of a margin to make it a worthwhile choice?

My main concern is really just getting a couple of years 'trouble' free computing, as I usually upgrade every two three years.

Lol, Thanks for all this help Cat, its been a while since I built and honestly want to make the right choice!

Mark.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Again, appreciated man!

The only thing thats tearing me away from the whole I7 route is this whole doing away with the lower end cpu thing, if its true wont I be stuck with realtively new socket which I'll need 700/800 + to upgrade just the cpu?

I must say it is tempting though, do the I7's out perform the Amd 955be by enough of a margin to make it a worthwhile choice?

My main concern is really just getting a couple of years 'trouble' free computing, as I usually upgrade every two three years.

Lol, Thanks for all this help Cat, its been a while since I built and honestly want to make the right choice!

Mark.

Look at these reviews:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16796

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ph...r-review-test/

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu...tion-cpu-am3/1

The Core i7 will probably last longer than a Core2 or Phenom II based build especially since the Core i7 is usually faster for video and image editing. However for gaming the Core2 and Phenom II are still very competitive.

The Phenom II build would be cheaper if you ditched the crossfire motherboard and use the money saved towards an HD4870X2.

I would look at the following:

Phenom II X4 940BE ~ £144

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 ~ £57

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Specs for the motherboard:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...ProductID=2982

The Biostar TA790GX 128 maybe a bit better for overclocking though:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Biost...ID-OnBoard-VGA

I would put the £100 saved towards an HD4870X2 for £240:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-X...-DL-DVI-I-HDTV

[Mark C.]

Once again I must say thanks Cat, for all your help and patience!

I think I've decided to suck it up and go the I7 route, someone said to me today that even if the chances of upgrading the cpu at my pricepoint are slim by the time I plan another rebuild there's likely to be another socket and another chip I'll want to invest in, quite true I think?

The idea of a single 4870 x2 is also a great one so thats on my list too now...hehehehehe.

I just have one last question and I'll leave ya in peace....I have a Stealth xtreme 600W which is only a couple of months old, bought mainly on reviews and price, if I'm completely honest. Would this be sufficient for the proposed rig?

Mark

[ixos]

I would say the 600w would be more than capable!

[jim]

Obviously if you go the i7 route then you can have the option of SLI or Crossfire, but to be honest with the 4870X2 at £240 I'd be looking at that for sure.

The 600W should do you fine for now... if later on you wanted to do any major upgrades just check up again on Hexus and make sure it's still up to scratch

[Mark C.]

Cat, Ixis Snooty....Thanks for all your help guys, Its been a real relief having you guys to consult, its certainly made the decision making process a whole lot easier!

All the best

Mark.

[ixos]

Cat is a really great guy. Very helpful.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Cat is a really great guy. Very helpful.

Thanks!!

I just saw this deal too for a Be Quiet 350w PSU:

http://forums.hexus.net/current-barg...ml#post1710779

£29.99 is an excellent price IMHO!

Here is a review(in German):

http://www.technic3d.com/article-759...-pc-teil-1.htm

[AdvWar]

If you have decided on the i7 route, I would probably go for the i7 920/Asus P6T bundle from Scan for £362, and get 6GB of RAM from Overclockers (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=8&subcat=1390) for around £63.

[Mark C.]

Thanks for that AdvWar, never used overclockers..And methinks not a conversation to begin here...lmao.

But that pricing is well worth a thought, so thanks for the link mate!

I'm gonna go ahead an order the bundle from scan as you suggested, just seems like a great deal along with the free postage..corker!

And Ixos...sorry about misspelling your name mate my typing skills are sadly lacking at the best of times, but when I'm half asleep?

Thanks all,

Mark.

[jim]

I would advise buying everything from the same retailer, as I always do. If you get it, and it won't POST, you can put the motherboard, cpu, and RAM straight back into the box and send it back to Scan for testing, who will determine which component is faulty.

If you get each from a different retailer, it's then a nightmare to figure out for yourself which one is broken - and if you guess wrongly, you will lose a lot of money in 'not-found-faulty' fees.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sorry! Replied to the wrong post! Doh!