Decisions - £250 -300

[Teamsreth]

A few weeks ago, I managed to break my main PC, and since then I have had to use my old backup, (AMD 3700+)

Now, with a little one on the way, I feel I should try to get something that will last a while.

Now, I was hinking of trying to salvage the CPU, E6550, from my dead Dell. (No video output, think mobo died) But, although I can see nothing wrong with the CPU, I don't know if I would see anything.

I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse. I also have HDD's and optical drives, and an ATI 4670 which I will upgrade at a later date, and a copy of Windows 7.

I have around £250 - 300, for case, PSU, Mobo, CPU and Memory and cooler. If I knew the E6550 was okay, I wouldn't need a CPU, but if I go intel, and the CPU is dead, I am then stuck on that track.

The deciding on the components seems to be the hardest part. Any ideas would be welcome, but I am thinking PII X3 720, as this seems the best compromise, and being AMD and AM3/DDR3 should leave an upgrade path, whereas Intel seems great for high end, but the upgrade path looks shockingly al over the place.

[Terbinator]

If your E6550 works then thats an epic win and obviously saved you atleast £50 on a new CPU regardless of brand. Try and see if you know anyone who can test your CPU and then obviously you can buy an intel motherboard and the rest is easy! Are you after a small-ish case because if so then your probably limited to picking a motherboard from the G45 range of Intel motherboards or the 750i range from nVidia. - if you wish to go smaller than this you can get a Zotac motherboard which is based on the nVidia ones.

If not im sure this guy we have on the forums will tell you that AMD's is the best in the said price bracket and he'll spout a large amount of links - most probably to the X3 720 you've posted and an accompying motherboard, RAM, etc.

[Pob255]

The current AMD stuff is great for the price, however if all that is dead is the motherboard, just replaceing that would save you a load and let you overclock that cpu

What exactly happens when you try to power up your pc?
Check for the following
Any fan movement.
Bleep patterns from onboard speaker
If the motherboard has onboard graphics, try removeing your graphics card then booting it up with the monitor pluged into the onboard graphics.

Dig around and find your exact specs, you can probably put the dell service tag into their website and get your original specs that way.

Sniff the PSU, yes sounds odd but that could of just died and it's often given away by the smell.

[Teamsreth]

I have tried almost everything that I can think off.

Mobo LED lights up when PSU fitted, and plugged in. When I short the power pins, all the fans spin up, HDDs are spinning up, DVD drive works, but no video output.

Have tried different memory, and configurations, tried with and without graphics card, with only Mobo and CPU plugged in, different PSU. Also, no beps from Mobo. The power button on case doesn't work anymore. But I have no other 775 mobo to test CPU. I think a friend knows a computer shop owner, so I may ask for his help, might be able to test it?

If the CPU lives, I would only need the Mobo, RAM (decent stuff), Case (always wanted a big one), and PSU (will add a decent GPU later, DX11, or price drop DX10). This would mean more money for each of the above.

I would like a biggish case, as I ALWAYS swear when doing anyhing in any of the generic cases I have had.

Cheers so far peeps!!

[Terbinator]

(always wanted a big one)

Cant say ive had that problem myself

Ok working on the assumption your CPU works you could get this for your money:
Case
Motherboard - with integrated Nvidia graphics
Motherboard WITH a Zalman cooler
Motherboard
RAM
PSU

Comes in at around £290 give or take ,ive not included a GFX card becuase you have a 4670(?) already and if youve not that nvidia motherboard is a good performer until you buy a cheap DX10 one or DX11. Im sure CAT will come in and troll me with a AMD set up but if your processor is working you could have a powerful little system mah friend in a massive case

Your also eligible for free postage from Scan if youve signed up to it on the HExus forum that is...

[Golden Dragoon]

Case
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Akasa...-Panel-w-o-PSU

PSU
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/550W-...rossfire-Ready

Mobo + cooler
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-P...-SATA-RAID-ATX

Memory
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(...S-5-5-5-18-DHX


£236.34 assuming your current cpu is fine, a Q8200 is £106 if you want more future profing, but what I suggest to keep (almost) to your budget is a E7400 for about £800

Edit:

if your processor is working you could have a powerful little system mah friend in a massive case

I have never found the 300 to be that big, besides my ones bigger

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If your CPU is bunged up look at this thread:

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...my-pocket.html

If the CPU is fine I would go with the MSI P45 Zilent + Zalman H/S combo which has been mentioned a few times already as it is great for the money:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-P...-SATA-RAID-ATX

[007]

Individually sell what you have got...

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168998
Intel Dual Core E5300, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, DVDRW, NO OS = £220
You would replace PSU and get OS for the rest

[no_numb]

Well I went the AMD route and got the PII 550 and unlocked the other cores so have a 3.2ghz (slightly overclocked and will be OC'd higher) quad core system, gigabyte ma770-ud3, 4gb 1066 kingston ram, ocz 400w psu, xigmatek hdt-s1382 and a 320gb samsung f1 for approx £275. I then bought the sapphire 4670 ultimate for an extra £55

So if you dont need a hard disk then you could spend that and the reserve (out of the £300 budget) on a case. The only thing is that there is no guarantee that the other cores will unlock on the 550. Also if the processor is still alive then theres not much point spending extra money on a new one.