Upgrade/New build For ~£400?

[Hicks12]

Hi, my friend is looking to upgrade his computer in the near future and has asked for some help on what to buy. He only needs the following:

CPU
Motherboard
Ram
Graphics card

Now he primarily uses it for gaming so best performing cpu and gpu for the money is a good idea!.
This is what ive picked out so far:

CPU: AMD Athlon II 435 X3- ~£63

Motherboard: Asus M4A79XTD EVO- ~£81

Ram: G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz- ~£82 So expensive still!

Graphics card: Ati 4890? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-S...VI-I-HDTV-HDCP £128 Or a 4870? Or is it worth getting a DX11 card?. I am hoping to get him to wait till fermi is out To get whats best at the time and hopeing prices go down cause of Nvidia :L.

So what would you change/improve? There maybe some overclocking but nothing drastic and would only be done in like a year or so.

Any help is appreciated .
thanks.

[dirky]

Looks good, what res does he game at?

[mikemikemi]

5770 is in the same price range and is DX11, performance is about the same as the 4870. The 4890 is quicker though.

Admittedly, there aren't many DX11 games out at the moment, but personally I'd rather not get an older generation card; however availability is tight at the moment.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is what I would get:

ASUS M4A77TD ~ £66

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/181964

4GB DDR3 RAM ~ £82

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...L9D-4GBRL.html

Phenom II X4 955BE ~ £122

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...he-125W-Retail

HD5770 1GB ~ £116

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/186468

I assume the friend of the OP has a decent PSU to hand?

Alternate build:

HD5850 1GB ~ £239 delivered

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-121-PC

AMD Phenom II X2 550BE ~ £70

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166518

MSI 770-C45 ~ £54

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...s/770-C45.html

4GB DDR3 RAM ~ £82

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...L9D-4GBRL.html

If you do manage to unlock the X2 550BE to a quad core I would not try to overclock the unlocked CPU as the MSI motherboard has 4+1 phase power regulation.

Remember that Quidco and TopCashBack do cashback on Novatech purchases.

[woody_294]

Yep I'd definately bin off the Athlon X3 for the Phenom X2 BE! It would be worth it even without unlocking cores.

I wouldn't worry about a DX11 card, they prob won't be much use for another year or so, I'd go with the 4890 it's a stonking card, but you better be quick! and you should be able to find one for around £110.

Most games are still being developed in DX9, and if they're not they have DX9 modes, how long has DX10 been out now???

[Hicks12]

Sorry for late reply, been busy :L.

Right then,
First off thanks for the suggestions and yeh i think ill suggest the 5770 for him because its dx11 and performs similar to the 4870 along with the face i cant find a cheap 4890 really .

Cat, the builds you suggest look pretty soild but what one would you recommend personally?
To me i think that the first one would be the overall better build? Soild cpu as they dont get outdated very quickly (my amd 3000 is still good for games) and then the gpu can be upgraded as and when its needed so like in a year or 2 .

[Nanek]

Sorry for late reply, been busy :L.

Right then,
First off thanks for the suggestions and yeh i think ill suggest the 5770 for him because its dx11 and performs similar to the 4870 along with the face i cant find a cheap 4890 really .

Cat, the builds you suggest look pretty soild but what one would you recommend personally?
To me i think that the first one would be the overall better build? Soild cpu as they dont get outdated very quickly (my amd 3000 is still good for games) and then the gpu can be upgraded as and when its needed so like in a year or 2 .

Why not do a mix of both since it'll be cheaper and get you a fairly well rounded gaming pc. Get the X2 550 BE and the MSI motherboard, attempt to unlock the cores and you have a cheap quad core! if it doesn't unlock too well than just overclock it if you need to.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sorry for late reply, been busy :L.

Right then,
First off thanks for the suggestions and yeh i think ill suggest the 5770 for him because its dx11 and performs similar to the 4870 along with the face i cant find a cheap 4890 really .

Cat, the builds you suggest look pretty soild but what one would you recommend personally?
To me i think that the first one would be the overall better build? Soild cpu as they dont get outdated very quickly (my amd 3000 is still good for games) and then the gpu can be upgraded as and when its needed so like in a year or 2 .

I would suggest the first build if you don't want to do too much mucking about. The second build is more riskier but if you can unlock the X2 550BE you have a free quad core but the motherboard has limitations like I said before. Also the HD5850 cards are starting to drop in price now.

There is a new link for the ASUS M4A77TD:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/171664

Another motherboards which is decent:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172846

It has Crossfire too!!

Of course check Scan too for any offers!

[Hicks12]

Yeh the second build is probably a bit too risky for him/me cause its not always gunna happen!. He seems to play games fine with a 9600GT and an e2200(think this is it? ) so getting the quad will give him a significant improvement in the waiting times as a awhole for the system right? He would probably prefer that more than an extra fps that isnt really a difference from playable and non playable,yet.

I just cant wait to upgrade my pc . Complete overhall it shall be i believe, new cpu/mobo/gpu and probably a samsung f3 .