Upgrade recommendations

[Kerotan]

My housemate has up to £400 to spend on some components for an upgrade. I've got more into audio than gaming so haven't really been keeping up to date since the Q6600 was top dog for value.

He needs:

• Motherboard
• CPU
• RAM
• DVD Burner
• CPU Cooler
• GPU

The primary use for the rig will be gaming, He's running it through a Samsung LCD which is 1440*900 but he may want to upgrade to full HD monitor/TV at some point so a little headroom on the GPU would be nice.

He has no brand allegiance, just the best value for money. Also XFire and SLi are not a requirement. He probably won't be overclocking (maybe very slightly).

Cheers for any advice.

[GBoS]

Motherboard: GA-MA770-UD3 (rev. 2.0) - £62 http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=965901

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - £134 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...he-125W-Retail

RAM: 1x 1GB Corsair DDR2 800 £25 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1251G...d-CAS-5-5-5-18
RAM: 1x 2GB Corsair DD2 800 £49 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-C...eitme-warranty

CPU Cooler: Artic Cooling Freezer CPU fan - £16 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Arcti...p-to-130-Watts!

GPU: ATI XFX HD5750 - £92 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...-DVI-I-HDMI-DP

DVD Burner: LG DVD R/W £12 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/LG-DH...Drive-SATA-OEM


Total exc. shipping @ Scan: £391.45


might need a new PSU to put up with it, but wouldn't cost too much extra

[GBoS]

that's assuming you have a case also - if not, can get a quite decent case for maybe £30-35, and a hard drive, and finally perhaps a case fan or two depending on whether the case comes with any

[Cheapy]

Somthing a bit more future proof as its a AM3 system.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz dual core that may be unlocked to a quad if ur lucky on the right motherboard. £70.73
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166518

Motherboard: MSI 770-G45 AM3. Seems to have everything u need dont know if the core unlocking works ur have to double check that. £58.63
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-7...3Gb-s-RAID-ATX

RAM:Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Ballistix Memory Kit CL7 (7-7-7-24) 1.65V kit. Believe Phenom processors like tighter latencys more. £89.50
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179278

GPU: Radeon HD 5770 let u play full HD but u not with all the eye candy on all games. £130
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...-DL-DVI-I-HDMI

CPU cooler: The artic freezer as mentioned above. To be honest if hes not overclocking the stock heatsink would be fine. £16 for the artic cooler.

DVD drive: No idea which exact one they all look the same to me About £15.

All that comes in at £379.86.


Build 2 cuts corners to get a HD 5830 in.
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 as before. £70.73

Motherboard:MSI 770-C45 at £52.69. Pretty sure someone did a build log involving this motherboard somwere on the forum.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-7...dio-GB-LAN-ATX

RAM:Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V. Bog standard DDR3 ram. £85.25
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166995

GPU:Radeon HD 5830. The next step up for a bit more graphics power. £164.01
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...ns-vs-Predator

CPU cooler: As above. £16 if u want one.

DVD drive: again as above £15

This one comes to £403.68

Or a combination of the two builds. Thanks for reading this huge post

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I assume the OP already has a PSU to hand for the build? What model is it?

[Pob255]

Yes start off with what he currently has?

cpu, graphics card, memory, hard drive, case, psu, monitor

[Kerotan]

Cheers for the info guys, I'd totally forgotten about PSU, definately need a new one as he's running a P4 OEM system atm with a 7900GT in there he borrowed from me! Can probably squeeze the PSU in if we drop out the cooler, as Cheapy said. I guess he can always get a better cooler later if he decides to overclock.

Guess the PSU is gonna need to be about £45? Would something like this be good? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/530W-...n5xSata4xMolex

Like the idea of the 5830, think the GPU is where he wants the most power.

As for the case it's all going in an Antec 900, got fans and HDDs already so that's not a problem at the moment, ventilation should be adequate for all that stuff as well.

As a side note the OS is Windows 7 but that's sorted as well.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH, I would get a cheap HD5770 1GB card as getting an HD5830 would mean skimping on every other component in the build. Also since the HD5830 has larger power requirements than an HD5770 1GB you will need to get a larger wattage PSU.

This is one build I could suggest the OP have a look at:

VTX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5~ 3115

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...roductId=38291

OCZ OCZ400SXS-UK StealthXStream 400W ~ £26

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...roductId=39205

This is made by CWT.

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 945 ~ £120

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...roductId=38137

This has a 95W TDP unlike the X4 955BE.

ASRock M3A770DE ~ £55

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...roductId=37777

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz ~ £82

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...roductId=37540

Samsung SH-S223C 22x Internal DVD±R/RW SATA Drive ~ £15

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...roductId=38547

The total comes to around £424 including postage.