Advice for AMD of intel Quad core build

[rob4001]

I need some advice in regarding a quad core build. Pc will be needed internet, office some light gaming hopefully last 4-6 years.

Budget £550 including monitor & windows is it possible?

Ps what the hell happend to memory prices? 4gb of ddr2 used to cost about £45 now closer to £85!

Thanks

[kalniel]

How light's the gaming?

A reference system to compare build-your-owns too is this one:
http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home...d005635_beta~~

Slightly over budget £579 inc vat and delivery
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad-Core Q8300 Processor (2.50GHz, 4MB cache, 1333MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit - English
Dell ST2210 21.5" Full HD Widescreen Monitor - UK/Irish
Nvidia ® GeForce G310 512MB graphics card
4096MB Dual Channel DDR3 [4x1024] Memory
750GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with DVD Burn software
1 year of coverage included with your PC
McAfee® Security Centre - 15 Month Protection - English

[Skulltrail]

Its possible, but if it is for you it would probably be the same as / worse that your current set up, especially given your monitor.

[rob4001]

Build not for me its for a friend it will be used as family computer pervious computer is in the loft and is 12 yers old!!

[Skulltrail]

Again slightly over budget at £600, and dependent on very light gaming (although helped by 1600x900 monitor). Also, it doesn't satisfy the quad core requirement but will likely give equivalent performance:

Case: Coolermaster Elite 335 Black Mini Tower Case with Rear 120mm Fan w/o PSU
3XS Smart 5200 OC Bundle
LN29909 3XS OVERCLOCKED BUNDLE
LN32202 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V
LN28632 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro v2 - S1366/S1156/S775/AM3/AM2+/AM2/939 Up to 130 Watts!
LN32105 Build / Test / Overclock Bundle
LN31742 Gigabyte GA-EP41T-UD3L, Intel G41 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR3 1333, SATA 3Gb/s, ATX
GPU: 512MB Palit GT 240, 1600MHz GDDR3, GPU 550MHz, Shader 1340MHz, 96 Cores, D-Sub/ DL DVI-I/ HDMI
HDD: 500GB Samsung HD502HJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7241S-0B 24x DVD±R, 12xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, Lightscribe, OEM
PSU: 400W Corsair CMPSU-400CXUK Power Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, UK Version 3 year warranty
Monitor: 20" Dell IN2010N Black Widescreen,1600x900, 1000:1, 5ms LCD Monitor

[scaryjim]

Should be possible - Athlon II X4, AMD 770-based AM3 motherboard and 4GB DDR3 RAM should be around £220. Graphics - probably an ATI 4670 for ~ £60. Cheap case w/o PSU ~ £10. Decent 400W MAX psu ~ £40. Optical Drive ~ £15. Hard drive - 500GB for ~ £35? So we're up to £380 for the base unit, leaving - what, £180 for monitor and Windows? Win 7 (64 bit) OEM is ~ £80, leaving £90 for a monitor, which should get you a 17" standard or wide screen monitor.

So yes, it's possible. All the prices I've quoted are from ebuyer - you can probably get the cost down slightly by shopping around. Particularly, look for CPUs / mobos and bundles from Scan on Today Only.

[Cheapy]

Heres some components to flesh out scaryjim post based on his build.

CPU:AMD Athlon II X4 635 at £85
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...MHz-95W-Retail

MOBO:MSI 770-C45 at £52
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-7...dio-GB-LAN-ATX

Hardrive:500GB Samsung HD502HJ Spinpoint F3 at £33
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb...-Cache-8ms-OEM

RAM:4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 1333MHz at C9. £82
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178943

PSU:400W Corsair CMPSU-400CX at £35
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400W-...-year-warranty

Case:Coolermaster Elite 330 at £27. Could go cheaper on case.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...r-Case-w-o-PSU

Monitor:19" Digimate - DGM L 1935WD. Widescreen at 1440x900. £82
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/19-Di...-5001-Speakers

For graphics theres the PowerColor HD 4670 PCS 1GB DDR3 at £60
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173208
or Inno3D GT 240 512MB GDDR3 at £57.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179468
I think im right in saying the HD 4670 looks the better deal here.

Plus W7 at £80 and CD drive at £15 the grand total is £551.

Only way you could save more if you wanted was to mayby go down the route of intergrated graphics like the AMD 785G chipset instead of a graphics card, worse performance but would allow some gaming at very low settings.

[DanceswithUnix]

Do you really want quad core?

A decent dual core CPU would save you 40 to 50 quid which could be put towards a better monitor or video card and I think would give a nicer machine to use overall. Sticking with AM3 socket leaves you open for an upgrade to 4 or 6 core further down the line if CPU ever became an issue.

[rob4001]

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions. The only reason I was after a quad was because I know this computer will not be upgraded/replaced for at least 5 years, so thought a quad core would have a longer shelf life in that respect.

[scaryjim]

Heres some components to flesh out scaryjim post based on his build.

Cheers, was at work so posting quickly

[12GaugeShotty]

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions. The only reason I was after a quad was because I know this computer will not be upgraded/replaced for at least 5 years, so thought a quad core would have a longer shelf life in that respect.

No doubt it will last that long. Most apps still aren't SMP capable.