New CPU + GPU for £200?

[Smoj]

I’ve decided to replace my old shuttle as the PSU is on its way out and its getting a bit dated now.

New PC will be used for a fair bit of gaming - want to be able to play new titles on it.

So looking for advice to replace both my 512mb 7950GT and AMD 5000+ AM2?

I have a budget of £200 for both the CPU and GPU, it can be Intel or AMD as it's going to be a complete new build.......

Thanks for any suggestions

[Rob_B]

Would you not be best posting your total budget & getting advice on the whole build, you might have more/less budget if you change components, seems you're not decided yet anway?

[Skulltrail]

For £200 I'd go for:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...MHz-95W-Retail

+

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-A...lefield-Coupon

[akatel]

So are you buying a completly new pc or are you using the components of your old pc?
This is because if you're not saying what socket motherboard you have or going to buy it makes it more difficult to choose a CPU, unless you're going to buy a mobo after you select which CPU. If you are using the old mobo, is it socket AM2, AM2+ or AM3 as the newer versions are backwards compatible.

[Smoj]

Hi,

My old mobo has an AM2 socket - But I am going to buy a new mobo once I have decided which CPU to get Once I know which CPU to go for then I will buy a new mobo, pc case, psu etc....

The only components I'm planning on using from my old pc are the optical drive, hard drive and DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) RAM.

In terms of graphics card; as suggested above I was thinking of going for a 1GB HD 5770. Is this the best choice given my budget? Also don't really know what CPU to go for? The AMD chip suggested above looks pretty good value for money?

Cheers and sorry if I have been a bit confusing

[Behemoth]

I'm not sure you've made this very clear, are you looking to spend £200 on a mother board and graphics card ? Or are you looking to spend £200 on a complete new build ?

[Smoj]

OK basically I have £350 to buy a brand new...

Mother board,
CPU,
Graphics card
PSU
PC case

I should have just been clear and said that from the start lol

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What RAM do you have ATM??

Do all your hard drives use SATA?

[Rob_B]

DDR2 was mentioned earlier, limits the options but for £350 I doubt the system would make 'proper' use of DDR3 (?)

[Smoj]

Yeah my hard drives use SATA

Also I have got 2x1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) RAM.....

I'm not sure what ATM RAM is?

[kurosagi01]

This is what i will buy for £350 with the requirements you want,also if you get scan free delivery it will be £350:

[Smoj]

This is what i will buy for £350 with the requirements you want,also if you get scan free delivery it will be £350:

I like the spec you done cheers! I was planning on getting that graphics card and the coolermaster elite.

Would it be worth paying a little extra money and going for the AMD Athlon II X4 635, Propus, Quad Core, S AM3, 2.9GHz, 2MB Cache, HT 4000MHz???

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...MHz-95W-Retail

If that CPU is worth the extra £20, what mother board would I need for it?

Thanks

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Here is another AMD based build you might want to consider:

AMD Athlon II X3 440 ~ £55

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191955

MSI 770-C45 ~ £49

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165438

EXTRA VALUE 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit 1.5V CL9 ~ £59

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/192049

OR

Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz i5 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V ~ £69

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158711

OR

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Gold AMD Memory Kit CL9 1.65V ~ £72

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/192341

Casecom 6788 Black Mid Tower Case ~ £30

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172779

VTX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ~ £116 including delivery

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...roductId=39034

Corsair 400W CX PSU ~ £30

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985

OR

Be Quiet 530W Pure Power PSU ~ £49

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190751

The Corsair HX450W for around £54 is probably the best choice IMHO especially if you can get free postage. However,the CX400W will be more than enough to power an Athlon II X3 440 and HD5770 1GB.

Here is a review of the PSU:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...ply-Review/750

The total comes to around £339 to £371 including postage.

For gaming I would stick to the Athlon II X3 440 as the slightly higher clockspeed of each core makes it slightly faster in most games than an Athlon II X4 635:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/119?vs=122

Also,you maybe able to unlock an Athlon II X3 440 to an Athlon II X4 or Phenom II X4 if you are lucky!

[kurosagi01]

I like the spec you done cheers! I was planning on getting that graphics card and the coolermaster elite.

Would it be worth paying a little extra money and going for the AMD Athlon II X4 635, Propus, Quad Core, S AM3, 2.9GHz, 2MB Cache, HT 4000MHz???

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...MHz-95W-Retail

If that CPU is worth the extra £20, what mother board would I need for it?

Thanks

If you are going use your desktop for more general use then feel free to get an AMD Athlon ii x4.
AMD mobos you may look at:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...-RAID-mATX-VGA
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-SATA-RAID-ATX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...SATA-RAID-mATX

If you are into the more gaming and overclocking then i would reconmend getting the intel core i3 because the i3 is much better for gaming and overclocking wise,if you overclock it to 4ghz*easy to get on this cpu* it can be just as powerful as some of those mid-high end quads,but stock clock i3 is still great and gets incredible results for general but mostly for gaming.

AMD athlon ii x4= More general use
Intel core i3= Gaming

[Smoj]

Thanks for the ideas......

If the i3 is a lot better for gaming and worth the extra money then might be a good idea going for it.

i3 530 = £82 (from scan)
1 GB 5570 = £125
PC Case = £30 (Casecom 6788 or Coolermaster elite)

Which leaves me with £133 for the Mother board, PSU and RAM (If I spend my budget max of £370).

If I go for the i3 what mother board, RAM and PSU should I get?

Thanks again

[kurosagi01]

You could get this board:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...3Gb-s-VGA-uATX
ram:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-%...-9-9-9-24-150V

Here are some benchmark scores in-games for i3 530 from techpowerup:


overclocked: