Budget gaming build.

Well Hello again,

Fortune is on my side this time and it looks like I will be building a PC after all, however at slightly tighter budget.

This is basically continuation from http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...aming-rig.html and listening to your advice to wait till after SB (although unfortunately prices haven't dropped that much :yucky: )

However there are also some changes to what I am planning to do aka considering the bulldozer release later this year coinciding with my next student loan and the fact it is MOST likely I will be upgrading then. Therefore while the build budget has tightened I am planning to spend a bit less on CPU and MoBo (which I need some advice with).

I am currently looking at spending approximately 500-550 (thats with windows) for the actual system with OS included. I am also planning to get Athlon 2 quad instead of Phenom 2 one:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...mhz-95w-retail

At this moment in time I would genuinely appreciate some advice on MoBo options I have - something dirt cheap, with no xfire etc - it simply needs to do a decent job of working (all but working well mind you) until bulldozer release when I will change MoBo anyway. Considering previous advice I had about PSUs was also around the fact I was building Phenom II system I would also love to have some advice on PSU for current build.

P.S. Current build options are mainly centred around cat's suggested build in earlier mentioned first post, however with slightly cheaper GPU in mind.

Here is an alternate specification which has no Crossfire ability:

Athlon II x4 640 3ghz - £76.37
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...mhz-95w-retail

MoBo - to be confirmed


Corsair Memory XMS3 4GB DDR3 1600 MHz - £38.54
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-(...-9-24-xmp-165v

PSU to be confirmed

Samsung F3 1TB £40.78

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ss1tb...-89-ms-ncq-oem

SATA DVD rewriter £10
Not really fussed they are all the same so it seems

Coolermaster Elite 430 ~ £33.58
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...ue-fan-w-o-psu
Just realised those coolermasters are not supplied with any fans whatsoever ... a different option would be very welcome

EVGA GeForce GTX 460 £142.15

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-e...dvi-i-minihdmi

Thanks in advance and if you can come up with some additional savings options please share your opinion !

The Sandy Bridge Core i3 processors are being released in the next week or two so this may mean the current lower AMD processors will get a bit cheaper.

This is what I would get:

AMD Athlon II X3 450 ~ £60

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/238326

4GB 1600MHZ DDR3 ~ £39

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173122

MSI 870A-G54 ~ £68

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/205849

Has USB3.0 and SATA3.0!

OR

ASROCK M3A770DE ~ £49

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174597

OR

MSI 870-C45 ~ £50

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/241003

GTX460 1GB ~ £125

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/233611

OR

HD6850 1GB ~ £135

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/248746

However,remember that the HD6850 1GB will be a better buy if you get an AM3+ setup this year as most AMD motherboards do Crossfire and not SLI. The HD6850 1GB also requires a single PCI-E power connector meaning a pair of HD6850 1GB cards will require a lower wattage PSU than a pair of GTX460 1GB cards.

The GTX560 1GB is also being released next week so this may mean lower prices for the current cards.

Antec TruePower New 650W ~ £70

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159920

Sometimes this PSU is on Scan Today Only for around £60.

OR

Antec 520W High Current Gamer ~ £57

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/245671

This should be fine if you intend to stay with only a single graphics card.

Here are some other cases you might want to consider:

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

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/234920

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178287

thanks cat - gr8 advise as ussual especially on mobo front - i was concerned about getting a cheaper mobo just to find out it xplodes next day so picking form cheaper ones is a bit harder.
i think i will also listen to u in regards to the cpu since i guess what you suggested will be plenty enough for couple of months of gaming and then ill swap out to bulldozer anyway
will go for cheaper psu as well since i wont be investing in a new (or one more) gpu till atleast i get a new cpu and mobo and even then its questionable.

do you think 6850 is a better option than evga i linked even if i dont go for double cards and amd mobos are not a constraint ?
also i was considering spending a bit more on evga rather than cheaper 460s - if i do go for 460 is it not worth the extra few pennies for superclocked evga which i assume would last longer ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Molotov

thanks cat - gr8 advise as ussual especially on mobo front - i was concerned about getting a cheaper mobo just to find out it xplodes next day so picking form cheaper ones is a bit harder.
i think i will also listen to u in regards to the cpu since i guess what you suggested will be plenty enough for couple of months of gaming and then ill swap out to bulldozer anyway
will go for cheaper psu as well since i wont be investing in a new (or one more) gpu till atleast i get a new cpu and mobo and even then its questionable.

do you think 6850 is a better option than evga i linked even if i dont go for double cards and amd mobos are not a constraint ?
also i was considering spending a bit more on evga rather than cheaper 460s - if i do go for 460 is it not worth the extra few pennies for superclocked evga which i assume would last longer ?

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EVGA,Gigabyte and MSI are meant to have the best warranties:

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...arranty-2.html

OTH,I tend to buy quite a few secondhand cards and the only one I had issues with was after I modded it!

I prefer the HD6850 1GB due to its lower power consumption.

Many HD6850 1GB cards can be overclocked quite a bit:

http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index/...p-asus-xfx-msi

A massively overclocked HD6850 1GB has similar power consumption to a GTX460 1GB at stock clockspeeds.

I would definitely wait however until the GTX560 is released in the next week or two.

oki doki might wait with gpu and buy bits and bobs then
560 is supposed to be 160 ish quid so would make sense if 460s and 6850 dropped a bit