£250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Building myself a nice new system and I'm pretty sure I'm going down the Sandy Bridge route, don't really want to invest in "Old Tech" with the Thubans, bit ineffiecient power wise.
Main uses are as a gaming rig and I've seen that the SB chips seem light years ahead of the competition in certain games, even gaining quite a few frames in situations you would expect to be GPU bound. I game at 1920x1080.
Also use it as my general work PC and I might do the odd bit of video encoding onto my Desire HD etc.
I am thinking of going for either the i5 2400 or 2500, don't intend to overclock.
Motherboard I don't know yet, I'm thinking H67 route as I like the idea of faster video encoding, want to save money and I would quite like the flexibility of an onboard VGA (as a stopgap so I can be picky about my choice of GPU and in case anything goes wrong with it in the future)
The Asus P8H67 looks good at only £96 but has no onboard graphics. Any other suggestions?
I'm open to anything, even AMD if someone can really convince me I'll get more for my money.
Cheers
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
A quick google suggests that there's a P8H67-V which is full ATX and supports the onboard graphics from the CPU... looks like it's about an extra tenner over the standard ATX P8H67 (which is the one I assume you've been looking at...?)
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
The Thubans maybe old tech but they can still show the new fangled Core i5 2500 a thing or two in software like 3DS Max 2010 and the 95W versions are relatively energy efficient.
Anyway since you are gaming the Sandy Bridge Core i5 quad cores are a better choice though.
Unless you really need to upgrade now I wait a few months until Bulldozer is released in June or July.
However,if you still have a hankering for a Sandy Bridge setup I would suggest the following parts:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...che-95w-retail
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...6gb-s-raid-atx
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-(...-9-9-9-24-150v
The total does come to around £265.
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nobull
Building myself a nice new system and I'm pretty sure I'm going down the Sandy Bridge route, don't really want to invest in "Old Tech" with the Thubans, bit ineffiecient power wise.
Main uses are as a gaming rig and I've seen that the SB chips seem light years ahead of the competition in certain games, even gaining quite a few frames in situations you would expect to be GPU bound. I game at 1920x1080.
Also use it as my general work PC and I might do the odd bit of video encoding onto my Desire HD etc.
I am thinking of going for either the i5 2400 or 2500, don't intend to overclock.
Motherboard I don't know yet, I'm thinking H67 route as I like the idea of faster video encoding, want to save money and I would quite like the flexibility of an onboard VGA (as a stopgap so I can be picky about my choice of GPU and in case anything goes wrong with it in the future)
The Asus P8H67 looks good at only £96 but has no onboard graphics. Any other suggestions?
I'm open to anything, even AMD if someone can really convince me I'll get more for my money.
Cheers
Don't the SB CPU's have onboard graphics already?
Otherwise you could just get some cheap card like a 5450 or 8400GT
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cleeecooo
Don't the SB CPU's have onboard graphics already?
Otherwise you could just get some cheap card like a 5450 or 8400GT
They do, but the Motherboard needs to have VGA out in order for it to be used
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Anyway since you are gaming the Sandy Bridge Core i5 quad cores are a better choice though.
Unless you really need to upgrade now I wait a few months until Bulldozer is released in June or July.
.
Would love to wait for Bulldozer but I would be PC less as I've found buyers for my old bits already. (well I actually havnt for the mobo or CPU yet, but the RAM is sold!). The other thing is I'm not convinced AMD will get it together to release them on time. Information has been sparse and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up slipping into August/September release which i really could not wait for.
Will it even be better than Sandy Bridge? I'm not convinced. I would like it to be though of course.
Bought 2 x 2GB sets of that RAM from Today Only as it was reduced to ~£15 a stick
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nobull
Would love to wait for Bulldozer but I would be PC less as I've found buyers for my old bits already. (well I actually havnt for the mobo or CPU yet, but the RAM is sold!). The other thing is I'm not convinced AMD will get it together to release them on time. Information has been sparse and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up slipping into August/September release which i really could not wait for.
Will it even be better than Sandy Bridge? I'm not convinced. I would like it to be though of course.
Bought 2 x 2GB sets of that RAM from Today Only as it was reduced to ~£15 a stick
The Core i5 2500K does have a better IGP than the other Core i5 non-K processors as it has the HD3000 IGP although it does not support all the virtualisation features the non-K processors support:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...-2100-tested/2
Regarding the motherboard I would not go overboard on it as you won't overclock and any decent £70 to £90 H67 motherboard would do the job. In fact the Intel motherboards don't look much but tend to be quite stable AFAIK.
It is better to put the money saved towards a better graphics card and a new PSU IMHO.
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
The Core i5 2500K does have a better IGP than the other Core i5 non-K processors as it has the HD3000 IGP although it does not support all the virtualisation features the non-K processors support:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...-2100-tested/2
Regarding the motherboard I would not go overboard on it as you won't overclock and any decent £70 to £90 H67 motherboard would do the job. In fact the Intel motherboards don't look much but tend to be quite stable AFAIK.
It is better to put the money saved towards a better graphics card and a new PSU IMHO.
Yes your right in a way, I would like onboard GPU and USB3 if possible though, although neither is completely essential. Definately need 6 Sata connections minimum.
This is the PSU I bought last week for £63, seemed a bargain: CM Pro Gold Modular 600W
Just waiting for a 6950 to drop to £180 ish then I'll take the plunge on the GPU, scan had an XFX 1 for £187 last week but its shot back up now
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nobull
Yes your right in a way, I would like onboard GPU and USB3 if possible though, although neither is completely essential. Definately need 6 Sata connections minimum.
This is the PSU I bought last week for £63, seemed a bargain:
CM Pro Gold Modular 600W
Just waiting for a 6950 to drop to £180 ish then I'll take the plunge on the GPU, scan had an XFX 1 for £187 last week but its shot back up now
This motherboard has USB3.0,SATA3.0 and has six SATA ports too:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...6gb-s-raid-atx
It is around £10 more than the non USB3.0 version.
The PSU is also a very good unit for the price IMHO.
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
What do you make of MSI?
This MSI 1 has VGA, USB3 and 6 Sata connections, only £65...
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nobull
What do you make of MSI?
This MSI 1 has VGA, USB3 and 6 Sata connections, only £65...
For a basic motherboard it should do the job AFAIK.
There are also some Biostar motherboards which are relatively cheap:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/259263
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/259261
The second motherboard lacks USB 3.0 but doesn't look too bad for the price. I would probably get a motherboard with 4 RAM slots TBH.
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Both very cheap. Do I go MSI or Biostar, not sure if I trust either. Really can't decide whether to cough up the extra £20-30 premium for a Gigabyte or ASUS. IS there any need if I'm not overclocking?!
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nobull
Both very cheap. Do I go MSI or Biostar, not sure if I trust either. Really can't decide whether to cough up the extra £20-30 premium for a Gigabyte or ASUS. IS there any need if I'm not overclocking?!
MSI and Biostar do make decent budget motherboards for both AMD and Intel CPUs and even some decent higher end motherboards too.
However,Gigabyte and Asus do tend to make quite solid motherboards TBH. Also,with an ATX motherboard you have more expansion slots which may prove useful in the future.
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Hmm, decisions decisions.
This MSI has it all for £87, full ATX, USB3 Six Sata Connectors, Onboard VGA
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nobull
Hmm, decisions decisions.
This MSI has it all for £87, full ATX, USB3 Six Sata Connectors, Onboard VGA
Ebuyer is cheaper:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/261290
Here is a similar Biostar motherboard:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/255161
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Looks like the MSI doesn't have any PCIc slots - not necessarily a problem of course, just something to be aware of, and kind of crucial if you have any legacy PCI expansion cards you're still using ;)
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Ahh great spot! The MSI has Firewire and 8 channel audio which is preferable to the Biosta but as Scaryjim says no PCIc slots. Can you get most cards in the PCI-E x1 format nowadays? Havn't got any other cards except 1 with 2 USB2s on which is not really important.
Re: £250 for Mobo CPU combo. Help please
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nobull
Ahh great spot! The MSI has Firewire and 8 channel audio which is preferable to the Biosta but as Scaryjim says no PCIc slots. Can you get most cards in the PCI-E x1 format nowadays? Havn't got any other cards except 1 with 2 USB2s on which is not really important.
I know that you can get PCI-E 1X sound cards but since I use a Shuttle SFF I don't have room for PCI cards! :p
