What do you think of this potential build?

[DarrellW94]

Hi there,

I have been thinking about a kind of budget build for BF3 recently, as my laptop really isn't cutting it any more!

So I have been doing LOADS of research into it, and I have finally come up with this! I think it is about as good as I can possibly get for the budget ~ £450.

• Intel Core i5 2300,
• ATI Radeon HD 6870 (whichever one is cheapest at the time, normally about £140),
• 4gb Value DDR3 Memory,
• 1tb Samsung SpinPoint F3,
• XClio Godspeed Two Advanced with 2 extra case fans,
• Budget H61 motherboard,
• Corsair Builder Series CX430 V2,
• DVD Re-Writer Drive.

All of the above for about £450 delivered from various stores of the internet.

Now I know some of you will moan about the budget items such as H61 motherboard and cheap memory, but I figured the extra performance I would get over an AMD build for the same price for instance, would be a lot better even with the value items!

But please, all opinions welcome on this, this will be my first ever build!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You do realise the AMD CPUs do quite well in the BF3 BETA:

http://www.techspot.com/review/448-b...nce/page7.html

I would wait until more reviews are released though.

Out of interest you could get a budget AMD motherboard too!!

Regarding el-cheapo motherboards,I personally think that in the long run you might as well save up more and get a better motherboard. At least something with a SATA 3.0 if you intend to get an SSD down the line and maybe a motherboard with 4 RAM slots. TBH,the motherboard and PSU are the last two parts I would cheap out on but thats my opinion.

I would get a better PSU though. The CX430W is not really any better in construction than many other el-cheapo branded PSUs meanings it uses a low cost sleeve bearing fan and cheaper capacitors.

I would get this PSU when it is on offer from Scan:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...-quiet-fan-atx

It can be had for around £50,is semi-modular and is made by Seasonic for Antec. It also uses a ball bearing fan and decent quality capacitors. It will also have more than enough power to drive virtually any single GPU card ATM IMHO.

Other alternatives include the XFX PRO 550W,XFX PRO 450W and OCZ ZS 550W.

Another factor is the case. I had a look at an internal picture of it:

http://techwiki.hardwarecanucks.com/...795/7795_3.jpg

The PSU is at the bottom which is not an ideal location for efficient cooling. Also,there might be limitations with a longer card as it might collide with the hard drives. The hard drives are going to jut out of the cage and you also need clearance for connectors too.

This guide might be useful for you to read:

http://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware/...er-2011-a.html

Scan does free postage for forum members with 20+ useful posts on orders over £25.

[kalniel]

I'd wait for BF3 benchmarks to come out so we know more about it - most games would be faster with an i3 2100 over an i5 2300, but if BF3 is very heavily threaded it might prefer the i5 2300, though in that case go for an AMD build. Don't worry about extra case fans unless you're getting them free. Don't forget an OS.

[DarrellW94]

You do realise the AMD CPUs do quite well in the BF3 BETA:

http://www.techspot.com/review/448-b...nce/page7.html

I would wait until more reviews are released though.

Out of interest you could get a budget AMD motherboard too!!

Regarding el-cheapo motherboards,I personally think that in the long run you might as well save up more and get a better motherboard. At least something with a SATA 3.0 if you intend to get an SSD down the line and maybe a motherboard with 4 RAM slots. TBH,the motherboard and PSU are the last two parts I would cheap out on but thats my opinion.

I would get a better PSU though. The CX430W is not really any better in construction than many other el-cheapo branded PSUs meanings it uses a low cost sleeve bearing fan and cheaper capacitors.

I would get this PSU when it is on offer from Scan:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...-quiet-fan-atx

It can be had for around £50,is semi-modular and is made by Seasonic for Antec. It also uses a ball bearing fan and decent quality capacitors. It will also have more than enough power to drive virtually any single GPU card ATM IMHO.

Another factor is the case. I had a look at an internal picture of it:

http://techwiki.hardwarecanucks.com/...795/7795_3.jpg

The PSU is at the bottom which is not an ideal location fo efficient cooling. Also,there might be limitations with a longer card as it might collide with the hard drives. The hard drives are going to jut out of the cge and you also need clearance for connectors too.

This guide might be useful for you to read:

http://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware/...er-2011-a.html

Scan does free postage for forum members with 20+ useful posts on orders over £25.

I have considered AMD in the past, but I won't just be using this for BF3, and the i5 2300 sometimes scores twice as well in benchmarks compared to a Phenom II X4 at similar clocks, so I need to keep that in mind.

And my view on the motherboard is that a cheapo H61 board from a reputable company such as Gigabyte would only set me back about £40, and would allow me to have a powerful processor, with enough connections for the build I am presently going to build. If I ever want to go CrossFire or anything like that, then I will have to upgrade the motherboard and at a GPU at the same time, and although that is inconvenient, it makes sense doing it in bulk in a way!

I will definitely keep the advice about the PSU in mind however, as you have confirmed one of my biggest doubts. Thanks for the advice and recommendation!

The case is a bit of a strange one, as there seems to be very little information on it. I think the picture you saw is of the Godspeed Two, and not the Advanced model, as I have heard that the Advanced model has the PSU mounted at the top. This is only what I have heard however, so it may be incorrect.

As I am looking at a HD 6870, the length of the card is going to be a worry, but I am only going to have 1 hard drive (max 2 if I ever get an SSD), so I will position them around the GPU to make sure there is sufficient room for connections. It might be a bit haphazard though!

Thanks for all of the advice though, and I will definitely have a read through that guide! You may change my mind in some places!

[DarrellW94]

I'd wait for BF3 benchmarks to come out so we know more about it - most games would be faster with an i3 2100 over an i5 2300, but if BF3 is very heavily threaded it might prefer the i5 2300, though in that case go for an AMD build. Don't worry about extra case fans unless you're getting them free. Don't forget an OS.

Sorry for the double post. I remember that BC2 was very dependent on processor, maybe even more so than GPU! So I have considered that in this build. The thing about Sandy Bridge is that it's a generally better architecture than anything by AMD, so that is why I have swayed so much in the direction of Intel! I've actually always been an AMD fan before I got my laptop with an i5 in it, it's just so fast in comparison! The extra case fans I'm looking at are like £2 each, so I figured why not! We already have 1 PC left on our Windows 7 license at home, so the OS is already accounted for. Thanks for the reminder though!!!

[Rob_B]

I can't believe I'm disagreeing with CAT but...I never buy a big budget mobo, not a cheapy either but usually somewhere in the middle/low end. This probably isn't applicable to the vast majority of HEXUS folk but I tend do do a big upgrade (ie CPU/MOBO/RAM) and incremental GPU upgrades so buying a cheap-er board serves me well. Of course it's all personal requirements so no-one will ever have the right answer for anyone apart from themselves.

I've got the Godspeed 2 (not advanced) Can't really say it's brilliant quality, came with a bashed in back (no damage to box so must have been from the factory) It's a very 'meh' case and is currently sitting in a cupboard awaiting me finding something to do with it. I'd reconsider the case, especially if you can't find much on the 'Advanced' so I assume no/few reviews?

Oh and £2 case fans?...Unless you're buying a set of ear defenders with that order I'd avoid doing that

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The case has the PSU at the top:

http://ascii.jp/elem/000/000/427/427003/index-2.html

I can't believe I'm disagreeing with CAT but...I never buy a big budget mobo, not a cheapy either but usually somewhere in the middle/low end. This probably isn't applicable to the vast majority of HEXUS folk but I tend do do a big upgrade (ie CPU/MOBO/RAM) and incremental GPU upgrades so buying a cheap-er board serves me well. Of course it's all personal requirements so no-one will ever have the right answer for anyone apart from themselves.

I never said a big budget motherboard did I?? £40 is like the lowest end Intel motherboard. Something along the £60 to £80 mark is what I tend to aim for especially if you intend to overclock a bit. The gaming builds I suggested in the guide need to take overclocking into account so this is why they have around £75 to £80+ motherboards. With the P67 based motherboards that is like the lowest you can go. H61 and H67 have no overclock ability and the former is limited to only two RAM slots.

I tend to upgrade platforms every three to five years so this is why I don't skimp on things like the motherboard and PSU.

[Rob_B]

I don't think I've spent more than about £50 or maybe £60 at a push on a mobo

My reasoning is....by the time I need the additional features the higher end mobo provides over the cheaper one I'll prob need a new CPU/RAM/SATA8 port anyway so I'd try to do a big upgrade.

Anyway, aren't you still running a K6-2 CAT?

[DarrellW94]

It's almost a view of the motherboard isn't NOT going to work, and all I really want it for is to house the more powerful processor than an AMD. Gigabyte are quite a reputable brand from what I have heard, so I will be quite confident buying from them!

I do realise that the case isn't going to be of the best quality, but all I really want is something good looking with relatively good cooling to house my system. The priorities in this build have been the CPU and GPU really.

And you mock my £2 case fans, but a review of them here would suggest that they're not too bad!!!

I won't be looking at overclocking, because am I right in thinking the 2300 is locked down apart from the multipliers? The 2 RAM slots should be enough for now; if I ever want 8gb RAM I'll just swap the modules over. The only thing I think I'll miss is 2 PCI-e slots, and possibly USB3. I'm only going to be using a mechanical drive for now, so SATA3 isn't going to be entirely necessary yet.

And a K6-2... I can't even imagine how slow that would be!!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I don't think I've spent more than about £50 or maybe £60 at a push on a mobo

My reasoning is....by the time I need the additional features the higher end mobo provides over the cheaper one I'll prob need a new CPU/RAM/SATA8 port anyway so I'd try to do a big upgrade.

But you cannot compare socket 775,AM2+ or AM3 to the current sockets. In the past with these sockets you could get great budget motherboards for around £45 to £60.

Now look at socket 1155,if you even want basic overclocking functions it is now £70+ as Intel has basically segmented the feature set in the last two years. If you want 4 ram slots you need to get an H67 motherboard which costs £65+ in this form otherwise the low end boards only have two RAM slots.

Look at the 900 series AMD motherboards they are all over £75. There are no budget ones as socket FM1 is the "budget" end now. AMD are doing the same thing.

The current AM3+ which are cheaper are not officially what AMD has sanctioned. Luckily companies didn't listen to then and you can still get 800 series AM3+ motherboards but they ended up bumping the price. However compatability of at least the 700 series chipsets with future AMD CPUs is likely to be sketchy.

Anyway, aren't you still running a K6-2 CAT?

My platform history:
1.)Socket A - replaced after around three years. SFF build. Still working over four years after that.
2.)Socket 775 - replaced after 4 years 6 months after slight motherboard issues(in the end it seems more down to my flipping Samsung F2).SFF build. Probably will be fine for a few more years now.
3.)Socket 1155- will hopefully be what I use for the next few years.

In the second I got a cheaper CPU and got years of use out of it. I then upgraded to something better at a later date when it was actually need. It actually worked out cheaper for me.

[Rob_B]

True on the pricing of newer boards, I've skipped over anything since Core2 to be fair so low budget isn't the same as it was in my day (eeeh and all this were fields)

Unrelated:
My history is the same apart from earlier P3 Katmai (then a P3 1Ghz with a slotket held on by garden wire, oh yeah!) and a K6-2 before Socket A. Most recently went for AM2+ based on CPU/Mobo price which is what I'm on now and will hold out until AMD dazzle me or this X6 won't cut it.

I was under the impression you were still on old tech not 1155 - You need to remove the 'almost obsolete' from your system specs!

[DarrellW94]

I went ahead and ordered the XClio Godspeed Two Advanced and 2 BitFenix Spectre case fans, all for the paltry sum of £25! Bargain! The build is definitely going ahead now!