Budget gaming rig - please review my build

[brduk]

I've built myself a mid-range Gaming rig that runs BF3 well, now i'm looking to build a budget gaming rig for my uncle. This will replace his ageing computer that the local comp shop continues to rip him off to keep it on life support. He wont be playing BF3 but i'm going to try getting him into World of Tanks, minimum specs are here - http://worldoftanks.eu/game/guide/en...d_questions#a2

With an emphasis on budget, so far I have come up with the following;

Coolermaster Elite 360, Black, Minitower Case w/o PSU (£24)
PSU - 450W PSU, Antec Basiq VP450P-GB 80 PLUS (£35)
AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition 3.3Ghz 7MB 80W AM3 (£70)
Asus M5A78L-M LX V2 Motherboard (£32)
Asus HD 6670 AMD Radeon Graphics Card - 1GB (£74)

I have an unused 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 hard drive kicking about, I intend using this in the build as the prices of HDD's have gone crazy due to events in Thailand. Further storage can be picked up later when prices drop.

I also have 2 x 2GB sticks of Corsair Memory XMS3 Classic DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop Sandybridge Ready - CMX4GX3M2B1600C9 in my current gaming rig, i'm noticing things get sluggish with BF3 so am thinking of upgrading, would these sticks be okay for the build above?

I'll be able to rummage up an optical drive from somewhere.

I'd be grateful for any advice on where i'm going wrong with the build, or alternatives to consider.

[Pob255]

Only thing I'd change would be the 6670 for a 6770 http://www.ebuyer.com/266983-asus-hd...70-dc-2di-1gd5 at £5 more it's a fairly big step up performance wise.

That and maybe swap the phenomII x2 for an athlonII x3 460 @£65ish http://www.ebuyer.com/270556-amd-ath...-adx460wfgmbox

4gb of ddr3 1600mhz cas9 shouldn't be an issue for bf3

[dfour]

I have 16 gig of ram and have never seen BF3 use over 4 gig of ram. Otherwise Pobs suggestions seem like the best things to do unless you where planning to unlock the 560 and overclock it.

[brduk]

Thanks for the advice guys.

On the CPU, if I was buying this for myself I would definitely be looking to unlock the extra core(s) on the AMD chips. However this is a Christmas gift, which will be expensive enough already without paying extra for a motherboard that has the unlocking capability (I recall a certain chipset is required to unlock the disabled cores) and for any potential damages. Additionally, my uncle lives at the opposite end of the country so I can't just pop round when something goes wrong, so I want the system to be as stable as possible when it leaves my hands. I don't know if stories about the unlocked cores making the CPU unstable are true or smoke blown by AMD.

Passmark has the Athlon II 460 x3 ranked higher than the Phenom II x2 560 however the Phenom has the L3 cache, is there much benefit from the L3 cache? or is that really only a concern for high-end systems?

With regards the RAM & BF3, I admin on a gaming community, so I need Procon and BF3 stats, PBBans etc open when playing to deal with asshats and hackers, I notice when alt tabbing things get very slow and quite often BF3 will shut down. Just thinking, will the board I picked above run the RAM I already have in my current system? - Corsair Memory XMS3 Classic DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop Sandybridge Ready - CMX4GX3M2B1600C9

TIA

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is budget??

I would check the build guide:

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

I will get it updated soon but the budget suggestions should be similar. I would try to get an HD5770 or HD6770 if possible. Also remember there is the HD6670 GDDR3 which probably is no faster than an HD5670 GDDR5. The HD6670 GDDR5 is faster but is too close to the HD5770 and HD6770 in price.

[brduk]

I've not set a budget as invariably there is always 'if you spend a little more....' so i'm just looking for the best value components I can get my hands on.

Slightly worried about the power consumption of the HD6770, i'm looking at this one - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-m...ual-link-dvi-i

Will the 450W PSU, Antec Basiq VP450P-GB 80 PLUS be sufficient?

Also, I was speaking to him today, he says he has a Dual core processor already, dosen't know which it is though. I was thinking of getting him to download and install benchmarking software so I can find out what he's running, in case it's worth just upgrading components or if there are . I'd like to know what type of PSU he has. What should I get him to run?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I've not set a budget as invariably there is always 'if you spend a little more....' so i'm just looking for the best value components I can get my hands on.

Slightly worried about the power consumption of the HD6770, i'm looking at this one - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-m...ual-link-dvi-i

Will the 450W PSU, Antec Basiq VP450P-GB 80 PLUS be sufficient?

Yep. AFAIK,the Coolermaster GX450W is meant to be OK too.

Also, I was speaking to him today, he says he has a Dual core processor already, dosen't know which it is though. I was thinking of getting him to download and install benchmarking software so I can find out what he's running, in case it's worth just upgrading components or if there are . I'd like to know what type of PSU he has. What should I get him to run?

This is a good idea IMHO.

[brduk]

Any ideas on the benchmarking softwarefront?

SiSandra?
CPU-Z?
Pretty sure i've read about another one on here beginning with an 'E' but just cant remember it.

Needs to be easy for him to get some sort of report log over to me, taking multiple screens and cropping them may be a bit much for his patience lol

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Any ideas on the benchmarking softwarefront?

SiSandra?
CPU-Z?
Pretty sure i've read about another one on here beginning with an 'E' but just cant remember it.

Needs to be easy for him to get some sort of report log over to me, taking multiple screens and cropping them may be a bit much for his patience lol

Those should do. I would also run GPU-Z too.