New gaming build on a fairly tight budget

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I will say for now then that I won't be overclocking, and no I havent bought the RAM yet, that was going on a recommendation from old5od.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There are a few ways of going about this TBH!

Make sure you use Windows 7 64 bit too!!

The following build will has the best mix of performance IMHO.



Most of the parts are on offer on Scan this weekend. The motherboard though is quiet basic,ie, it lacks SATA3.0 and USB3.0,is mATX and there are no overclocking options. However,it does have 4 RAM slots and will do the job IMHO. The CPU also lacks an IGP so you cannot use Quick Sync.

Now,I can change the balance of the build using a better motherboard - I tend to like the added features and options of pricier motherboards,but you need to determine if the extra features are suitable for your needs.

SATA2.0 will limit the benchmark speeds of your Agility 3 but TBH in normal usage I do doubt it should be a massive hindrance although YMMV.

The total comes to around £223 if you have free postage.

This leaves us with around £170 to £180 for the GPU.

Both the GTX560 and HD6870 can be had for around £120,so if you go for a better motherboard one of these would be what you should go for as a minimum IMHO.

After that the next jump up will be the GTX560TI 1GB which can be had for around £150 to £160.

However,it gets more interesting after that.

If you are willing to push the boat a bit on the GPU,you can get some very decent cards.

The options are:
1.)GTX560TI 448 1.28GB - can be had for around £190 delivered. Near GTX570 level performance
2.)HD7850 2GB - in between an HD6950 2GB and HD6970 2GB in performance. Around £190 delivered and near to a GTX560TI 448 but has very high performance/watt
3.)HD6950 2GB - around £180 delivered
4.)GTX480 1.5GB - around £180

The GTX480 is the fastest card of all of them. However,it does consumes quite a bit of power and has a high TDP. OTH,both your case and PSU will be upto the task IMHO.
It is around GTX570 level performance but has slightly more VRAM.

The normal GTX560TI 1GB for around £150 to £160 is also very good value ,but the additional performance and VRAM of the pricer cards will prove useful in the future IMHO.

Certainly in the case of BF3 the more expensive cards will do better. However,I do think it is rather overrated!

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Many thanks for your help! Sorry for taking so long to reply, have had a busy few weeks!

And if I was to say I was overclocking, what would you recommend? (Sorry to be a pain, but I prefer to have all options and then weigh it up at the end).

Motherboard featues wise, it would be very nice to have the sata III interface to use the full potential of the SSD, but like you say it may not make much of a difference in real world performance. However, I do use a couple of external HDDs that have USB 3 support, so support for this on the mobo would be good but not essential. As I said, I can stretch a bit over the £400, but not by too much. Probably £50 at most.