Budget upgrade

[Totalize]

Hi, I’d like some help in upgrading my PC.

My budget is about £275-300. General usage, with some gaming, which doesn't have to be at max settings.
I will need a new case, psu, cpu, motherboard, and memory. The rest will I will re-use from my current pc.
This includes a HD5670 GPU, which I plan to replace in a few months.

I won’t be overclocking, or running dual graphics cards.


I did consider the FX6300, but decided to go i5:

Proposed upgrade:
CPU Intel Core i5 3350p
Mobo ASRock B75 Pro-3M
Mem Crucial 4Gb 1600Mhz
Case Cooler Master N200
PSU XFX 450W
Total approx. £280.

Is there anything you would change?
For example I could spend an extra £15 or so and get a 3470, or go Haswell with a 4430/4440 and B85.



Thanks.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Ditch the Core i5 and get a better graphics card.

I would say as an owner of a similar speed Core i5 and with mates using FX6300 and FX6350 CPUs,the Core i5 is a bit too overrated on forums at times.

[Totalize]

I'd rather have the i5 and a good graphics card, even If that means waiting a few months for the the GPU.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I'd rather have the i5 and a good graphics card, even If that means waiting a few months for the the GPU.

What CPU do you have now?? If it is something reasonable,you might find just a new graphics card will be enough. Moreover,what games are you looking at playing??

I have a similar speed Core i5(one of the E3 Xeons with more L3 cache) with a GTX660. I have mates with the FX6300(with an HD7870XT) and an FX6350(GTX660 or GTX650TI Boost IIRC). I rarely see any real world difference between the two and you are over-estimating how great Core i5 CPUs are. Remember most reviews tend to be done with K series parts,which have the highest level of Turbo. Moreover,the best SC2 player I met had an old Phenom II X4 965 and was in the Diamond League(IIRC),and that game meant to run better on an Intel CPUs.

Also,I have used an HD5670 before. I also had the Core i3 2120.

You could get the following:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-FX6300-E.../dp/B009O7YORK
http://www.ebuyer.com/546762-gigabyt...FQbJtAodSBIAVA
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-160...words=4gb+ddr3
http://www.ebuyer.com/239238-casecom...an-k5-9388blue
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Edition-...words=xfx+450w
http://www.ebuyer.com/434588-msi-gra...-r7770-pmd1gd5

The total comes to £296 delivered and that does not include any cashback:

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ebuyer/

The case can take longer graphics cards,due to a removable drive cage,and a few people on Hexus have used it(or are fond of it).

Even,if you want a faster card,then spend the £68 towards an SSD.

That is the biggest upgrade I experienced in years for my desktop,if you want snappy day to day usage.

[Totalize]

Thanks for the response Cat.

I have an ancient Core2Duo, E4300 which bottlenecks even the 5670. I do have a Sata 2 SSD though, as you say it's a great upgrade.
I play World of Tanks, but I'd like to try BF3, and maybe BF4 when I upgrade the GPU.

The reasons I went against the FX6300:
-Poorer single core performance, e.g. for WoT
-Have heard some reports that you can get frame drops with it, the i5 is smoother in this respect.
-Not really into overclocking
-Increased heat, noise and energy costs
-by the time you budget for a O/C ready motherboard, beefier PSU, and aftermarket cooler, it's not much cheaper.
-confusion if a motherboard has the latest BIOS for FX.

[Bonebreaker777]

Go for used CPU from eBay. i5-2400 or i5-3450 and higher. Round £100 on eBay.
B75 is good. Pass on the case.
PSU ok. The money you save on the CPU pour into more memory (dual channel).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks for the response Cat.

I have an ancient Core2Duo, E4300 which bottlenecks even the 5670. I do have a Sata 2 SSD though, as you say it's a great upgrade.
I play World of Tanks, but I'd like to try BF3, and maybe BF4 when I upgrade the GPU.

The reasons I went against the FX6300:
-Poorer single core performance, e.g. for WoT
-Have heard some reports that you can get frame drops with it, the i5 is smoother in this respect.
-Not really into overclocking
-Increased heat, noise and energy costs
-by the time you budget for a O/C ready motherboard, beefier PSU, and aftermarket cooler, it's not much cheaper.
-confusion if a motherboard has the latest BIOS for FX.

You really should try overclocking that E4300 if possible. They had insane overclocking headroom,of between 1GHZ to 1.5GHZ!!

You did look at the parts I listed,right??

My mate had a Q9400 and an Athlon II X3(at 4GHZ),and his FX6300 was an noticeable upgrade in WoW at stock over both CPUs,which only uses two cores. Your E4300 at 1.8GHZ is massively slower than the first two CPUs,so TBH any modern CPU in the £80 to £100 range (even a Core i3) would be a massive upgrade.

I used to have an E4300 running overclocked to 3.1GHZ and my Q6600 a 3GHZ was faster in everything,due to the increase in L3 cache and more cores. My Core i3 was faster than the overclocked Q6600. My Xeon E3 is faster still. The FX6300 is more or less the same in many multi-threaded games as my Xeon E3,and in lightly threaded games is between the Q6600 and the Xeon E3.

The BF4 Alpha on the FX6300 is within 10% of a Core i5 2500K and that is with a Geforce Titan. With AMD BF4 using the AMD Mantle API(an update will soon be released after launch),expect it to be very well optimised for AMD CPUs and GPUs.

Also,I did not mention overclocking although you can do a limited amount on the motherboard I specified. The heat and energy costs,really are not of any significance with an FX6300. Your usage patterns are far more important with regards to energy costs,and nobody runs Prime95 24/7.

I was running an overclocked high VID Q6600,with a massively overclocked HD5850 1GB,on a high end 975X based motherboard(not efficient) using a group regulated SFF Shuttle 450W PSU. The XFX 450W is in another league.

The motherboard was only released in the last few weeks,so is fine. Also,going for secondhand parts means you have no warranty,so if you are willing to accept that you can get a secondhand CPU as an alternative,and even then try to get a better model.

[Totalize]

Sadly my E4300 is in a Dell E520, so can’t be overclocked.

I’d consider a s/h cpu if I was upgrading an existing mobo, but I’d rather go new for my first build in 10 years.

I’m starting to lean towards the FX6300, it’s definitely the value proposition and superior to an i3.
However, the single core performance still bothers me, e.g. beaten by a Pentium G2020.
I guess for the money it would give an acceptable increase in performance in WoT compared to my existing setup, and a huge increase in newer multi-threaded games.

Would the FX6300 need to be upgraded sooner than the i5 though, or would there not be much difference?


As regards to your parts list:

The 7770 is excellent for the money.

The case is good value, if a little cheap looking. I would prefer USB3 on the front - would either of these be worth the extra?
http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyt...case-86Z3.html
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/enerm...idi-tower-case

No Idea on memory, does dual channel make a noticeable difference? Any problems with the higher voltage 1.65V?
This is what I was planning to get (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-BLT4...dp/B006YG96YA/)

The motherboard looks good, however some reviews on newegg say it’s not compatible with newer FX CPUs (aargh!) I think they’re wrong, as someone else points out, but it’s more uncertainty.
I take it you would recommend against the Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 ?

[Bonebreaker777]

A FX6300 costs around £85. For which you can get a i5-2400 or i5-3450 on eBay.
As these CPUs wouldn't be K series, no Z68 or Z77 would be necessary so money would be saved there.

If your future case will have no windows, a Crucial Tracer is pointless, rather go for Ballistix Tactical or Sport (1.5v at 8-8-8-24 or 9-9-9-24 timings), or the VLP versions (1.35V at 8-8-8-24 or 9-9-9-24 timings).

A HD7770 is a excellent choice. Even the cheapest 1x FAN XFX version hits overclocking cap due to driver limitations before showing any signs of increased heat production or instability. Extra 10% performance for free.
The 2x FAN version is cooler and less audible but still with the same driver overclocking cap.

If you decide later for a USB3.0 for the front, a AKASA AK-ICR-17 could complement any case (nearly), which takes off the pressure of the initial case choosing due to the lack or presence of USB3.0 ports.

[Totalize]

As I say, I'd prefer new for this build. The used i5 prices are nearer £100.

I have some cheap Kingston HyperX 1333 Mhz memory on order from amazon, due sometime in the next three weeks.
Once that arrives, I'm going to order a FX6300 with Cat's suggested mobo.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This case gets reasonable decent reviews and can take longer graphics cards:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BitFenix-Mer.../dp/B005JRICNG

IIRC,the newer ones have USB3.0 support for two USB3.0 sockets on the top of the case. I will ask my mate if the one he bought a few months ago,has it onboard.

Out of interest,what is your budget for the graphics card?? There might be some deals to be had with AMD refreshing their entire lineup.

Edit!!

It seems the case lacks USB3.0!

[Totalize]

The case isn’t too bad - I saw it on youtube, as the Rosewill Challenger. I’m willing to forgo the front USB3 as it’s so cheap.
My budget for the graphics card is up to £100. I like the look of the 7790

http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-am...i-oc-8YLL.html for £93

If I sell my 5670 for £20 (replacing the original and quieter Geforce 7300 back in to the Dell) that would be £73, keeping the cost of my build to £300.

I’m close to ordering the following:

FX6300 £83.56 Scan
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P £50.39 Scan
Casecom K5-9388 £22 Ebuyer
Corsair CX500 £44.38 Ebuyer
G-Skill 4GB Ripjaws X 1333 £26.32 Amazon.

Total £226.55


My cheaper memory I have on order may not arrive, so I chose the Gskill. I know 1333 is slightly slower, but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t make any difference in gaming.

To get the free shipping on the case, I’m ordering the PSU from Ebuyer. I had a few choices; CX430 £33, VP450P £34, XFX450 £42, CX500 £44, XFX550 £49. The CX430 probably would be sufficient for now, but may limit future upgrades.

[herulach]

The XFX unit is a much better one than the CX ones, which are pretty budget. Is there any reason you can't reuse your existing case? If you can bin that off you can get manage more RAM. I know which I'd prefer.

[Bonebreaker777]

Agree on the XFX PSU, too bad you haven't taken advantage of the Scan Today Only Antec PSU offer. I know I did :-)
Is AMD so tolerant to RAM speed as Intel performance wise and excluding IGP where there is none? Thought the FX CPUs thrive with high RAM frequencies...

[Totalize]

I looked into reusing the dell case a while back. It's a proprietary BTX case, so can't be re-used. I dug out the case from my last build, a Globalwin 802. It's a beige monster with a noisy 80mm fan. It's solid, but I don't think it's up to today's usage.

I would like more/faster ram, but this is limited by the budget. As the motherboard has 4 slots, I can add more later. From what I've seen, ram speed makes no difference to games, although this may be for intel systems.

Scan have the XFX450 for £35, I would prefer to get that, but it annoys me to have to pay for the shipping on the case.

[Bonebreaker777]

Never mind about RAM speed.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...g,3209-13.html
As long you will have 1600Mhz I think.