UK low budget PC build help

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jsprah

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Hello! My current computer is just about done with and I'm looking to upgrade.

Could anyone give me a hand looking for new parts? I suck at this and am not entirely sure what's good and what's not. Looking to spend £200 - less if possible, slightly more if completely necessary. (I don't know if I'm being optimistic with this price?)

I use my PC for Spotify, Skype and League of Legends. Occasionally a few games on Steam but nothing massively graphically intensive (Trine 2, L4D2, Portal 2..).

The only parts of my current PC that I'm keeping will be the WD 500GB black HDD and the GeForce GT640 as I don't think either of these need upgrading right now, maybe a new graphics card in the future when I've got a bit more money.

Thanks in advance
 
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J

jsprah

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No it's on the brink of death. If I leave it for about 30 seconds and come back then use a USB device like the mouse or keyboard the entire thing freezes up haha. Not sure if it's the motherboard or what but there's nothing else I can salvage from it that's not really outdated.
 
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jsprah

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I don't need any peripherals, everything is pretty up to date in that department. Also have a fairly new 3D monitor.

Could I not use the version of Windows I have on this computer or does it not work like that?
 
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SethJPC

SethJPC

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You can try but there are limitations with windows depending on OEM and retail, i'm not quite sure. Try it once you assemble the build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor (£41.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£77.36 @ PC World Business)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Neos Black/Silver ATX Mid Tower Case (£29.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £214.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

You may want to purchase an additional CPU cooler to OC the CPU for a bit more speed, I believe you can do this on ASUS's new H97 boards. Though first check to see if windows will work. Edit the case for whatever you want :D


 
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jsprah

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Thanks for doing that, I've had a look at it but for some reason I'm more interested in an AMD based system, no idea why, just what I've used since I started using computers.

If I was to spend £50 on an AMD CPU and £50 on an Intel, would there be much difference? I have a cooler I could use but it wouldn't be compatible with this motherboard :/

Also my current CPU is a Phenom II X3 740, which seems quite similar to the one you've linked, would it be worth an upgrade or could I stick with this one for the time being?
 
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SethJPC

SethJPC

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Maybe, I'm not sure how old your setup really is...do you use ddr3 RAM+what is your PSU?. When this Pentium is overclocked it can actually be a very good gaming CPU, a real deal for the money and it won't bottleneck high end cards like a gtx 770 when OCed
 
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jsprah

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Yeah apart from the hard drive and the graphics card the rest of it really is very old. The RAM is DDR2, I've got no idea what the PSU is, unbranded as far as I know? It's worked fine up until recently though.

Would it be better to spend more on the CPU and a bit less on the motherboard? I feel like I've seen cheaper motherboards around that would be OK?
 
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SethJPC

SethJPC

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Yeah, I suppose you could even try and find a z97 mobo at this price range now looking at it, this mobo has good overclocking for what it is. This CPU can challenge higher end CPUs when overclocked+its single core performance can match the best i7s.

 
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J

jsprah

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Cool I'll have a look and see what I can find, thanks
 
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J

jsprah

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PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/f4cRYJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/f4cRYJ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD A8-5500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£66.96 @ CCL Computers)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 45.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£14.47 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X Extreme4+ ATX FM2+ Motherboard (£54.12 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£46.94 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GT 640 1GB Video Card (£70.71 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Cooler Master 500W ATX Power Supply (£31.80 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £344.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available


Would this be any good? And also would it all be compatible? Obviously ignore the cost of the graphics card and the hard drive, I just put those in to see the whole thing.
 
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SethJPC

SethJPC

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The one I listed would destroy it.... that PSU is rubbish, XFXs are the best cheap ones.

 
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J

jsprah

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I'll probably buy it piece by piece anyway, but if I were to get the PSU you listed and the rest of what I've got down there would it be OK? Or are there any adjustments you'd make to make it better for less/the same?

Tempted to buy the PSU first and put it in my current PC to see if it fixes any issues I'm currently having!
 
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SethJPC

SethJPC

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Depends if you think that you will upgrade your GPU soon, it is a quality unit but will not handle anything more than a 760/r9 270 so you can increase it to 650W which will handle pretty much anything.
Okay so i'm guessing that you just wanna stick with AMD? I'd do something a little like this (PSU is 650W for upgrade headroom)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£70.20 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£62.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£60.06 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£11.09 @ Aria PC)
Total: £264.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available



 
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J

jsprah

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I doubt I'll be upgrading the GPU any time soon, I don't really have any reason to right now considering the majority of the time I play League of Legends and it's not a very demanding game.

Forgot to mention I've got a couple of DVD drives lying around somewhere which as far as I know still work so I'll probably stick one of those in.

Were the processor/motherboard that I chose not very good? I'm trying to spend £100-£110 maximum on those which I know might be a bit of a struggle but I just want something somewhat up to date and it needs to have more power than my current computer.
 
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SethJPC

SethJPC

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Hmm... I don't see many heatsinks- won't be any good for overclocking. It also appears to have only a single pci slot for GPUs, not that you will necessarily need a second one though

 
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