Need help with cheap gaming build

[PILLAGER]

Hello,
soon I'll be getting my brothers mobo, cpu and memory to replace my Pentium 4 setup and hes gonna upgrade his but he wants it to be cheap as possible.
His current setup is Core 2 Duo E7300, Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 and 2gb of DDR2.
All of the other hardware is ok, he's happy with his HD4890 for the time being.
The main use of the pc is for gaming everything else comes second.
Hes never overclocked before, his GPU or CPU and he doesnt want to as he has no experience(scared of frying it).
I live in UK so i cant buy from newegg so if anyone can recommend a cheap uk site aswell will be much appreciated.

 

[batuchka]

Well assuming he has a decent 80+ PSU in the mix:
off EBuyer UK

 

[asteldian]

www.ebuyer.com, www.overclockers.co.uk, www.novatech.co.uk, www.scan.co.uk
These are the main sites I use.

Best possible build:
i5 750 - £158
G Skill 4gb 1600mhz CL7 RAM - £98
Asus P7P55D E Pro - £170

Total: £426

Pretty expensive. Though the motherboard is USB/SATA III and XFire able.

I personally would be going with the build above except m motherboard would be about £80 as I don't care for XFire and don't think the USB/SATA III will be any use to me for at least 3 years.

That would still be a total of £316. Also, I would go with an MSI board because it has the OC Genie - one press of the button overclocks the system - you don't need to play around with the bios, you don't need to worry about crashing the computer while trying to find a stable setting. The Genie instantly gives a moderate OC to your CPU (the i5 750 goes from 2.66 to 3.4ghz in about one second and is stable - perfect for those who don't like to OC themselves as they fear they ma damage things)


Anyway, cheaper builds would be AMD. I would guess Bat has already shown you the perfect combo. for higher end budget go Phenom II 955, for low end go with the RANA x3 440. Motherboard, just go with whatever you are willing to spend (MSI is good if it has teh OC Genie mentioned above, otherwise Gigabyte or Asus)

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-ES3 - £58.71
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gig [...] s-RAID-ATX

AMD3 440 3ghz Tri core - £61.62
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD [...] 95W-Retail

G Skill RAM - £98
Total: £218

You can go cheaper than G Skill RAM if you like, Kingston I guess, though personally I like to buy top quality RAM because faulty RAM is a real pain

 

[PILLAGER]

thanks for the advice guys, think im gonna buy the AMD 440 not totally sure on which board and ram yet though.
what do you mean by 80+ PSU batuchka? he currently has a 450w psu, you think that will be enough?
also will there be much difference between the 440 and the cpu he already has?
oh and ive read about unlocking an extra core on the 440, but it only works on some?

 

[asteldian]

80+ refers to its eficiency and is the sign of a good quality PSU - you certainly don't want a PSU that does not mention 80+ efficiency.

Without OCing, a 450W should be enough...do you happen to know what model/brand it is?

I am not overly familiar with AMD - I know the good CPUs but have no personal experience with them and so cannot say how much better it would be over the current CPU. Though having a third core is definately a good thing.

Unlocking a core may or may not work. To be honest, for gaming it has limited advantage - The main reason quad cores are better for gaming now is due to the the third core and currently the 4th is of limited use. It is a bonus if you can unlock the 4th core, but far from a necessity

 

[batuchka]

Well unlocking must only be seen as a bonus not given and as for PSU: state the model of the 450W or ifu really not sure attach a pic by opening the side panel of the case

 

[PILLAGER]

The PSU is X-Power ATX-450TD

 

[daship]

http://www.ascendtech.us/customkititems.asp?kc=DTGWFX680001EPC

 

[batuchka]

The PSU is X-Power ATX-450TD

http://www.avforums.com/forums/motherboards/952842-x-power-atx450td-opinion-please.html
Alarm bells for me start ringing at the thought of running modern gaming class GPUs with that PSU so for UK/Europe users i would look at the juicy non USA available BeQuiet Purepower 530 for single GPU set ups ^^
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190751

 

[PILLAGER]

My brother says gta4 and saints row 2 run very poorly on his current setup, will he need a quad core to make it run properly or will the 440 do the job?

 

[batuchka]

720BE + GTA IV was fine but if within budget Propus 630?