Finalising my first build options

[attacus]

I've been looking extensively at the AMD selection for first time builders, but have stumbled upon what I think is a good build for £300.

Intel i3 2100 - quad core and above 3ghz which is what I want since my laptop is dual core and above 3ghz - £88.96
Asus P8P67 Pro - is this compatible with nVidia and ATI cards? Also does one of the PCIe slots go down to x4 in SLI and crossfire? - £69.98
Sapphire 6770 - I would have bought the XFX but it's more expensive - £72
Corsair 2x2GB 1600mhz - will my mobo support this? - £17.98
TP Link Wireless card - £18
HDD - will use an old one with Windows XP
DVD player - will use an old one
PSU - 600w Seasonic bought in a bid for £32
Total = £266.92

Almost everything is off eBay BIN, except the video card and wireless card

That leaves me with £38.30 for the case. Can anyone suggest me a good £40 case, with toolless action and lots of air flow. I was looking at the InWin Griffin Mid Tower, which looks great for £35..70. The CoolerMaster 430 also looks decent, and the CoolerMaster 930 looks high end for £25, but is probably too heavy. I would love a case with a window and USB 3 support, and would like a door (with keys) but it's not essential.

Can somebody tell me whether my rig will work, or if there are some amendments or cheaper/better pieces required. Would an AMD equivalent save me a lot of money? How do my choices compare to a MSI 870a-g54 with AMD Athlon II x4 640?

 

[danraies]

The ASUS P8P67 LE is cheaper and will work just as well for your purposes. However the Pro supports x8/x8 and the second PCIe 2.0 x16 slot on the LE is in x4, so if you want to sli/xfire you'll want the Pro. Nvidia and ati cards both work fine on those boards. Also the memory you chose works fine.

The best case for your situation might be the the Coolermaster Storm Enforcer. It has a door on the front, a window on the side, and USB 3.0 in the front. It's a really good case but probably a little above your price range ($80 US with free shipping on newegg.com).

I think you've picked the right processor for your budget, but there are good AMD builds, too.

If the HDD you're using already has XP on it, you might have a problem when you switch to different parts. There will be immediate driver conflicts and some copies of windows don't validate when you switch motherboards. You might get it to work, but be aware.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

With the memory that you have selected make sure that it is 1.5v and not the higher 1.65v. With the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors like the Intel Core i3-2100 if you use higher voltage memory you might damage the processor's memory controller and void the warranty. Otherwise the build looks good.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[Outlander_04]

You wont be able to just plug in the old hard drive and boot .
Windows wont have the right drivers infor the new motherboard installed .

And since your version of XP is almost certainly 32 bit you wont be able to access all your RAM

 

[attacus]

What if I used a backup of Windows 7 that I took of my laptop and used that on another hard drive?

 

[Outlander_04]

What if I used a backup of Windows 7 that I took of my laptop and used that on another hard drive?

Thats not legal and it wont install anyway

 

[attacus]

Ubuntu?

 

[Outlander_04]

Ubuntu 64 bit , sure

you can use the XP disk if you connect it up and then perform a repair install , and then install the mb drivers .But back up all the data you cant afford to lose

 

[danraies]

Ubuntu?

Not sure you'll get much use out of your 6770 with Ubuntu.

You might be stuck buying an OEM copy of windows 64 bit.