Gaming Build £300-£400 ($500-$650)

[matt2403]

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Approximate Purchase Date: Beginning of April


Budget Range: £300-£400 = $500 - $650


System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, surfing the internet, watching movies


Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, hard drive, GPU, cd drive


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.ebuyer.com www.scan.co.uk www.amazon.co.uk www.aria.co.uk www.pixmania.co.uk etc..


Country of Origin: England


Parts Preferences: by brand or type no preference


Overclocking: Maybe


SLI or Crossfire: Maybe


Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 (Ben Q G2420HD)


Additional Comments: been looking around and dont know whether to stick with either the I3 550 or the AMD 955 BE, or to invest within the sandy bridge cpu's..?

Thanks
Matt


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[mosox]

What video card do you have?

 

[matt2403]

NVidia 9500GT, which needs to be changed at some point. Was thinking either the GTX 460, or the Radeon 6850.

 

[mosox]

For gaming the video card is much more important than the CPU.

Phenom II 955 Black Edition
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-phenom-ii-x4-955-black-deneb-core-s-am3-32ghz-8mb-cache-ht-3600mhz-125w-retail
Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-880ga-ud3h-amd-880g-s-am3-pci-e-20-%28x16%29-ddr3-1866%28oc%29-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx
Corsair Memory XMS3 Classic 4GB
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-%282x2gb%29-corsair-xms3-classic-ddr3-pc3-10666-%281333%29-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-150v
Seasonic Bronze S12II-520 520W
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w-seasonic-s12ii-520-bronze-80-plus-bronze-85-eff-eps-12v-120mm-silent-s2fc-fan-atx-v23
Coolermaster Storm Scout
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-storm-scout-mid-tower-black-case-w-o-psu-%28gaming%29

£359.08

For crossfire you need some other mobo and a bigger PSU (depending on what video cards). SLI not supported.

 

[matt2403]

Thanks, this is a good set up. If i look about i should be able to get something like this for £30-£40 cheaper hopefully. I think i will invest in a 560TI after.

 

[mosox]

Cheaper good mobo
Asus M4A87TD/USB3
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-m4a87td-usb3-amd-870-s-am3-pci-e-20-%28x16%29-ddr3-2000%28oc%29-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx
case
Coolermaster Elite 430
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-elite-430-black-mid-tower-case-with-side-window-120mm-front-led-blue-fan-w-o-psu

 

[mdsiu]

I would recommend GTX 460 (768mb or 1gb depending on your budget) or HD 5770/5830. 560Ti is still overpriced IMHO.

 

[matt2403]

Would you recommend the GTX 460 or the 6850? thanks for the help so far you two

 

[mosox]

6850

That one is nice
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-xfx-hd-6850-black-edition-dual-fan-4400mhz-gddr5-gpu-820mhz-960-cores-2x-dvi-hdmi-dp

 

[matt2403]

Thanks .
just a quick question about that PSU. is that the best for that price, just that I can a lot of 600/650W PSU's at the same price..?

 

[mosox]

It's Seasonic. Those below are very good too though.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-corsair-enthusiast-650txv2uk-tx-v2-series-85-eff-sli-eps-12v-80-plus-bronze-140mm-fan
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-corsair-cmpsu-650txuk-tx-86-eff-sli-crossfire-37db-eps-12v-120mm-quiet-fan-single-rail
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-xfx-p1-650s-nlb9-core-edition-80-plus-bronze-85-eff-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-135mm-fan