New build £300-400

[mmmcheese]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 1-4 wekks BUDGET RANGE: £300-400 could strech to 450-500if its going to be alot better

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming(bfbc2 cod uo, 6 and 7), surfing the internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: any english or european.list of euro webbys
http://www.somucheasier.co.uk/computers.html

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:england

PARTS PREFERENCES: none

OVERCLOCKING: No SLI OR CROSSFIRE: don't know what this is

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
I don't mind if its prebuilt or homebuilt or prebuilt and adding bits to it. i found a pc prebuilt with specs below as a marker post really im looking for the most i can get for the cheapest price, who isnt. Please post replys explaining why it would be better than this. thanks for any help

Operating System MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Processor Type Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200
Processor Speed 2.33 GHz
RAM Size 4 GB
RAM Technology DDR II SDRAM
Hard Drive Capacity 640 GB
Hard Drive Interface SATA
Optical Drive DVDRW
Graphics GeForce GTX260
Networking 1xEthernet 1xIEEE 1394 (FireWire)
USB Ports 8
Case Design Tower
Colour Black

 

[ace700]

its not bad build but theres only ways you could get better perfermance and 1 of them is building the computer from scratch if you know how to do it. Theres not alot of buids you can get for that much money. if you want a good gaming computer you can get one for about 800 euros at the following link. I belive they ship to euro
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/compspecialdeals.asp

 

[asteldian]

Needing an operating system means you lose £80 immediately.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Microsoft-Windows-7-Home-Premium-64-Bit-Single-OEM

At that budget I would suggest going AMD as it is cheaper and the socket is more upgradeable (you don't have to replace the motherboard to upgrade the processor)

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-ES3 - £58.71
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-MA770T-ES3-AMD-770-AM3-PCI-E-20-(x16)-DDR3-1666-1333-SATA-3Gb-s-RAID-ATX

AMD3 440 3ghz Tri core - £61.62
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-Athlon-II-X3-440-Rana-Triple-Core-S-AM3-30GHz-15MB-Cache-HT-4000MHz-95W-Retail

Samsung Spinpoint F3 500gb - £34.89
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb-Samsung-Spinpoint-F3-HD502HJ-SATA-3Gb-s-7200rpm-16Mb-Cache-8ms-OEM

Dual Layer DVD Drive - £13.88
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Samsung-SH-S223C-BEBE-22x-DVDR-12x-DVDR-DVDplusRW-x8-RW-x6-SATA-Black-OEM

Case - £25.24
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Xclio-3060-PLUS-Black-Silver-Midi-Tower-Case-w-o-PSU-36CM-Side-Fan!

Silverstone 500W PSU - £43.39
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500W-Silverstone-Strider-ST50F-ES-80-Plus-SLI-CrossFire-EPS-12V-20-24-pin-120mm-Fan

G Skill Ripjaw RAM - £97.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180490

Total: £336.32
Plus Windows 7 (OEM version) - £412.78

Graphics card 5770 - £115.13
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-MSI-HD-5770-PCI-E-21-(x16)-4800MHz-GDDR5-GPU-850MHz-800Cores-DisplayPort-DL-DVI-I-HDMI

Total: £525.91

Sadly this is over your extended budget

You could save some money by going with cheaper RAM, or even decreasing to 2gb (will cost save about 40-50 which will take you below £500) - you can always buy another 2gb at a later date when you can aford it.

Why do I consider this build better?
1) All the parts are of decent quality (prebuilt tend to use cheap RAM, PSU, cheap HDD, who knows what motherboard is in it)

2) The build is modern - it uses DDR3 RAM and AMD CPU - this means it is easily upgradeable - when you have more money you can replace the CPU with a Phenom II x4 955 without having to replace anything else. The build you posted is old tech and has no where to go - you cannot replace the CPU with a significantly better one because it requires the motehrboard and RAM to also be replaced.

3) the 5770 is modern technology, whereas the GTX260 is technology. Performance wise they are very similar.

3) The processor is fast and is triple core - this is all you need for modern gaming. Quad core has shown to be significant performance gains over dual core, however, in reviews it has shown that it is actually the addition of the third core in a processor that brings the big performance gains in games and not the 4th. So the tri core processor is all you need for now, and again, unlike Intel, 6 or so months down the line you can easily upgrade it

4) Windows 7 instead of Vista - this alone is a big improvement, Vista is the new Windows Millenium, I could not recommend Vista to anyone even when XP was the only alternative, but now that Windows 7 is out I think it would be crazy to get Vista.

I have to confess, the Power supply I suggested was just because it is a good brand, but personally I would actually get

650W Modular - £45.80
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-Powercool-PC650UM-Modular-80plus-Eff-SLI-CrossFire-EPS-12V-20plus4-Pin-Low-noise-cooling-fan

I did not recommend it in the main list because I would get beaten down by everybody - no one likes to go with the unknown. But from personal experience, Scan is a great reliable and trustworthy site, and with that I trust their own PSU and so far have not been disappointed. So I am throwing this option in just for you to be aware of, it is up to you whether you take the 'risk' by going with something unknown

I have used Scan for most items as I like their site, but www.novatech.co.uk, www.ebuyer.com and www.overclockers.co.uk are sites worth checking out for parts to see if any are cheaper

 

[Hereisphilly]

I agree with the above, scan are a good site, and tend not to put c*** on there.
On a purely cos saving exercise, if you didn't need an ATX board, you could go for this cheaper MATX board and save a tenner

MOBO - Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2 - £46
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-MA78LMT-S2-AMD-760G-AM3-PCI-E-20-%28x16%29-DDR3-1066-1333-SATA-3Gb-s-RAID-MATX-VGA

Or if you needed the ATX size, this MSI board is a bit cheaper
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-770-C45-AM3-PCI-E-20%28x16%29-DDR3-1600%28OC%29-RAID-Blu-Ray-Audio-GB-LAN-ATX

I would go for this case, as although it is marginally more expensive, it is a better make, and more importantly has an exhaust fan built in. (Adding a fan to the previous case would cost more)

CASE - Xigmatek ASGARD - £26.78
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Xigmatek-ASGARD-Black-Mid-Tower-ATX-Case-with-4x525-6x35-Bays-inc-120mm-Fan-No-PSU


You could save another tenner on the PSU, this corsair unit has enough wattage, and has the bonus of being a reputable make

PSU - 400W Corsair CMPSU-400CXUK - £35
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400W-Corsair-CMPSU-400CXUK-Power-Series-PSU-ATX-PS-2-UK-Version-3-year-warranty

My revisions (Matx board option) with OS come out to £510

 

[asteldian]

I just grabbed the cheapest case with a big fan, for the small price difference Hereisphilly's choice sounds like a good one.

MicroATX can indeed save money, I just went with ATX because it is always what I go with, but as it is a budget PC a micro ATX is fine.

I am in a minority, but I would go with the 650W because it is a PSU I could use in the future, however, if you feel more comfortable going with a reputable make then go with the 400W mentioned aboe

 

[Hereisphilly]

I just grabbed the cheapest case with a big fan, for the small price difference Hereisphilly's choice sounds like a good one.

MicroATX can indeed save money, I just went with ATX because it is always what I go with, but as it is a budget PC a micro ATX is fine.

I am in a minority, but I would go with the 650W because it is a PSU I could use in the future, however, if you feel more comfortable going with a reputable make then go with the 400W mentioned aboe

I was going with it purely because it was cheaper. I totally agree with you about higher rated unit unit in this case

 

[mmmcheese]

thanks guys that has explained and helped me alot im not to worry about taking a 'risk' for the higher wattage.
just a few questions

by cheaper ram do you mean a less knows make or just slower?

how much more would it be for a decent quad core? and is it worth going for it to sort of future proof myself?

is the motherboard's youve selected compatable with the 1600 ram i cant see that it says it is (me being blind prob)

 

[mmmcheese]

its not bad build but theres only ways you could get better perfermance and 1 of them is building the computer from scratch if you know how to do it. Theres not alot of buids you can get for that much money. if you want a good gaming computer you can get one for about 800 euros at the following link. I belive they ship to euro
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/compspecialdeals.asp

they may ship to europe but the problem would be uk customs they would charge me alot thnaks anyway

 

[Silvune]

The Corsair CX 400 is cheaper than the Powercool and will last a lot longer than it. And the Powercool is almost the same price as that Silverstone unit. Which is realistically only 50watts less powerful, if that.

It would be about £30 more for a quad core, and no it's not worth it in a £300-400 budget when you're thinking about skimping on the PSU. And as asteldan explained CPUs aren't the primary factor in gaming performance in most cases.

You could go for generic/no-name brand RAM. Which might be a bit more difficult to set up. I'm not convinced that 1066mhz RAM would be significantly cheaper than 1333/1600mhz to be worth going down to. Yes 1600mhz RAM will work with the Gigabyte GA-MA770T-ES3 motherboard.

 

[asteldian]

By cheaper I meant no brand. Personally I prefer not to take such a risk - in an experimental build I did (trying to use cheap stuff to see what money really can be saved) I used generic RAM, and after 2 RMAs and eventually sending all back for a refund I confirmed for myself that RAM was definately not worth skimping on. The Powercool however did impress me, of course I can't confirm its quality for sure until another couple of years I think (hence only adding it as a potential option rather than part of the main build suggestion) - but the 750W had decent 12V AMP (64A total compared to 72A from a Silverstone) and was modular and has not exploded so I consider that good

I am certainly no expert on PSUs, so I would certainly bow to Silvunes opinion on them. I am curious though, how do you consider te 650W to only be 50W more powerful than the Silverstone - does the 12V Amp suggest that or are you assuming that due to Silverstone being good quality and the 650W likely not?

 

[Silvune]

Ok I said that before checking the specs properly for the Silverstone. And I was basing it on the Powercool only having 528 watts on the 12V rail (when you add 22 and 22 together, which might not be the maximum combined amperage). The Silverstone it turns out only has 408 watts - I was expecting it to be circa 450 on the 12V.

Apparently the Silverstone doesn't have the best OEM, so maybe it would be a better bet to get something like this instead: Silverpower SP-SS-500 Green Power £48 And then there's the Be Quiet Pure Power 530 on ebuyer, but unless free shipping still applies over there then everything would have to be switched to avoid incurring extra delivery costs.

Asteldan, I have sent you a PM - heads up.

 

[mmmcheese]

hi guys thanks for the help again i found this power supply and case would it be ok?

Coolermaster Elite 330 Case With Coolermaster eXtreme Power 460W PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135101


back to the ram again if i go down to 2gb how much will it effect the peformance?

is it better to have 2x 1gb or is 1x 2gb just as good?

i was thinking i could just get 2 gb and then get another 2gb in a few monthes?

kingston 2gb ram 1600mhz £48
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169270

crucial 1gb ram 1333mhz £22
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159922

 

[asteldian]

I survived on 2gb RAM with Windows 7 for a month and had pretty good performance, it was nice to get the 4gb back, but things coped fine with 2gb. If you truly cannot afford the 4gb getting 2gb is an acceptable alternative for a short while

 

[mosox]

Yep, that CM case is OK.

 

[mmmcheese]

I survived on 2gb RAM with Windows 7 for a month and had pretty good performance, it was nice to get the 4gb back, but things coped fine with 2gb. If you truly cannot afford the 4gb getting 2gb is an acceptable alternative for a short while

is it better to have 2x 1gb or is 1x 2gb just as good?

 

[asteldian]

Well, I prefer to end up with 2 x 2gb - leaves spare slots for more RAM in case the day comes I need more.

So personally I would prefer 1 x 2gb stick. That's what I had while my other stick was RMA'd too.

If you get 2 x 1gb, then gte another 2 x 1 gb you are filling all the RAM slots, so if ever you needed to go beyond 4gb you would have to start replacing your RAM which would be a waste

 

[Guest]

sorry to ask this question but would the

AMD Athlon II X3 440 3.0 be a decent gammer pc
for todays games like deus ex3 - bfdc2 - bioshock2.
i currently have xp but will upgrade sooner or later

current pc . amd 2.2 - 8400 gforce - 1 gig memory

 

[asteldian]

It is tri core so it works well for games, with the added advantage that as an AMD socket it means in year or more should you feel the need to upgrade to Quad core you can do so easily

 

[Guest]

3 more questions please if i may
can u recomend a half decent mobo for this II X3 440 3.0

now as i currently run xp it would be 2 gig memory
would 1300 or 1600 memory be better ?

sound card / dvd drive / hard drive covered /

mid range graphics card to run todays games
say for a year or 2 at mid settings .
ty for your time

 

[mmmcheese]

3 more questions please if i may
can u recomend a half decent mobo for this II X3 440 3.0

now as i currently run xp it would be 2 gig memory
would 1300 or 1600 memory be better ?

sound card / dvd drive / hard drive covered /

mid range graphics card to run todays games
say for a year or 2 at mid settings .
ty for your time

might be best to start your own thread check this guide before posting http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261222-13-build-advice

 

[Silvune]

Yes the Coolermaster Extreme Power 460 has a similiar wattage as the Silverstone/Silverpower's did, and is perfectly capable of delivering that power, and it's a decent deal, so yea.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

The 440 is a nice gamer chip yes,
as for a Mobo, have a look at
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174597

I've used them in both mine and my Gf's builds, nice little boards

Another site for you to consider is Pixmania, I've had good dealings with them, between them, Scan and Ebuyer my components needs are well met
Moto

 

[mmmcheese]

right so at the moment im looking at

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

Graphics card 5770 - £115.13
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB [...] DVI-I-HDMI

Dual Layer DVD Drive - £13.88
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Sam [...] -Black-OEM

Samsung Spinpoint F3 500gb - £34.89
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb-Samsung-Spinpoint-F3-HD502HJ-SATA-3Gb-s-7200rpm-16Mb-Cache-8ms-OEM

kingston 2gb ram 1600mhz £48
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169270

Coolermaster Elite 330 Case With Coolermaster eXtreme Power 460W PSU £49.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135101

ASROCK M3A770DE 770 £55.22
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174597


ive managed to get a copy of windows 7
so total would be £378.73 + postage

ive selected this motherboard because it supports crossfire so its little bit future proofed i plan to up the ram to 4gb few monthes after i buy the parts.

ive been looking to get the

AMD Phenom II X4 955 £131
hhttp://www.ebuyer.com/product/190673

which would put the total at £448.11 + postage
am i correct in thinking again that this will make it more future proof?

is the power supply powerful enough for the moment?
im thinking this way when and if i want to update i can get another 5770 and a higher powered power supply
these are just my thoughts please tell me if i am right or wrong in thinking this


thanks for all your help every1

 

[Silvune]

Mobos like that are a bit misleading when they say that they support crossfire, as the board's PCI-E slots are divided into x16 and x4, rather than x8/x8 which would be better/ideal. I have not seen benchmarks with two 5770s on a 16/4 PCI-E split, but usually x4 is considered to be too slow to be worthwhile adding a graphics card to.

I think this is the cheapest motherboard that can support crossfire with at least two slots at x8: Asrock M3A790GXH/USB3 790GX £77.

Yes the Phenom II X4 955 is a very strong gaming chip.

Yes the PSU should be fine, as that system will not use a lot of power.

 

[mmmcheese]

thanks i was worried about the motherboard