Time for a new build!!!

ibFoxer

Going to go for a new build, would be interested in what people think for a budgety type build. Have a few ideas in mind.

1. What is your budget? €300-€400

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? HDD & DVD Drive & possibly PSU Antec Neo HE 550w

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? Samsung Syncmaster. 1680x1050. Not in the near future.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Bank Transfer/Laser

9. When are you purchasing? January/February hopefully

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Tipperary but i'd probably manage it.

ibFoxer

Any suggestions??

marco_polo

I'd be thinking along the lines of the following, keeping the existing HDD,DVD Windows and PSU (which will be fine for the selected GPU ). Comes to about 371.14 + €30 shipping.

I have picked a relatively pricey (for the budget) z68 motherboard, as this will give you the option of overclocking later if you were to upgrade to an unlocked quad core processor like the i5-2500K at some point. If overlcocking holds no interest then you could swap in a H61 board for around €30 less (You could perhaps spend some of the extra on a HD6850, but the HD6790 is a perfectly good card for gaming at 1680X1050).

Intel Core i3-2100 - €103.42

Club 3D Radeon HD 6790 - €104.86

8GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 CL9 - €34.67

Xigmatek Asgard III - €37.56

MSI Z68A-G43 - €90.63

ibFoxer

marco_polo wrote: »

I'd be thinking along the lines of the following, keeping the existing HDD,DVD Windows and PSU (which will be fine for the selected GPU ). Comes to about 371.14 + €30 shipping.

I have picked a relatively pricey (for the budget) z68 motherboard, as this will give you the option of overclocking later if you were to upgrade to an unlocked quad core processor like the i5-2500K at some point. If overlcocking holds no interest then you could swap in a H61 board for around €30 less (You could perhaps spend some of the extra on a HD6850, but the HD6790 is a perfectly good card for gaming at 1680X1050).

Intel Core i3-2100 - €103.42

Club 3D Radeon HD 6790 - €104.86

8GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 CL9 - €34.67

Xigmatek Asgard III - €37.56

MSI Z68A-G43 - €90.63

Looks good, not too crazy bout the i3 though, i could possibly suffer on for a short while with the 5770 i have now and sink the €104 from the 6790 back into the cpu?

marco_polo

foxerv1 wrote: »

Looks good, not too crazy bout the i3 though, i could possibly suffer on for a short while with the 5770 i have now and sink the €104 from the 6790 back into the cpu?

Sorry didn't realise you had a 5770, absolutely no sense in getting a HD6790 then as it is a fairly minor step up anyway. I'd definately be splashing most of that extra that €100 on an i5-2500K so, and maybe looking at a HD7850 when they come out in a few months

Serephucus

What are your current specs? The 2100 is actually a very powerful chip. If you have an E8400 (3.0GHz Core 2 Duo) for example, you're talking about a 50-60% jump in performance, and that's before you take into account Hyperthreading.

Monotype

2500K. Overclocks extremely well.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=41224

If you want to spend the rest of the €400 budget, you could add a different heatsink.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49255
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49134

Mugen can be a pain to install but a good heatsink.

ibFoxer

marco_polo wrote: »

Sorry didn't realise you had a 5770, absolutely no sense in getting a HD6790 then as it is a fairly minor step up anyway. I'd definately be splashing most of that extra that €100 on an i5-2500K so.

I didn't include it cos I thought it was the root of all the evil iv been having- looks like it was a USB interface that can't be updated

But ya, I think I'll stick with it, just for the record most of what I will be playing is a mix of WoW/TOR/dawn of war/Counter Strike. So not terribly intensive.

ibFoxer

Serephucus wrote: »

What are your current specs? The 2100 is actually a very powerful chip. If you have an E8400 (3.0GHz Core 2 Duo) for example, you're talking about a 50-60% jump in performance, and that's before you take into account Hyperthreading.

Current specs are:

Asus P5QE
Q6600 G0 (never got a successful oc, got it to 3ghz but anything further gave me bsod and all subsequent attempts never flew)
Tuniq 120 cooler
Ati 5570
Cannot for the life of me remember the ram

In all honesty it's not really a forced upgrade, just fancy the change

ibFoxer

foxerv1 wrote: »

Current specs are:

Asus P5QE
Q6600 G0 (never got a successful oc, got it to 3ghz but anything further gave me bsod and all subsequent attempts never flew)
Tuniq 120 cooler
Ati 5570
Cannot for the life of me remember the ram

In all honesty it's not really a forced upgrade, just fancy the change

So it seems, after trying a few benchmark programmes, that the 5770, not 5570, has given up the ghost somewhat.

given the 550w PSU, what's the best card i can replace it with for now?

Serephucus

Whatever you like, really. Assuming it's a good PSU, it'll power anything on the market.