Upgrade build for gaming €450, Advice needed

Popey32

Hi Guys I would really appreciate your input on the following build. I have all I need to upgrade, Lan Li ATX case, Monitor 1080p, Hard disk, mouse keyboard,cables ,OS,etc

I don't see the benefit in spending an extra €80 to overclock for small fps gains in real world gaming. My budget is €450

I want to play games like mass effect 3, mafia 2, GTA IV, Witcher 2 on highish setting resolution etc

Would prefer to pay with credit card and from dabs or pixmania. HWS bank transfer looks like hassle or little savings in this case.

Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz LGA1155 6MB
Quicklinx:79Q6WS00 | Mfr#: BX80623I52400
In stock €180.34 €180.34

Gigabyte H61M-S2PV S1155 Intel H61 DDR3 ATX
Quicklinx:7Y3SWS00 | Mfr#: GA-H61M-S2PV
In stock €49.16 €49.16

Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 XMS3 1600Mhz DIMM CL9 1.65V
Quicklinx:75H5WS00 | Mfr#: CMX8GX3M2A1600C9
In stock €43.93 €43.93

Corsair 500 Watt CX500 V2 Builder Series 80 Plus Power Supply
Quicklinx:7K9HWS00 | Mfr#: CMPSU-500CXV2UK
In stock €52.07 €52.07

Asus ATI Radeon 6850 HD 790MHz 1GB PCI-Express HDMI
Quicklinx:779CWS00 | Mfr#: EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2
In stock €124.70 €124.70
Delivery (5.661kg)
Free!

Total (Inc VAT) €450.20 - €25 when you spend of €399 = €425.20

Would like to get the graphics card from pixmania as there prices for cards are better but then I lose the 25 discount

SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 6870 - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI-Express 2.1
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/8224042/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-6870-1-gb-gddr5.html € 134,90+ €10 delivery


Will these components work together. Will it be an issue for a PCI-Express 2.1 card to work on a PCI-Express 2.0 motherboard. Does anyone have experiences with these parts are they the best choice for my budget?

ShadowHearth

6870 is a great card if you are on the budget. Don't worry about pcie stuff, I got pcie 3.0 card in 2.0 socket and there is no difference.

Get amazon 450w psu , better quality and 450w is more then enough.

You spend 80eu not just for little fps increase, but for future. Saved 80eu will bite you in the arse, when you will need to upgrade CPU,mobo for next gen, when you could have just pressed a button and enjoy the performance.

Keep in mind: cheap ones - pay twice In the end.

Popey32

Ok thanks for the reply ShadowHearth, I really like the look of the 6870. If there's no issue with this combination of parts I’m going to order on Monday.

The amazon 450 PSU is only sold on hardwareversand.de . Will the PSU I’ve chosen Corsair 500 Watt CX500 work ok with the motherboard and 6870?

ShadowHearth

it will do, i have 6870 huked to dells 375w psu and it works grand.corsair 500w will be more then enough

dan_ep82

PSU is more than enough.

If your not bothered overlclocking and just gaming you can use the i3 2120

Works very well with all games and cost's a good bit less.
Either that or spend the ew extra euro's and get the 2500k as your very close to the price of it.

The other thing is the ram you picked isn't supported by your board (only up to 1333mhz) but you can grab the ram here for a bit more or drop to 4GB

If it was me
Item|Price
Asus P8H61-M LE REV 3.0 LGA1155 Intel H61 DDR3 mATX|€56.65
Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz LGA1155 3MB|€116.03
Corsair 500 Watt CX500 V2 Builder Series 80 Plus Power Supply|€52.07
Corsair 4GB DDR3 1333MHz CL9 DIMM 240Pin 1.5V|€22.44
OCZ Technology 60GB Agility 3 SSD Series SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive|€74.61
Shipping|Free!
Total|€321.80
Then get the 6870 from pixmania for 125 delivered - http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/11391849/art/amd/radeon-hd-6870-1-gb-gddr5.html

Less than 10 over budget but very good value for money all the same

Popey32

Thanks for your replys guys. I really apreciate you looking over this for me

The 2400 has the similar performace to the 2500k when not overclocked. I dont see the point in getting a 2500k unless im going to overclock and use a chipset that allow it.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/44339-intel-core-i3-2120-core-i5-2400-lga1155-processors-review-11.html

I dont want to get the stock 6870 as review say it very loud. was looking at the SAPPHIRE one

My understanding is that DDR is backward compatabile so any speed ddr will run at the Motherboard FSB in this case 1333 MHz, Will this RAM not run at 1333MHZ when connected to this motherboard?

on the gigbyte website it has
http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-h61m-s2pv.pdf

Model Name: H61M-S2PV DDR3 1600 (downgrade to DDR3 1333)

Sorry guys i havent upgraded my system in 6 years im a bit out of touch




Should this ram be ok

http://www.dabs.ie/products/kingston-8gb--2-x-4gb--hyperx-ddr3-1333mhz-dimm-240-pin-cl9-blu-7JT3.html?refs=418680000-55270000&src=2

Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) HyperX DDR3 1333MHz DIMM 240-pin CL9 Blu
€44.75

dan_ep82

Popey32 wrote: »

Thanks for your replys guys. I really apreciate you looking over this for me

The 2400 has the similar performace to the 2500k when not overclocked. I dont see the point in getting a 2500k unless im going to overclock and use a chipset that allow it.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/44339-intel-core-i3-2120-core-i5-2400-lga1155-processors-review-11.html

I dont want to get the stock 6870 as review say it very loud. was looking at the SAPPHIRE one

My understanding is that DDR is backward compatabile so any speed ddr will run at the Motherboard FSB in this case 1333 MHz, Will this RAM not run at 1333MHZ when connected to this motherboard?

on the gigbyte website it has
http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-h61m-s2pv.pdf

Model Name: H61M-S2PV DDR3 1600 (downgrade to DDR3 1333)

Sorry guys i havent upgraded my system in 6 years im a bit out of touch

If you have a look here you can see the 2120 is very close in gaming to the 2400,unless your going to be using cpu intensive programs?

As for the 6870, I have both the sapphire reference and non reference in crossfire (the same as the two your looking at) and I don't find one louder than the other,both are fairly quiet actually.
Its only when you overclock and have the fan to 60% + that it gets louder than is comfortable,and stock mine don't get that hot.

Sorry,I didn't realise gigabyte had something similar to asus's mem ok,be worth checking to see if anyone had issues using a higher mhz ram clocked lower all the same

Serephucus

It'll just downclock to whatever the maximum supported speed is, it'll be fine.

Cheaper RAM here though:

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48854&agid=1192

Popey32

Wow ..Good idea .. so glad I posted. Thanks dan_ep82 the Core i3-2120 will make big savings.

Was planning to get SSD further down the line ill keep the 60GB Agility in mind.

Im Going to read more on the Core I3 as this looks to good to be true. Any downside in gaming from dual core to quad core future games etc ?. Shoud I use some of the money saved towards a better motherboard for future upgrade?

Total cost now is €377

dan_ep82

Popey32 wrote: »

Wow ..Good idea .. so glad I posted. Thanks dan_ep82 the Core i3-2120 will make big savings.

Was planning to get SSD further down the line ill keep the 60GB Agility in mind.

Im Going to read more on the Core I3 as this looks to good to be true. Any downside in gaming from dual core to quad core future games etc ?. Shoud I use some of the money saved towards a better motherboard for future upgrade?

Total cost now is €377

Generally yes,but the i3 doesn't seem to fit the usual con's
The only place it losses out (and even then only slightly compared to similar priced CPU's) is in software programs that utilize more cores (video rendering etc)

You could go for this which would allow a second GPU later,use your ram at the intended 1600mhz and allow an upgrade to the likes of the 2500k or 2600k

http://www.dabs.ie/products/asus-p8z68-v-lx-s1155-intel-z68-ddr3-atx-7PGM.html?refs=469740000&src=3

Im sure you could find an asrock or gigabyte board for a little cheaper but I always use ASUS in my builds for myself and other people and they've never let me down once

Popey32

All my parts arrived Thursday and Friday. Its been the most straight forward upgrade ever. Put all the parts together bar the video card and powered on, The ASUS motherboard is cool, A red light like came on to tell me the memory was not seated correctly, Reseated the memory everything worked perfect. I installed windows 7 from a usb key it installed in 20 mins.

I just got my hands on the video card this morning . pixmaina sent me a SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 6870 €154 instead of the amd 6870 €114 I ordered sweet!!!

My only issue now is what software should i install to check motherboard temps etc. I dont have a sata dvd drive so I need to install the sofware from the asus website. Im going to install everything just dont want to miss anything because im not using the dvd

Tea_Bag

you're better without the DVD drivers anyway, they're usually outdated.

use HWMonitor to check temps on all your components.


download from the Asus website, and don't forget the inf drivers from Intels website.

if you're missing anything, it'll show up in device manager as unknown with an exclamation mark.

download your regular programs from ninite.com

dan_ep82

I missed out on the €115 6870 by about 12 hours

Good to hear,some pictures ?