Sub £400 new build no gfx card

Associate
Joined
20 Sep 2010
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12
Looking for a sub £400 whole system build, with upgrade potential in the future.
Don't need a graphics card as don't do any heavy gaming so an onboard graphics card will surfice with the option to add a dedicated card at a later date if required.

Here's what i'm looking at so far, either the amd 955be or 555be unlocked and some 4gig ddr3 ram
Don't know if i'll need a custom psu, and or an upgraded cpu fan, thanks for your help in advance, here was a quick pick by me.

xnhg1w.jpg
 

RJC

RJC

Don
Joined
29 May 2005
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Kent
Hello & welcome to the forums, I have come up with the spec below:

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £117.49
(£99.99) £117.49
(£99.99)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £76.36
(£64.99) £76.36
(£64.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £69.99
(£59.57) £69.99
(£59.57)
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £29.99
(£25.52) £29.99
(£25.52)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£13.61) £15.99
(£13.61)
Sub Total : £319.84
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £57.94
Total : £389.03
 
Associate
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Behind you
I would personally look at a name brand for cases, as they would be nicer to build with (antec 300, coolermaster 335 etc) and the corsair 400w power supply. However, if those looks are to your taste then go for it. Airflow wont be great, but it should be enough. The psu that comes with the ocuk case is probably an el cheapo one, but should be alright if you stick with onboard GFX and dont go too crazy with overclocking.

If you're buying this week, then go for this RAM. Good quality stuff.

For a motherboard id go for the 880G chipsets. Pretty much everything ocuk stocks with that is good stuff, so ill let someone else pick a specific one. I guess the only major things are 1.) Full ATX or M-ATX? and 2) USB3 support? (all 8xx series chipsets come with sata 6gbpsz as standard)

Obviously core unlocking is not guaranteed, but its upto you to take the risk. (i got a pretty dam good chip, but i think i need to double check at what voltage is needed for stability at certain speeds)
 
Last edited:
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jan 2010
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66,802
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weston-super-mare
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI 880GMA-E45 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £79.99
(£68.08) £79.99
(£68.08)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £76.36
(£64.99) £76.36
(£64.99)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £70.49
(£59.99) £70.49
(£59.99)
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £28.99
(£24.67) £28.99
(£24.67)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.91) £13.99
(£11.91)
Sub Total : £285.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £52.07
Total : £349.62
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2003
Posts
14,716
Location
London
  • Looking for a sub £400 whole system build
  • with upgrade potential in the future
  • Don't need a graphics card as don't do any heavy gaming
  • an onboard graphics card will surfice with the option to add a dedicated card at a later date if required
repromanded02.gif


  1. Gives you a fast TripleCore and a PSU powerful enough to cover adding a medium powered GPU at a later stage (HD4850, 8800GT etc)
  2. Gives you a fast QuadCore and a meatier PSU that can handle a powerful GPU at a later stage (HD5850. GTX460 etc)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
20 Sep 2010
Posts
12
Thank you for your help, had another look and came up with this, from your advice, also spotted this gfx card, which looks good for the price...

11hguhs.jpg

If i'm getting the gfx card then i'll be willing to pay a little more if any of the components are incompatible, upto £450 say, and i'll recycle my old dvd rewriter to keep costs down.

How does it look? Any parts you'd recommend changing?

Thanks again,
Repro
 
Associate
OP
Joined
20 Sep 2010
Posts
12
may consider the bigger hard drive, really don't like the look of the antec, unless i could cut that star design bit out, is it really that much better than the coolmaster? Also would you advise spending more on the motherboard, or is the one i've chosen good enough for the components etc
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2003
Posts
14,716
Location
London
looks or performs?

got slagged of here

Five LGA1156 coolers tested on Lynnfield

Well firsty does Repromanded even need a cooler? . . . secondly is he cooling an Intel® Core™ i5 :confused:

Hardware Secrets said:
it is a cooler with an excellent cost/benefit ratio

Guru3D.com said:
So overall we like what we see very much. Priced at roughly 30 EUR / 35 USD you'll get a lot of cooling performance and an easy to use and install CPU cooler. There really is very little wrong with this product, and as such it comes very much recommended

Overclockers Club said:
I was impressed by a lot with this heatsink.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2003
Posts
14,716
Location
London
may consider the bigger hard drive
Makes sense . . .for the little extra gives you room to grow . . .

really don't like the look of the antec, unless i could cut that star design bit out, is it really that much better than the coolmaster?
fair enough if you don't like the looks but dont get that Coolermaster Elite 335case! . . it's rubbish! . . . I ordered one to test it and it was flimsy, not great ventilation and its an old design that still sits the PSU at the top of the case which is the hottest? . . . you want a fan at the top of the case exhausting the heat away not a PSU! :p

Coolermaster Elite 430

£41.99 inc


Akasa Freedom Xone

£42.99 inc

Also would you advise spending more on the motherboard, or is the one i've chosen good enough for the components etc
The ASUS M4A78LT-M is amazing value for money, its "more" than good enough for yor needs! :cool:

m4a78ltm.jpg
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2003
Posts
14,716
Location
London
a cpu is a cpu, it gives of heat.
My goodness you have a lot to learn about hardware! :eek:

An Intel® Core™ i7 Lynnfield with HyperThreading kicks out a lot more heat than an AMD® Athlon™ II X4 Propus

The AMD® Athlon™ II is one of the coolest chips ever . . . if Repromanded isn't overclocking he really doesn't need a 3rd party cooler :cool:
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Aug 2010
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8,745
Location
N. Ireland
if the elite 430 has cable management i would probably opt for that if not then the akasa xone. oh and big.wayne one question
which one is more "thermally-advantaged" chassis
a case with bottom mounted psu that has no cable manement
or
a case with top mounted psu that has cable management.

to me the case that has a bottom mounted psu will lose its thermal-advantage since the cable management issue will neutralize it, you know what i mean but thats me.
 
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