PC for £500

mufcmark · 15 Mar 2011 at 19:30

Basically I want to build a pc mainly for gaming.

I already have 4gb ddr3 ram- ocz special ops

So what I need is

Cpu
motherboard
graphics card
case
cpu cooler

I have narrowed it to to two system choices basically. I can go with a cheaper cpu, probably a x4 955 with a £50 mobo and invest more in the graphics card or I could go sb with a 2500k and skimp on the gpu.

1st choice

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card Asus ATI Radeon HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99
(£114.99) £137.99
(£114.99)
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £102.98
(£85.82) £102.98
(£85.82)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £62.99
(£52.49) £62.99
(£52.49)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)

Total : £509.53

2nd choice

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 "Special Edition" 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £224.99
(£187.49) £224.99
(£187.49)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £104.99
(£87.49) £104.99
(£87.49)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £62.99
(£52.49) £62.99
(£52.49)
Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £53.98
(£44.98) £53.98
(£44.98)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)

Total : £490.52

Which would you prefer and could you suggest any changes to the spec?

Reaper 392 · 15 Mar 2011 at 19:45

skimping on the GPU with a gaming PC is a complete no-no. thats the area you want to spend money for gaming.

do you need a hard drive, DVD drive, or power supply

the power supply is another area not to save money, so if you tell us your current power supply, we should be able to say if it will be up to the job

i like the look of the AMD spec though - you should get some nice framerates out of that

Secret_Window · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:10

I have 3 spec options for you (on the assumption you have a good PSU):

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone Power Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.99 (Pre-Order)
Xigmatek Midgard Midi Tower - Black £54.12
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £30.98

£516.17

Motherboard is Pre-order only but it's B3 and good for overclocking, no crossfire though.

AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1090T Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £157.99
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone Power Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £106.99
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £30.98

£502.94

Six cores and black edition which is very good for overclocking. Motherboard has crossfire so you can add another ATI 6850 in the future.

Or if crossfiring is not your thing at all and you want pure performance from a quad and graphics card then this:

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £214.99 (Unlockable to an ATI 6970)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £104.99
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £72.98
Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black
£69.98
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £30.98

£508.93

I didn't select the much cheaper AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 because it's performance compared to the 9xx series Phenoms is pretty poor for quite a lot of things. There are quite a few benchmarks that show this, if you look around. Plus, the performance from either Phenom 9xxx quad or Six Core Phenom Black Edition overclocked is extremely excellent value for money.

Edit: Just realised for the Phenom Quad spec if you swap the Coolermaster case back to the Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black and then use the Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard you get a top quad Phenom, a crossfire motherboard, and an ATI 6950! Costs a bit more at £514.94 but I'd say that's worth it.

Reaper 392 · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:28

the third spec (or the edit widow made to it) will probably be the best.

since your going to be gaming dont even bother with the phenom X6, because most games are designed to run on 3 or 4 cores. the 5th and 6th cores hardly get used with 99.999% of games

Secret_Window · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:35

Reaper 392 said:
the third spec (or the edit widow made to it) will probably be the best.

since your going to be gaming dont even bother with the phenom X6, because most games are designed to run on 3 or 4 cores. the 5th and 6th cores hardly get used with 99.999% of games

I agree, but it depends what the OP does with his PC besides gaming, that will be where a Six Core will show its benefits - a great all round choice for gaming and other things. But, if he is just purely gaming then you're absolutely right that quad is the route to take, especially my edited 3rd spec option with the crossfire motherboard and unlockable ATI 6950.

mufcmark · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:43

If I was to go with the x4 955 then around June or July time lots of people will want to sell their am3 mobo so I could get a good deal on a motherboard in the MM.

In day to day use would I notice much difference in speed during boot up, word and firefox etc with a 2500k and 955.

Would I get a higher fps with

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £214.99 (Unlockable to an ATI 6970)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £104.99

or

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card Asus ATI Radeon HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99

I will buy a good psu for the system probably a xfx pro 650w with money from selling my cx400 and hd 5670.

Secret_Window · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:48

If you want to save money on the motherboard and wait, then do that. However, for the time being a crossfire motherboard that is the latest AM3 800 series for £100 isn't bad either, brand new.

I'm not sure what you mean about booting up and general use. Do you mean will you notice a difference going to quad core from a dual core? If so, then the answer is definitely yes. I went from a Core 2 Duo to a Core 2 Quad and everything felt faster and more responsive.

In terms of fps the better GPU will give you the bigger difference. The 2500k is currently the fastest quad, but with the ATI 6850 at its side I'm pretty sure it won't beat a Phenom Quad with an ATI 6950.

mufcmark · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:53

Is the i5 2500k faster for general use such as browsing and word than the 955 or is the biggest difference just in games/editing etc?

Secret_Window · 15 Mar 2011 at 21:03

mufcmark said:
Is the i5 2500k faster for general use such as browsing and word than the 955 or is the biggest difference just in games/editing etc?

I couldn't tell you for general use, as I have no experience. Looking at the performance charts on most benchmarks in games/editing the 2500k will be faster but only faster in games if paired with a fast GPU, otherwise pointless.

Reaper 392 · 15 Mar 2011 at 23:23

when your browsing the internet, using word, or any other non computer intensive process, your not going to notice any real difference between them. technically the intel will be faster, but by

you will notice the difference in the processors if you do any of the following:

- major photoshop work
- video editing
- graphical design
- animation work

other than that, your not going to find much difference.

games do need quick processors, but with most of them being console ports these days, a quad core phenom is good enough