Budget Ready For Bulldozer Build

jennidc

jennidc

jennidc

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Joined
27 Feb 2008
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Chaddesden, Derby
Just for kicks I've tried to put together the cheapest ready for bulldozer build I could that I would happily use until bd arrives.

I realise I could go with a Sempron to shave off £20 and hope its a dual core and clock the earth out of it but I think this is a bit more realistic (only just)

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus GeForce GTX 460 1024MB DirectCU GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £54.98
(£45.82) £54.98
(£45.82)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Cooler Master Elite 330 Midi Tower Case - Black £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156) £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £375.75
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £77.65
Total : £465.90

Any recommendations to lower the price further!!!
 
Obviously you dont want to spend too much on the CPU as you intend to write it off so to speak. That said an unlockable core such as the X2 555BE could be considered......you might luck out and the mobo could unlock it to an X4.

If you didnt want to spend more on the CPU I personally would opt for a 6870 gfx card in that budget range. It outperforms the 460 at BFBC2 which is a good sign for BF3 ;) Also I'd probably go with the Bequiet 530W PSU.

All in all that's still a pretty good launching platform for BD.
 
Thanks Jony27 thats a great tip I didn't know about those bundles.

I also forgot to add an optical drive - I always get Sony's:


Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus GeForce GTX 460 1024MB DirectCU GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £54.98
(£45.82) £54.98
(£45.82)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Cooler Master Elite 330 Midi Tower Case - Black £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156) £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £384.41
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £79.63
Total : £477.79
 
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I didn't know that - so glad I put this together now I'm learning all of the budget saving tips :cool:
 
Well it was worth mentioning then :)

I'd still opt for the 6870 that is on offer. Yes it's a little more but it outperforms the 460 and you get the games dirt 3 and shogun 2 included with the card ;)
 
6870

I agree about the 6870 for extra money its so worth it - I could keep dirt 3 and ebay shogun to try and keep to budget :cool:
 
You don't technically need the Heatsink. You can run stock then order a heatsink when you upgrade to BD. Then you can buy knowing what will work well with the CPU ;)
 
do you need this pc now?

if not then i would just hold off and save as much as you can, then decide what you want to buy.

theres always a chance that BD wont be that great, so buying an AM3+ mobo now would go to waste.

so, basically save as much as you can and buy the complete pc when BD comes out.
 
I'm at the selling stuff to pay for build stage at the minute.

So far I have got a £95 cheque from environphone for my old Iphone as I have upgraded to Android (Xperia Play - Amiga,SNES,NES,N64,MAME,PSX emulation all working with nice controls)

I also have £140 of numerous cheques I need to pay in the bank giving so far a total of £235 so still some way to go - next plan is to get myself selling unwanted Wii/PS3 and 360 games on the bay and see how much is left from that. I want to try and fund the whole build without using my wages - it makes it a bit more of a challenge and really makes you think do I really need component x as it requires me to work harder at making money. I earn enough that I could just go out and spend £500+ of my wages if required but now I've set this goal in my head it would be wrong to go back on it.

I've got a few old PC's and laptops that I plan to put on MM although I could not part with my q6600 its been too good to me ;)

I'm hoping that by the time I have the money BD will be out and I will be more able to know which motherboard gives the best bangs per buck
 
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buy what you can use on your current system and carry onto the next build if your doing it in stages.

eg:
case
psu
ssd
hdd
cooler(hopefully)
monitor
mouse/kb/speakers
 
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Jony27 said:
do you need this pc now?

if not then i would just hold off and save as much as you can, then decide what you want to buy.

theres always a chance that BD wont be that great, so buying an AM3+ mobo now would go to waste.

so, basically save as much as you can and buy the complete pc when BD comes out.
Click to expand...

I'd be seriously inclined to do this to be honest. I had the choice of waiting for bulldoser or just going sandybridge and I chose the later.

Personally I'd wait instead of buying an "old" tech motherboard which can support a newer chip as the launch of BD chips might also have motherboards with PCIe3, thunderbolt and other newer technologies.
 
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