Budget upgrade £300 - What would you do?

b0dyr0ck2006

b0dyr0ck2006

b0dyr0ck2006

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Joined
29 Aug 2012
Posts
47
Location
UK
Hi guys and girls, I'm looking for a little advice. I'll save you the background story but needless to say I wish to upgrade what I have and have a budget of £300 max. Based in the UK.

MY current specs are:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Motherboard: Gigabyte M68M-S2P
Ram: DDR2 4GB - 2x 2GB Kingston PC2-5300
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTS450 1GB
PSU: Corsair TX 650w
HDD: 2x 500GB Seagate SATA

I'm running windows 7 64bit ultimate and would like to be able to play some of the newer games, which I'm finding my old CPU it's struggling to do. I also play with a bit of video editing and music creation and general basic coding etc. this is not just my gaming/work rig but also my HTPC so need it to run blu-ray smoothly and ideally optical audio to my receiver.

So with a budget of £300 what would you do?

Thanks
 
Maybe something like this. Re-use your HDDs, PSU and GFX card. And maybe consider upgrading your graphics card in the near future.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) £43.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £31.19
Total : £261.55 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Or if you need more graphics power.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showdown PC Games £143.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £38.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £31.19
Total : £315.55 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 
+1 to this.

Will make the most noticable difference.

GTS450 aint too bad get a 7850 at a later date when you can afford a bit more.

matt1 said:
Maybe something like this. Re-use your HDDs, PSU and GFX card. And maybe consider upgrading your graphics card in the near future.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) £43.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £31.19
Total : £261.55 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Click to expand...
 
I had come up with this set up:

1 x AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8120@8150 Black Edition 3.60Ghz (Socket AM3+) Processor - **£20 Cashback** £134.99

1 x Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit £38.65

1 x ASUS AM3+ SABERTOOTH 990FX S/L £121.97

TOTAL £295.61
 
b0dyr0ck2006 said:
I had come up with this set up:

1 x AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8120@8150 Black Edition 3.60Ghz (Socket AM3+) Processor - **£20 Cashback** £134.99

1 x Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit £38.65

1 x ASUS AM3+ SABERTOOTH 990FX S/L £121.97

TOTAL £295.61
Click to expand...

don't bother with BD its not as good as an intel I3 for 90% of tasks.
 
I've always been an AMD man but I have been out of the game for a few years after the little one arrived. What are the advantages of Intel over AMD now, as it seems popular?
 
I'm not planning on upgrading for a while though. So if I future proof (yeah right) my CPU and upgrade my GPU when I get some more cash it would balance back out. I need the upgrade to last a few years.

My last upgrade was motherboard and GPU as I was still using AGP, as I said well behind.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £75.98
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F60GB3A) £52.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £28.79
Total : £337.15 (includes shipping : £9.50).



A bit over budget, but worth it with the SSD.

I wouldn't bother getting I7, it's a lot more ££ for a little more performance.

Upgrade the GPU at a later date.

Power supply should be ample for this too.

Use the SSD for Windows and your other drives for storing data/games
 
bledd. said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £75.98
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F60GB3A) £52.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £28.79
Total : £337.15 (includes shipping : £9.50).



A bit over budget, but worth it with the SSD.

I wouldn't bother getting I7, it's a lot more ££ for a little more performance.

Upgrade the GPU at a later date.

Power supply should be ample for this too.

Use the SSD for Windows and your other drives for storing data/games
Click to expand...

I`d still go this and get an ssd later.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OcUK Value 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £26.99
Total : £303.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).
Click to expand...
 
That's my thinking.

Thanks for the help so far everyone, we are getting there.

i5 seems to be the way forward, So how do I chose an appropriate Motherboard? Preferably with optical out for my receiver.
 
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