£350 gaming build

Powick

Powick

Powick

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10 Feb 2014
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Hi all

I'm new to this forum but looking to upgrade my system to the tune of £350.

I'm looking for a new MB, CPU, RAM, 1Tb hard disk that will be good for 3D graphics, rendering, gaming etc...

From earlier posts I like the look of the following:
AMD Kaveri 7700K 12 Compute Core APU w/ Radeon R7 Graphics (4 CPU + 8 GPU Compute Cores) - Retail

I'm also looking to keep my existing hardware so need to know if the MB will still support them:
-Radeon HD7700 pci-e
-Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Edition sound card and front loading pre-amp
-550W Powercool Extreme '80 plus' modular PSU

Will the R7 be crossfire compatible with my Radeon card?

On another note I'm a little nervous about putting together the MB and CPU for obvious reasons - so is there any pre-assembly on offer?

Sorry for all the questions but hope you guys can help.

Thanks

Rich P

Edit - I'm also looking to switch to a 22" led monitor for an extra £100.
 
Welcome to the forum:)

What is your current Case? That PSU that you have well let put is this way, rubbish. Also putting a CPU in your motherboard is very easy I only build my PC back in November and you simply just gently put it in the socket and this is coming from a 15 year old. Is the budget £450 with a monitor? One more question what is your full PC spec?
 
Welcome to the forum, Powick. :)

1. Only the R7 240 and R7 250 cards are supported for XFire with Kaveri APUs.

2. If you'll be using a (different) discrete GPU, an Intel i3 or AMD Piledriver, for less cost, is recommended as likely to give you superior performance than the Kaveri.

3. Your HD7770 card should work on any Intel/AMD motherboard with a PCI-E slot.

4. The on-board sound on most motherboards today will probably be as good as, or better than, your sound-card (as it has 2005 technology). Not that I know for sure, but on-board sound has improved a lot to the point that only those who want as close to near-perfection sound-wise even bother buying sound cards anymore. In any case, as long as the motherboard you choose has a PCI slot that won't be blocked, you'll be able to run it.
 
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ExtremeIC3cream said:
Welcome to the forum:)

What is your current Case? That PSU that you have well let put is this way, rubbish. Also putting a CPU in your motherboard is very easy I only build my PC back in November and you simply just gently put it in the socket and this is coming from a 15 year old. Is the budget £450 with a monitor? One more question what is your full PC spec?
Click to expand...

Thanks Extreme - now I do feel old! I was mainly worried with the whole thermal paste cooler scenario (have had bad experiences in the past).

Current case is an atx tower build by pc-specialist some years back but it's since been fitted with arctic coolers the afore mentioned PSU last year.
Current specs are woeful TBH:
Asus A8Ne MB
4GB DDR3 RAM
64bit Athlon XP4400+ CPU

Couldn't boil a kettle this with current kit!

Would be willing to part with extra for better PSU though.

Danny75 said:
Welcome to the forum, Powick. :)

1. Only the R7 240 and R7 250 cards are supported for XFire with Kaveri APUs.

2. If you'll be using a (different) discrete GPU, an Intel i3 or AMD Piledriver, for less cost, is recommended as likely to give you superior performance than the Kaveri.

3. Your HD7770 card should work on any Intel/AMD motherboard with a PCI-E slot.

4. The on-board sound on most motherboards today will probably be as good as, or better than, your sound-card (as it has 2005 technology). Not that I know for sure, but on-board sound has improved a lot to the point that only those who want as close to near-perfection sound-wise even bother buying sound cards anymore. In any case, as long as the motherboard you choose has a PCI slot that won't be blocked, you'll be able to run it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Danny
If I get better bang for my buck then that's the route I'll take.

So off the back of both your recommendations I guess I'd be looking for the following for around the £450- £500 mark including LED monitor:
Motherboard that can support just the HD7700
CPU
RAM
1TB HD
PSU
All to fit in existing ATX case

Any further advice and links would be appreciated - Thanks guys
 
Without overclocking:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4430 3.00GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £139.99
1 x AOC E2250SWDAK 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Gigabyte H87-HD3 Intel H87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £80.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 450W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £481.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).



With Overclocking:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £167.99
1 x AOC E2250SWDAK 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard - FREE Alpenfohn Civetta Cooler!! £86.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 450W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £515.53 (includes shipping : £8.00).



The processor in the 2nd build is oem so there is a one year warranty vs the the 3 year warranty in the 1st build. The 2nd build also come with a free cooler.
 
Hi Rich, Paul here.

Just to mix things up, larger monitor and SSD. I can sort you out with an aftermarket cooler if you decide you want to overclock.

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2450 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT120M500SSD1) £65.99
1 x MSI 970A-G46 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £64.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 450W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £510.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
nutsnut said:
Hi Rich, Paul here.

Just to mix things up, larger monitor and SSD. I can sort you out with an aftermarket cooler if you decide you want to overclock.

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2450 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT120M500SSD1) £65.99
1 x MSI 970A-G46 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £64.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 450W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £510.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

Thanks Paul. Really liking those specs esp the piledriver and 24" monitor! Assuming the addition of ssd benefits the os? Think I'll go with this setup but thx to everyone else. Much appreciated.

Edit: What kind of cooling system did you have in mind and what's the damage?
 
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