£350 soft budget, used

Nudles

Nudles

Nudles

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Joined
9 Dec 2004
Posts
44
Location
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Hey guys,

Spent 600 on a new build about 4 years ago on OCUK, ended up selling it and buying a laptop as I started UNI, but I've been itching for something to game on ever since.

I am totally out of touch with what hardware is any good these days, so feel free to give me any advice you see fit.

I already have the peripherals (monitor, mouse, etcetera).

I'm looking for a base unit that can run the newest games as well as possible, but with this budget I clearly can't be too choosy :D. I would prefer as small a tower as possible, with the ability to upgrade the CPU and graphics card later on down the line.

So with a (softish...) £350 budget for used parts what would you recommend?
 
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Thanks Ripjaw, lol, not a bad size. Thanks everyone, given me some options to think about. I've noticed the lack of graphics card on this and other threads, I take it on-board graphics are not terrible like they were 5 years ago? Haha.

How much do these mobos offer in the way for potential upgrade of graphics card and CPU in future?
 
Trinity is designed for the AGP market. Its got a decent graphics, when both the CPU and RAM are overclocked its night on 7750 / 7770 performance.

There is no upgrade path with Trinity unfortunatley but your budget doesnt allow for a separate CPU and GPU setup.
 
From what i understand the new trinity is a cpu+gpu all in one, to offer good value for money and pretty decent performance for your averadge user/gamer.

With regards the mobo im pretty sure they'll only take the trinity cpu? Dont quote me i've been wrong more than right today lol. Personally i'd try save up a bit more mate and open your options a fair bit more, or just save up whilst you use this set up :)
 
 
Thanks Ripsaw and Bacon. Bacon, how does that build compare to the Trinity in terms of gaming performance?

And since it is a 1155 socket build, I'm guessing (totally guessing, : ) that it leaves open the path to upgrade up to i7 and better cards in future? Or would it be too much of a bottle neck with that mobo?

Ripjaw, I am considering spending a bit more. How much more I am not sure yet! But I am sure spending time around here will keep increasing that budget :(.
 
 
Nudles said:
Ripjaw, I am considering spending a bit more. How much more I am not sure yet! But I am sure spending time around here will keep increasing that budget :(.
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Would'nt be wrong lol, i've only been here about two weeks and have been spending more than initially anticipated lmao. You'll get there dude :)
 
Including RAM its £60 over ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £79.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z68A-D3H-GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 (MB-380-GI) £52
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £41.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £412.97 (includes shipping : £11.75).




Performance wise I'm not sure there would be much between them. The A10 is a decent CPU and a quad-core whereas the Intel CPU has a higher IPC but is dual core albiet with hyper threading.

Graphics once the A10 is overclocked and with the fast RAM I'd expect it to be as fast or at least very close.

The only advantage of the Intel setup is being able to put a second hand i5 / i7 in there.
 
412 + a few more quid on cables as the mobo is b-stock and sods law dictates haveing to run out and grab an odd cable here and there puts it a good 65 over budget :S BUT like bacon said it opens up a lot more options for upgrade down the road.

Decisions decisions :P

Not to blag your head even more but you could go with a AMD Phenom II X4 965 build for around 400 and it'd blow the i3 away as far as im concerned. Im useing a poxy athalon ii x4 640 atm and everything im playing is either maxed out or ultra and i spent pennies over 400 on mine
 
Ripjaw said:
Not to blag your head even more but you could go with a AMD Phenom II X4 965 build for around 400 and it'd blow the i3 away as far as im concerned. Im useing a poxy athalon ii x4 640 atm and everything im playing is either maxed out or ultra and i spent pennies over 400 on mine
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I agree with this, my Phenom not clocked runs everything very smooth and I paid pennies for my build. Case was more expensive than the Mobo & CPU put together!
 
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