£400 build

nutsnut · 5 Dec 2011 at 21:10

Hi Forum dwellers.

Looking for a new build for general use as well as some gaming.

Current spec is Q6600 as 3.0ghz
Nvidia GTX 260
4gig Corsair XMS2 ram
Corsair 620watt PSU.
OCZ SSD
24inch IPS Full HD monitor
Got my own Win 7 disc
The bad bit, its all inside a Dell XPS 420.

I've got £400 pound to spend on a new build. Would it be best to buy a socket 775 board and case and keep the existing Q6600, Ram and drives and buy a new high end card. Or would it be best to buy a an I3/15 board, new ram and keep the current GPU.

If anyone want to put me a build together i'd appreciate it.

95thrifles · 5 Dec 2011 at 21:13

Use current GPU (for now), PSU HDDs etc and get new case + core components

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £69.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £22.99
Total : £372.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Then when you can upgrade the GPU later

beejjacobs · 5 Dec 2011 at 21:46

95thrifles said:
Use current GPU (for now), PSU HDDs etc and get new case + core components

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £69.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £22.99
Total : £372.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Then when you can upgrade the GPU later

Silly not to go for 8GB of RAM as it's so cheap.

nutsnut · 5 Dec 2011 at 22:31

yeah, i will go to 8 gig of ram. Is that motherboard a good overclocker as there us no reviews on it.

Might sell my current pc with the original card, HDD and psu. might be able to get the funds up to 550 then.

beejjacobs · 6 Dec 2011 at 01:22

Ignore

beejjacobs · 6 Dec 2011 at 01:23

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...herboards/gigabyte-ga-z68ap-d3-1026263/review
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2011/10/11/gigabyte-ga-z68ap-d3-review/1

I can't say anything about its overclocking capabilities but I build a PC with one today and they're good for the price

These reviews seem to suggest it will overclock well too, a very good price and a good buy IMO

fowler002 · 6 Dec 2011 at 01:55

95thrifles said:
Use current GPU (for now), PSU HDDs etc and get new case + core components

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £69.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £22.99
Total : £372.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Then when you can upgrade the GPU later

ram http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

would want a 3rd party cooler for overclocking, yes the intel fan allows some but better cooling/noise performance with a 3rd party cooler(unless you buy some cheap and not so chearful one which aren't any better/in some case worse than the intel reference).

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395 popular, good cooling and wouldn't break the bank.

case wise its a personal choice but http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-060-CS

or if that takes your budget too far maybe the 400r version instead?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-056-CS&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=