• Notice regarding image hosts and attachments. See here.

£500 Barebones no OS games PC spec

Dave777

Dave777

Dave777

Associate
Joined
7 Jan 2009
Posts
268
Hi guys, am trying to build a PC for my son for xmas. He loves games such as Enemy Territory:Quake Wars and likes detail! Only at 1280x1024 at the moment, but will eventually be 1920x1080 when I upgrade my monitor so I want crossfire ability. The budget is only £500-550 but no OS (got win7 64bit full version) or monitor etc.

I have done this before but never AMD and they seem to have better budget stuff now. Thinking of a Phenom X3 720 BE, seems worth it over Phenom X2 550 BE but not sure about motherboard that will alow crossfire and some overclocking. Is the stock AMD cooler good enough or is there room in the budget for a better one. Flexible on case, 4Gb ram, 500Gb hard drive and decent PSU to allow crossfire/overclocking.

GPU 5770 seems best compromise at moment considering current resolution?

If any experts can help with my spec I would appreciate your efforts.

Cheers

Dave
 
Squeezing it all in comes in just over your £550, is this ok?

basket-4.png
 
Last edited:
Wow! That was quick, thanks 95thrifles lokks fantastic, glad I can get so close to my budget. Do my choices seem sensible then, with a decent upgrade path and good performance now?

Thanks again.

Dave
 
Yeah its pretty much spot on, good mobo, 790 chipset, supports xfire and PSU is enough to support a 2nd card too, the stock AMD cooler is fine so long as you dont want to OC too much, if you do it'd be worth investing in an aftermarket one, otherwise all good
 
One more quick question for you guys if I may? If I want a better cooler, is there a reasonably priced one to match the system?

Thanks

Dave
 
I have been planning this for some time, always harder on a budget! I wanted the upgradability and price/power balance right. Thanks for the input.

Maybe Overclockers should sell it for Christmas as an upgradable PC for families, chuck in a card reader.

Cheers

Dave
 
One more question! I see OC have the 955 BE on sale with Dirt 2. Would I gain much in games with this and is Dirt 2 any good? Also the motherboard seems excellent and may allow unlocking of the unused cores on X2 and X3 Phenoms, so could I get a X2 550 and get some free cores (maybe!)?

Cheers

Dave
 
Anyone done this successfully? Am still unsure whether to push the boat for a phenom 955+Dirt, X3 720 or X2 550+Dirt. Games at the moment mainly, but upgradability important especially if I can get cores for free!

Cheers

Dave
 
Just to let you know. I bought this as spevved by 95thrifles. Had to change the RAM for an even better due OS.

Built over xmas with Win7 x64, result....FAB

Managed to unlock all 4 cores in both and using AMD overdrive just OCed a bit to start with. Kids v happy as plays all their games maxed out on their 1280x1024 monitors.

So thanks guys. Any tips to get more OC etc?

Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom