Best CPU+GPU combination for £200-£250

Audigex

Audigex

Audigex

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Joined
3 Feb 2009
Posts
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Hey guys, I'm having another re-think on my upcoming build (unfortunately since I'm waiting for the free shipping and member's market to see if I can grab a bargain on a few items, I've re-evaluated a few times... on the plus side the budget has gone up slightly)

Basically my rig looks like:

Asus P5QL Pro at £75
Cooler Master 590/Antec 300/CM690 giving me a range of options £45-£55
Kingston/OCZ 4GB (2x2gb) or whatever other 2x2gb kit is on offer at the time for £40 ish
A samsung F1 250/320GB or similar at about £40
Any £15 DVD drive
Cooler Master Real Power 520W modular £68

That gives me a total of £300 give or take a fiver.

An E5200 and HD4830 bring me up to £450, as the lowest system I'd like
What I'd like is further combinations up to £550, while I finalise my budget.

Note: I'd be willing to upgrade the board, but that would have to come out of the total. So a £90 board would knock £15 off the amount available for the CPU+GPU. I'd also like to stick with Asus as they seem to be decent rookie boards.

E8400 + HD4850/E8500 + HD4830 is the absolute top at £560 total - depending on whether I put a little more focus on CPU or GPU
If I decide to go for more gaming-oriented: E5300 and HD4870 at £530 although this seems to be compromising on the CPU.

In all, I'm getting very stuck with the possible combinations (of which there are about 16-20 total) of E5200, E5300, E7400, E7500, E8400, E8500 and HD4830/50/70 as the CPU/GPUs in range, respectively. I'd really appreciate some advice on both a £500 and a £550 (so therefore £200 and £250 for the two parts) GPU and CPU combo.

Ignore the monitor, keyboard+mouse, speakers, webcam and OS; they're all sorted.

For gaming/general use including video ripping/encoding.
 
what res will you be using.? But here's my go

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
CP-271-IN_60.jpg
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.80GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £113.84
(£98.99) £113.84
(£98.99)
GX-127-XF_60.jpg
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4850 "XXX Edition" 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £99.99
(£86.95) £99.99
(£86.95)
MB-128-GI_60.jpg
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3P Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £94.99
(£82.60) £94.99
(£82.60)
CA-149-CM_60.jpg
Coolermaster Real Power 620w Modular Power Supply £79.98
(£69.55) £79.98
(£69.55)
HD-057-SA_60.jpg
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £40.24
(£34.99) £40.24
(£34.99)
MY-149-OC_60.jpg
OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel (OCZ2G10664GK) £33.99
(£29.56) £33.99
(£29.56)
HS-000-TQ_60.jpg
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/LGA775) £31.99
(£27.82) £31.99
(£27.82)
CA-160-CM_60.jpg
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black (No PSU) £29.99
(£26.08) £29.99
(£26.08)
CD-090-LG_60.jpg
LG GH22NS40 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99
(£16.51) £18.99
(£16.51)
FG-000-XI_60.jpg
Xilence XPF120R Red Wing 120mm Quiet Fan £6.89
(£5.99) £6.89
(£5.99) Sub Total : £479.04 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £73.73 Total : £552.27
 
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Sorry, I meant to mention that I really wanted to keep the majority of the components in that setup. I really don't want to drop the case to a 335 etc.

I just need some advice on the CPU and GPU - and perhaps the Mobo if there's one significantly better (preferably asus) for a little more (or less). Generally leaning toward Intel and ATI - although I'm not totally against AMD or nVidia, I don't need to complicate it even more :)

Resolution will be 1680x1050 on a 22" over DVI

Edit: I'll also be adding extra case fans/CPU cooler later, I need to keep inital costs down. Naturally if there's an OEM CPU and after market cooler available for similar pricing I won't turn it down.
 
Audigex said:
Sorry, I meant to mention that I really wanted to keep the majority of the components in that setup. I really don't want to drop the case to a 335 etc.

I just need some advice on the CPU and GPU - and perhaps the Mobo if there's one significantly better (preferably asus) for a little more (or less). Generally leaning toward Intel and ATI - although I'm not totally against AMD or nVidia, I don't need to complicate it even more :)

Resolution will be 1680x1050 on a 22" over DVI

Edit: I'll also be adding extra case fans/CPU cooler later, I need to keep inital costs down. Naturally if there's an OEM CPU and after market cooler available for similar pricing I won't turn it down.
Click to expand...

Im confused :o

what do you want.? and what do you have, keep things simples
 
AMD alternative GFX and CPU combo

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail


This Week Only Offer
was £166.74 inc VAT
£152.98 inc VAT


AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail


£120.74 inc VAT
£104.99 ex VAT
 
Well with that you'd need to spec him a new board as well KingZeddy!

I'd say go for an E8400 and a HD4850. As far as I can tell that'd be best for you at the moment. The board you chose is a pretty good one and should do you fine :)
 
KiingZeddy - any mainboard recommendation to go with that? £80-100 (£80 preferably)

------
Kenny - sorry, I tend to over-clarify to the point where it gets more confusing.

I don't HAVE anything other than the monitor, keyboard/mouse and speakers. What I mean is that I've chosen the rest of the build with components that I'm happy with - unless there's a compelling reason I won't change them:
me said:
Asus P5QL Pro at £75
Cooler Master 590/Antec 300/CM690 giving me a range of options £45-£55
Kingston/OCZ 4GB (2x2gb) or whatever other 2x2gb kit is on offer at the time for £40 ish
A samsung F1 250/320GB or similar at about £40
Any £15 DVD drive
Cooler Master Real Power 520W modular £68
Click to expand...
Obviously a few are fairly generic. What I don't want to do is change the case or add any other components. All I need is a few recommendations for CPU and GPU combinations for £200-250 or within that range or, if recommending an AMD setup, a CPU/GPU/Mainboard combination for £275-£325. (Note, an intel CPU/GPU/Mainboard setup for this range would work too, if it's worth changing the Asus)

------
Eddy: Thanks, if I get the top end of the budget that's likely what I'll go for although I'm open to suggestions. Likewise if it's the bottom end I'll go for the E5200 and 4830. What I really need are
a) Alternatives to the E5200 and HD4830 for the same price (£150 total)
b) Alternatives to the E8400 and HD4850 (£250 total)
c) Other recommendations in the range in between. Mainly the £200-£250 area mentioned.

It gets complicated, the problem being that I have at least £450, and up to £550, but I have no idea what the final amount will be. That's why I'm asking for various combinations within the range, so I can get the best possible for my final budget.
 
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KingZeddy said:
This Week Only Offer
was £166.74 inc VAT

£120.74 inc VAT
Click to expand...
Um, thats £287.

For £200 - £250, the E5200 + Nvidia 260 takes a lot of beating at £210. I'd go for this over AMD 720 + Nvidia 250/ATI 4850 = £220.

AM2+ board, or cheap 775. Both about as equally dead end. AM3 offers no better performance, only the distinct gamble that it might offer some worthwhile future proofing. We dont even know for sure its going to be good for AMD 32nm. You dont even know that the DDR3 you are buying wont be the next DD2 4200.

2nd hand P35 boards are too tantalising. But if you are set on buying new, that £95 P45 board mentioned above is what I'd go for /w E5200 and GTX 260.
 
Worth going over budget a little for the SLI: with memory support up to 1600

MSI 790GX-G65 AMD 790GX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard


£114.99 inc VAT
 
AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz/ Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P/ Corsair XMS3 DHX 4GB DDR3 1600C9DHX Bundle.


£316.22 inc VAT

plus you GFX card
 
Kenny - that looks great for filling the halfway mark, cheers :-)

KingZeddy - I'm not really interested in SLI, it just doesn't offer enough performance for the outlay. Also, that Phenom II bundle plus a graphics card goes well above budget. That E8400 with HD4850 really is the absolute max.

JTrickle - I realise 775 is dead end, but i7 is well out of range and AM3 is probably out of reach too - besides the fact current AM3 boards aren't much more future proof. Again, your £95 board, E5200 and a 260 goes outside budget. It really is an absolute maximum at £260 all told, and I don't want to cut back anywhere; I'm already pretty much at minimum as it is. I'll bear it in mind as a "just possible", I guess a 260 is just cheaper(?) than a 4870 so I might be able to squeeze the board in, but I think I'd be better off with the slightly better GPU to start with. (Naturally, opinion)

By the time I need more performance than a 775 can offer I'll hopefully be able to shell out £350 for similar level components at the time. Probably upgrading to a 2nd hand quad at some point as an interim.

Apologies if I sound pedantic, I'm just trying to be specific and get the best I can for my money without compromising anything.
 
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