Budget PC Spec

siclilmonkey · 1 Dec 2010 at 10:20

Hey

I need to build my Uncle a PC for Christmas. £300 is the budget and it will be used for games.

all i need is

CPU - Stock cooler should be fine
MOBO -
RAM -
PSU -
GFX -

This is what iv come up with so far.

Intel I3 build

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.99
Intel Pentium Dual-Core G6950 2.80GHz (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £70.49
Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard £59.98
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £58.74
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £36.99

Total : £337.94

Intel C2d build

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.99
Corsair Value Select 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C4 667MHz Dual Channel Kit £67.99
Retail Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5500 LGA775 2.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £49.98
Asus P5QPL-AM Intel G41 (Socket 775) DDR2 microATX Motherboard £39.99
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £36.99

Total : £306.69

AMD Build

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.99
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £58.74
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £36.99
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £59.98
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £41.99

Total : £303.57

What would you recomend?

95thrifles · 1 Dec 2010 at 10:24

Id lean the AMD route if I were you

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £75.19
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £48.99
Total: £124.17

a fiver less and youre getting quad core, grnated mobo is not quite as good but both are EOL sockets now anyway with Bulldozer/Sandybridge on the horizon, so as long as it does what you want it to now thats all that matters

Tomcat825 · 1 Dec 2010 at 10:42

Isn't the lower spec mobo/ un OC'd cpu going to bottleneck the 5770? You could save some money on the GPU and get a lower spec one but get slightly better elsewhere I imagine.

I'm sure some of the people on here could suggest a good replacement or even shoot my suggestion down. =)

95thrifles · 1 Dec 2010 at 10:45

Tomcat825 said:
Isn't the lower spec mobo/ un OC'd cpu going to bottleneck the 5770? You could save some money on the GPU and get a lower spec one but get slightly better elsewhere I imagine.

In a word, No
Never heard of a mobo bottlenecking a gfx card (unless it was dual gfx and running 2nd lane at less than x16)
And either CPU should still match up nicely with the 5770, though the Athlon will be better for games which are coded for more than 2 cores

jbloggs · 1 Dec 2010 at 11:20

I would be inclind to go for the Corsair CX 400w PSU rather than the newer CX 430...

Tomcat825 · 1 Dec 2010 at 11:24

95thrifles said:
In a word, No

Ok, now I know.

siclilmonkey · 1 Dec 2010 at 13:00

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.99
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £58.74
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £36.99
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £75.19
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £48.99

£325.77

Thats what im looking at atm any other changes?

95thrifles · 1 Dec 2010 at 13:11

Looks good, but if you can afford a few quid more then this PSU is more efficient/quieter etc, but I know youre already over budget so if not dont worry, the corsair will be fine

siclilmonkey · 2 Dec 2010 at 14:00

Gona Be ordering this tonight.

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.99
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £58.74
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £36.99
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £75.19
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £48.99

£325.77

All look ok?

Thanks

SuperBOB · 2 Dec 2010 at 14:33

Yeah - dont plug too much more onto the motherboard though.

Cookeh · 2 Dec 2010 at 17:40

siclilmonkey said:
Gona Be ordering this tonight.

HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.99
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £58.74
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £36.99
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £75.19
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £48.99

£325.77

All look ok?

Thanks

Looks good, should easily be sufficient - assume he isn't a massive enthusiast gamer based on that budget

siclilmonkey · 3 Dec 2010 at 09:58

thanks for the help will be ordering tonight