Budget upgrade

crhodes

crhodes

crhodes

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30 Aug 2012
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Hi there, looking to upgrade my pc and thought I would seek some advice from the well informed people on these forums

I have around £200-250 to spend on a mobo, ram and cpu, not a lot I know but it will still make a relatively solid pc from the components i already have, I have been looking at the Asus M5A97 PRO and a FX 4100 cpu, although the ASrock 970 extreme 4 looks to be a promising board for the money, and I am not sure as to whether a Phenom 965 will benefit me more also.

I have an Asus 6870 gpu already, if that will affect the choice the parts im looking to buy, and it will mainly be used for gaming

any advice will be appreciated, thanks!
 
Doomedspeed said:
If your not bothered about overclocking you can get this:

Much, MUCH better than the AMD spec. MUCH

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £31.19
Total : £260.57 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Click to expand...
That's pretty expensive for a non-K version i5 2500...I think it would make much more sense to get a i5 3570K retail for just £10 more...
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-404-IN

Or get a 2nd hand i5 2500K for around £120, a decent £80 Z77 motherboard such as the Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77, and 2x8GB DDR3 1,600MHz memory for £35...and may be £25 on a CPU cooler. That only comes to a total of £235/£260. Would have to be crazy to take ANY AMD platform over this.
 
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that is a little to expensive, with a 4100, Asus M5A97 pro and ram, the cost is much closer to the £200 mark, and unfortunately im on a strict budget :{
 
Marine-RX179 said:
Or get a 2nd hand i5 2500K for around £120, £80 Z77 motherboard, and 2x8GB DDR3 1,600MHz memory for £35...and may be £25 on a CPU cooler. That only comes to a total of £235/£260.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind going second hand, this is your best option. Z68 motherboards will be cheaper.

2500k ~ £120
Z68 Motherboard ~ £50
RAM: ~ £30
CPU cooler: ~£20

= ~£220

That is so much better than the AMD route.
 
crhodes said:
that is a little to expensive, with a 4100, Asus M5A97 pro and ram, the cost is much closer to the £200 mark, and unfortunately im on a strict budget :{
Click to expand...
Well, I really think you should stretch the budget to at less £235 and go down the 2nd hand i5 2500K path that I mentioned. It is a VERY bad idea to down down the AMD party, as between £200 AMD and £250 Intel, for the AMD you are effectively paying 80% money for less than 50% gaming performance of comparing to the Intel's offering...

There's nothing wrong with going for 2nd CPU...that are extremely rare to go wrong, unlike graphic cards (which to be fair mostly is the onboard memory that fails rather than the GPU).
 
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hm, I have always thought of going down the intel route, it just seems hard to work an intel rig around a budget, although your proposition seems well, and new Z77 motherboards do seem to be cheaper than the Z68 option, although im new to Intel builds so im not entirely sure on what board will be best, do you have a board in mind in which i can work around my budget?

thanks for the help once again guys :}
 
Idleman said:
If this is just for gaming, then i would go 2120, the Z77 mobo will allow you a better upgrade path.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OcUK Value 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £26.99
Total : £213.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Click to expand...
Just to add the Ivybridge i3 should be out on the 2nd Sep if no more delay.
 
Idleman said:
If this is just for gaming, then i would go 2120, the Z77 mobo will allow you a better upgrade path.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x OcUK Value 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £26.99
Total : £213.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Click to expand...

Think I will go for this then, im not entirely sure on the performance differences with intel/ amd (If one of you would be kind enough to explain ;) it would be much appreciated)

and do you know if you Ivy Bridge i3 will be same price

thank you
 
crhodes said:
Think I will go for this then, im not entirely sure on the performance differences with intel/ amd (If one of you would be kind enough to explain ;) it would be much appreciated)

and do you know if you Ivy Bridge i3 will be same price

thank you
Click to expand...

For some reasom i can`t get on the anandtech website to give you a comparison. But, in gaming terms the Intel chip is better.
 
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