Building an i5

bushmins

bushmins

bushmins

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Joined
30 Aug 2006
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Im building an i5 PC, it was going to be an i7 but the budget i have to work with wont be enough to spend on an i7.

I noticed the i5 has Socket LGA1156, is this going to be much less future proof than the 1366? Seems the 1156 socket is just for i5.

The computer will most likely have a 460 and 6 gig of RAM.

Not got a clue about AMD so thats the only reason i have not thought of making such a build.

Budget for the MB is about £80. RAM seems to be about £150 (could do with being cheaper) as does the GPU.

They will be wanting to play games on this computer, such as Guild Wars 2 and the like.

I was all set with what i wanted to buy when it was i7 but now it will be i5 im a bit stuck.
 
1156 is by no means future proof. It's end of line at the end of the year. 1366 is the more future proof option, but if you don't have the budget well..not much you can do.
 
 
You don't want 6Gb of ram for an i5, you should buy ram in either 4gb or 8gb sets as LGA 1156 is dual channel for memory whereas LGA1366 is triple channel (1 channel each for each 2Gb stick hence why you see 6gb kits).

LGA1156 is being replaced with LGA1155 at the end of the year so it won’t be future proof for very long. Then again it depends on how you long you plan to keep this PC, if it’s for 3 years or more buy now and enjoy as in 3 years time Intel will have no doubt another CPU socket on the way.
 
Socket 1156 and AM3 use dual channel not triple channel so you're looking at 4GB or 8GB of RAM. 1156 is getting canned very soon, so not future proof at all. RAM should set you back ~£90 ish for a dual channel 4GB kit.

I'm kind of inclined to recommend you something like this for gaming:

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - OCZ Reaper Low-Latency 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 12800C6 (1600MHz) Dual-Channel
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard

For about £280, then whatever gfx you can afford after that.
 
Great thanks for the quick replys. To be honest i was hoping someone would put up an AMD build so i could dive a bit deeper into it all. :)
This ones not for me, but i hate to make something that i wouldnt want myself. I didnt know that 1156 was going out at the end of the year, ill have to think on that.
Also thanks for the info about tri channel i had not picked that up while reading other threads.

I am still a little tempted with 1156 as its (like Freddie said) still future proof for a few years, and much cheaper than i7.

What i am most worried about is getting a motherboard that wont run a 460 at its best. What do i need to look for on motherboard specs when looking to fully use a 460? i.e something to do with piplines/buses etc..?
 
bushmins said:
What i am most worried about is getting a motherboard that wont run a 460 at its best. What do i need to look for on motherboard specs when looking to fully use a 460? i.e something to do with piplines/buses etc..?
Click to expand...

PCI-E 16x. If you ever plan on SLI then 2 of those, and not an AMD setup.
 
Ive come up with these parts so far. Can someone recommend me a motherboard, will be doing a small about of cpu overclocking but nothing intence.

Anyone see anything i should re think?

Regarding cpu heat sink; will an arctic freezer 7 fit? I used for my gigabyte DS3 on a c2d.

comp.jpg
 
bushmins said:
Ive come up with these parts so far. Can someone recommend me a motherboard, will be doing a small about of cpu overclocking but nothing intence.

Anyone see anything i should re think?

Regarding cpu heat sink; will an arctic freezer 7 fit? I used for my gigabyte DS3 on a c2d.

comp.jpg
Click to expand...

Pretty decent build tbh
 
Most people would probably recommend going with either Corsair or G.Skill RAM instead of OCZ Gold, though reports suggest that the early batch of faulty and horrendous RAM from that series have been replaced and that newer batches do not suffer the same problems. Still, it might be worth having a look at the competition. Or just get whatever latency and speed you want depending on what sale is going on the day or the week of the purchase.

Also, regarding the motherboard, just keep in mind that the earlier suggestion was for a microboard. Depending on your wants and preferences for building, a full board might suit you better. As long as you are only interested in a single GPU, which board you settle on should not make altogether too much of a difference, just read the reviews and settle on something within your budget that suit your needs for PCI slots and SATAs.

And the perennial favourite HD for most forumgoers; The Samsung F3. The Seagate is probably fine, I have no experience with it, but the Samsung is fast. And not much more expensive.
 
Any ideas on a motherboard? Im really trying to work it out but not completly confident ill make the correct choice.
Something at about £80 or less that will still use the fastest ddr3 RAM and the 460.
Not so interested in sli. Overclocking, yes but not a great deal.
 
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