Couple of spec checks

[marc69]

Hi guys,

My mate is needing a new system and he has about £400 to spend without VAT so let's call it £500 all in.

His main needs are gaming and he just needs the main components:

Motherboard
PSU
RAM
CPU

Don't worry too much about these
HDD
DVD RW Drive

I've put him two specs together, one is AMD one is using the new i3.

Any suggestions are appreciated

Intel - http://i50.tinypic.com/2cz9bgk.jpg

AMD - http://i50.tinypic.com/156fugw.jpg

Thanks

 

[Michael_10]

Would you plan on trying to unlock the extra cores on the Phenom X2 550?

 

[gib73]

Hi Marc,

I've only just assembled a very similar AMD build to the one listed and I'm very happy with. Haven't tried overclocking it (yet !) or unlocking the 2 extra cores.

I would advise shopping around for parts as I saved £150. Is this ok to say ? will remove if not.

I went for the Sapphire 5750 rather than 5770 but only because I set a budget of £100 for gfx.

You don't need the 600W PSU unless your are planning to add additional gfx cards. I went for the Corsair 450W HX for £43.16 + VAT which is more than adequate.

I went for Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 1333MHz TwinX Dual Channel (TW3X4G1333C9) which can be found for £76.50 + vat. There's not much DD3 in stock just now so I ended up buying more expensive rather than waiting.