CPU Mobo RAM GPU for ~£400? :)

LadFromWales · 5 Dec 2012 at 13:44

Hey guys,

I have a system here which spends it's life running either Chrome, Minecraft or The Sims 3, it's getting on a bit now and is becoming unstable while gaming, usually crashing to desktop. It's an Opteron 165 (iirc) at 2.5GHz in a DFI NF4 mobo with dead active chipset cooler with ATi X1950 gpu. Monitor is at 1920x1080 which brings down the framerates with the above games of course.

Am looking to replace the CPU, motherboard, RAM and GPU, and likely the PSU too. It's in a Lian-Li case which I can probably keep using.

This is what I have in mind atm:-

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3 & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £161.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seasonic S12II 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £29.99
2 x Akasa AK-FN058 Apache Black Super Silent 120mm Fan - 4 Pin PWM £8.48 (£16.96)
Total : £433.91 (includes shipping : FREE).

Overclocking isn't important as cost at the moment, though the ability to drop in an unlocked CPU at a later date to extend the life of the other components would be nice.
The case will definitely need new fans, though if a case with quiet fans included costs about the same i'll go that route!

Any ideas/tips appreciated

Bacon? · 5 Dec 2012 at 13:53

Grab a 2GB 7850, they are about £155. Also the 7850 only uses 1 x PCI 6/8 pin so a good 400W will be fine. 7950's however use 2 of those cables.

LadFromWales · 5 Dec 2012 at 14:13

Updated OP with 2GB card and a pair of fans for case.

How about the other components? Really looking for the most bang for buck for around £400~, at this time of year I can't stretch to more! Would an Intel G860 and cheaper motherboard hurt gaming performance too much? If it will, is the selected board with Z77 the best to go for or would something else be better? I don't want to have to shell out again on this PC for a while, but if/when I need to, the ability to just drop in a faster cpu and/or crossfire would be nice

Bacon? · 5 Dec 2012 at 14:15

If you want CF you would need a better board and PSU really.
If you want to save some money you can drop the processor down to a G860. It will play most games fine but I expect in less than a year it will start showing its age.
The only real difference between the Pents and the i3's to be fair are i3's have HT support and are clicked higher, also they use Ivy architecture.

LadFromWales · 5 Dec 2012 at 14:21

Will leave it at i3 then, i5 probably too much :cool:

What sort of board and PSU would we be looking at for CF? If it pushes costs way above my budget I'll just have to forget about having CF in the future :mad:

If that is the case, is the board in OP the best to go for? I like the Gigabyte as it doesn't have Realtek LAN but am wondering if it's too much/not enough! I'm out of the loop hah, doesn't take long! I knew what was what when I built my i7 IB machine on a larger budget, but getting stuff for around £400 is totally different