CPU/Mobo/RAM Upgrade for £250ish

SiriusB

SiriusB

SiriusB

Soldato
Joined
16 Dec 2005
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Manchester
As per the title, I need a CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade for my brother's PC. His ancient Athlon 64 system has finally given up the ghost [though admittedly it was helped along by his previous PSU blowing up! :p].

We already have a case, HDD, PSU and GPU. I just need the above.

I am open to either AMD or Intel. Overclock ability is not a concern, though this machine will need to last him a good while, so no wimpy CPUs! He will be using it for browsing and email, watching TV/DVD and some light gaming. Nothing special.

I was thinking along the lines of an i5 system as it should last a long time. Remember, the budget is £250, though it can go a tad higher if need be.

Your thoughts, gentlemen!
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £129.24
(£109.99) £129.24
(£109.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £69.99
(£59.57) £69.99
(£59.57)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £65.99
(£56.16) £65.99
(£56.16)
Sub Total : £225.72
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.00
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £41.08
Total : £275.80

=================================================================

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £75.19
(£63.99) £75.19
(£63.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £69.99
(£59.57) £69.99
(£59.57)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £65.99
(£56.16) £65.99
(£56.16)
Sub Total : £179.72
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £33.11
Total : £222.33
 
With an Athlon II x3 @ stock and a GTX460, everything I play is smooth as silk at 1680 rez.

I know people like to buy expensive CPUs and overclock them to 4Ghz here, but I'd personally go with Stulid's 2nd spec (the Athlon) and save a bit of money.
 
Tried to sneak a BluRay player in there :p

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
(£63.99) £75.19

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard
(£59.57) £69.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)
(£56.16) £65.99

Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATAII Optical Drive - OEM Black
(£39.95) £46.94

Sub Total : £219.67
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £40.10
Total : £269.27
 
Until/ unless games start coming on Blue Ray I wouldn't bother with a PC BD drive... For file storage I'd rather have an external HDD, NAS, or large flash drive.
 
FoxEye said:
Until/ unless games start coming on Blue Ray I wouldn't bother with a PC BD drive... For file storage I'd rather have an external HDD, NAS, or large flash drive.
Click to expand...

He said for watching DVD's and that the system has to last.

BluRay is taking over from DVD (or will be) so why not get it while you can?
 
I quite like that spec Stulid. I think that's the one I will go for.

My brother doesn't own any Blu-Ray or even a telly worthy of playing them on. That can be a future upgrade if needs be. But thanks for the input from everyone! :)
 
For an extra tenner I would (in fact I did not so long ago) go for the GA-880GMA-UD2H for USB 3.0 and Sata 3.0. Only criticism was that the ram slots are very close to the CPU so fitting a cooler was a bit of a squeeze, but can't see that being a problem with the stock cooler.
 
Ranked1_of_1 said:
the ram slots are very close to the CPU.
Click to expand...
It's been like that on every AM2+/AM3 mobo I've used/seen? :)

If one doesn't use memory with a large heatspreader + a 3rd party HSF it's no problem . . . and as you said if you are using a stock HSF then it's not a problem even if you do use memory with a large heatspreader :cool:
 
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