CPU vs GPU

SMed

SMed

SMed

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Hi guys. Spec'ing a PC for a friend. His budget is about £600 and wants to play high-end new games. I was thinking maybe an i3 Sandybridge with a stonking GPU, but I'm not sure at what point the CPU would bottleneck things.

What's the best GPU an i3 could handle? A little bit of bottlenecking may be ok as he can upgrade to an i5 later.

Or would it be better to get an i5 and a slightly cheaper GPU?

What's the best combo/compromise here?

Sorry if the question is a bit vague. I know nothing about GPUs so I can't help him that much. Thanks.
 
I'm waiting to hear back from him about a few things (like resolution), but I know it's a 21" LCD that I think came with his HP PC. And it's pretty much a whole system, probably including a HDD and an OS. We're students so can probably get Win7 for £45 somehow.

I was initially thinking about the 2300, but the 2400 is supposed to be a nice little bump in performance for not much more £££ than the 2300.

So I'm thinking it's kinda between the i3-2100 or i5-2400? If he gets the 2100, the money saved will go towards a better GPU.
 
SMed said:
I'm waiting to hear back from him about a few things (like resolution), but I know it's a 21" LCD that I think came with his HP PC. And it's pretty much a whole system, probably including a HDD and an OS. We're students so can probably get Win7 for £45 somehow.

I was initially thinking about the 2300, but the 2400 is supposed to be a nice little bump in performance for not much more £££ than the 2300.

So I'm thinking it's kinda between the i3-2100 or i5-2400? If he gets the 2100, the money saved will go towards a better GPU.
Click to expand...

Agreed
 
Ergh, that's the thing though... the 2400 is so close to the 2500(K) that it's damn tempting to go over budget. The savings with the 2100 is so great, the temptation isn't there as much.

Anyway, I've given him the pros and cons of each, and awaiting his choice. I just wanted to get some more experienced opinions.
 
case is personal personal

i2500k £168

gigabyte z68ap-d3 £82

8gb corsair pc3-12800 1600mhz £46 could get 4gb instead for £30

lepa w series 500w £47

ocuk 6870 with deus ex game £137 should be plenty on a 21" monitor

dvdrw £15-£20 pick one

samsung spinpoint f3 320gb £74

do you need kb/mouse/speakers?

get a 3rd part cooler in the future to oc the cpu.
 
Lol just keep it to the i5 2300 then it still beats the i3 :) and more games will start to utilize quad cores :)
Edit: Will he need windows 7? any hard drives or optical drives that can be salvaged from elsewhere?
 
He has a lowly HP PC he bought sort of recently. When he realised he can't play MW3 on it, and that it isn't really upgradeable, he decided to build one from scratch. I don't know if he's willing to cannibalise his new HP, but I've asked him and I'm waiting to here back from him. From that he can get the 750GB HDD, optical drive and (maybe?) the Win7.
 
only thing i would reccomend is definately leave the dual cores alone. youd be better off going for a more powerful amd quad core than an intel dual core. pricewise the same but quad core is the way games are going. cod series isnt how to guage games. theyre running a 10 yr old game engine and a dual core will play it fine. but crysis/metro 2033/bf3 all require a quad core.
 
SMed said:
He has a lowly HP PC he bought sort of recently. When he realised he can't play MW3 on it, and that it isn't really upgradeable, he decided to build one from scratch. I don't know if he's willing to cannibalise his new HP, but I've asked him and I'm waiting to here back from him. From that he can get the 750GB HDD, optical drive and (maybe?) the Win7.
Click to expand...

well if you can convince him then you can put the £74 for the hdd + £15-£20 for optical drive towards the better graphics card

if he likes and doesn't have bf3 and also like batman then http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-267-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=

or bf3+deus ex + dirt 3 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-042-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

suprised no stulid yet
 
Last edited:
i dont get it, you have £600 and ur struggling? this build doesnt have a hdd in it, but has £80 windows in there, i suggest getting win7 for £45, saving £35, this will be enough for a 500gb sata hdd either second hand or when prices come down, like said he should use the hdd out of his hp for now, he can replace it after.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £136.99
1 x MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £87.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Lepa W-Series 450W '80 Plus' Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £43.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £19.99
Total : £594.91 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
or with a much better 2gb gpu, 3 free games, slightly over, but he can sell all games and make a wedge back, changed the cpu to the i3 to save on budget.


YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X PLUS Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with Battlefield 3, Dirt 3 & Deus Ex PC Games** £239.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Lepa W-Series 450W '80 Plus' Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £43.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £19.99
Total : £613.91 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
I'm new and inexperienced. That looks pretty good. I guess I just didn't know how much to spend on a GPU. I thought a £200+/- card was needed.
 
danewesley said:
or with a much better 2gb gpu, 3 free games, slightly over, but he can sell all games and make a wedge back, changed the cpu to the i3 to save on budget.
Click to expand...

That potentially looks good too. He could upgrade to an i5 in a year or so.
 
yeah, the second build is over because even though its a none k processor i think anyone who buys sandy should always buy either z or p series board, for the future possibility of an upgrade. otherwise the build could have been well under budget.
 
the amd option too, not really worth it over sandybridge though.


YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X PLUS Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with Battlefield 3, Dirt 3 & Deus Ex PC Games** £239.99
1 x AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £124.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99
1 x Lepa W-Series 450W '80 Plus' Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £43.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £19.99
Total : £616.92 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
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