Deciding between 2 Builds..newbie :)

tommyslaits · 28 Mar 2011 at 11:45

I have about £300 budget, I am looking to build a PC used for Low end gaming and Video Rendering etc.

This is my first build, which is best/what can be improved?

http://img215.imageshack.us/i/326t.png/

http://img192.imageshack.us/i/337e.png/
The price of that is £337 ^

i3 or Phenom Quad? Please do not post stuff which is a stretch :/ :confused:

Lemin · 28 Mar 2011 at 12:25

Phenom Quad for me, & you need a dvd-rw in list.

pinkpotato · 28 Mar 2011 at 12:41

I would go for the quad aswell

R088ieS86 · 28 Mar 2011 at 13:01

I'd go for the Quad as well.
But you can get a bigger drive for the same price:
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
But i'd seriously think about saving a little more and getting a better graphics card. 5750 is weak. £50 more could see a 5850/GTX460 which would see you with some serious improvements.

Cookeh · 28 Mar 2011 at 13:31

Same price as the i3 build, much faster graphics card. Tri-core is considered to be the sweet spot for gaming atm, and it could even unlock to a quad/L3 cache.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £85.99
1 x AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 445 3.10GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £56.99
1 x Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £35.99
1 x OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C7 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit (OCZ3X1333LV4GK) £33.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £29.60
Total : £337.54 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Pennies could be saved by getting the PSU/Case bundle you specced, but it's out of stock atm

Oh, and shop around

tommyslaits · 28 Mar 2011 at 15:38

Cookeh said:
Same price as the i3 build, much faster graphics card. Tri-core is considered to be the sweet spot for gaming atm, and it could even unlock to a quad/L3 cache.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £85.99
1 x AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 445 3.10GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £56.99
1 x Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £35.99
1 x OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C7 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit (OCZ3X1333LV4GK) £33.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £29.60
Total : £337.54 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Pennies could be saved by getting the PSU/Case bundle you specced, but it's out of stock atm

Oh, and shop around

Thanks, that's the decider for me, but when does the Cooler Master case and PSU come back in Stock?

Cookeh · 28 Mar 2011 at 15:45

No idea.

Might be worth asking in the Pre-Sales Queries sub-forum

tommyslaits · 28 Mar 2011 at 15:53

Cookeh said:
No idea.

Might be worth asking in the Pre-Sales Queries sub-forum

ok thanks, I am going for the Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case, but does that support Asus M4A78LT-M ?

Cookeh · 28 Mar 2011 at 16:32

Yup.

It supports m-ATX and ATX (the one listed is a m-ATX board)

I'd say the Xigamatek is a better case personally, but cases are subjective - if you like the 430 go for it

pv123 · 28 Mar 2011 at 17:20

Cookeh said:
Same price as the i3 build, much faster graphics card. Tri-core is considered to be the sweet spot for gaming atm, and it could even unlock to a quad/L3 cache.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £85.99
1 x AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 445 3.10GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £56.99
1 x Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £35.99
1 x OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C7 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit (OCZ3X1333LV4GK) £33.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £29.60
Total : £337.54 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Pennies could be saved by getting the PSU/Case bundle you specced, but it's out of stock atm

Oh, and shop around

It's pretty ridiculous what you can get nowadays with so little, that is really good performance for money, I would change the PSU though, the CX series are pretty poor.

Cookeh · 28 Mar 2011 at 17:29

As a whole yeah, but the CX430 is a beaut!

Check out some reviews on it

These for example: Hardware Secret's review & JonnyGuru's review

LittleChimp · 28 Mar 2011 at 17:49

As Cookeh said shop around. Another retailer have the 430 case and psu in stock for £53 pound I ordered one myself yesterday, cracking price imo!