Got some questions about a budget computer

MeAnBoY

MeAnBoY

MeAnBoY

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
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Hampshire
Before I start, I guess I should really describe what I intent to do with my new computer :)

Predominantly it will be for a bit of light gaming as I can surf the web and do menial tasks on any old thing. Namely my (gracefully) ageing XPSM1530 laptop which sports a Core 2 duo cpu and 8600GTM graphics card.

Another spec I want to mention is smaller is better! I really can't be bothered to have a full tower humming away at my feet, that's a no go when I'm used to using a laptop for the last 7 years!

So what is light gaming for me? Well I almost exclusively play League of Legends which is pretty light on requirements but I want to make use of my 24" Dell monitor that is sitting unused at the moment, so being able to crank it upto 1920x1080 on max everything would be a bit of a treat.

Now the point is that PC gaming will open up to me a bit more with a newer spec computer so wouldn't mind be able to explore some games that my PS3 can't do. Mainly strategy and 4X type of games.

Onto the spec I've devised:


AMD Llano A8-3870K 3.00GHz
Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H AMD A75
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply
Fractal Design Core 1000 Midi Tower Case - Black
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM


Now that little lot comes up to £289.23 (taken away the shipping cost - pretty sure I can get free shipping with Ocuk, assuming that offer is still running) which isn't so bad, however could I still be doing better?

Other options I've thought about is going for a Pentium G850 with a Radeon 6670 or something which is pretty close price wise compared to the A8. This also gives me the opportunity to upgrade to a i3/5 in the future because they are all Sandybridge right?

Or alternatively I'm not shy when it comes to buying second hand parts so that could be an option also?

What would your suggestions be for this kind of price bracket then chaps?
 
I tried a Llano build here - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18338581

And am very impressed with aits game playing abilities considering its built into a CPU:cool:

Other options I've thought about is going for a Pentium G850 with a Radeon 6670 or something which is pretty close price wise compared to the A8. This also gives me the opportunity to upgrade to a i3/5 in the future because they are all Sandybridge right?
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They do (check the CPU support list) some mATX boards using the H61/H67 chipset are even Ivybridge compatible with a BIOS update.

A8 3850 vs Pentium G850 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=404

So the CPU is faster, a GFX equal to/better than whats inside a Llano CPU will end up with a faster system, but Llano does have native SATAIII/USB3.0 port on all the boards, so adding a SSD would be a nice touch later on, depending which board you got for a Sandybridge system my only have SATAII and USB2.0

pretty sure I can get free shipping with Ocuk, assuming that offer is still running)
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You do indeed:)

Do you have a SATA harddrive? as I dont see one listed in your spec.
 
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Thought you may chip in Stu :)

I've read you review amongst others and theres no doubt the A8 provides nice results with the onboard graphics card.

I guess my point in the original post was whether it's worth going for the A8 or possibly the lowest end Sandybridge component to give me room to upgrade in the future?

I don't have a hdd so that's something I will need to fork out for, completely forgot about that!

With the Gigabyte Llano board, will I be able to house a PCI wifi card in there as well as a future upgrade to run an asymmetric crossfire setup in future?
 
If you want future proofing, then Llano isnt it, theres an update (Trinity) that uses another socket (i heard) - http://www.tomshardware.com/news/AMD-Trinity-APU-CPU-radeon,14699.html

With the Gigabyte Llano board, will I be able to house a PCI wifi card in there as well as a future upgrade to run an asymmetric crossfire setup in future?
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Yep, if you add a card for the Crossfire (6450, 6570, 6670) then they will be dual slot thick at the most leaving the PCI slot free.
 
Well in that case can you recommend a mATX board that would be able to do what I've said already for Sandybridge?

I'm assuming I would be able just to plonk a (for example) i5 2500k in as a replacement possibly down the line, should I feel the need?

Also how does the G850 overclock? Not found much info on these boards about the overclocking side of this chip.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x intel pentium g850 2.90ghz (sandybridge) socket lga1155 processor - retail £64.99
1 x seagate barracuda 7200.12 500gb sata 6gb/s 16mb cache - oem (st500dm002) £61.99
1 x msi h67ma-e35 intel h67 (socket 1155) ddr3 microatx motherboard - (sandybridge) **b3 revision** £61.99
1 x corsair builder series cx 430w v2 '80 plus' power supply (cmpsu-430cxukv2) £39.98
1 x fractal design core 1000 midi tower case - black £29.99
1 x kingston hyperx blu 4gb (2x2gb) ddr3 pc3-12800c9 1600mhz dual channel kit (khx1600c9ad3b1k2/4g) £22.99
1 x ocuk 22x dvd±rw sata rewriter (black) - oem £14.39
total : £311.33 (includes shipping : £12.50).



just add a gfx card.

that h67 board has sataiii and usb3.0

cpu support list - http://eu.msi.com/product/mb/h67ma-e35--b3-.html#/?div=CPUSupport

Also how does the G850 overclock?
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It doesnt.
 
Wow thats a surprise it doesn't overclock at all!

How about putting other Sandybridge cpu's in. Any problems at all?

Knowing me after talking about every other option under the sun I'll probably still end up with a Llano machine hah :rolleyes: :D
 
Smaller the better you say.....

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-010-ZT

That's mini-itx which is even smaller than microatx. There are plenty of funky lil cases but remember if you go too small you will limit the GPU that can be fitted ;)

That mobo is a z series with built in wifi before you choke on the price. The llano APU does gaming much better than the intel IGP but then intels quicksync does greatly improve encoding times with some software. I dont dislike the llano setup but intels socket does offer better future upgrades.

I've been having this discussion with a friend for a couple of weeks now. He wants to watercool a PC inside the starwars millenium falcon toy, having just done a xbox 360.

p.s you mentioned not being worried about buying secondhand. You can get access to the members market on here fella :)
 
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honosuseri said:
Smaller the better you say.....

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-010-ZT

That's mini-itx which is even smaller than microatx. There are plenty of funky lil cases but remember if you go too small you will limit the GPU that can be fitted ;)

That mobo is a z series with built in wifi before you choke on the price. The llano APU does gaming much better than the intel IGP but then intels quicksync does greatly improve encoding times with some software. I dont dislike the llano setup but intels socket does offer better future upgrades.

I've been having this discussion with a friend for a couple of weeks now. He wants to watercool a PC inside the starwars millenium falcon toy, having just done a xbox 360.

p.s you mentioned not being worried about buying secondhand. You can get access to the members market on here fella :)
Click to expand...

So I can just stick, say a second hand i3 in that board AND a separate graphics card?

I do like the look of these mini ITX cases, just had a nose at Lian Li PC-Q07B, Black, Cube, pretty funky.

Just trying to find a balance here, I'm such a picky barsteward :D

Oh and yeah I know about the members market, just made a point of not being shy to use it if people could suggest a good alternative. Would be a pretty epic fail if I didn't know that section existed after more than a decade on this forum!!
 
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