Guide to helping you choose your components

Thanks for this guide. It has really helped me in coming back into the PC world after a bit of a hiatus.

I have one question.

The £400 build features the 4GB Corsair memory which is currently out of stock here, please could anyone recommend 4GB DDR3 memory for approximately the same kind of price range?

Thanks
 
If you had another £50 or so, where would you put the money?

Better card or processor?
And if quad-core was a deal breaker, which way would you jump?

But it's a wonderful post - so helpful!
 
I presume you mean for the £400 build? In which case I'd bang it in the CPU, the gfx card is very capable, the Phenom Tri-Core would be best for gaming or look at the athlon quad for more a rounded desktop/multi app solution
 
And then in 18 months time replace the graphics card with the 5870 or something, when the 6xxx series is released?

My aim is a fair system now-ish, with room to upgrade for a total system lifespan of about 3 years.

Having given my old system to the parents to replace their state of ark system I'm now feeling twitchy. Dragon Age isn't finished yet....
 
Hey sry for late reply, yeah that sounds like a good plan, though for a gfx card that powerful you would prob need a new PSU too, somethign to bear in mind, the other alternative is to get a dual core phenom now and spend a bit more on the PSU now so you wouldnt need to upgrade it
 
Ok, we have a basic plan... will be ordering on the 21st-ish, based on when I get paid.

So here's to hoping that prices drop hugely in the mean time. Although there's only 2 types 4870 cards left in the store.

Your help is very much appreciated!
 
If you read it in context with the line 2 above which explains
At present the performance order of these cards (ATI have 4 numbers, NVidia 3) are as follows
Click to expand...
then does that make it make sense? Theres an even spread of 4 numbered and 3 numbered models, I'll look at it again more closely when I add the new i3/i5 material, which will be shortly
 
Ok 95thrifles, I order on Sunday!

Question though. With an eye to long term upgrading, how (in)sane is getting a DDR3 motherboard, because better chips for the motherboard should be available (+/- a bios update, maybe) and pci express x16 will probably still be in fashion.

But DDR2 will probably be unavailable...

Thoughts?
 
Make that, I'll be ordering as soon as you update the list and I make a decision. So - query over the mother board...and the 4870 is now not available...
 
OK Ive done a quick update for you, I will update the whole thing tomorrow but as youre keen Ive done the £400 one now, theres only 2 CPUs of that type left, which I normally wouldnt spec something with such low stock but if youre quick you should be ok, or theyll have more in shortly, theres not really any other option without pushing the price further up, included AM3 mobo and DDR3 RAM for you for future compatibility, and swapped the gfx card for a 5750, it doesnt have quite as much grunt as the 4870 but it is newer generation with lower power requirements and DX11 support
 
I'm looking at the £400 build but the mobo is out of stock at the mo :( My budget can be stretched a little, is there a suitable equivilant? Ideally, I'd prefer quad-core too.
 
hey sry for late reply, look at this mobo, pretty much the same just gigabyte, the smae applies to toher components, if its out of stock just select another brand of same spec, so this mobo is an AM3 770 chipset, just like the other, I do always try and make sure theres 10+ stock for the specs I do but obviously sometimes they do sell out. Re quad core you can look at the athlon x4 for reasonable budget or if you can stretch then look at the phenom quad core, depends on your budget and required uses, have a look at anandtech or techreport for comparisons on how they fare against each other in each use/scenario
 
Excellent guide with some great info.

I'm looking at building a new system within the next month, but still cant decide if to go with the X58 or P55 MoBo. The system will be used for Gaming and photoediting. I'm currently leaning more towards the X58 (mainly for triple channel DDR3 over double) but my budget is limiting me to a board below £200.

Can you provide some advice on this.

Im also looking at i7 with a 5870 if this helps...
 
95thrifles said:
This would be perfect, has new USB3/6Gb SATA compatibility, comes in at £160
Click to expand...

Thats one of the boards i was looking at until I saw the new Titan Dreadnaught pre build at a steal of a price which comes with the Ud5 only downside to this build is the graphic card options available with it....might see if OC will let me change to a 5870 as they are same price as the 470 and i'd be a whole world happier with an ATi in my sytem.
 
I have £150 to spend (Could push it to £180 if I be like really cheapo for a few week)

Can anyone Recommend a Video card for the following build?

I have AMD X3 Black Edition 2.8 GHz Processor (which I can't seem to find on site anymore)
the best AMD compatible DDR3 Motherboard on top post.
and 2x 2 Gb DDR3 Ram, from Corsair at 1333 MHz
 
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ty man.

I just realised forgotten say what make o proccessor the mobo is made for, the MoBo is AMD (AM3 socket to be exact.)

that video card model range would be fine yah?
 
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