Help!! :D Make a machine

benj3 · 7 Dec 2010 at 14:43

If you had £500 and had to build a decent machine that could run new games at a decent fps.

You have the basics a CD drive, harddrive and a large enough tower to fit anything in and dual monitors. (1920*1200) (This is what I have got but want to replace the rest and have no specifications apart from the price range so would like you to experiment so I can see peoples priority's etc)

So you will need

Graphics Card
Motherboard
PSU
CPU
Ram

All advice will help

Redmint · 7 Dec 2010 at 14:56

OcUK ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
(£153.18) £179.99
(£153.18)
Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £139.99
(£119.14) £139.99
(£119.14)
Biostar H55A+ Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard £69.99
(£59.57) £69.99
(£59.57)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply £69.99
(£59.57) £69.99
(£59.57)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £58.74
(£49.99) £58.74
(£49.99)

Sub Total : £441.45
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £79.09
Total : £531.04

Although the 5870 is a bit over a year old now, they're still excellent value for money at that price. The motherboard doesn't support symmetrical crossfire, however Biostar motherboards tend to be pretty good and I prefer having a single powerful graphics card instead of 2 in SLI/crossfire. I'm assuming you won't be split screen gaming, if you do want something to power 2 monitors with that res you'll probably need to increase the budget a bit.

Syx · 7 Dec 2010 at 14:56

Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
OCZ Reaper Low-Latency 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C6 1600MHz Dual-Channel (OCZ3RPR1600C6LV4GK)
Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-550VXUK)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Is what I got a month ago, I think it was about £530 so just a little over budget.

It's also really quiet, which is nice!

cmndr_andi · 7 Dec 2010 at 14:57

benj3 · 7 Dec 2010 at 15:09

thanks for the input guys really torn on whether to get i5 or Phenom at the moment

Sgt Tackleberry · 7 Dec 2010 at 15:33

i5 all the way, much faster, can be overclocked to 4ghz. I have the silmlar set up to what they have picked for you but I have the 5850 and I can max out all the setting for all the games, crysis, black ops n so on

Redmint · 7 Dec 2010 at 15:34

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/191?vs=102

Might help with your decision.

cmndr_andi · 7 Dec 2010 at 15:44

The i5 is certainly the faster CPU, and if you have more than £500 then it would be the one to go for. However, if you have exactly £500 to play with then the Phenom II X4 option is the best - as you don't have to compromise on the GPU as much to fit within the budget.

Redmint · 7 Dec 2010 at 15:47

Well if you wanted to skimp on the motherboard a bit to get it closer to £500 then there's this option:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-160-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1124

or this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-513-AS&groupid=595&catid=689&subcat=

However you might want to message Nathwraith to check which accessories you get included with the B Grade mobo if you want to go for that option, some of them don't even include the I/O shield.

benj3 · 7 Dec 2010 at 18:30

thanks for information guys think im going to go with the i5, might save up some more over christmas and get this type of build in the sales whilst ofc looking out for good deals like the graphics card which i will probably go for now.