Help me spec a budget but upgradeable rig

minimadmotorman

minimadmotorman

minimadmotorman

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Location
Barnsley
Right going to let my old rig go lock & stock to a family member so need to build a new one.

I've got a couple of 500gb SATA II drives a DVI/VGA monitor, keyboard & mouse so just really need to build the computer.

I want an i3 or ideally an i5 and have the ability to upgrade (liable to add to the rig month to month) also planning on using it for a bit of gaming at some point.

£300 is really the absolute max limit for now so if I have to use onboard graphics for now then so be it.

No need for an OS as have a Technet subscription.
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £37.99
(£31.66) £37.99
(£31.66)
Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA1339) £22.79
(£18.99) £22.79
(£18.99)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £226.44
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £47.64
Total : £285.83

This motherboard has SATA3.0 and USB3.0, it also has these display connectors for the CPU's HD2000 graphics,
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/H67MA-E35.html

- 1 x HDMI port
- 1 x Graphic Card port
- 1 x DVI-D port
Click to expand...
 
The other option is Llano form AMD, it has a much better built in graphics core,


Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Llano A8-3850 2.90GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3850WNGXBOX) with FREE DIRT3 PC Game £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
MSI A75MA-G55 AMD Hudson D3 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Llano MIcro-ATX Motherboard £71.99
(£59.99) £71.99
(£59.99)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £37.99
(£31.66) £37.99
(£31.66)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £241.60
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £50.67
Total : £304.02


Then when you have a bit more money you can add this - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=gx-258-as&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1983

which you can "crossfire" with the cpu's built in graphics to get a good increase in performance.

which are the results from this page onwards here - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-a8-3800_16.html#sect0 - the bars marked "dual GFX"
 
Last edited:
When you mention budget, IGP and gaming - Llano naturally acts as a full stop. ;) SB is a stronger line of CPUs, but the IGPs on them are quite traditional and best suited to multimedia uses which they were designed for.

Both solutions have solid upgrade paths ahead for them in 2012, so it really depends on how long you will be using integrated graphics for, the games you want to run and what GPU you will be getting further down the line.
 
minimadmotorman said:
I probably won't be gaming on the IGP only when I add a discreet graphics card.
Click to expand...

Well it depends on what card you decide to add for both options,

i3 2100 + a discrete card = fastest.

Llano + a discrete card = not as fast.

Llano + 6670 (in Crossfire) = less fast again.

Llano on its own is here.

i3 2100 HD2000 GPU is way down here.


As long as the discrete card you add is up around 5770/GTX460 speeds it will be quicker than the Llano with 6670 option.
 
If you can get a even stronger PSU in the build, then you get a much better choice of power hungry cards available later without worrying "do I have enough power?"


Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
Lepa W-Series 600W '80 Plus' Power Supply £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £37.99
(£31.66) £37.99
(£31.66)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £241.61
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £50.67
Total : £304.03
 
If I were to marginally up my budget could I get something like a 2500k and a suitable board with OC-ability? I don't think RAID would be required as I'll prob stick a SATAIII SSD in it at some point.

Really sorry for all the green questions. Last time I built a rig it was an FX-57!
 
I've just realised. I'm already falling into the pit I fell into 5 years ago. Was going to build a basic rig then ended up building a water cooled fx-57 with all the bells and whistles. Must not overspend!
 
If I'm going to smash my budget how about?

Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £70.98
Asus ATI Radeon HD 6670 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
Lepa W-Series 600W '80 Plus' Power Supply £56.99
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B) £47.99
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £37.99
Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Shipping : £11.75
Total : £405.01

Feel free to suggest alternatives, cheaper graphics card to get me by with a later upgrade etc.
 
If you want to think about upgrading 12 months down the line, stick with the i3 for now, get an IvyBridge this time next year (maybe)
Don't splash out on the halfway house that is an i5, it makes any future upgrades less impressive. Get the better PSU now instead, less bragging rights but money well spent!
 
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