Hey, help with build

Cult_X

Cult_X

Cult_X

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Joined
19 Feb 2012
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50
Right, my laptop is poo and crashes loads due to overheating (acer 5738z).
I have an old dell dimension 3100 i would like to upgrade (pretty much full rebuild) so its pretty future proof and run bf3 well

I have case and HDD, disk drive that is usefull everything else is junk

Current plan is
MOBO: Gigabyte h61 board
CPU: Intel i5 2400
RAM: OCuk 2x4gb ddr3
psu: corsair cx v2 600w
Graphics: AMD 6850
OS: windows 7 upgrade 64bit (student so its cheap)

This comes to £400 and that is my absolute max budget any help would be great.
I dont plan to overclock in the near future so dont need that function on mobo.

The cheaper the better but must be similar spec
any help well appreciated

cheers
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **PRE-ORDER ONLY PRICE** £89.99
1 x Sharkoon WPM 500W Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply £53.99
1 x Asus P8H61-M Intel H61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.99
Total : £337.94 (includes shipping : £10.00).




Nice budget build.
The OCd 6850 is a pre-order type deal, but price-wise it's worth it (I have a 6850 and they're good cards for the price)
 
Its the dell case its quite large and has cut out infront for a fan and intake. It was a buisness pc back in the day. Looks generic motherboard to me but im no expect. Never built only modified pc's (ram, GPU and HDD's).

are there disadvantages to using an mATX board like the one in the list 2 posts up?
 
Looking at the user manual - the Dimension 3300 has a non-standard motherboard layout. I'm not sure you could get a standard micro ATX board working in this case.

Therefore, if you plan to do an upgrade, then you will need a new case (which is a benefit as you would get better cooling, support larger graphics cards and fit full-ATX motherboards). This is a good quality, low cost case.

Your choices for an i5 quad core CPU, 6850 graphics card, 8GB RAM and a corsair PSU are good ones. Though if at all possible I would change the CPU to a i5 2500K (or even a 2550K if your budget can't stretch to a 2500K) and a good value Z68 board like this.
 
I cant stretch to the 2500k i would love to but too much unless i can save somewhere else. Oh dam so need a case in that aswell any reccomendations. I suppose there are usually good bundles with psu's for cases as long as its decent brand psu. Corsair seem to be the cheaper decent quality make for psu's that i have come across
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £154.99
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **PRE-ORDER ONLY PRICE** £89.99
1 x Intel BLKDH67BL H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £51.70
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £29.99
Total : £413.64 (includes shipping : £12.50).



or:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **PRE-ORDER ONLY PRICE** £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £84.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £29.99
Total : £391.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Second option has a cheaper CPU, that is still very good for the price:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=363
But then you've got a Z68 motherboard for an i5 later? This would allow you to overclock an i5 2500K, for instance. So this has a better upgrade path and still good performance. If it were me I'd get the second one.

This is assuming you have SATA HDDs/ODDs
 
 
The builds suggested by beejjacobs are very good.

If you don't intend to upgrade the CPU during the next couple of years (remember, these s1155 boards will support new Ivy Bridge CPUs, not just sandy bridge dual and quad cores) then the option with the i5 CPU and H67 board is the best option - since you get a quick quad core which should do you for a few years (though no overclocking is possible).

If you think you may do a mid-life CPU upgrade then the i3 CPU and Z68 board is the best option - as it gives you a nice and fast dual core CPU that handles modern games well while also supporting overclocking if you decide to drop in a Sandy Bridge or IVy Bridge K series Quad core in the future.
 
Agreed beejjacobs spec is very good. however I personally would spend an extra £50 and upgrade the mobo to the asus p8z68-v and also use 8Gb kingston grey.
 
Ive made slight adjustments changed ram to crucial and motherboard to ASUS P8H61-M B3 revision board. I wasnt so sure on the 430w psu and 600 is only £10 more, which leaves scope for more powerfull things and it still corsair. Im £1.xx over budget but im sure i can find that in my housemates spot on sofa lol.

Cheers for the help
 
The 430W corsair will be perfectly fine for a system with a HD 6850 graphics card and i3 or i5 CPU (even when overclocked). Though as you say, a larger PSU will give you more headroom for future upgrades.

If you want a larger supply then the Corsair CX 500W v2 for £53 is a good option, as is this OCZ 550W unit for £47 this week (review here).
 
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