Little Upgrade...?

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21 Dec 2011
Posts
51
Location
Nantwich, Cheshire
Hello All,

I currently have a

Intel E7500 @ 2.93GHZ
4GB DDR2 Ram
Gigabyte GA-945GCM-S2L motherboard

I have about £130 - £150 to spend on new mobo, cpu and ram? (is this possible for that price)

I only play one game which is Trackmania 2 and no others so it hasnt got to be real top spec!

I currently have aGTX 660 1.5GB card aswell!

Any suggestions will be awesome

Regards
Callum
 
OcUK Gaming
"Recon Anniversary" Intel Pentium K G3258 @ 4.20GHz Dual Core Value Gaming Bundle

It's a brilliant bundle for the price currently 210. More than you wanted to spend but you could sell your old bits on and maybe make some money back.

**Removed, no selling or buying outside of the Members Market please**
 
you could go for this option which through time would let you upgrade you're cpu. use youre current graphics card for the moment and you would be good to go.

possibly slightly over budget but you could buy cheaper RAM

msi 970 gaming £69.95

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-970-gaming-amd-970-socket-am3-ddr3-atx-motherboard-mb-286-ms.html

fx6300 £82.99

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am3-processor-retail-cp-338-am.html

crucial ballistix 8gb 2x4gb-ddr3 £31.99

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cruc...nnel-kit-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00c-my-132-cr.html
 
or this.. £113.93 or £123.97 you would have delivery on top.
again I would use youre current graphics card as this should be better than the on board.

A6-6400K 3.90GHz £39.95

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...l-core-processor-ad640kokhlbox-cp-357-am.html

or this one
Athlon X4 860K £59.99
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...d-core-processor-ad860kxbjabox-cp-386-am.html

Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2 £41.99
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...fm2-ddr3-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-474-gi.html

crucial ballistix 8gb 2x4gb-ddr3 £31.99

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cruc...nnel-kit-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00c-my-132-cr.html
 
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Yes i do prefer the 2nd board from Jamie as that has 2x PCIE slots so could SLI at some point?

the A6-6400K looks a good CPU would that be a big difference compared to the E7500 ?

My friend has that Ballistix ram and he swears by the stuff! so that will be a must !
 
Yes i do prefer the 2nd board from Jamie as that has 2x PCIE slots so could SLI at some point?

the A6-6400K looks a good CPU would that be a big difference compared to the E7500 ?

My friend has that Ballistix ram and he swears by the stuff! so that will be a must !

I would go for the Athlon x4 860k out of the 2. it would be more cores plus its a newer cpu and would be a lot faster
 
btw both those amd CPUs are not compatible with any boards mentioned, for those boards you need an am3 or am3+ cpu such as the fx 6300 etc

if you use the athlon x4 860k which as stated is the better of the two imo then you would need an fm2+ board, most boards are ok at this level of spec but stay away from asrock as they can't seem to produce a decent amd board.

i would say this board;
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...fm2-ddr3-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-474-gi.html

as for needing two pci-e slots, dont bother as this level of spec again, SLI or Crossfire wouldn't do you justice

EDIT just to clarify the fx 6300 is however more superior than both the athlon x4 and the a6 when paired with your graphics card
 
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What about a...

Gigabyte 78lmt-USB3 motherboard? they have a AM3+ socket?

I have been offered one £30 that includes 8GB of ram aswell?
 
btw both those amd CPUs are not compatible with any boards mentioned, for those boards you need an am3 or am3+ cpu such as the fx 6300 etc

if you use the athlon x4 860k which as stated is the better of the two imo then you would need an fm2+ board, most boards are ok at this level of spec but stay away from asrock as they can't seem to produce a decent amd board.

i would say this board;
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...fm2-ddr3-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-474-gi.html

as for needing two pci-e slots, dont bother as this level of spec again, SLI or Crossfire wouldn't do you justice

EDIT just to clarify the fx 6300 is however more superior than both the athlon x4 and the a6 when paired with your graphics card

if you looked at my full post I mentioned a motherboard that was comatible with the 2 cpu's that have been mentioned. the OP had said he had a budget of £150 max so I thought the Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2 with the Athlon X4 860K and some DDR3 ram would be a nice upgrade but keep him in budget.

I do agree with you though. the 6300 is more superior but this coupled to a motherboard and some ddr3 ram would put him over his budget. personally I would save up the extra. and why not get an sli board. he could hopefully upgrade his cpu through time which would allow him to run sli
 
I would suggest Haswell. Socket 1150.

Pentium G3258K if you fancy overclocking at £56
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1150-processor-retail-cp-531-in.html

Intel i3 4170 if you want easy to cool with no interest in overclocking and better multithread performance at £86
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1150-processor-retail-cp-572-in.html

Either of the above will be better than what you have and those usually come out better than AMD price comparisons in tests. These days my choice would be the i3 for better all round performance.

Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 motherboard at £62
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...cket-1150-ddr3-atx-motherboard-mb-498-gi.html

I see no point in SLI unless your gaming at 1440 and above, and usually a single card offers better all round gaming, less power requirement, less hassle.

With Haswell 1150 you will have an upgrade path, because there will be i5 and i7 K series CPU's available second hand a lot, and they will most likely still be performing well enough for the next few years or more, if not longer.

With AMD you have a dead end and even older stock. Ask for a duster.

Kingston HyperX Savage Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 2400MHz at £39
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/king...ual-channel-kit-hx324c11srk2-8-my-205-ks.html
 
if you looked at my full post I mentioned a motherboard that was comatible with the 2 cpu's that have been mentioned. the OP had said he had a budget of £150 max so I thought the Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2 with the Athlon X4 860K and some DDR3 ram would be a nice upgrade but keep him in budget.

I do agree with you though. the 6300 is more superior but this coupled to a motherboard and some ddr3 ram would put him over his budget. personally I would save up the extra. and why not get an sli board. he could hopefully upgrade his cpu through time which would allow him to run sli

My bad I missed your OP sorry.

How about this;

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...80ghz-socket-am3-processor-oem-cp-369-am.html

Good CPU, quad core will give same performance as fx 6300 in most titles and provides a modest upgrade route later.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...0a-socket-am3-ddr3-motherboard-mb-457-gi.html

Good entry level motherboard with a little headroom for overclocking modestly. Also provides 2x PCI-e x16 lanes for SLI later if needed.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/king...ual-channel-kit-hx318c10fbk2-8-my-195-ks.html

Good ram with solid timings and nice speed. Also 8gb kit is sweet spot for you and would again leave room for upgrade later

Total price: 145.97

:)

EDIT: Although personally this board for few £s extra would be my choice, I used it pseronally and isn't too bad at overclocking due to the good VRM heatsink ; https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-m5a97-r2.0-amd-970-socket-am3-ddr3-motherboard-mb-501-as.html
 
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My bad I missed your OP sorry.

How about this;

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...80ghz-socket-am3-processor-oem-cp-369-am.html

Good CPU, quad core will give same performance as fx 6300 in most titles and provides a modest upgrade route later.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...0a-socket-am3-ddr3-motherboard-mb-457-gi.html

Good entry level motherboard with a little headroom for overclocking modestly. Also provides 2x PCI-e x16 lanes for SLI later if needed.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/king...ual-channel-kit-hx318c10fbk2-8-my-195-ks.html

Good ram with solid timings and nice speed. Also 8gb kit is sweet spot for you and would again leave room for upgrade later

Total price: 145.97

:)

EDIT: Although personally this board for few £s extra would be my choice, I used it pseronally and isn't too bad at overclocking due to the good VRM heatsink ; https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-m5a97-r2.0-amd-970-socket-am3-ddr3-motherboard-mb-501-as.html
I would also agree on the Asus board there.
 
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