Missing some bits for possible 2nd system.

SqualidChimp

SqualidChimp

SqualidChimp

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Missing some bits for possible 2nd system. help please? :)

So, I have some bits lying around and was considering building a 2nd modest gaming rig for when people come round, rather than them having to lug their rig over. Just for playing things like TF2, League of Legends, Dawn of War and the odd shooter, etc. I thought maybe buying some AMD bits might be best/cheapest (?) but havent bought non-intel stuff for about a decade. Could anyone give me a bit of advice.

I have spare:

A decent sized case (it even has cutouts for water cooling...)
800w psu
1tb hdd
dvd drive
19" monitor
mouse n keyboard
win7pro license

I guess I'd need:

mobo (£50 to £100?)
ram (£30?)
cpu (£60ish?)
gfx (I thought maybe £50 to £100?)

Im guessing that mobo internal graphics still arent that advanced. :) I'd thought this might cost £150 to £200, but thought I'd consult the gurus on these here fine forums for suggestions for my above requirements. It doesnt have to be leet advanced kit - I have a fairly good main gaming rig. Just for casual spare gaming, maybe dragging to LANs occasionally. I got confused by all the AM3 variants :) Any help appreciated.
 
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I'd wait for the new AMD bulldozer cpus to be released. We expect them to land soon, this year at least. They will have an effect on prices certainly of the current AMD CPUs.

If you didnt want to wait....

You can get the GTX 460 reconditioned but with a years warranty for £90ish. Still overkill for the games you stated but will let you play more modern titles and has DX11.

4GB of DDR3 will be around £30. Corsair XMS3 or kingston stuff depends what's on offer at the time really.

An Intel i3 2100 and H series or cheap P series mobo. The i3 and the AMD phenom 955BE are the same price and the i3 matches or beats it and uses less power to operate (cheaper electric bills).

*EDIT*

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=289

That link compares the 955 to the i3. However you can change the search results to compare whatever CPUs you'd like to help you make a decision.
 
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Thanks for the links for CPU comparison... I was thinking of going the AM3 route for overall initial cheapness. So I can get AMD Athlon X2 or X3 pretty cheap - are these worth it, since adding "phenom" into the mix seems to double the price? For CPU I was considering:
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail @44.99
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail @59.99
or should I go up to Phenoms which seem to start at 73.99?

This would probably affect my choice of motherboard, but the cost wouldnt vary greatly. My main concern here would be CPU "unlockability" and 10/100 lan versus gigabit lan. i.e. the cheapest one states that it can unlock locked cores and has overclocking features but only has 10/100 lan and the later ones have gigabit ethernet but explicitly state that their bios supports core unlocking...
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=1903&sortby=priceAsc

More help please? :)

EDIT: My eyes, they burn with the linky contrast! apologies... :D
 
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Well if you are insisting on AMD then it would be wise to opt for an AM3+ mobo.This will allow you to drop in bulldozer cpus later but still be able to use AM3 CPUs.

I have the phenom 555BE which luckily unlocked to a quadcore. However this is a gamble and looking at the prices it's just not worth it. The X2 is £74 and the X4 955 is £90ish. Even if you buy the X2 and it can be core unlocked it's pathetic stock heatsink wont cool the CPU as an X4 so you will need to spend out on a heatsink, essentially costing the same as buying a genuine X4.

I still think the i3 system makes the most sense if you are buying before the release of Bulldozer.
 
ok honosuseri, after considering your suggestion I think I will go for the i3/cheap h series mobo option. Thanks. I would probably have gone with the cheapest AMD option if I hadnt been forced to think about it :)

oh and I thought a ATI 6570 would suffice since it will do all I need it to and is cheap.

Gigabyte H61M-D2 Intel H61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION**
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6570 HM 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11191-01-20G)
plus some ram
not too much over budget

Any final thoughts? If not, thanks for the suggestions/help.
 
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what make/model PSU is it? i know it wont be used much but i want to make sure its not a horrific one that will blow up the PC in two minutes

as for the rest of the build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - OEM £85.99
1 x Intel Pentium G620 2.60GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £53.99
1 x MSI H61M-P23 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £44.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
Total : £208.96 (includes shipping: FREE).

if your happy to spend a little more then go for the i3 2100 and the 1GB version of the card
 
Jony27 said:
thought about going Llano?
Click to expand...

I had looked into it and for what I want, I'd need a discrete graphics card anyway. Good suggestion though otherwise.

@Reaper: I liked the i3 for a variety of reasons including (if I use as a media or gaming server or other "often-on" use) energy efficiency, and the mobo you linked to is out of stock otherwise would have been perfect :)
My spare PSU is my old OCZ gameXtream 850W thing in perfect working order, recently carefully cleaned and restored to shiney newness with compressed air and cotton buds :P
 
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