Need Spec Help £400

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Now its been a couple (more like several) of years since I have paid any attention to hardware and my trusty XP2500@ 2.5GHZ is starting to feel the strain of my ever more demanding needs, after much pleeding I have been given the go ahead by the one that holds the purse strings to build a new pc with a budget of £400.

So my requirements, I don't need the following:
Monitor
Case (need a psu though)
KB and mouse
OS
The machine is used as a use pc, the odd game here and there so I would like to be reasonably able to play the latest stuff if I want. And one last thing I will need a CPU water block to go with what ever processor is on the spec.

So what can you come up with?
 
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Take away del charges and comes to £450.00, not sure on waterblock though :)

GX-091-PC_60.jpg
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £109.99
(£95.64) £109.99
(£95.64)
MB-187-GI_60.jpg
Gigabyte GA-MA780G-UD3H AMD 780G (Socket AM2+/AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £79.99
(£69.56) £79.99
(£69.56)
CA-008-CS_60.jpg
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £71.99
(£62.60) £71.99
(£62.60)
CP-248-AM_60.jpg
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £65.99
(£57.38) £65.99
(£57.38)
WC-000-DT_60.jpg
D-Tek Fuzion V2 Universal CPU Block (AMD Socket A/754/939/AM2, Intel 478/LGA775/423/771/603/604) £45.99
(£39.99) £45.99
(£39.99)
MY-114-OC_60.jpg
OCZ Platinum Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (OCZ2P10664GK) £38.99
(£33.90) £38.99
(£33.90)
HD-057-SA_60.jpg
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £34.99
(£30.43) £34.99
(£30.43) Sub Total : £389.50 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 15% VAT : £60.00 Total : £460.00
 
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
GX-137-XF_60.jpg
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 XXX 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £101.99
(£88.69) £101.99
(£88.69)
CP-248-AM_60.jpg
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £65.99
(£57.38) £65.99
(£57.38)
MB-180-GI_60.jpg
Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 AMD 770 (Socket AM3/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £60.98
(£53.03) £60.98
(£53.03)
CA-037-OC_60.jpg
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply £52.99
(£46.08) £52.99
(£46.08)
WC-000-DT_60.jpg
D-Tek Fuzion V2 Universal CPU Block (AMD Socket A/754/939/AM2, Intel 478/LGA775/423/771/603/604) £45.99
(£39.99) £45.99
(£39.99)
MY-038-KS_60.jpg
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel (KHX6400D2LLK2/4G) £35.98
(£31.29) £35.98
(£31.29)
HD-057-SA_60.jpg
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £34.99
(£30.43) £34.99
(£30.43)
CD-063-PO_60.jpg
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64) Sub Total : £362.53 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £55.88 Total : £418.41
 
cheers for the help, just one question, the d-tek fusion only states AM2 not AM3 will this make a difference?
 
If you can up your budget a little and I'm sure this would last you longer, be more worthwhile and be a better performer?

531f1g.png
 
AM2, AM2+, AM3 are physically the same dimensions , only differing in terms of RAM support, CPU voltage support etc.

Starting from kenny's spec, I'd change the following :

- For 'the odd game game here and there', i'd be inclined to settle for :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-106-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

for graphics, saving £25 ish.

and upgrade the CPU to this :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-249-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=

better performance out of the box.
 
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Thanks for the advice, I have had a little play around with specifications and come up with:

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
Gigabyte GA-MA780G-UD3H AMD 780G (Socket AM2+/AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £79.99
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £75.99
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply £48.99
D-Tek Fuzion V2 Universal CPU Block (AMD Socket A/754/939/AM2, Intel 478/LGA775/423/771/603/604) £45.99
OCZ Platinum Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (OCZ2P10664GK) £38.99
Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A35415) £37.98
Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99

Sub Total : £370.36 Shipping cost based on delivery to Credit/debit card billing address, XXXXXX with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE VAT is being charged at 15.00% VAT : £55.55 Total : £425.91

Can anyone see any problems with this?
 
no problems, but unless you go crossfire and game at higher res, you're probably not going to see any benefit from 1gb as opposed to 512mb on the 4850. I haven't checked to see if that can save you any £££ or not.
 
5 ATI cards listed... fanboys are out in force today.

Anyways if you want better drivers, more support, faster, quieter, cooler, less power hungry and more eye candy than the 4870, there is http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-202-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927

but then again you don't get such a big e-peen for rebelling against the power *rises the fist*

Such a beautiful noise
Ladies and gentlemen this your captin doctor Zhivago, welcoming you on our ATI airways flight, we will be flying at 32,000 feet and at an airspeed of 600 mph
 
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5 ATI cards listed... fanboys are out in force today.

Anyways if you want better drivers, more support, faster, quieter, cooler, less power hungry and more eye candy than the 4870, there is http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-202-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927

Considering hes working towards a budget of 400 he will be using a 4850 not a 4870 as you posted. I dont think speccing him a card almost double the price is gonna do many favours.
 
ok so after a bit more fiddling, and bearing in mind that I can go to £450 I have come up with the following:

AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £105.00
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AMD 770 (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £76.99
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCS 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £71.99
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply £48.99
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P13334GK) £46.99
D-Tek Fuzion V2 Universal CPU Block (AMD Socket A/754/939/AM2, Intel 478/LGA775/423/771/603/604) £45.99
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A38018) £31.99
Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99

(£15.64) Sub Total : £387.76 Shipping cost based on delivery to Credit/debit card billing address, XXXX XXX with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE VAT is being charged at 15.00% VAT : £58.16 Total : £445.92

This covers the AM3 and DDR3 route, seems like a good spec considering the comments made, and wrt the noise from the GFX, if i find it that bad I will just add another loop to my watercooling.
 

dude! I didn't pay attention to your user name 'til now.

makin me remember smooth wall, alton road, explosions from black hawk down! :p
 
dude! I didn't pay attention to your user name 'til now.

makin me remember smooth wall, alton road, explosions from black hawk down! :p

yep its me, been a long time since those days, when 512kb broadband was the nuts.
 
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