Please Help - Budget PC - CPU Question

IMissMyDCast

IMissMyDCast

IMissMyDCast

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17 Oct 2012
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I'm building a budget PC (my first system build) and could do with some advice on CPU choice. I'm not a heavy gamer although I am obsessed with Quake Live at the mo :). Basic stuff mainly, web browsing/Picasa (Image browsing) and using Adobe Premiere Elements to make family movies (nothing too massive).

My question is, should I spend £160 on an i5 (and not get a Graphics card) or on an i3 plus a graphics card?

Cheers for any help.
 
Current spec

Last night I did the following price up - which is about right for my budget. It will not be my final spec 'cos I have got some vouchers that I will use - it was just a test to see what I could get for my money.

Casecom K5-7688 All Black Case with 120mm Blue LED Front Fan
Gigabyte GA-H61M-DS2 VGA 7.1 Channel Audio mATX MOBO
Kingston 8GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory Module Non-ECC CL9
Coolermaster 500W GX Lite PSU = £34.98

Thanks

Please don't mention competitor prices, thanks.
 
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Definitely the i3 and a you, possibly a 7770 or 7750.

Another, also viable option, would be the G840 and a GPU.

Another option would be swap the motherboard for an fm2 board and get a A10 trinty CPU.

I think the psu should be okay. Its not like it'll be running a power hungry rig. Should do fine, read decent things about it.
 
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well

I5 with its integrated hd 4000 graphics will play any game on the market atm (a lot with low resolution and graphics) but would leave you in good stead for upgrading to a nice gfx card in future should funds allow.

I3 + GFX card assuming it would have to come around to the same price as an I5, this wouldnt leave you with much of a choice of good GFX cards and an I5's integrated would probably be just as good as a £50 gfx card.

The AMD fm2 trinity would be a good cheap option as it would easily handle quake live on its own. quake lives sys requierments are not demanding at all.

Suppose it all depends on how much gaming youll think you will do in future? if you think quake is as far as you will go i would just get the amd trinity to keep price down. if you think that you might do some mederate gaming in future an i5 then install gfx card in future could be best path.
 
Even getting the trinity A10 and adding a GPU later would make a good rig. Even using the hybrid xfire would help. I think it works with the 6670, which is a £60 card. This should give you really good graphical performance.

It would lack the raw power of the i5 but graphically (for your use, even of they extend) the trinity is a top option.
 
Here is a build for you using a A-10 5800K:

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2250 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £91.19
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £69.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £68.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A75M-D3H AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £65.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £64.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020048-UK) £56.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £26.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
1 x Gigabyte KM6150 Keyboard and Mouse Set £9.98
1 x Logitech S-120 2.0 Speaker System - OEM (980-000011) £9.59
Total : £632.08 (includes shipping : £17.85).



I am sure other's can tweak a different build. I have gone for the full system build.

Regards.

C.
 
Here is an Intel build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte HD 7770 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.95
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £99.95
1 x BenQ GL2250 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £69.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £68.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £64.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020048-UK) £56.99
1 x ASRock B75M Intel B75 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £52.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £26.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
1 x Gigabyte KM6150 Keyboard and Mouse Set £9.98
1 x Logitech S-120 2.0 Speaker System - OEM (980-000011) £9.59
Total : £727.79 (includes shipping : £17.85).



Regards.

C.
 
I think I am getting there!

dunn2010 said:
well

I5 with its integrated hd 4000 graphics will play any game on the market atm (a lot with low resolution and graphics) but would leave you in good stead for upgrading to a nice gfx card in future should funds allow.

...

Suppose it all depends on how much gaming youll think you will do in future? if you think quake is as far as you will go i would just get the amd trinity to keep price down. if you think that you might do some mederate gaming in future an i5 then install gfx card in future could be best path.
Click to expand...

This makes a lot of sense to me, yes. If I can get an i5 with hd 4000 for my price (approx £160) then it seems worthwhile (some appear to be hd 2500 - which I guess is not such a good option). Then maybe if I get in to more intensive games, I can get a graphics card at that point.

Re. the AMD path that some have mentioned - part of me likes the idea, but I am not sure I can cope with more reading up on the AMD stuff!

Just to confirm, I am not really after a gaming machine, more of a budget video editing PC! Will the i5 on its own be better than an i3 and a budget gfx card?
 
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