Please Sir, can I have a spec..?

Drunkenmassacre · 2 Jul 2011 at 15:55

Hi Guys,

Mums computer is dying a slow death and needs a revamp. I have already looked around and come up with :

It needs only to be basic, but with a need for upgrade space in the future and light gaming (my old 3870 should suffice). As it is an upgrade, there is no need for a monitor etc. Budget is as low as possible, £250ish (my attempt is stretching it, but I get carried away lol).

olivier renault · 2 Jul 2011 at 15:57

You only need dual channel 4GB ram. That's £10 off.

Pick up a BeQuiet Pure L7 530W instead of the Elite. £5 extra, but much better.

Not much to say about the rest. This should be Bulldozer-ready. But you can also go with i3-2100 and H61 for similar price.

Reaper 392 · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:00

if you are planning on keeping the case then you might want to check what size of motherboard will fit. many cheapo cases can only fit mATX motherboards

Orcvader · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:01

I'm assuming you've chosen the 970A board because you plan to upgrade it to Bulldozer sometime? The 955 should last for a few good years anyway, maybe longer if your mum is only doing light gaming. What sort of games does she play?

RJC · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:02

Done a Intel build, should be 269 as you should get free delivery:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)
Gigabyte H61M-D2 Intel H61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Sub Total : £222.45
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 20.00% VAT : £46.59
Total : £279.54

stulid · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:04

Try this AM3+ board,

www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-466-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1481

And corsair value ram,

www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-006-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1516

davy89 · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:04

^ great spec (RJC).

Reaper 392 · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:06

one thing ive thought of is: do the 900 series motherboards have onboard graphics, or do they rely on the graphics from the llano chip?

although, if your looking for cheap + bulldozer/llano upgrade path, then go for one of these:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-466-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1481

*edit*
curse my slow fingers

Orcvader · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:09

Reaper 392 said:
one thing ive thought of is: do the 900 series motherboards have onboard graphics, or do they rely on the graphics from the llano chip?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-466-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1481

Looking at the list the 970, 990X and the 990FX does not have a built in IGP. As for Llano, they require a different chipset which is the FM1 boards.

Saying that, maybe a Llano build will be better for your mum?

Reaper 392 · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:09

RJC said:
Done a Intel build, should be 269 as you should get free delivery:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
(£76.66) £91.99
(£76.66)
Gigabyte H61M-D2 Intel H61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Sub Total : £222.45
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 20.00% VAT : £46.59
Total : £279.54

its out of stock, but this motherboard would probably be better:
MSI H67MA-E35
its cheaper too

Drunkenmassacre · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:11

Heck guys you lot are quick!

With regards to the case, I have an older antec upstairs from my firts PC (about 6 years ago, and it was 2nd hand then!) so space isn't a problem.

Gaming wise, my brother has decided he likes COD4 and TF2, but other than that it's flash gaming.

I swapped out the RAM, that'll teach me to read properly!

Thanks for the Intel Spec RJC, always good to have options

Reaper 392 · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:12

just made RJC's spec even cheaper:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
1 x MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £27.98
1 x Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £23.98
Total : £255.92 (includes shipping : £10.00).

£243.92 with free shipping

do you have a SATA DVD drive, because all sandybridge motherboards dont have any IDE slots

Drunkenmassacre · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:13

Thanks guys, back in a bit. Off to check with The Boss.

jak731 · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:15

The UD3 is a really solid board, it has 10 phases powering the cpu meaning it will run cool and have a long lifespan and be able to oc if you want it to. The psu is over 80% efficient and built by channel well tech which makes a lot of high end stuff. £1 under the i3 build with free postage and 4 real cores rather than 2 real + 2 hyperthreaded

RJC · 2 Jul 2011 at 16:17

I did contemplate the MSI, but went for slightly more Gigabyte board.

Few options there!