Sandybridge CPU and motherboard needed for under £200

Mutt

Mutt

Mutt

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I'm trying to put together a sandy-based system for my nephew in time for Christmas. I'll probably be going the secondhand route due to lack of wonga. Could you guys recommend me a Sandybridge processor and compatible motherboard for under £200 (hopefully that'll equate to about £150 used)?

At the moment he's running a MSI Cyclone GTX460 1gb on a prehistoric motherboard with an equally old cpu. The motherboard and cpu are completely bottlenecking the video card. I ran 3dmark Vantage and he only gets P score of about 7000, which is less than half of what it should be with an overclocked 460.

He's not in to overclocking or tinkering at all so we just want a competent cpu that'll allow the gpu to run at a more acceptable speed. It would be nice to have a couple of USB 3.0 ports on the motherboard and the ability to have at least 8gb of ram. Initially I'll be slapping in 2 x 2gb g.skill modules though.


Within the next year or so I'd like to be able to upgrade the cpu to an i5-2500k, hence why I've chose to go for a cheap Sandy now.

I've been pricing up the i3-2100 and that seems to fall within budget. Would anyone recommend that cpu or is there something better for similar money? As for the motherboard, I've no idea what to go for.


Thanks in advance chaps.
 
Not much choice really for that price. Can't go far wrong with a i3-2100/2120 and Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 which will allow you to drop a i5-2500K in later and overclock it. The i3-2120 is only £6 more than the i3-2100 and has 200MHz extra clock speed.

I assume the RAM you're planning on using is DDR3?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £101.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
Total : £198.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 
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Thanks for the suggestions mate. I figured it would be a tall order but I like your recommendations. And yeah, we'll definitely be using DDR3 ram.
 
One thing you will need to check first though is whether the existing hard drive and DVD drive are SATA. There's no IDE port on that motherboard. Other than that you're all set.
 
bobbyspangles said:
Not much choice really for that price. Can't go far wrong with a i3-2100/2120 and Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 which will allow you to drop a i5-2500K in later and overclock it. The i3-2120 is only £6 more than the i3-2100 and has 200MHz extra clock speed.

I assume the RAM you're planning on using is DDR3?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £101.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
Total : £198.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Click to expand...

That's probably the best you will get for that price.
 
bobbyspangles said:
One thing you will need to check first though is whether the existing hard drive and DVD drive are SATA. There's no IDE port on that motherboard. Other than that you're all set.
Click to expand...

He hasn't got any IDE drives so that board will be fine I think. Looks like a pretty good mobo. I'm surprised you get so many features for a relatively small amount of cash.
 
bobbyspangles said:
Yeh it's a very good motherboard for a even better price. Just some of a huge array of glowing reviews,

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/gigabyte_z68ap-d3_review/11
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...herboards/gigabyte-ga-z68ap-d3-1026263/review
http://www.kitguru.net/components/m...-z68ap-d3-z68-review-bargain-buy-of-the-year/
Click to expand...

I'll give those reviews a good read tonight when I'm settled down with a few beers. I'd better not have too many beers because I may order the wrong thing. :D

Cheers for your help. You've helped to remove some of the confusion by giving me some ideas to work with.
 
might be worth hitting the MM try and pick up a cheap setup. pfft add another couple of quid and you could pick up a 2500k and mobo for around £225
 
Thanks Surveyor. You beat me to it. I wish I did have access to MM. Would have been useful these last few months.
 
Doh!


the above mobo the z68ap-d3 is a cracker, running one with a 2600k and its fine

stretch the budget a bit and maybe pick up a second hand 2500k :) would make a cracking setup for gaming
 
This one?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-118-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

Very capable, high quality PSU.

Foxtrot26 said:
would make a cracking setup for gaming
Click to expand...

"For gaming" I doubt you will see much improvement between the i3-2120 and i5-2500K except possibly in the few games that are well optimized for quad core CPUs. By all means get a i5-2500K if you can find it second hand in your price range but don't go thinking the i3-2120 'won't do' :)
 
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I really wish I could stretch the budget but it's not my money I'm spending. If I was a better uncle, didn't like to oc and didn't mind suffering a drop in processing power he could have my 2500k and I'd take the 2120 ... that's not going to happen :D
 
My nephew will be fine with the 2120. He's no hardcore gamer. He cares more about skateboarding than computers but he does want an adequate PC to play L4D2, WoW, and the CoD series at max or near max settings.
 
That's good to know mate. That'll make him happy.

I've just ordered an oem 2120 for £75 delivered. He's already got a decent cooler so he won't need the stock one (not that that's of much use anyway).
 
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