Spec me £300 CPU, mobo + RAM bundle

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Hi,

My father's computer recently had it, so we're taking the opportunity for an upgrade. He wants to spend roughly £300, so I'm thinking an I5, mobo and some ram should be achievable within this price range. Not sure what the best motherboards are at the moment though..

So... Basically... What would the best performing bundle for about 300 pounds be?
 
You said roughly, so

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail £184.99
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £107.99
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £38.39
Total : £331.37

However what does he use his PC for? Just because he has £300 doesnt necesasarily mean he should spend it all, a cheaper system may do just as well at what he wants
 
You said roughly, so

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail £184.99
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £107.99
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £38.39
Total : £331.37

However what does he use his PC for? Just because he has £300 doesnt necesasarily mean he should spend it all, a cheaper system may do just as well at what he wants

+1.

However, if its just for browsing/movies etc then a Athlon II X2 (or X3 if feeling adventurous), an MSI 880GM-E41 and the same ram specced above comes to £130-140.
 
Hm, definitely interesting. Considering the vast price difference, I think I'll pitch him the cheaper X2. He's normally a bit stuck on getting "decent gear" however, but he does never really use it to it's full potential anyway. I mean, his most played game at the moment is Bejeweled I believe.

Thanks guys.
 
The MSI 880GM don't seem to be available on OCUK... Anyone able to recommend me another good affordable Socket AM3 board?
 
Hm, tempting, but if I can get a good bundle for like £130-140 I think that's preferable after all... He doesn't really use his PC for any heavy stuff.

Indeed.

A good motherboard from OcUK would be a 880G-UD2H - see here.

Or, if you look at a popular e-tailer, whose name is the opposite of a e-seller ;) you can get the 880GM-E41 for around £45 - the same board I referred to earlier.
 
Ended up going with

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £50.56 1 £50.56

AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 445 3.10GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £49.99 1 £49.99

GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £32.49 1 £32.49

Many thanks Cookeh for your useful and friendly advise. £156.32 total, free delivery for tuesday. Feels good. Opted for the tri core since he runs windows 7 and often has a lot of random applications open... an extra core can only help really, and it's not much extra.
 
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