Spec me a new computers, please!

[durruti]

Okay my brother wants a new computer, and i'm a little out the loop of current hardware, so i need a bit of help. He's looking in the range of £300-500 and wants the best value for money - this is just the tower we're talking here, and it's primary use will be for gaming!

Any help or input would be much appreciated

 

[RJC]

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5770 CuCore 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £122.99
(£104.67) £122.99
(£104.67)

AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £99.99
(£85.10) £99.99
(£85.10)

Patriot Sector 5 G Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel (PGV34G1600ELK) £86.99
(£74.03) £86.99
(£74.03)

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 MA770 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £70.99
(£60.42) £70.99
(£60.42)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £42.99
(£36.59) £42.99
(£36.59)

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £39.99
(£34.03) £39.99
(£34.03)

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £36.99
(£31.48) £36.99
(£31.48)

Sony Optiarc AD-7241S 24x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe Optical Drive (Black) - OEM £18.99
(£16.16) £18.99
(£16.16) Sub Total : £442.48 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75 VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £79.49 Total : £533.72

 

[stulid]

^
that

 

[durruti]

Thanks, that looks great, although cheaper alternatives may be of use!

 

[RJC]

You should be able to unlock the cpu to quad with the motherboard.

Club 3D ATI Radeon HD 5770 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £112.99
(£96.16) £112.99
(£96.16)

Patriot Sector 5 G Series 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel (PGV34G1600ELK) £86.99
(£74.03) £86.99
(£74.03)

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 MA770 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £70.99
(£60.42) £70.99
(£60.42)

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £46.99
(£39.99) £46.99
(£39.99)

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £39.99
(£34.03) £39.99
(£34.03)

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £36.99
(£31.48) £36.99
(£31.48)

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £31.67
(£26.95) £31.67
(£26.95)

Sony Optiarc AD-7241S 24x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe Optical Drive (Black) - OEM £18.99
(£16.16) £18.99
(£16.16) Sub Total : £379.22 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25 VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £68.33 Total : £458.80

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

In the second build I would get this HD5770 1GB for the same price as the HD5770 512MB listed:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-131-OK

I would get this CPU instead:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-249-AM

The OP maybe able to unlock the CPU to a triple or quad core if lucky but even then the X2 550BE is decent CPU for the price.

The Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 is a fantastic motherboard and has got many good reviews:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-ga-ma770t-ud3p-motherboard-review/4

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/985/1/

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/ga_770t-ud3p/

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/gigabyte_ma770t_ud3p_am3_motherboard/1

Another motherboard to consider would be the following one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-355-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

Like the Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 it also has an 8+2 phase VRM and all solid capacitors but adds VRM cooling,integrated graphics and a second PCI-E 2.0 16X slot(it is not Crossfire capable though).