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ennogs

ennogs

ennogs

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My mates PC is old and he is struggling to play games.

He wants to build a new PC but keep costs down as much as possible so he will be re-using his tower. He already has keyboard, monitor OS etc.

I would say he needs 1 x 4GB memory as he could add more at later date, processor, graphics card, and power supply.

Could somebody please do a spec for him. Thanks.
 
 
Potty27 said:
If on a tight budget and only his case can be re-used, this may suit him:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD560KWOHJBOX) £67.99
1 x ASRock FM2A75M-DGS AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £52.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) HDD £41.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £34.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.95
Total : £246.90 (includes shipping : FREE).

Click to expand...


Thanks but he does not need hard drive or DVD writer and the graphics card is missing.

To be honest his budget is as low as possible but let's say £300 - 400. I was thinking for graphics a GTX 580, 590 or if he can a 680. I realise for graphics he may have to go for a second hand card.

He already has most of what he needs from things that can be re-used from his old PC. He already has a keyboard, OS, mouse, monitor, 1TB drive and a DVD writer.

What he needs is

A new power supply. I think it would be foolish to use his old one. It's a bog standard power supply that he has now and is very old.

Motherboard

4GB memory

Processor

Graphics card
 
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For something like a 680 you would need a fairly expensive PSU.

The spec is listed has decent budget graphics, but for your budget a lot better can be had.
 
The PSU will be able to run a 680, my 670 in my sig pulled 330w at full load.

I am not sure on the second hand market for the 680, but the 670 is just as good.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £83.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £43.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
Total : £309.95 (includes shipping : £10.00).



Intel setup:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £185.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £45.95
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £43.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
Total : £367.31 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 
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Another option:


YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £143.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £45.95
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £43.99
Total : £388.91 (includes shipping : £10.00).




or AMD

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £143.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £83.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £55.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £43.99
Total : £389.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Potty27 said:
Your probably right, but I'd not want to recommend the 500w, when the 680 manufacturers say 550w+ minimum.
Click to expand...

I hear what your saying, but luckily we spec high PSU which should not have any issues :D
 
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I'd avoid the cheap Gigabyte AMD board - you may well not be able to overclock the CPU at all. The 990FX UD3 is a great board, but a bit expensive.
 
teppic said:
I'd avoid the cheap Gigabyte AMD board - you may well not be able to overclock the CPU at all. The 990FX UD3 is a great board, but a bit expensive.
Click to expand...

I would have done but I had to keep the builds similarly priced, I dont think there are decent boards for a low price on the AMD side? :)
 
RJC said:
I would have done but I had to keep the builds similarly priced, I dont think there are decent boards for a low price on the AMD side? :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, the problem is only the better boards have the kind of components that allow good overclocking. It'd work at stock fine I'm sure, but the 6300 can overclock so high I'd spend a little more on the board. The cheapest one I'd get myself is the 990XA-UD3 as you specced before, or the Asus EVO R2.
 
ennogs said:
My mates PC is old and he is struggling to play games.

He wants to build a new PC but keep costs down as much as possible so he will be re-using his tower. He already has keyboard, monitor OS etc.

I would say he needs 1 x 4GB memory as he could add more at later date, processor, graphics card, and power supply.

Could somebody please do a spec for him. Thanks.
Click to expand...

So what is the factual spec of his current PC, what monitor/monitors does he use and at what resolution? What games does he play?

And with a £400 budget, why consider a high end GPU? For a single 1080p 60Hz monitor the system below will give playable minimum frame rates on all current games such as Bioshock Infinite, Crysis 3 etc on high settings. Though more memory, 2x4gb, may be a better option if affordable.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 WindForce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £155.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G45 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £34.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £29.99
Total : £415.94 (includes shipping : £10.00).

 
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