Sub £400 Build (- GFX Card)

Robtroll · 19 Apr 2011 at 18:35

Heys Guys,

I'm after a build for -£400. Don't need GFX card as my MSI HD 5850 Twin Frozr will be going in it.

Intel

Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
£89.99
Asus P8H67-M Pro Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION **
£89.98
OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W Power Supply
£60.98
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
£47.99
G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL)
£39.98
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX)
£29.99
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
£23.99

Total - £397.90

AMD

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
£98.39
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
£81.98
OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W Power Supply
£60.98
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
£47.99
G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL)
£39.98
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX)
£29.99
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
£23.99

Total - £383.30

Can I do any better? The cheaper the better, but the best bang for buck.

It's main use is gaming, a tiny bit of Photoshop and some web browsing. But that's pretty much it. Any processor will be overclocked.

Could I get a cheaper case? Cheaper RAM without sacrificing too much 'power'?

I'm after any ideas possible as i'm hopefully buying this weekend.

Thanks for your time,

Rob

RJC · 19 Apr 2011 at 18:38

You can change the case to the one below:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-161-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160

and the PSU to the BeQuiet:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-042-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083

Comparison between the 2 cpu's :

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=289

Stretched · 19 Apr 2011 at 18:46

if ya could i would recormend getting the 2500k and a p67 mobo if you could get the extracash for that, otherwise theirs nothing you could to improve much more

Robtroll · 19 Apr 2011 at 18:54

Thanks for the quick replys

As much as i'd like to, i cant go for the 2500k

Will that power supply be enough? 530w seems a little low?

RJC · 19 Apr 2011 at 18:56

More than enough

, unless your going to run a high end gpu like the 580.

I run my system in my sig with 2 5850 gpu's and this pulled 430w from the mains full load and 500w with the 580, 615w with the 480.

Robtroll · 19 Apr 2011 at 19:15

Okay. Thanks for that

Robtroll · 19 Apr 2011 at 21:14

I've now read that you cant overclock Sandybridge i3s? Is this true?

RJC · 19 Apr 2011 at 21:16

Thats correct, the only ones you can really overclock is the K series chips on the 2500k & 2600k.

philjohn · 19 Apr 2011 at 21:18

If you want to overclock the Intel one you'll need a P67, not an H67 based board. You can't up the BCLK, only way to overclock is through multiplier - and you'll only be able to go up 4 bins with a non K chip. So either a 2500k or 2600k will really be needed for a serious overclock.

Do you not have an existing case and hard drive you can re-use (at least temporarily)?