Upgrade for a poor man :(

FoxEye said:
the £50 ones often lack useful things like core unlocking, and use lower quality components. the gigabyte ud2h boards are awesome for £70.
Click to expand...

Actually they do!!

Almost all of the AMD motherboards which have the SB710 support core unlocking and so do many of the Nvidia 8200 and 8300 motherboards which have NCC. I have known quite a few people who have unlocked Sempron 140 and X2 550BE processors on cheaper motherboards. The advantage of the more expensive AMD motherboards starting at around £60 to £70 is the fact they have 8+2 phase VRMs and better cooling for the VRMs which is better if you intend to overclock a quad core on it.

The MSI 770-C45 is under £50 at many retailers in both DDR2 and DDR3 versions and can unlock a dual core or triple core CPU:

http://www.mitramsi.com/80-msi-770-c45-am3-amd-phenom-ii-x2-720-be-x4-unlock.html

http://edgemeal.110mb.com/AMD_Unlock/index.htm

The motherboard also has all solid capacitors which is usually seen in more expensive motherboards.

Both versions have the SB710 southbridge:

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171&cat3_no=&prod_no=1828

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171&cat3_no=&prod_no=1812
 
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CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
Actually they do!!

Almost all of the AMD motherboards which have the SB710 support core unlocking and so do many of the Nvidia 8200 and 8300 motherboards which have NCC. I have known quite a few people who have unlocked Sempron 140 and X2 550BE processors on cheaper motherboards. The advantage of the more expensive AMD motherboards starting at around £60 to £70 is the fact they have 8+2 phase VRMs and better cooling for the VRMs which is better if you intend to overclock a quad core on it.

The MSI 770-C45 is under £50 at many retailers in both DDR2 and DDR3 versions and can unlock a dual core or triple core CPU:

http://www.mitramsi.com/80-msi-770-c45-am3-amd-phenom-ii-x2-720-be-x4-unlock.html

http://edgemeal.110mb.com/AMD_Unlock/index.htm

The motherboard also has all solid capacitors which is usually seen in more expensive motherboards.

Both versions have the SB710 southbridge:

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171&cat3_no=&prod_no=1828

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171&cat3_no=&prod_no=1812
Click to expand...

Well then I just wasted £20 of my own money un-necessarily!

I spent a while agonising over which mobo to buy for my x3 435, and ruled out the MSI boards after reading they didn't support core unlocking. In fact I read it at bit-tech.net... (and a couple other places) *sigh*

"The MSI has the advantage over 785G boards in these areas but still lacks a very crucial feature: core unlocking. The board features ACC support and the SB710 southbridge so the facility is there to be taken advantage of. Hopefully a future BIOS update will enable it but don't hold your breath because no MSI board to date currently supports this."


I guess I'll just have to be content with my GA-MA785GMT-UD2H now :p
 
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FoxEye said:
Well then I just wasted £20 of my own money un-necessarily!

I spent a while agonising over which mobo to buy for my x3 435, and ruled out the MSI boards after reading they didn't support core unlocking. In fact I read it at bit-tech.net... (and a couple other places) *sigh*

"The MSI has the advantage over 785G boards in these areas but still lacks a very crucial feature: core unlocking. The board features ACC support and the SB710 southbridge so the facility is there to be taken advantage of. Hopefully a future BIOS update will enable it but don't hold your breath because no MSI board to date currently supports this."


I guess I paid more than I need to in buying a gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H. Now I need a hug :/ I hate wasting money... and I can't see anything that the gigabyte board has over the MSI now :/
Click to expand...

MSI released a BIOS update which enabled ACC IIRC. Anyway your motherboard is smaller and nicer looking than the MSI, has a 2 ounce copper PCB and integrated graphics too!!
 
Hey dudes, just been given an 8800 GFX card and 4GB of PC5300 ram \o/

So i really only need a motherboard, cpu & possibly a PSU
 
PC5300 DDR2 RAM will probably be a bit of a bottleneck for a Phenom II based system.

This is a Phenom II based build I would go for:

Phenom II X4 955BE ~ £122

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM

Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P ~ £86

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-199-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1482

This motherboard can do symmetrical Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 8X.

OR

Asus M3N72-T Deluxe ~ £72

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-354-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1483

This motherboard has SLI although it has some issues which I would check on the internet beforehand.

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w ~ £61

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-031-OC


Here is an Intel based alternative:

Intel Q8400 ~ £133

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-281-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

This is a bit slower than a Phenom II X4 945 or X4 940.

Asus P5E3 Pro ~ £100

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-371-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1050

This motherboard can do symmetrical Crossfire at PCI-E 2.0 16X.

OR

Asus P5P43TD Pro ~ £70

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-375-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1485

This has a 12 phase VRM design.

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w ~ £61

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-031-OC
 
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The IGP on the Asus M4A785TD-V Evo is actually pretty good especially after it is OCed (it has a lot of headroom). I can play Devil May Cry 4 at 765p with 30fps.

Might save £50 on a graphics card if you are not wanting to play really new / demanding games. Then you can always add another one with xfire later if you get a bit more cash / if the perfect 2nd hand deal comes along.
 
I'd personally go with a 775 setup if you've been given DDR2 ram. AM2+ is also good for that price range, but with 775 you could get this motherboard:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-190-GI

And then pick up a 2nd hand Q6600 for around 80 quid and perhaps a new power supply (not sure the 380w Antec will be enough for an 8800gt), job done and you'll still have money left over! :)

EDIT: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-216-GI this one should be better :p
 
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I would only go with a P43,P45 or X48 motherboard. These have the newer ICH10 southbridge.

The G41 and G31 tend to have issues with running any more than two sticks of RAM especially when overclocking. These have the older ICH7 southbridge.

Also I would only be overclocking a Q6600 on a better motherboard as it consumes a lot of power especially when overclocked and hence you need a decent VRM on the motherboard.

Even with the AM2+ components list I went with the more expensive motherboards and not the cheaper ones such as the following:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-376-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1482

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-180-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1482

If you are not overclocking though the cheaper AM2+ motherboards would do the job with a 125W quad core.
 
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CrispyXUK said:
Hi guys,

Wondering if you can help. My PC is OLD, currently has an Athlon Mobile 2500+ and an Nvidia 6800GT so I really can't play much, problem is I need to save for my wedding :(

I've managed to get £300 together to get this thing going again but it's been so long since I've built a PC, I've no idea where to start.

What would you recommend for CPU, Mobo, RAM & GPU? Will I need a new PSU?
Click to expand...
AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition £72
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-249-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1328

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4650 1024MB DDR2 TV-Out/HDTV/HDM £35
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-138-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1274

Patriot 4GB 1600MHZ DDR3 RAM ~ £83
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=8&subcat=1517

Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £73
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-355-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent Power Supply £49
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

£312

Just slightly over budget but you'd get a decent processor, 1600 mhz DDR3 ram, a 500w power supply (for future upgrading) and a good well reviewed mother board. If you really don't want to go over 300 at all just try and swap the ram for some DDR2 but you'd need a different mobo then too as that one is DDR3 mobo.

Here's the DDR2 version

Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 AMD 770 (Socket AM3/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £63
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-180-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1482

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4650 1024MB DDR2 TV-Out/HDTV/HDM £35
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-138-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1274

Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 TwinX Dual Channel £71
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-192-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817

OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent Power Supply £49
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

£290
 
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CrispyXUK said:
Will DDR2 work in a DDR3 motherboard? I could buy the cpu & motherboard and add better ram at a later date if so.
Click to expand...
No it won't but if you want to reduce the price of my suggested build and keep the DDR3 ram then just get rid of the graphics card like eddyc suggested since the mother board I recommended has an integrated ATI 4200. It won't be a graphics card that will be running everything on max but it should be able to handle stuff pretty well I think. Depends on if you'd rather sacrifice graphics or ram but from what I hear you won't notice too much of a difference between DDR2 and DDR3 ram anyway but that might depend on if you use it for more than gaming.
 
I don't know about all these recommendations for 4650s, 4670s.

The OP wants a gaming system. Ergo, gfx card is pretty much the most important thing. Everyone loves to recommend an i3 or a Phenom II BE, but then they also choose an HD4600 series gfx? What?

And integrated? Double "what?"! When was the last time you guys played anything decent on an IGP?

And no, the 4670 is not anywhere close to the 8800gt. It's slightly better than the 9600gso. The 8800gt stonks all over it, and is better than the 5670 as well (but not by much).
 
I already listed some components in post 14 which would run fine off the 380W PSU the OP already has!! An HD4770 is also faster than a 9800GT too.

I have a Q6600 at around 3GHZ,a pair of SATA hard disks,an IDE DVD rewriter,a card reader,4GB of 800MHZ DDR2 and a highly overclocked HD4830 on a 975X motherboard running off the 400W PSU in my SD37P2.

I also listed a pair of systems in post 29 which could use the DDR2 RAM and 8800GT the OP has now got and I made sure that the motherboards were decent ones too.
 
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As I said, I've now got a 8800GT up and running, I've also salvaged a few bits just to get the thing to power on, system update is;

8800GT
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Packard Bell motherboard
4GB 5300 ram

Not too fussed about bleeding edge as I mainly play emulators and TF2, but would like to be able to run Mass Effect, AVP & Street Fighter 4.

Cheers again guys, you've been really helpful.
 
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