New build, a few quids less.

[h8spam]

I'm looking to upgrade my current 939 Athlon system and just need some advice on what to buy. I'm on a low budget and am looking to cut costs as much as possible.

Location: UK

Budget: £540 (My wages are for subsistence only, overtime required here).

Needed: everything apart from: optical drives and software.

Purpose: Gaming. Battlefield Bad Company 2 etc.

Resolution: 1650x1050 or 1280x1024

Ideas:

Antec 300 £50
Antec 650W Truepower New Modular PSU £70
Fans £10
HDD of sorts £50
Gigabyte Ga-MA770T-UD3 £60
4GB RAM £40
ATI 6850 £135.00 (Currently have an ATI 3/4850 256mb, could this get the job done for now? Crossfire?) I would even buy a used card as its most likely to be replaced eventually.
Phenom X4 955 £105 (Do I really need this? never found cpus to make a difference previously)

I also need some fans for the case and a cpu cooler and don't know what to buy. Getting the job done is all thats required.

What about an Intel setup which is more expensive, but if i'm going close to £500 i'd rather do this?

Some advice on what to buy would be appreciated.

 

[E4g1e]

I'm looking to upgrade my current 939 Athlon system and just need some advice on what to buy. I'm on a low budget and am looking to cut costs as much as possible.

Location: UK

Budget: £550 or less, £360 would be great. (My wages are for subsistence only, overtime required here).

Needed: everything apart from: hdd, optical drives and software.

Purpose: Gaming. Battlefield Bad Company 2 etc.

Resolution: 1650x1050 or 1280x1024

Ideas:

Antec 300 £50
Gigabyte Ga-MA770T-UD3 £60
4GB RAM £40
ATI 6850 £135.00 (Currently have an ATI 3/4850 256mb, could this get the job done for now? Crossfire?) I would even buy a used card as its most likely to be replaced eventually.
Phenom X4 955 £105 (Do I really need this? never found cpus to make a difference previously)

I also need some fans for the case and a cpu cooler and don't know what to buy. Getting the job done is all thats required.

Psu - I always have had really cheap units in the past and begrudge paying megabucks. Its just a machine with a job to do.

What about an Intel setup which is more expensive, but if i'm going close to £500 i'd rather do this?

Some advice on what to buy would be appreciated.

If your hard drives and/or optical drives are more than three to four years old, you might want to replace them as well, especially if they are IDE (PATA) drives rather than SATA drives: Many new motherboards have no IDE ports at all.

 

[Dangman]

ATI 6850 £135.00 (Currently have an ATI 3/4850 256mb, could this get the job done for now? Crossfire?) I would even buy a used card as its most likely to be replaced eventually.

The HD 6850 1GB will be just fine for BFBC2 at 1680x1050

Phenom X4 955 £105 (Do I really need this? never found cpus to make a difference previously)

With BFBC2, yes the CPU makes a huge difference. That game scales very well with quad-cores so that Phenom II X4 955 is probably the cheapest CPU that you should go with.

I also need some fans for the case and a cpu cooler and don't know what to buy. Getting the job done is all thats required.

If you're not overclocking, no need to get a 3rd party CPU cooler as the CPU already comes with one. If you are overclocking, then get this HSF:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156

Psu - I always have had really cheap units in the past and begrudge paying megabucks. Its just a machine with a job to do.

Yeah not a good idea these days considering that newer parts are a bit more sensitive to PSU quality than ever. Pick up the Antec Neo Eco 520C or 620C PSUs or the Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU.

What about an Intel setup which is more expensive, but if i'm going close to £500 i'd rather do this?

Well tell us how much more a Intel COre i5 750 and a socket LGA 1156 mobo would be for you.

 

[h8spam]

Thanks for the response.

How does the lian-li pc-v1000 compare to modern cases such as the 600t etc? the core i5 750 is approx £145 and board £60 - £85. Is there any performance difference between mATX and ATX? My hdd are up to date I have a 70GB raptor and an old IDE storage drive, I can change this but its not a must buy. One concern is case fans. If i'm going with the antec 300 what additional fans should I purchase. Having said that IF i was going to buy a hdd what would I buy as a main drive? not a storage drive.

 

[vkfu]

I'm not a big fan of the Antec 300. It's roomy and has good airflow but the metal is really thin and flimsy.

 

[Dangman]

How does the lian-li pc-v1000 compare to modern cases such as the 600t etc?

It's still a good case actually. Can hold its own against current cases.

the core i5 750 is approx £145 and board £60 - £85.

If you can spare the cash without skimping on the PSU, then go with that Intel setup. In addition to my earlier Antec recommendations, also check out Corsair, XFX, or Seasonic.

Is there any performance difference between mATX and ATX?

Nope.

My hdd are up to date I have a 70GB raptor and an old IDE storage drive, I can change this but its not a must buy. ..Having said that IF i was going to buy a hdd what would I buy as a main drive? not a storage drive.

Yeah your drives are not up-to-date at all: Many cheap consumer grade 7200RPM drives will significantly outperform your Raptor drive.

So get these drives:
£30.35 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
£40.78 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

The above drives perform the same as one another actually. But both drives outperform your current Raptor.

One concern is case fans. If i'm going with the antec 300 what additional fans should I purchase.

Cheapest case fans that you can find.

 

[h8spam]

I'm not a big fan of the Antec 300. It's roomy and has good airflow but the metal is really thin and flimsy.

I'd use a cardboard box if I could, of course this wouldn't be sensible. Well thanks to your help I know what I am looking for when I do come to build. I think I'm going to wait for sandybridge until april time. I wouldn't be looking to build until the end of this month anyway and that would make it easier to scrape some cash together.