• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Upgrading Old PC

J

JonnyConcrete

n00b
Joined
Sep 16, 2015
Messages
21
I have dug out my old PC and I want to upgrade the gfx card and memory but I've been out of the loop for a long time and am very rusty when it comes to PC components.

I want to use it for Flight Simulator X and Aces High 2 and anything else it will be able to play. Its going to be a long time before I can afford a decent PC again so Im hoping if I spend £100 max on this PC I will be able to play the fore mentioned games on high settings.

Here is dxdiag of the PC....


Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.101209-1647)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MSI
System Model: MS-7369
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Page File: 956MB used, 4001MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode




Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9442)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9442&SUBSYS_05021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 720 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6925 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 2/25/2009 22:41:10, 325120 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes


So Im hoping to upgrade the graphics card and memory. Not sure whether the motherboard can take anything newer than ddr2?

I will probably also need a new psu as the current one is only 405w.

Any help, advice and recommendations are greatly appreciated.
 
looks like that board supports X4s up to HD9750WCJ4BGH
 
To be able to use more RAM, you will need to switch to a 64-bit OS.

And if you upgrade the video card and stay on 32-bit XP, your max available RAM will be about 4GB - video card RAM.

So, go to 64-bit Windows 10 (7, 8, 8.1 upgrades to 10 for free).

Go with the Phenom x4 that was already mentioned. - pretty cheap on Ebay.

Get more RAM. DDR2 is the only thing you can use. I would recommend 4x 2GB DDR2 800 or, better yet, 1066.

Then get a used video card.. maybe an AMD HD 6870 or something with similar performance.

Those right there will probably eat up close to your budget but you will still need a power supply.
 
JonnyConcrete said:
I have dug out my old PC and I want to upgrade the gfx card and memory but I've been out of the loop for a long time and am very rusty when it comes to PC components.

I want to use it for Flight Simulator X and Aces High 2 and anything else it will be able to play. Its going to be a long time before I can afford a decent PC again so Im hoping if I spend £100 max on this PC I will be able to play the fore mentioned games on high settings.

Here is dxdiag of the PC....


Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.101209-1647)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MSI
System Model: MS-7369
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Page File: 956MB used, 4001MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode




Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9442)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9442&SUBSYS_05021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 720 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6925 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 2/25/2009 22:41:10, 325120 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes


So Im hoping to upgrade the graphics card and memory. Not sure whether the motherboard can take anything newer than ddr2?

I will probably also need a new psu as the current one is only 405w.

Any help, advice and recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

At this point you're better off saving up for a complete new system. Any worthwhile upgrades to that old system will cost far more money than that entire system is currently worth.

Plus, that system might not be properly supported on any OS newer than Windows XP, which is now no longer supported by Microsoft (no updates - not even security patches - since April of last year).

And with whichever route that you choose, I'd strongly recommend a new PSU: That "405W" PSU is very likely a CWT PUF or PUFP based PSU, which is one of the crappiest PSU platforms CWT has ever released: It has been shown to fail to handle much above even 300W, let alone the inflated "405W" rating.

In other words, I and a few other posters at the [H] have been warning people who own such archaic PCs not to waste a single pence on them, especially if the entire system put together is worth less money (after depreciation) than a single worthwhile upgrade component. And if you can't afford a new PC at all whatsoever for months or years to come, then you might as well have absolutely nothing at all (PC-wise), especially since any single GPU upgrade that costs anywhere close to £100 will not provide a performance increase that's meaningful enough to justify your spending that amount. The cheapest worthwhile GPU upgrade for that system will cost you more like £250 - and then, you'd still need a new PSU, and that the performance will still be CPU-limited in many games that would otherwise be GPU-limited on a newer PC platform.
 
Last edited:
E4g1e said:
At this point you're better off saving up for a complete new system. Any worthwhile upgrades to that old system will cost far more money than that entire system is currently worth.

Plus, that system might not be properly supported on any OS newer than Windows XP, which is now no longer supported by Microsoft (no updates - not even security patches - since April of last year).

And with whichever route that you choose, I'd strongly recommend a new PSU: That "405W" PSU is very likely a CWT PUF or PUFP based PSU, which is one of the crappiest PSU platforms CWT has ever released: It has been shown to fail to handle much above even 300W, let alone the inflated "405W" rating.

In other words, I and a few other posters at the [H] have been warning people who own such archaic PCs not to waste a single pence on them, especially if the entire system put together is worth less money (after depreciation) than a single worthwhile upgrade component. And if you can't afford a new PC at all whatsoever for months or years to come, then you might as well have absolutely nothing at all (PC-wise), especially since any single GPU upgrade that costs anywhere close to £100 will not provide a performance increase that's meaningful enough to justify your spending that amount. The cheapest worthwhile GPU upgrade for that system will cost you more like £250 - and then, you'd still need a new PSU, and that the performance will still be CPU-limited in many games that would otherwise be GPU-limited on a newer PC platform.
Click to expand...

And that is why buying only used parts is really the only option to upgrade an older PC such as this. I checked prices for stuff on Ebay and the OP could get a pretty huge performance increase for not that much.
 
I'm running win7 on several AM2 platforms older than that just fine OP, don't be put off by the doomsayer
 
Thanks.

Id prefer to spend a bit on upgrading rather than have no pc at all.

Stupid question.

The motherboard can only take ddr2 ram but it doesnt matter if the graphics card has ddr3,4 or 5 correct?
 
correct

on your PSU choice, there are modern offerings that would serve your needs that are very affordable, on the other hand, you could spend some money and get a PSU that will serve as the core of a future system.
 
So for both of the games you listed (Aces High 2 and FSX), your GPU should MORE than handle them. Any bottleneck you're seeing would be RAM-dependent (if you're running a newer OS that is not linux this is likely) or CPU-dependent. That CPU really should be overclocked for ideal FSX performance; Running the game on my Intel Xeon W3680 with all cores on 4ghz, I still see one core top out at 100% when running FSX. Meanwhile my GPUs remain fairly quiet and cool...

In short, go overclock that CPU as high as it can go. Get a better cooler for it if you need to; coolers that fit on AM2 are virtually guaranteed to fit on the later AM3+ socket that you could eventually upgrade to without issue, so it won't be wasted money. Upgrade the PSU as well while you're at it to help in getting a stable overclock. A 60 pound XFX or similar PSU rated for something in the range of 500W should do nicely; see other people's opinions/reviews for specifics. The other thing you should do is try to get your RAM up to at least 4gb DDR2; not much sense going for more than that because you won't be able to take your DDR2 on to your next platform when you do make the big switch.

If you're still having trouble after all that, consider using a distribution of Linux that comes with WINE preinstalled, like ZorinOS Lite. This should help your older system run a little faster, and WINE can run FSX and Aces High 2 pretty well.
 
dude, go with a well reviewed supply

seriously

I have never heard of either of those brands so I have no idea who the OEMs are on those

I would go with a Seasonic, Antec or one of the better Corsair lines
 
JonnyConcrete said:
OK so thinking get these 2 to start with and see how that goes?

Then maybe upgrade to phenom and Video card if not happy.

http://www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=4135


Are any of these any good?

http://www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=8349

http://www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=7607

http://www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=7936

http://www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=8533

Its not much more for the 750w. Will the noise go up with the wattage?
Click to expand...


I was thinking something more like this for you:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hkDzVn
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hkDzVn/by_merchant/

CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX S40 54.2 CFM CPU Cooler (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1 x 2GB) DDR2-800 Memory (£15.45 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1 x 2GB) DDR2-800 Memory (£15.45 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£29.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £75.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-17 16:52 BST+0100

It's in your budget, uses all brand-name components that I am not scared to suggest, and it's below your 100 pound limit. The cooler and the PSU will be reusable in most future builds as well.
 
Right, thanks.

Might just get a second hand phenom for about £30 instead of the cooler then sell my cpu.

Sound good?

Apart from that think Ill order the rest. Thanks for everyones help. Any more input is welcome.
 
First off, he already has 4GB ram:

Memory: 3072MB RAM
Click to expand...

That's the maximum memory Win32 will recognize, and leaves 1GB of the address space reserved for I/O (256MB PCIe window for the graphics card).

Second: I don't think upgrading to a Phenom I would help performance in flight simulators. Most of them only use a single CPU core (I know Flight Simulator X does this). The Phenom I is only about 20% faster than the old Athlon 64 at the same clock speed! So you'd be wasting your money upgrading your current motherboard.

You people are taking the lazy way out here, without really trying. you do know that you can get a Celeron plus mobo plus ram plus PSU for 100 pounds right?

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/t6qbP6

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£28.00 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£32.17 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£17.02 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£29.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £107.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-17 17:26 BST+0100

His video card is probably plenty for some old and dusty flight sims playing at 720p, but the CPU is definitely not.

And hey look, you get DOUBLE the performance of the x2 5000+, and that's with the same two threads!

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/33?vs=1257
 
Last edited:
Ill be playing at 1080p.

Ill take a look at the specs. Thanks for the links.

It would be nice to run other games as well so getting the best bang for my limit budget is desirable.
 
OK so looks like the mobo can take 16gb ram and i7 cpu so for the same price its probably a good bet to go with it in case I want to upgrade in the future.
 
JonnyConcrete said:
The chips are very similar in this benchmark

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+9750+Quad-Core

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+G1820+@+2.70GHz
Click to expand...

Yes they are, and that's because a simple benchmark like PassMARK can use all the CPU cores you have, whereas older games like Flight Simulator X use only a single core:

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?254858-FSX-and-CPU-Useage&p=1714053#post1714053

FSX is still mainly a single core program with a VERY few threads sent to other cores--mainly to load textures. The first core works about at 98%, core 2 around 2%, and the rest around zero.
Click to expand...

Simple exercise: divide the score by the number of CPU cores, and that's your single-threaded performance:

The Phenom: Single Thread Rating: 827

The Celeron: Single Thread Rating: 1586

Trust me man, I've done this upgrade for so many other people with older X2 systems. The Celeron is a beast, and will give you twice the performance NO MATTER HOW MANY CORES the game engine can actually use. And if you find your video card is not enough to game ay 1080p, it will be plenty to drive whatever video card you buy to replace it.
 
JonnyConcrete said:
OK so looks like the mobo can take 16gb ram and i7 cpu so for the same price its probably a good bet to go with it in case I want to upgrade in the future.
Click to expand...

Actually he did show us up with that Celeron build. The Celeron will offer MARKED improvement for your purposes, and it gets you on a great socket with modern RAM.

I fully agree, that's the best build offered here. Jealous I didn't think to look at the Celerons. If it's too expensive, you can probably find cheaper options on ebay and other used parts sellers sitting on the 1155 socket, which will offer only slightly older but similarly impressive upgrade options.
 
Sweet.

Thanks a lot for the help. Ive posted this question on 6 of the most frequented forums I could find and this forum has given me the best answers,

Much appreciated.
 
TheEschaton said:
Unless you have access to more funds for that or you're a student, it will be a little difficult to fit into your budget... Might consider linux.
Click to expand...

Looks like Im going over budget (dont tell the wife)

When I want to upgrade the Ram I just buy another (the same) 4gb Kingston RAM stick until I have 4 = 16gb?
 
Quick addendum here for other people looking into similar CPU upgrades, and a kind of interesting tag-on to the conversation earlier vis-a-vis Passmark scores - take a look at the following Passmark comparison between the Celeron G1820, the Athlon X2 370K, and the A4-3700:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2129&cmp[]=2076&cmp[]=2357

You will note that despite the significantly lower clockspeed, Haswell's architecture destroys Richland at Passmark. Interestingly, the breakdown of that dominance is the opposite of how it usually plays out, though: Intel's multicore performance here compared to the Athlon's second place achievement is more impressive than its single core win, by a noticeable margin. And this sets the stage for a rather (I think) fascinating little lesson in bargain CPU/APU evaluation:

Based on Passmark benches alone (which certainly do not tell the whole story), if you were to buy any one of these three CPUs on the premise of achieving the highest single core performance, which one should you buy? Answer: the Athlon 370K. It only comes in ~100 points slower than the Celeron, and it's unlocked, so a mild overclock on stock cooling should put it well in first.

But what about if you were going to buy one for best all-around performance? Well, that's obviously the Celeron - and it sits on a socket with more possibilities (although if you buy a cheapo 1150 motherboard to go with it you won't get ALL the bells and whistles of the platform).

But how about if you had to choose the cheapest all-around solution from the three? That would have to go to the A4-7300, since its integrated graphics trump the Celeron's by quite a bit and the core performance when all's said and done is acceptable. It also sits on boards that tend to be a little cheaper.

It ends up being the case that the three choices are actually very well balanced, with each processor being the ideal choice for a particular use case. We still recommend the Celeron to the OP of this thread because it best fits with what he plans to do - buy now, and upgrade later.
 
JonnyConcrete said:
Looks like Im going over budget (dont tell the wife)

When I want to upgrade the Ram I just buy another (the same) 4gb Kingston RAM stick until I have 4 = 16gb?
Click to expand...

You're not getting to 16gb unless you have 4 RAM slots. But 8gb is usually more than enough for gaming anyway.
 
TheEschaton said:
You're not getting to 16gb unless you have 4 RAM slots. But 8gb is usually more than enough for gaming anyway.
Click to expand...

Ahh I assumed it had 4 as that's what my current mono has.

Right, I might just get an 8gb stick to start with if I can stretch to it.
 
If I upgrade in the future the 4gb stick will be worthless like my 2gb and 1gb is now, if I get an 8gb stick then I can always get another if I end up, upgrading the cpu and gfx card.
 
JonnyConcrete said:
If I upgrade in the future the 4gb stuck will be worthless like my 2gb and 1gb is now, if I get an 8gb stick then I can always get another if I end up, upgrading the cou and gfs card.
Click to expand...

What I'm saying is that within the lifetime of that upgrade, you will not need more than 12gb, which is what you could end up with if you buy a 4gb now, and then (at a maximum) an 8gb later.

If you INSIST on being able to hit 16gb, then I would suggest getting 4gb now and then getting a 4 slot motherboard: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-b85mpro3

It's still cheaper than getting a single 8gb stick now.

Edit: OK just double-checked my assumption and it's not any cheaper, but at least you get a better mobo all-around into the bargain.
 
Yeah, that's the other reason I highly recommend Celerons. If you ever find a game your CPU chokes on, you have an incredible upgrade path. Given Haswell's long life, you should be able to find tons of parts on the used market.

You should be fine with 4 or 8GB ram if all you want to play are those two games for now. Both are native 32-bit applications, so they'll use at most 2 to 3GB ram.

Also, there's nothing stopping you from getting a different motherboard with more ram slots. I simply picked the cheapest one :D

But do get yourself a 64-bit OS, because you get much better memory management. Also, it will make the entire 4GB of RAM USABLE, NOT JUST 3gb.
 
defaultluser said:
Yeah, that's the other reason I highly recommend Celerons. If you ever find a game your CPU chokes on, you have an incredible upgrade path. Given Haswell's long life, you should be able to find tons of parts on the used market.

You should be fine with 4 or 8GB ram if all you want to play are those two games for now. Both are native 32-bit applications, so they'll use at most 2 to 3GB ram.

Also, there's nothing stopping you from getting a different motherboard with more ram slots. I simply picked the cheapest one :D

But do get yourself a 64-bit OS, because you get much better memory management. Also, it will make the entire 4GB of RAM USABLE, NOT JUST 3gb.
Click to expand...

Hardmode: can you explain why the Athlon X2 370K gains so much on single core score compared to the Celeron, to achieve functional parity with the much more powerful Haswell architecture when only one thread is used :) I know I can...
 
TheEschaton said:
Hardmode: can you explain why the Athlon X2 370K gains so much on single core score compared to the Celeron, to achieve functional parity with the much more powerful Haswell architecture when only one thread is used :) I know I can...
Click to expand...

There's really a massive clock disparity between the two. Base clock is 4.0, Turbo is 4.2, and it's STILL only just as fast as the 2.7 GHz Celeron, and that is why there is no upgrade path if you buy AMD today :D

The turbo accounts for part of the difference in single versus multi-threaded.

But that's not the only factor. The Shared FPU and shared front-end decoder is also a buzzkill for a benchmark like passmark when multiple threads get involved!
 
Last edited:
defaultluser said:
The turbo accounts for part of the difference in single versus multi-threaded.

But that's not the only factor. The Shared FPU and shared front-end decoder is also a buzzkill for a benchmark like passmark when multiple threads get involved!
Click to expand...

Yup, this is EXACTLY it! Good to know someone else on here knows what's going on with CMT vs SMT.

When you're only stressing one core on a module, nobody is sharing, so work doesn't slow down. It would be interesting to own both of these chips and run the benchmarks in situ, so that you could see the breakdowns of the scores - for example, how would the parts of the bench look without the FPU part of the benchmark? If you ran PassMark yourself, you could find out. Obviously you'd see big gains for the Athlon in the multicore dept., but almost no gains in the single core dept.

Anyway, with the FPU out of the way via reducing the test to single core equivalence, you can get a good sense of the IPC difference between Richland and Haswell - ~4.2ghz vs 2.7ghz, or a 64% higher IPC per clock for Haswell. A very useful number to keep in mind.

A quick aside - IF Zen does what everyone thinks it will and gains about 25% IPC over Steamroller, which itself had about 15% IPC over Richland, and then account for the fact that Skylake does about 15% over Haswell, you'd expect to see about a 50% IPC advantage of Skylake over Zen, clock for clock, single or multithreaded (since AMD is going to SMT just as Intel has always done). But AMD loves to pile on the threads - double the the threads at price point compared to Intel, historically. So that leaves AMD in a competitive zone for heavily multithreaded tasks if Zen can manage 25% IPC gains over Steamroller.
 
Ugh I knew this was a bad idea. I should just stick with my PS4 :eek:

Right looks like I'll be doing some serious research over the weekend trying to get my head back in the game, it's been so long.

I really ought to get a mobo that is totally future proof as I do want to get back into pc gaming not just the flight Sims.

If you find any other mobos, chips, ram gfx cards etc then feel free to post links so I can check them out. I might spend more than I was planning too.

At what point will I need to upgrade the psu? Wondering if I will ever get to that point or not.

So I'm guessing I just use the heatsink and fan that's on my current cpu or will I need a new one?

Anything else I will be need if I upgrade the mobo, cpu and ram?

Cheers for all the help guys.
 
JonnyConcrete said:
Ugh I knew this was a bad idea. I should just stick with my PS4 :eek:

Right looks like I'll be doing some serious research over the weekend trying to get my head back in the game, it's been so long.

I really ought to get a mobo that is totally future proof as I do want to get back into pc gaming not just the flight Sims.

If you find any other mobos, chips, ram gfx cards etc then feel free to post links so I can check them out. I might spend more than I was planning too.

At what point will I need to upgrade the psu? Wondering if I will ever get to that point or not.

So I'm guessing I just use the heatsink and fan that's on my current cpu or will I need a new one?

Anything else I will be need if I upgrade the mobo, cpu and ram?

Cheers for all the help guys.
Click to expand...

I think you're over-thinking this :D Relax, we'll help you out with whatever is troubling you!

I included a high-quality PSU in the build I suggested. That EVGA 500w A series PSU can handle a Core i7 4790k plus GTX 980 without breaking a sweat. It's no slouch :D

Although if you want to go slightly higher quality/capacity, you can drop 20 pounds more for this.. It's a 600w EVGA with higher-quality parts (B instead of A series):

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100b10600kr

The Celeron comes with a cooler, which makes it an even better value. And the Intel stock coolers are great for their dual-core processors.

And if you want a recommendation on video cards, look here:

http://techreport.com/review/29012/the-tech-report-system-guide-september-2015-edition/4

Basically, the GTX 950 or GTX 960 is more than enough to run TODAY'S TOP GAMES at 1080p near max settings. And if you're playing older games, you can get by with a GTX 750 Ti.

You don't have to future-proof anything. You average gaming box today only needs the features available on a cheap and simple H81 motherboard. It's no longer bad to game on the cheap :D


The people who claim that PC gaming is expensive haven't built a PC in awhile :D
 
Last edited:
defaultluser said:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/t6qbP6

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£28.00 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£32.17 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£17.02 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£29.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £107.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-17 17:26 BST+0100
Click to expand...

This build is quite good.

I'd go with a single 8GB stick instead of the 4GB if you can afford it though.
(Only because the motherboard only has 2 DIMM slots etc.)
 
Also, if you want a recommendation for a significantly better CPU than the Celeron, this is the best all-around CPU from Intel is the 3.7 GHz Core i3 for 88 pounds:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i34170

It's 3 times the price of the Celeron, but has 40% faster single-threaded performance, up to 40% more performance in modern games that use four cores.

The next step up, the Core i5, starts at 150 pounds for the same turbo clock speed as the Core i3. Since it's clocked exactly the same, it won't make a difference unless you're playing a game that uses all four cores, and needs an immense amount of processing power. And those just don't exist.

Note: you probably should get an H97 motherboard if you get the 3.7 GHz Core i3, as it's a Haswell refresh.

Or you can get this 3.4 GHz Core i3 for the same price. It will be compatible with any motherboard:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i34130
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top