Budget build - Advice needed

[man_from_uncle]

Hey all,

I'm helping a friend build a new rig on a shoe string budget and I wanted some advice on what the best low end solution is.

I'm thinking it's got to be an AM3 based platform, given the funds to play with, but I want it to be something that's overclockable and has scope for upgrade when he get's some spare cash.

The motherboard doesn't need more than a single PCI-e graphics slot, but it would be really helpful if it had an IDE slot or two for a couple of older hard drives. If not though, it's not the end of the world, just trying to save him some cash.

Don't worry about the case, he's got something in mind already that I can't talk him out of. Opticals, keyboard, monitor and mouse are all taken care of too. Though he won't need after market cooling right off the bat, I'd like to let him know what he can expect if he lays out an extra £20-£30 on a heat sink for his cpu.

Thanks all,

Uncle

 

[~REALiTY]

Whats the Budget?

 

[man_from_uncle]

Low. As little as possible. I don't think he'll want to shell out more than £250 for motherboard, cpu, ram, psu and hard disks (if needed).

He'll be gaming in the fullness of time with it, but in the short term i'll probably lend him and old 7900gt (as per my old sig below). I've also got AS5 and a few spare fans, so I won't need anything more than the basics.

EDIT: And thanks for the quick reply. If it can't be done on this budget, I'll take the most affordable advice going. I've already told him it's worth spending a little more if it's the difference between making a deadend build and something that can be reasonably upgraded later.

 

[R088ieS86]

Definately an AMD rig then. Depending on his later choice of Graphics card you may well need a more powerful PSU. but the one below should handle most mid range cards.
Motherboard clocks with no problem and has an IDE slot for older drives.

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £94.79
(£78.99) £94.79
(£78.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £59.98
(£49.98) £59.98
(£49.98)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Sub Total : £194.78
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £40.86
Total : £245.14

 

[man_from_uncle]

I was thinking he can streth to a quad core as well. That looks pretty good.

I can see that motherboard has the IDE sockets, but does it overclock reasonably well too?

 

[Hagar]

Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £88.99
(£74.16) £88.99
(£74.16)
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Akasa ES 450W Power Supply £39.82
(£33.18) £39.82
(£33.18)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Sub Total : £227.30
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £47.36
Total : £284.16

 

[man_from_uncle]

Thanks nkata. Does that tri core unlock to quad?

And apart from crossfire, what does the GA-880GA-UD3H offer over the GM-880GA-UD2H?

 

[R088ieS86]

Tri's can unlock to a quad. But theres no guarantees, Its the luck of the draw.

The UD3 has Crossfire, USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/ps ports on it. usefully for future upgrades.

Both overclock fairly decently. you shouldn't struggle getting a 955BE to 4GHz with a decent cooler.

 

[Hagar]

It may do, unlocking is never guaranteed so should not be relied on, 3 cores is probably enough for most requirements though on a budget.

Not a lot, it has more slots being full ATX, It will have the same BIOS features, I have repriced on the UD2H for you.


AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £59.98
(£49.98) £59.98
(£49.98)
Akasa ES 450W Power Supply £39.82
(£33.18) £39.82
(£33.18)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Sub Total : £203.12
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £42.52
Total : £255.14

 

[man_from_uncle]

I quite like the shape of that. I'll throw these options by him. Thanks very much.

I think probably the tri core option will do, though I might bump the PSU up to a 500-600w job just in case he decides he does want to make it more of a gaming machine later down the line. The board looks like it's got a couple of IDE sockets too, so he probably won't need another hard drive, at least not straight off the bat.

 

[Hagar]

I quite like the shape of that. I'll throw these options by him. Thanks very much.

I think probably the tri core option will do, though I might bump the PSU up to a 500-600w job just in case he decides he does want to make it more of a gaming machine later down the line. The board looks like it's got a couple of IDE sockets too, so he probably won't need another hard drive, at least not straight off the bat.

Yes, the PSU is the weakest link in the build for upgradeability.

good luck, andy.