Budget PC

fastdude

fastdude

Active Member
Gonna order some stuff after xmas, whatd'ya'll reckon? Or should I wait for sandy bridge?
Will be using for school, media, fairly old games at high settings and maybe some newer ones, too. Going to overclock CPU to at least 4.2, aiming for 4.6, I'm overclocking GPU, too

CPU: Intel Pentium G6950 - £65
http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-343-IN
Mobo: Torn between GA-H55M-UD2 (£64)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/giga...(x16)-ddr3-1600-1800-2133-sata-3gb-s-vga-uatx
and GA-P55M-UD2 (£83)
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/home/p...-P55M-UD2-P55-LGA1156-core-i5?source=googleps
Dunno what to choose, seeing as I may upgrade to a higher-end 1156 CPU later on, and I've read that i5-700s are optimized on P55 chipset
RAM: Corsair XMS3 1600 - £62
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/home/p...-1600MHz-4GB-kit-of-2x240-pin?source=googleps
GPU: Not sure whether to get a GTS450 and clock it skyhigh, HD5770, HD6850, or GTX460 768MB, seeing as they've shot down in price
Case: Antec 300, Enermax Staray (I'll fit another 120mm exhaust fan) or Silverstone PS02B, or other, please give suggestions, less than £50
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 320GB - £29
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/320-...-caviar-blue-sata-300-7200-rpm-8mb-cache-9-ms
Optical: Samsung SH-S223C - £15
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-099-SA&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=
CPU cooler: Thermaltake Frio - £36
http://www.dabs.com/products/therma...l?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product+search
PSU: Ideally I'd like something modular and less than £50, otherwise it'll be the Corsair CX400W

Also, please suggest <£100 monitor. Doesn't have to be high-res, just good quality and preferably 18-21.5"

Thanks guys!
 
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I would say wait for sandy bridge, but with LGA 1156, you can still upgrade to i7 in future... VAT will be 20% after new year...

core i3 540 @ overclockers on offer this week, £77. Worth getthing that instead.
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w @ overclockers on offer this week.

I suggest you limited to one to two online retailer, you will pay a lot on shipping if you order all over the place.

I am going to sell my samsung 2232BW within this two week. Probably looking around £65 include shipping within UK mainland. Any interest?
 
daisymtc said:
I would say wait for sandy bridge, but with LGA 1156, you can still upgrade to i7 in future... VAT will be 20% after new year...

core i3 540 @ overclockers on offer this week, £77. Worth getthing that instead.
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w @ overclockers on offer this week.

I suggest you limited to one to two online retailer, you will pay a lot on shipping if you order all over the place.

I am going to sell my samsung 2232BW within this two week. Probably looking around £65 include shipping within UK mainland. Any interest?
Click to expand...

Hmm. Generally scan are cheapest, but when OCuk have offers on, the prices are really low, I look there the most. getting components that don't go out of date quickly (monitor, PSU, etc.) first. I may build it gradually. Sorry, I would have been interested, and 65 quid is good price, but yesterday I just forked out on athis, got it for £72 new off amazon:D Yeah, I'll probably stick with 1156 due to VAT rise -
Stupid government.
Cheers for input. Is 540 as good overclocker as G6950?

EDIT:

Know anything about cases? What GPU do you think I should get? I don't have a fixed GPU budget. I can spend as much as I have, but I'd need to cut the system back elsewhere to get a better GPU.
At the moment I'm leaning toward GTX460 768MB
 
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NVM, I could sell it at CEX for £50 when I next visit to town. Just getting a bit lazy to wait for their checking if someone could buy it from me and I can post it through...

Have you check ariapc? they are usually quite cheap as well.

Case - do you want those cheap £30 or want a better
 
daisymtc said:
NVM, I could sell it at CEX for £50 when I next visit to town. Just getting a bit lazy to wait for their checking if someone could buy it from me and I can post it through...

Have you check ariapc? they are usually quite cheap as well.

Case - do you want those cheap £30 or want a better
Click to expand...

Yeah, I do check AriaPc. I just don't know much about cases. Obviously I want one with good cooling, easy to build a pc in and looks good, those are my priorities (in that order). I think the most I'd spend on a case for this fairly low budget build is £50, and maybe a few case fans on top of of that if necessary. Not sure whether to get standard ATX case or a more compact mATX one, seeing as my mobo is mATX.
 
fastdude said:
Yeah, I do check AriaPc. I just don't know much about cases. Obviously I want one with good cooling, easy to build a pc in and looks good, those are my priorities (in that order). I think the most I'd spend on a case for this fairly low budget build is £50, and maybe a few case fans on top of of that if necessary. Not sure whether to get standard ATX case or a more compact mATX one, seeing as my mobo is mATX.
Click to expand...

Do you want a full size system or a compact portable system. There's really no point to go mATX unless you want a smaller computer that you can tuck away somewhere or take around with you.
 
diduknowthat said:
Do you want a full size system or a compact portable system. There's really no point to go mATX unless you want a smaller computer that you can tuck away somewhere or take around with you.
Click to expand...

Yeah, well I won't be taking it around. But smaller cases are easier to blow air around and cheaper. I think I'll get a smallish ATX case

daisymtc said:
probably go for standard mid-ATX.

~£50 case, probably antec 300/ CM 690II basic/ NZXT M59
Click to expand...

I was thinking the 300, that's cheap and looks OK, You can get the 690II that cheap? Ugh, that NZXT case is ugly
 
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