Saint AAI

My current PC is getting very old (pentium 4 and ATi Radeon 9600) and I'm wanting to get a new one. Rather then buying one, I'm going to build my own. I'm not sure where to start though, do I choose the processor first and then pick a motherboard to suit or would you choose the motherboard first and then get everything around that? My current PC still does most things I want it too, however I've recently tried playing Battlefied Play 4 Free and it looks crap on low detail settings.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Choose your processor then the mother board, if say you pick an i7 2600k locked chip (not able to overclock) then that means you dont have to look at the P67 boards, if you pick the 2600k unlocked it means you only want to go for the P67 boards as the H67 suck for overclocking.
Dont worry about memory either, but what OS are you running as its a good time to upgrade to win7 when building a new pc

Tony

Saint AAI

Still on XP, will be getting win7 for the new build. I'm not looking to spend loads on this project, but will want to overclock it. Are the AMD's any good or would you go for an intel?

Coffin Dodger

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/

Specifically:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-g...iew-32155.html

&

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/review...d-Your-Own,16/

scoobyhyp

hi were do you get your components from ??

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

I get mine from here www.scan.co.UK and keep an eye on the today only specials

Mooburu

The last pc i built, i got a bundle from overclockers like this -

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=339&subcat=

Its makes this a lot easier and perfect if your not comfortable with over clocking.

NAF

I bought a mobo bundle from ebay recently

Prices werent bad but I did have one ram module go belly up after only a couple of weeks...

Saint AAI

I'm thinking maybe the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition as my processor.

Daz34

There's a stunning deal on ATI 5850's and 5830's at the moment.
Ends today though!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-259-SP

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-258-SP

Saint AAI

So if I get the AMD 965 and 2x ATi 5850's, what motherboards would be a good choice with DDr3, USB3 and crossfire support?

Tidgy

what budget are you wanting to spend?

Saint AAI

Not sure, £600?

bigsinky

best bang for your buck at the mo seems to be the i3 - 540. over clockable to 4.4 on air cooling with the right mobo and ram.


http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=43812

Tidgy

how serious are you about playing games?

Saint AAI

Not very, just my current setup is about 10 years old so want something that will play the newest games with say a medium detail level for a few years to come.

Forgot to mention, I use my TV as a monitor.

bigsinky

for £600 you could build a monster. ok maybe not a crossfire or SLi machine but a top of the range single card is going to be miles better than what you've got. maybe go for the i5 - 2500k Sandybridge over clocked to 4.6GHz. Schweet

Tidgy

way things are going your gonna need a pc with plenty of grunt to do that lol
i think at 600 budget your gonna struggle with games in 12 months or so.

Tidgy

if your price it up form the nothing to running you'll find 600 aint that much.

case £50
decent power supply £100
MB £100
chip £100
Ram £150
HD £100
graphincs card £150

and your already over budget and still missing windows etc

Saint AAI

Can I not re-use parts of my old PC for the time being though? Like case, power supply and hard drive?

Tidgy

from how old you said i seriously doubt it, are they running of the old ide style connectors?

heres the difference

bigsinky

i was thinking he could just upgrade cpu, ram, mobo and gfx card and make use of existing HDD ,DVD, case and power supply.

on second thoughts thats maybe not such a good idea. yes your right £600 aint a lot.

i suppose if your going that far then an SSD for WIN7 would be in order as well.

bigsinky

@saint

tidgy is right. old stuff just aint gonna cope with the speed and power requirement of the new stuff. better save a few more pennies and future proof yourself for a bit (if thats even possible)

Coffin Dodger

www.ebuyer.com

Very good / cheap for components too.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

CPU for a 2600k is 231, mono is 121, ddr3 1800 77 for 8gb, then the rest but the i7 is the top end CPU and an u2 may meet your requirements, just dont go amd as they just don't compete in the Market just now.

Tony

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

CPU for a 2600k is 231, mono is 121, ddr3 1800 77 for 8gb, then the rest but the i7 is the top end CPU and an u2 may meet your requirements, just dont go amd as they just don't compete in the Market just now.

Tony

Saint AAI

Yes I'm running the old style connectors, didn't know they had changed lol.

Another idea then, if I were to swap my old 9600 for an x1950Pro (AGP), would it be able to play Battlefield play 4 free any higher then super low settings? Or are there any other AGP cards that are better then the x1950, or should I really not waste any time or money trying to upgrade my old PC?

Tidgy

scrap it mate, dump the whole shebang, agp is extreamly outdated as well as the conectors, i know its not what you wanted to hear but its all so old just not worth tryign to save any of it excluding cd/dvd drive.

bigsinky

dont waste your money in a new gfx card. the P4 will just run out of puff if you put the settings higher. i am just looking here. the gfx cards are AGP not even PCI dont even think about wasting money then.

bigsinky

stick ubuntu 10.10 on it and use it as an email, internet, file server, media streaming machine