First build £400-£500

[Nick87]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within the month BUDGET RANGE: 400-500 (Sterling Pounds £££)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, internet, movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: www.ebuyer.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: (whatever's best performance)

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe (never done it before)

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe (whatever's best...)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1280x1024

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I dont think I need anything more than 160GB


Gaming wise I will be definately playing CS1.6, CSS, CoD2, CoD4 and possibly CodMW2 (if its good 😀)


Thanks guys, if you need anymore information just ask ;-)

 

[aevm]

Antec 300, 46 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854

Corsair 550W, 70 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132563

WD 320GB, 39 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124735

OCZ DDR2-800 4GB, 39 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/154644

So far 194 pounds. This leaves you 306 pounds for CPU/GPU/MB.

You don't need a cooler since you're not into overclocking.

 

[aevm]

XFX HD 4870, 150 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155497

This leaves you 156 pounds for CPU and MB together.

GA-EP45-DS3L 86 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150880

E5200, 56 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148715

An E7400 would be better, but it's over your budget. An E8400 would be even better, but it costs even more.

Let me try an AMD combination now.

X2 7750, 56 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155158

GA-MA790X-UD4, 92 pounds
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160854

The Intel version is a little faster if you learn to overclock and buy an aftermarket cooler. The AMD version is a little faster if you don't overclock, and the motherboard is nicer (it has RAID and Crossfire).

 

[aevm]

One more thing: change the CPU to X2 7850. Same price, a bit faster.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164048

LOL, you have 8 pounds left if I added them all right. Go with the AMD version (GA-MA790X-UD4 and X2 7850), and use the 8 pounds to upgrade the PSU to Corsair 650W.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135514

Later, when you get yourself a serious monitor (with 1680x1050 or better), you will be able to add a second HD 4870 with that MB and PSU. You definitely don't need a second HD 4870 now at 1280x1024. Even one is plenty at that resolution, except maybe in Crysis or Frontlines.

 

[Helloworld_98]

how about this?

Sapphire 4770 512mb (two of them)
Titan Fenrir Cooler
Silverstone 650w PSU
Antec 300
Corsair 2x2gb PC2-6400
Biostar TA790GX 128 (so you can try and unlock the extra core's)
AMD 7750 BE

Comes to just over £500 inc VAT iirc.

 

[aevm]

I like that build too. Two HD 4770 will beat a HD 4870. On the other hand, with a single HD 4870 you still have a slot free for later.

I thought that trick with unlocking a core was only for the X3 720 BE. That one is a bit too expensive for Nick's budget, at 120 pounds.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159071

That Biostar TA790GX 128 board is not available at ebuyer, as far as I can see, but Scan has it for 74 pounds:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Bios...6)-DDR2-1066-SATA-3Gbps-SATA-RAID-OnBoard-VGA