Cheap build to tide me over for awhile

H

heartspains88

New member
As the topic states, I'm looking for a cheap "this will do" build for the next 8 months or so. My system is in dire need of updating, and I was planning on doing 1-2 parts a month until I could build a decent upper-mid range system.. Though due to other circumstances, and "real life" not caring about our love for our PC's, I'm looking at doing something a little more temporary.. Not a permanent solution by any means.

Only parts I need: Motherboard, Processor, Ram

The rest I have will suffice, or can more easily be updated piece by piece. Those 3 are all I'm looking to purchase some time next month.

My budget is between 400-500$ .. Though I'm trying to stick close to the 400$ mark.

What I have so far.. Keeping in mind it is a budgeted upgrade of course.

Mobo: ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Ram: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

I know the RAM is solid, so the "budget" part is of course MAINLY the motherboard, the fact I'm going AMD over Intel (intel is generally my product of choice, but AMD is the MUCH cheaper option).

Any idea's? Changes? Comments? Any help is much appreciated. Seeing as I dont have a lot to "spoil" myself with this holiday season, and an upgrade is truly in need, I want to make sure with the budget I have I purchase the best I can.
 
EDIT. You made a massive error there my friend. NO AMD CHIP supports triple channel ram. So that Mushkin would not work.

Oh no here we go again. The 965 is a terrible buy.. Please, don't think I am being an Ahole I am just being honest mate.

$165.99. And how much is the X6 1055T? $179 free shipping. Making the 965 an absolute waste of money. However. Let me advise you on an absolutely cracking system for the money with massive OC potential.

CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9115222&cm_re=intel_i3-_-19-115-222-_-Product

BOARD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...421&cm_re=gigabyte_ud2-_-13-128-421-_-Product

RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...260&cm_re=corsair_xms3-_-20-145-260-_-Product

Please believe me when I say the I3 is an awesome CPU. So awesome it can easily reach 4ghz. It also has Hyperthreading and in most cases will beat the 965. I know that sounds hard to believe but please, just trust me on this. Asrock boards are terrible for overclocking so don't go there unless you want stock speeds. You don't need 6gb of ram 4gb is plenty.

You'll save a few pennies on that PC and it will be far better.
 
That saves quite a bit actually, much less than my minimum mark. I completely agree with the choices.

Thanks so much for your help and insight, it's much appreciated.

Well I'm still not looking to pick anything up for about a month, so any other idea's are always welcome.

The MAIN reason I was going for the Mushkin RAM, was I was looking for something that could be "recycled" into the newer build I will do into next year.
 
At the moment mate it's all pretty much set in stone tbh. The only AMDs worth considering now due to Intel's aggressive pricing are the Thuban X6 range. And those are better suited to high class boards and high class ram (Crosshair IV, Dominators ETC).

The next logical step up from the I3 is the I5. Nothing AMD do can touch either of those or the non HTed Pentium based on Clarkdale at any of the price brackets. The Thubans merely provide an alternative.

As a budget machine it simply has to be I3 with the UD2. There really is not a better combo choice on the market ATM.

What's also great about the I3 (and Socket 1156) is that Intel make a broad range of cpus on it. I3, I5 and IIRC the I7 870 or something like that? and they have made no noises about dropping it any time soon.

AMD on the other hand have been very honest and very upfront. The AM3 socket is about to be replaced with AM3+ and nothing before it will fit. Basically because it now has an onboard GPU (on the CPU die) and thus the chipset needs to be completely different (see Intel's Sandybridge or whatever the bugger it's called).

Sorry for waffling on. Obs choosing Intel right now is not as clear cut as "AMD are sh*t ! get an Intel !". There are 101 reasons why it really should be Intel
smile.gif
 
AlienALX said:
At the moment mate it's all pretty much set in stone tbh. The only AMDs worth considering now due to Intel's aggressive pricing are the Thuban X6 range. And those are better suited to high class boards and high class ram (Crosshair IV, Dominators ETC).

The next logical step up from the I3 is the I5. Nothing AMD do can touch either of those or the non HTed Pentium based on Clarkdale at any of the price brackets. The Thubans merely provide an alternative.

As a budget machine it simply has to be I3 with the UD2. There really is not a better combo choice on the market ATM.

What's also great about the I3 (and Socket 1156) is that Intel make a broad range of cpus on it. I3, I5 and IIRC the I7 870 or something like that? and they have made no noises about dropping it any time soon.

AMD on the other hand have been very honest and very upfront. The AM3 socket is about to be replaced with AM3+ and nothing before it will fit. Basically because it now has an onboard GPU (on the CPU die) and thus the chipset needs to be completely different (see Intel's Sandybridge or whatever the bugger it's called).

Sorry for waffling on. Obs choosing Intel right now is not as clear cut as "AMD are sh*t ! get an Intel !". There are 101 reasons why it really should be Intel
smile.gif
Click to expand...

you have learned well young padawan
 
Great points!

And frankly, at a whopping grand total of 310$, after tax, and free shipping, it's impossible to argue against.

Not to mention with the OC potential, and ability if i choose to run dual gpu's, I think it will not only last for as long as I need it to. Will exceed my expectations.

Now for future endeavors, any recommendations for video cards for the board?

I currently have the 4800HD (the his iceq4 version). After the combo is put together in December, shortly after I was going to get a new gpu, and then another a month or so later and sli/xfire them.

That being said, since you've given such rock solid advice thus far, idea's for a solid gpu that runs great solo, and then is worth it also to sli/xfire down the road?

The PLAN, was to go with Asus GTX460 .. and then purchase another when the finances could be justified.
 
Good call. I was going to go with the Noctua NH-D14 Cant go wrong with it. Will EASILY fit in my tower, and I'm already running 5 120mm scythe case fans as is.

I figure with the Noctua.. yea it's cutting into my "budget" build.. but it's something I can use again in the future, and will continue to perform well as I need it to.
 
Absolutely. You will just not be able to believe the size of it (ooer) lol.

Haha it's going to drown that motherboard
biggrin.gif
 
Haha! My mobo is going to be 1/3rd CPU cooler. On the bright side it will help keep everything else cool? haha..

I have ample room in my coolermaster cosmos though, so i'm not remotely worried about a space issue on the CPU cooler.

The way I see it.. is i could spend 60$ on a mid ranged air cooler.. and replace it down the road with the noctua.. or spend the 20$ more now, and save more later.
 
Absolutely. Both of those are very worthy upgrades. They're the next logical step when building a PC right now tbh.

It basically goes - I3, cheap UD2, 4gb ram.

I5, P55 UD2 (opposed to the H55) 4gb ram.

I7 ETC.

AMD only really come into it when you are in between the I5 and I7 and you just want AMD. At any other level right now nothing else is even worth touching. If you did buy a Phenom X6? just be sure that you're happy with it being your 'forever' rig. Because it won't be very long at all before the socket is dropped and there won't be anything worth upgrading to on that socket (if you went with either the 1090 or 1095).

With either the I3 or I5 you have the option to go with the 1156 I7 at a later date.
 
I'm either going to go with the i3 build, or if *fingers crossed*, some over time and the finance gods visit me, i'll go with the i5. Just trying to get all of my ducks in a row, and do my research before hand.
 
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