core i3 2120 new build to be added to later

The Omen 666

Current sys is dell 9200/xps420
Core 2 duo 2.6
Hd4850 gpu
dell 21inch monitor @ 1600x1050 (if i remember correctly)
Casual gamer(civ 5, eve online, cod) photoshop ableton live and some video work

Basically iwas considering building a base s/b sys with decent mobo and psu. Average case 8gig of ram. Keep my 4850 for the time being and get a 6850 l8r.

I was gonna use the i3 2120 to start b4 upgrading to 2500k l8r

woukd i be bonkers to go this route...

Budget between 500-600 now.

Tea_Bag

you'd be wasting your money going i3 then i5.
why 8gb of ram? 4gb is more than enough for gaming anyway.

im making a big assumption now that your dell xps is an ATX case. if it is, you could reuse it.
you'll also be reusing your DVD drive..

i threw this together quickly, to show you what you could get for €632 delivered:



thats very nice. if you were willing to throw another €35 at it i'd add a nice heat sink to get a great OC on that i5.

i also went down nvidia route as civ5 seems to much prefer them in benchmarks, though the gtx560 is a bit of overkill, and wipes the floor of the 6850. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/291?vs=330 for a comparison.

EDIT: i didnt read properly, that you use photoshop. so double that ram for the 8gb. you could get the 450W version to make up the difference. they're top quality PSU's and could see you through a few upgrades. maybe cut the GTX 560 and put a 460 or a ati HD 6850 in.

Tea_Bag

slightly different, but still @€;630 which i think is the sweet spot for an i5 rig and worth the extra €30.

the HD6870 performs a bit better than the GTX 460, so id get that.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=313


you could cut the HDD and save there if your current one is fast and recent enough. do you know what model it is?

you could also sell the parts your replacing on adverts to make up a bit of cash (dont ask me what they're worth though)


EDIT: im pricing this on www.hardwareversand.de and they have a €30 flat shipping fee, and they also only take bank transfers if that might be a problem.

The Omen 666

Thanks a mill tea bag,

Ya ram wise, the music software can be intensive and at the moment i have 4 gig and it struggles a little i think, so there be the reason for that but i think u noted that, those builds look great.

Hdd wise, the ones in the xps are hitachi's 2*250 in raid and i don think too fast either but i am not against using them again, i also have a wd cavier black 500 already from a build i was atempting last year but the funds need to be diverted elsewhere

Case wise, nt sure ( could be wrong ) but i don't think the dell cases i have is too friendly, the placement of the mobo and cpu on it are at an odd angle and the cooling shroud is fitted to allow for that so its at like 45degrees or something but i guess it could be whiped out, hdd cages is along the bottom, must post a pic and might explain better, in anycase i am not too fussy on the case and an antec 30/100 would suffice...

Was also gonna use my 4850 for a while and that would save me 150 bucks now and be able get it later, in the autumn or something

The Omen 666

[IMG]http://C:\Users\Sinead\Desktop\Untitled Comp.png[/IMG]

This what i was thinking of... overkill???

Gonna stick with my 4850 till later,,,

thinking, get a good base to build on and add as i need ( afford)


MSI P67A-GD55 (B3), Intel P67, ATX, DDR3
127,34 €

8gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9
75,47 €

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155
173,45 €

Antec Truepower New 550W
81,36 €

Cooler Master Centurion 5 II Midi-Tower - silver/black, ohne Netzteil
60,17 €
Total is 517 + postage ( cant upload image for some reason )

Tea_Bag

you need to print screen the basket if you want to show it like i did, the formatting in your last post is horrible and makes me want to get sick (this could also be due to the vodka i had last night) edit it or something!

the PSU you listed is overpriced. get the amazon 80+ 550W one i listed in the first build if thats what you want.

also, adding "later" is going to turn to "soon" because that 4850 is a **** card at this stage, and the i5 isnt going to make your games run any better with such a big bottleneck on your GPU, and games will probably run the same as they are on your current desktop.

maybe try to save enough for the HD 5850 in the Bargain alerts thread, (€127 or something) its a damn sight faster than the 4850.

i suggest saving your dough until you can afford everything you want. upgrading by parts is messy and will cost more in the grand scheme cause you have to pay separate shipping for everything.

The Omen 666

Tea_Bag wrote: »

you need to print screen the basket if you want to show it like i did, the formatting in your last post is horrible and makes me want to get sick (this could also be due to the vodka i had last night) edit it or something!

Sorry bout that, rush job,,,

speaking of which, i may wait a month or so and get the rest of the dough together and do it once and properly or it could end up like my last post prior to edit.

Are those Superflowers any good... the name was putting me off so was edging toward a brand i recognised but noticed the superflower was manufactured in same plant as enermax etc so can't be too bad...

Tea_Bag

definately wait it out. doing half builds is not worth the extra money needed. who knows, in 1 month AMD's "bulldozer" CPU's could be out, and might be a good contender to the i5-2500k.
(if its anything like what i suspect - something close to the i5-2500k performance but cheap in comparison, you could go down the AMD route and spend the extra you save on a better GPU, which is where you'll see the most benefit in games anyway.

on the PSU side, those superflower really are top quality, and cheap too. the 80+ says it all really, meaning that its 80%+ efficient.

The Omen 666

Tea_Bag wrote: »

definately wait it out. doing half builds is not worth the extra money needed. who knows, in 1 month AMD's "bulldozer" CPU's could be out, and might be a good contender to the i5-2500k.
(if its anything like what i suspect - something close to the i5-2500k performance but cheap in comparison, you could go down the AMD route and spend the extra you save on a better GPU, which is where you'll see the most benefit in games anyway.

on the PSU side, those superflower really are top quality, and cheap too. the 80+ says it all really, meaning that its 80%+ efficient.

Thanks for the info teabag, much appreciated