Hi Guys.

I've got about £350 to spend on a new build. Doesn't need to be anything spectacular (obviously for that budget), just needed for general work, t'internet browsing and an occasional bit of gaming (COD and Pro Evo).

This is what I've currently got in mind...


Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard - £71.07

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 Socket 775 2.2GHz 800FSB Retail Boxed Processor - £49.55

OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC with LIFETIME WARRANTY - £35.00

Corsair HX Series 620W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC - £82.98

Sapphire HD 3650 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - £56.17

Seagate ST3250310AS 250GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache - OEM - £32.99

Samsung SH-S203D 20X DVD±RW/RAM/DL Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM - £15.98

EV Shiny Piano Red/Black Mid Tower Case with Colour LCD Display - No PSU - £23.99

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler - £15.28

Total = £383.01


I've already got a decent monitor (19" ), and mouse, keyboard etc.


Any advise regarding compatibility / performance / value would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forums!

Sounds real good for a budget computer. Make sure you overclock it.

Thanks.

The spec I've got there is slightly more than i wanted to spend.

Do you think i need the 620W PSU for this build or would the Cosair HX 520W be good enough???

Is the graphics card good enough for a reasonable standard of gaming?
If it is good enough, for a similar price would i be better going for the Nvidia 8600 GT???

Is there much difference in performance of the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R mobo (listed) compared with the cheaper Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L?

Hi there...that 620W PSU is quite overkill for a single GPU setup... you can save a lot of cash by getting the 520HX or 550VX (its generally cheaper than the 520hx).

Also you can save more cash by going for a non-RAID mobo, i.e. P35-DS3L. If you're serious about RAID, then the DS3R is a good choice.

You could use the saved $$ for a bigger HD or so.

Also get the aftermarket Arctic cooler only if you're thinking of overclocking...otherwise the stock cooler is just fine.

Get a Corsair 550VX instead of an HX-series.

The graphics card will be decent, but I would try for an 8800 GS instead. Much better value for its price.

The DS3L is better value than the DS3R, in my opinion.