Curse

BlueNovember · May 02, 2010, 03:16 PM // 15:16

*Bought*
Ty for all your help.

--
The system it is replacing runs XP, is about 12 years old, and has something like 256MB of DDR1 ram.

£ 50 Radeon 4850 + 500GB hard drive
£ 40 Case
£ 40 500 watt psu
£ 62 Athlon II X3 440 Rana
£110 Gigabyte GA-890GPA (for 6GB/s sata option)
£100 2*2GB Corsair PC10666/1333MHZ

£402 / $581

Quaker · May 02, 2010, 03:36 PM // 15:36

Make sure that the power supply in the case is large enough - AMD recommends 450watts (or larger) for use with an HD4850. While you can often get away with less wattage in a high quality power supply, the power supplies that come with cases are not usually "high quality" and so I would recommend you make sure it's rated for at least 450watts.

If your "old man" is a gamer than the i3-530/540 would be a good choice, but if he's mainly into productivity apps, or just e-mail/youtube type stuff, a similarly priced AMD Athlon X4 cpu + motherboard would actually be better.
(Some tests show the AMDs perform better in apps while the i3 performs better in gaming.)

Elder III · May 02, 2010, 05:24 PM // 17:24

could you define "casual gaming"? What games, what resolution, and do you want MAX settings with AA & AF etc...?

If you are running Vista or Win 7 (get 7 - it's far better) you will need a good 2 GB of RAM just for the OS, so you really should double that and run a 4GB, which is better now and far more future proof. I would also really recommend a mobo with dual PCIExpress x 16 slots and a PSU beefy enough to handle crossfirex. A single 4850 may or may not be enough for gaming now (depends on what you play and how high the settings etc are) but dual 4850s is plenty for just about anything on the market now and would be a pretty inexpensive option to add a second one a year or so down the road....

BlueNovember · May 02, 2010, 08:49 PM // 20:49

Ty for responses. I updated the OP with relevant information. I don't really have specifics for games and resolutions. Just looking for quality components with a solid upgrade path. I suppose a good baseline would be Half-life 2 era games at full spec, which is pretty much the lower end of any PC one would buy today anyway.

Elder III · May 03, 2010, 12:35 AM // 00:35

well H2 era games are pretty old - so you could get a decent AM3 dual core CPU and AMD 790 mobo for $150-180 and then add 4gb DDR3 RAM for $100 = under $300 (USD) and will run circles around games that old and do quite well with most current games too.

KZaske · May 03, 2010, 01:56 AM // 01:56

I would advise the AM3 route. You can get a mobo, cpu and RAM for less than $300.

Quaker · May 03, 2010, 03:57 PM // 15:57

I wouldn't count on the socket1156 to be "future proof". People are already concerned about how long Intel will support it.
In fact, given today's rapid pace of change I wouldn't pick any cpu socket for it's future proofyness. The way things are now, you can essentially consider any future upgrade as including cpu, motherboard, and RAM, and if you're lucky, you won't need some new video card slot or power supply connectors.
For example, my computer is a socket775 with DDR2 ram. If I want to do any sort of meaningful upgrade, I'll need a new cpu using a new socket (and thus, motherboard) and DDR3 RAM to go with it. And I may need a new power supply, or at least, some adapter cables, as well (for the 8-pin ATX cpu power connector).

About the only thing with any degree of future proofing is the ATX form factor case. And even then, Intel tried to push the BTX case (but failed) and newer mini-sized standards like ITX are gaining popularity.

BlueNovember · May 03, 2010, 08:52 PM // 20:52

Ty again for the advice. AM3 it is then I guess.

Just looking for motherboard recommendations/reviews now. Thanks all.

cebalrai · May 04, 2010, 09:13 AM // 09:13

The tri-core and quad-core Athlons are an unbelieveable value. Get a Rana core one if you can.

Lourens · May 04, 2010, 07:45 PM // 19:45

I would go for a hexa core (2,8ghz for $200)

Quaker · May 04, 2010, 08:00 PM // 20:00

About RAM - since this machine is for someone else that obviously isn't into overclocking, just get the speed of RAM that coincides with the RAM recommended by the cpu/motherboard maker, (DDR3-1333 afaik). There's no point in paying extra for faster RAM (unless, of course, it's comparable price-wise).

Commander Kanen · May 04, 2010, 09:19 PM // 21:19

I would recomend getting a AMD Phenom II X4 965 AM3. Cheaper than most i5/i7's. im not saying its better but you get more bang for your buck.

cebalrai · May 04, 2010, 10:21 PM // 22:21

Just about any processor made today will be more than powerful enough to play any game and last a very long time. This is for two main reasons:

1) Processor power is currently way out in front of the demands of games and indeed almost every app out there.

2) Processor power is becoming increasingly less important to the performance of games. The GPU is what matters most today by far.

Elder III · May 04, 2010, 11:44 PM // 23:44

I'd get a Phenom II - either dual core or quad core dependent on your budget - either one will be fast enough to keep up with your video card, an i3/i5 setup is likely going to be a little faster, but you won't notice it for what you want to do and you will save some cash on teh CPU and the mobo as well by going with AMD.