Crunchie

Went for the Bazooka, all ordered, just need to get keyboard/mouse and CPU cooler: PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (Purchased For £92.56) Motherboard: MSI B150M BAZOOKA Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (Purchased For £65.00) Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (Purchased For £42.19) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For £63.00) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card (Purchased For £99.00) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (Purchased For £35.00) Monitor: Asus VC239H 60Hz 23.0" Monitor (Purchased For £113.99) Other: Aerocool Dead Silence Cube Case - Window Black + Blue Edition (Purchased For £62.03) Other: Seasonic S1211-520 520W Power Supply - Fully Wired (Purchased For £46.22) Total: £618.99 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-14 23:24 GMT+0000

What do you think about this MSI B150M Bazooka? Is it just gimmicky gaming, would I better off with the H170?

Hi, just wanted some advice on which motherboard is best suited for a budget gaming build I'm about to order for my daughter. It's going to be a Aerocool DS MATX case with a i3 6100 and a GTX 950. Will be used mainly for Minecraft and other light gaming, homework, youtube etc. I'm never going to want to SLi or Raid or anything like that, but decent built in audio would be good. Going to be putting 8gig of DDR4 ram in it. I only tend to use MSI or ASUS and tend to order from Scan (I'm in UK) or Amazon. I was looking at the MSI H170M PRO VDH but then wondered if the MSI H110M PRO-VH would be just as good for my needs and I can spend a bit more on a decent PSU. Or maybe a B150? Any recommendations? Thanks This is current build: PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£94.48 @ Dabs) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£57.30 @ Amazon UK) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card (Purchased For £99.00) Case: Aerocool DS Cube Black Edition Silent Cube MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£57.36 @ More Computers) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (Purchased For £35.00) Monitor: Asus VC239H 60Hz 23.0" Monitor (£115.00 @ Aria PC) Other: Seasonic S1211-520 520W Power Supply - Fully Wired (£46.22) Total: £504.36 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-14 20:19 GMT+0000

Scan have the EVGA GTX 950 SC 2GB for £99 in their Black Friday deals. Is that about a good a card as I'll get sub £120 for a budget gaming pc? Not sure whether to go for it or wait and see what crops up tomorrow.

Great news, thanks both.

Hi, I wonder if anyone can advise me if the EVGA G2 550W PSU will fit in a Fractal Design Node 304 with no GPU installed? I was initially going to use a Seasonic M12II, until I saw Scan had the EVGA G2 on their 'Today Only' deals for £59.99 (same as the Seasonic) and so I grabbed one. I've since added it to my build on pcpartpicker and got the incompatibility warning... It's not a big deal if it doesn't as I can use it for another build, but I'd prefer to order a replacement sooner rather than later if it's definitely not going to fit. Thanks.

Seen my first error, looks like that board is DDR3 only.

Hi all, just want some advice really on this build I'm putting together for my dad. He wants a small form factor pc with a Dell 23" display and Windows 10 for internet, MS Office, streaming, no gaming (so no graphics card needed). Budget is £600 (UK). I was originally planning a Haswell build with a 4160 but have been struggling to find a Mini-ITX motherboard that looks half decent for around the £60 mark. Then I tried spec'ing a Skylake build and found this decent looking Asus board on budget. There are no reviews though, and my knowledge of Skylake, the ram speeds and also the Node 304 compatibility are all pretty small so any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks The i3 6100 is £95 on Scan at the moment so same price as the i3 4160/70, not sure why Scan aren't showing on pcpartpicker any more.... PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£44.53 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£66.80 @ Amazon UK) Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) (£72.89 @ Amazon UK) Monitor: Dell P2314H 60Hz 23.0" Monitor (£148.00 @ Amazon UK) Other: Seasonic M12-II EVO 520W (£57.02) Other: Asus Intel H110I-PLUS D3 Skylake Mini ITX Motherboard (£56.53) Total: £445.77 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-21 23:47 BST+0100

Wow, just found this thread, I didn't realise the CX series were so bad. I buit up a PC fro my nephew earlier this year and used a CX430M. It's got an i3 4130 and an R7 260X in it, do you think I should swap it out for something better? If so, any recommendations around the £50 mark? Can be non modular.

Ok thanks for the responses, I think I'll stick with a 4130 then, thanks.

Hi, I'm just wondering whether I can buy a H81 motherboard, specifically the MSI H81M-E35 V2, and then use this MFlash feature they have to update the Bios to the latest version that supports the Haswelll Refresh CPU's? It sounds like it should work but I'm hesitant to go ahead and order stuff without knowing for definite. Anyone tried it? I was going to get a 4130 but the 4150 and 4160 are both cheaper in the UK at the moment and it seems crazy to get the older, slower cpu. I don't want to have to shell out for a H97 or Z97 board though as they are at least £20 more expensive. Thanks

Which cheap motherboard would people recommend for the i3 4130 that would still allow for an upgrade path further down the line? Or is it better just to get as cheap a board as possible now, and then upgrade the MB and CPU together in a few years time?

@i_build_nanosuits I spoke to my nephew earlier about his general usage for the PC I'm building him, and he said other than games the most he can see can envisage himself doing at the same time is running Word, Powerpoint, a browser (Chrome or Firefox probably) and maybe something like iTunes with some music on while he's doing his homework. Will the G3258 cope ok with having that many applications open and running or would I be better off with the i3 for that sort of usage, or even an i5. He has said that he won't be playing new games on it as he has his PS4 for that, and will be playing older games in his Steam library and Minecraft. So I could potentially spec up a cheaper graphics card and put more money towards the cpu. PS @nithiiyan sorry hope I'm not hijacking the thread but it is G3258 related, and will hopefully be of use to you and others too who are making a similar decision. This is how my build looks at the moment: PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor (£49.04 @ Ebuyer) Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£62.06 @ Amazon UK) Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.04 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£54.95 @ Aria PC) Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (£109.52 @ Scan.co.uk) Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case (£37.99 @ Amazon UK) Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.19 @ Aria PC) Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£13.15 @ Amazon UK) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£72.35 @ Aria PC) Other: Asus VS239HV 23 inch Widescreen Full HD IPS LED Monitor (£114.00) Total: £609.29 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-15 21:35 GMT+0000

Thanks @i_build_nanosuits the upgrade potential is exactly what I'm aiming for. My nephew can keep everything in the build but just swap out the CPU and GPU in a couple of years time and that'll still be a great little system.

Thanks for that, budget is very tight and to be honest I keep changing my mind between a G3258 and i3 4130. I'm leaning more towards an i3 now though...!