cheapest possible i7 build

[TdC]

Guys, for a mate I am going to build an el cheapo i7 system. He will reuse his existing disks, gfx, etc. All he needs is a mobo, ram (6GB) and ofc the cpu. perhaps a case/psu but I'll have to check his to see the pinout on his main rail.

Any thoughts on what I should get? Currently I am more or less amazed by the fact that the mobos are more expensive than the processors o0

 

[dysfunction]

If you want to go cheap then why not go for an AMD system?

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T (has 6 cores) £160
Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 890FX £185

Very reasonably priced...and those are the mid to top priced items!

Else these "Value" Intel core i7:
ASUS P6T SE iX58 £145
Intel Core i7 920 D0 2.66GHz Socket 1366 £200

 

[TdC]

Cheers Dys, nice pointer to AMD. Totally forgot about that :/

so I had a quick look at this stuff:

Mobo: Asus M4A79XTD EVO ~100 euros
RAM: OCZ Gold Low Voltage OCZ3G1333LV4GK ~100 euros
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition ~160 euros
Cooler: Zalman CNPS10X ~30 euros

So, for just shy of 400e I can get a pretty decent system for the chappy. Anyone see something I blatantly forgot?

 

[dysfunction]

Perhaps some Arctic Silver thermal compound...

That mobo and cpu get good reviews!

 

[old.Osy]

There is no reason to purchase the six-core flavor, absolutely no reason at all. Not to mention the BE X4's are better than the basically low end X6 you're recommending. Unless the friend is doing computational stuff on his computer, no point in getting X6.

Stick with X4, and the mobo looks good.

 

[TdC]

but but but that is an X4? o0

 

[old.Osy]

I know, I was kinda replying to dys's suggestion, and reinforcing your choice

 

[soze]

I have one of these kicking about from when i did an install using that processor (mounting brackets on the motherboard faced up to down rather than front to back so i could not use it) it can go cheap to a good home.

 

[dysfunction]

I know, I was kinda replying to dys's suggestion, and reinforcing your choice

Yes I was kind of doing a tech price comparison rather than a full suggestion.
If you bought an intel 6 core processor it will cost you an arm and a leg compared to AMD.

I think the X4 965 is excellent for the price vs performance.

 

[TdC]

I have one of these kicking about from when i did an install using that processor (mounting brackets on the motherboard faced up to down rather than front to back so i could not use it) it can go cheap to a good home.

I'm thinking quiet cooling may be good for the fellow. he just wants to edit his photos with a certain amount of speed, not anything else.