LGA 1156 based system recommendations needed

[xane]

After my PATA-SATA conversion is complete, the next stage is to upgrade the base system from the existing AMD/nForce2 with AGP.

I'm considering an LGA 1156 based system, starting with a low end i3/i5 CPU with room to upgrade, the obvious requirements are CPU, cooler, motherboard, RAM and graphics. The motherboard needs to support SATA RAID 1 and ideally should have an IDE port (P55 ?)

If anyone can recommend a decent motherboard that can give me a good upgrade path, and a mid range graphics card to go with it, I'm not an FPS junkie any more, just something to run modern games will do.

The final point concerns the PSU, I have a good quality 300W ATX one from circa 2005, I had to get some molex converters to attach the SATA drives and was wondering would it still be ok for a modern ATX motherboard with the appropriate converters, or do I need to add that to my shopping list ?

Please don't recommend any AMD based system, and please don't suggest high end performance, I done my bit buying a £300 GeForce2 when they first came out, I'll stick to "trailing edge" if possible.

TIA

 

[TdC]

Xane, check out my thread : https://forums.freddyshouse.com/techie-discussion-3/243041-cheapest-possible-i7-build.html

I actually gravitated to AMD because they're really cheap. you can get an uber high end quad core for 60% of the price of a mid range i series, and the mobo's are cheaper too with the same options and features from sata raid to usb3 to you name it.

just pick some components and stick em up there. someone will shoot at it, no worries!

 

[dysfunction]

If you really don't want to go AMD and still prefer the intel route then this mobo is pretty good:

Asus P7P55D LE P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer

But if you decide later to go i7 instead of i3/i5 then you would need the LGA1366 motherboards...

AMD really makes more sense if you are short of cash

Graphics card:
MSI HD 4670 1GB GDDR3 DVI HDMI HDCP Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

 

[xane]

But if you decide later to go i7 instead of i3/i5 then you would need the LGA1366 motherboards...

The i7 860 is LGA 1156, I'm just not ready to splash out £250+ on it yet, I'd prefer to run up to that before moving onto a new motherboard.

I didn't realise there were so many AMD-heads on here, if you can come up with a comparable AMD route, i.e. start with a small cheap processor and work up to an 8-core monster on the same motherboard, then I'll happily listen.

 

[Ch3tan]

It's not being an AMD head, it's just that when intel had the c2's they were the best cost to performance, AMD are now the best cost to performance. 2 or 3 years ago I would have said intel all day long, but any time in the last year it's AMD.

 

[TdC]

I actually have an i7 Xane, but if I had to build a pc now it would prolly be AMD o0