Build me a £550 AMD/ATI computer

This is over budget at £688 but it's definitely worth it. Why? Because you have quality components, and you will be able to overclock it to 4GHz with high NB 24/7 stable. Use the two Zalman ZM-F3 fans on the Megahalems for superb cooling. As well a 5770 video card will be sufficient for his gaming needs and in the future he can upgrade by putting another one in crossfire. Everything is compatible as well, the 965 is C3 stepping and though it says AM3 it will also work in an AM2+ motherboard.

And... here's a build that's under budget at £546.71. I would've gone with a 550BE dual core Phenom II but it wasn't in stock. This will be a pretty good system and certainly fast enough to play MW2. You'll be able to overclock it as well, though I'm not sure how high. The Propus 620 chip I chose here is pretty good. However for £141 and 30 pence more you could get a 4GHz Phenom II, with a nicer case, and bigger hard drive.

Also, you might have to add some SATA cables in as I'm unfamiliar with that DFI board. I'm pretty sure the Gigabyte board in the previous build will have 2 SATA cables included.

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Than you very much for these builds. I'll let him decide which one he wants. He has the money but needs to save it fora car and such. But 'ill show him both.

Is it possible to get a Phenom II dual core and a 5770 setup

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Oh right, thanks for the information. looking to build pretty soon. What do you I could get on the intel & ATI/nvidia side of things?

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Here's the cheapest Intel version I could come up with, it's £654.11. Going with Nvidia over ATI makes little difference really, the equivalent to the 5770 is a GTX 260, and they're pretty much the same price at Scan. This Intel build is pretty good but pricey. The "luxury" AMD build is £34 more (actually only £22 more after 1156 compatible heatsink is interchanged) but you get better cooling, better case, bigger HD, and it'll be faster too. Clock for clock the i5 and Phenom II are about the same, but I say the AMD build is faster because it'll have better cooling for a higher overclock. Oh yeah and that motherboard is the cheaper version that doesn't have Crossfire, so there's that upgradability to think about.

Edit: The cheap Xiggy 1283 heatsink isn't 1156 compatible... another good/cheap heatsink to get instead would be the Zalman CNPS-10X but it's £12.77 more.

We're still mix and matching parts from each... Trying to persuede him to go with the more expensive AMD rig

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Yeah for the price difference of £141, it's just such a good upgrade to make. If I think of it in dollars (how you have to according to my bro who lives in London), $141 for a 965 C3 overclocked vs. a Propus 620 is just a really good deal. For that price you won't be able to come close to that level of improvement in performance.