Spec me a 400-500 Gaming Pc

sbomb

sbomb

sbomb

Associate
Joined
5 Jan 2007
Posts
45
Hey all, im looking to buy a new pc for gaming purposes and i have a budget of 4-500. Ideally however id like to stick closer to 400 but there is leeway to go a bit further. I alreay have a monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers and a hard drive so no need to worry about those. Ideally im looking for the best value and performance i can find, which i think is leaning towards the gtx260.

I would also like to stick clear of overclocking the thing or dual cards if possible.

Kindest regards :D
 
Here is my try based on the Intel Core 2 Duo e7400:

485c2dgaming.jpg


If you want to save some money drop down to the e5200 processor.

I guessed you already had an OS as you have a hard drive. If you want to run it as the system disk you will need to reinstall windows on it to get it working with the new motherboard (obv. backup first).
 
Ill get a fresh OS from my dads business

In regards the Grainwood 260, the gtx260's run the gammit from abotu 120-250, what is the principle difference other than the name of the brand, and am i losing out substantially by not getting one more expensive like the EVGA modle?

Huge thanks for putting that together :D
 
cmndr_andi said:
Here is my try based on the Intel Core 2 Duo e7400:

485c2dgaming.jpg


If you want to save some money drop down to the e5200 processor.

I guessed you already had an OS as you have a hard drive. If you want to run it as the system disk you will need to reinstall windows on it to get it working with the new motherboard (obv. backup first).
Click to expand...

You've forgot a hardrive but add this if you can: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-244-WD

Maybe change the cpu to E5200 to make up the difference or just change the case to: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-160-CM

You should consider the 4870 though since it's only £115.

But yeah that pc is really good probably best for that price.

Edit: nevermind missed the hardrive word in original post so scrap that unless you want a new one. :)
 
From what I have heard - EVGA are not the all-singing all-dancing company their price premium alludes to - a lot of people on the OCUK forums are not too happy with them. BFG however, seem to be a brilliant company to buy stuff from - very nice customer service and RMAing. Gainward seem to be pretty good, not heard much against them.

The main benefit of this card is that it comes with a non-stock heatsink (cooler and quieter) and the core is clocked 50MHz higher than stock - so it will perform faster than any normal gtx 260 or 4870 1GB.

If you want to spend more money - your best bet is the ATI 4890 - a real steal at £165.
 
is it a substantial upgrade the ati? I would like to be in a position where i dont have to upgrade for a good while, im not a huge tech guy so this update will have to last for a good while at least, ive no qualms about playing games in 2/3 years time on the lowest settings, so long as i can play them.

As regards the CPU ive heard good things about the MSI s775 aswell, not sure if its better than the above though
 
also quick question regarding the psu, i was told, perhaps unreliably, that i would need a minimun 600w supply to handle the 260 effectively, is this not the case?
 
To be honest - PSU requirements are heavily over estimated. If you have any of those cpus (not overclocked) and the gtx 260 you could get away with a 450W PSU no problem. The larger PSUs just give you extra scope for expansion (extra HDDs, DVD drives etc) and generally use better components that the cheaper low wattage ones.
 
good stuff then guys, thanks a lot, also for finding cheap cases which for the life of me i havent been able to do as of yet

Whats the shelf life you think of the rigs? Im not looking to max out games in 2 years time but should it hold its own for a good period of time?
 
They should be fine for 2 years.

Currently 4870/260gtx running even Crysis very well so i be surprised if they aren't.
 
In terms of future proofing - more cores seems to be the answer. With intel releasing a six core (12 thread) processor next year, I expect many more games and applications will become multi threaded. In this case, I think going for Sycho's spec (Triple core) would be you best bet (though use the Gainward gtx 260 if you can afford it).

With all that in place i'm sure you will be able to play current games for a good three years. As many are console ports and the power of consoles is static - expect most console ported games to run fine until they release a new generation of consoles (2013-2015).

Also, when you start to feel the performance is not enough you can give overclocking a go. All of those processors will max out at around 3.8GHz with a £20 cpu cooler.
 
good stuff all round, im excited now, ill get a list together and go over the components and make some decisions in the next week

Feel free to revise or come up with new specs if you fancy,can never have too many opinions when it comes to big purchases
 
last quick question, the above components all fit together good an proper right? And the case is large enough to host them all
 
Yes - in each of those specs the RAM, motherboard and CPU will all work fine with each other. Any PCI-E x16 graphics cards will work correctly with either of the systems and both the Antec 300 and the coolermaster 335 are big enough to accommodate a gtx 260 or a 4870. So no worries :)
 
Here's a quad core spec with a much better cooler for you to consider, the motherboard is B-grade but very good. I have one also bought from B-grade and it performs flawlessly.

212etyt.jpg
 
Last edited:
Looks like a very nice spec. I don't think the Fenrir is needed if he doesn't overclock(£10 cooler will do) but I like the idea :) That CPU is indeed awesome.

As for the B grade motherboard - it looks like a very capable board. Though I don't think the b grades come with any cables - so you will need to add that to the cost, as well as the cost of full delivery.

Bottom line - if you can afford that spec, get it. If not get the X3.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom