Gaming pc spec help?

ajm

ajm

ajm

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I am wanting a cheap gaming pc for my son as his has just give in to age. Problem is the budget is only £300 ish. It needs to be Intel cpu and Nvidia graphics ( Just preference ). Only parts salvageable form old pc are the sata hdd and optical drive. Already have monitor,mouse and keyboard.

Will need..

CPU
Motherboard
Mem (Min 2gig)
Video card (Pef 1gig)
Case
PSU

I know this is not much money at all for a gaming machine but this is all he wants to pay. Must be new and not second hand thanks.
 
best i could do :)

asds.jpg
 
If you want to only spend £300 then Intel and Nvidia is a very bad idea. The cheapest current generation Intel cpu is the i3 (~£94), and best value for money Nvidia graphics... well the closest in terms of price to that 4850 is probably the 9800 GT, but that's less powerful and £7 more expensive. Otherwise it's the GT 250 at around £87.

Guess I should also point out the socket 775 route isn't a particularly good idea either even if it seems like a cheap way to make a low budget Intel build as S775 is now considered EOL.
 
I think with that budget for Intel build, you are probably limited to something like the following build:
300intelbuild.jpg


Be warned, there's not much room for upgrade on this build, except for changing to better socket 775 CPU such as Core2Duo or Core2Quad.

I wouldn't bother with going Nvidia for that budget if I were you. HD4850 is pretty much the same speed as the GTS250 (9800GTX+ rebranded). For £80, you can get a 4850 1GB like the one I quoted, where as for Nvidia, you can only get a GTS250 512MB at best, and would usually cost more than that.
The only chance of you getting a GTS250 1GB for £80 is if the following come back into stock, which...I have no idea if that's gonna happen:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-113-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1402
 
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I can see the idea of using an intel system,
If its purely for gaming the old socket 775 will do nicely for the budget that you have. However I'd use either an am2+ and a 550 be, at least the system would have some life to upgrade in future.

I find it strange you would ignore the price/ performance of ati ?
a 4850 would be perfect for the budget.
 
Thanks Marine

That is not bad for the budget but as you say there isn't much upgradeability in it (which i would prefer).

I find it strange you would ignore the price/ performance of ati ?
a 4850 would be perfect for the budget.
Click to expand...

Bad experience with Ati and also driver issues. Never had any probs with Nvidia, Thats the only reason.
 
Nvidia have had some nice driver issues of their own, lack of overclocking or fan speed control anyone?

That 775 motherboard does support everything up to the QX9650 which is a pretty big upgrade but the high end 775 chips will be expensive for quite some time to come. A Q6600 would also be a decent (cheap-ish) future upgrade if you or your son can do a bit of overclocking. If you wanted better Intel upgrade options then you'd have to spend quite a bit more. My vote still goes for the budget AM3 option that Monkeyking first suggested though.
 
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Well the fan speed problem was causing overheating on a lot of peoples cards with a particular driver version regardless of if they were OCing.
 
I think my son has decided to go the ati route with the 4580 1gb. Hope he will get a while of good gaming from it and it not outdate to quickly
 
Yes, a budget of £300 is not going to get you the latest and greatest build, s775 is still good for building a solid PC that will last a few years, just don t expect to "upgrade" it. The thing I find is that having a pc at all is good, I say go with the Intel build.

I had s775 and it is fast and unless your son wants to up the budget then stick with something like it.
 
I have managed to find..

Core i3 530....................... £94
Mobo............................... £80
2gb Ram........................... £48
Case & PSU Coolermaster..... £60
Vid card 4850.................... £80

Total £362 which i think he may goto.
 
For the cost of the Core i3 and the motherboard you have listed in post 19 you could get a Phenom II X4 955BE and a MSI 770-C45 or 770-G45. Also I would look at the Be Quiet Pure Power 530W or one of the OCZ 400W or 500W PSUs.
 
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