£500 or under gaming spec pc?

Bobmunkhouse · 11 Feb 2011 at 11:47

Hi all my friend is wanting to know what the best spec pc he could build from scratch for £500.... this is just base unit…..I have had a look and I’m thinking a quad AMD and 6850 GB graphics card combo but not sure…..can someone spec me?

Will be for gaming and media

Thanks for any help

Emlyn_Dewar · 11 Feb 2011 at 12:18

I would go for the 5850 over the 6850 card, it's a small amount cheaper and is a great performing card.
Athlon II tri or quad core but also go for an aftermarket cooler, even an Arctic Freezer for £20. The stock coolers with the Athlon IIs are pretty loud and don't do an amazing job.

For £500, you can actually build a pretty solid gaming PC, you'll even get a reasonable(ish) case and PSU.

King Damager · 11 Feb 2011 at 12:27

Not great at the AMD builds, but this is ok I think xD

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99
(£114.99) £137.99
(£114.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £72.98
(£60.82) £72.98
(£60.82)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £19.39
(£16.16) £19.39
(£16.16)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.98
(£11.65) £13.98
(£11.65)
Sub Total : £414.41
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £84.98
Total : £509.89

kd

shadow_boxer · 11 Feb 2011 at 12:49

Good spec there from KD.

hybrid572 · 11 Feb 2011 at 12:54

Emlyn_Dewar said:
I would go for the 5850 over the 6850 card, it's a small amount cheaper and is a great performing card.
Athlon II tri or quad core but also go for an aftermarket cooler, even an Arctic Freezer for £20. The stock coolers with the Athlon IIs are pretty loud and don't do an amazing job.

For £500, you can actually build a pretty solid gaming PC, you'll even get a reasonable(ish) case and PSU.

I'd normally agree, but:

XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE MOH Game [HD-685X-ZNFC]

THIS WEEK ONLY OFFER
was £144.98 inc VAT
£137.99 inc VAT

shadow_boxer · 11 Feb 2011 at 13:12

hybrid572 said:
I'd normally agree, but:

XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE MOH Game [HD-685X-ZNFC]

THIS WEEK ONLY OFFER
was £144.98 inc VAT
£137.99 inc VAT

5850 outperforms the 6850, see here, runs cooler and with the MSI aftermarket fans, it'll probably run quieter too. If your really desperate for the free MOH game the just the the 6850 otherwise 5850 all the way.

6644kp · 11 Feb 2011 at 14:58

King Damager said:
Not great at the AMD builds, but this is ok I think xD

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99
(£114.99) £137.99
(£114.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £72.98
(£60.82) £72.98
(£60.82)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £19.39
(£16.16) £19.39
(£16.16)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.98
(£11.65) £13.98
(£11.65)
Sub Total : £414.41
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £84.98
Total : £509.89

kd

This is the system i'd go for.

jamesfreddie · 11 Feb 2011 at 17:59

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £84.98
(£70.82) £84.98
(£70.82)
Akasa ES 450W Power Supply £39.82
(£33.18) £39.82
(£33.18)
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK) £38.39
(£31.99) £38.39
(£31.99)
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black £33.70
(£28.08) £33.70
(£28.08)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Sub Total : £456.54
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £93.66
Total : £561.95

shadow_boxer · 11 Feb 2011 at 18:07

jamesfreddie...

apart from being £60 over budget, cheap psu (never a good idea), much worse hard drive and lesser case!

anuraj · 11 Feb 2011 at 18:18

Jamesfreddie definitely needs a lesson in pc component reliability.

shadow_boxer · 11 Feb 2011 at 18:43

If he's not interested in overclocking then a SB setup is just about in reach.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £154.99
(£129.16) £154.99
(£129.16)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99
(£114.99) £137.99
(£114.99)
Foxconn H67A-S Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £79.98
(£66.65) £79.98
(£66.65)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £31.99
(£26.66) £31.99
(£26.66)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £29.60
(£24.67) £29.60
(£24.67)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)

Total : £532.52 (Assuming you order and have free shipping)

stulid · 11 Feb 2011 at 18:45

King Damager said:
Not great at the AMD builds, but this is ok I think xD

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99
(£114.99) £137.99
(£114.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £72.98
(£60.82) £72.98
(£60.82)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £19.39
(£16.16) £19.39
(£16.16)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.98
(£11.65) £13.98
(£11.65)
Sub Total : £414.41
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £84.98
Total : £509.89

kd

spot on.

dave_beast · 11 Feb 2011 at 18:47

Does the OP need a copy of Windows? If they do then that would take a sizeable chunk out of that budget. But assuming they have a copy of Windows and the OP will buy the build on their account, so free shipping:-

Bobmunkhouse · 12 Feb 2011 at 09:58

Thanks for all the help some really good ideas!

lttlejoe · 12 Feb 2011 at 12:38

dave_beast said:
Does the OP need a copy of Windows? If they do then that would take a sizeable chunk out of that budget. But assuming they have a copy of Windows and the OP will buy the build on their account, so free shipping:-

Would the Coolermaster PSU fitted in the case be any good for such a system?

hybrid572 · 12 Feb 2011 at 12:45

No. You need a top quality PSU for a 6950, an Elite Power won't cut it.

Also, get an Athlon II over a Phenom II. That L3 cache is not worth £30.

stulid · 12 Feb 2011 at 12:50

lttlejoe said:
Would the Coolermaster PSU fitted in the case be any good for such a system?

Yes its plenty

its from a decent enough brand, and has the amps to back it self up with, its certainly not going to blow up like a Qtec would.

John101 · 12 Feb 2011 at 13:27

btw If your going with King Damager's build i would change the Arctic cooler 7 to a coolermaster hyper 212. Only a small £1.60 upgrade and its a lot better

6644kp · 12 Feb 2011 at 13:42

lttlejoe said:
Would the Coolermaster PSU fitted in the case be any good for such a system?

I changed my mind the dave_beast system is the best a quad core phenon and a 6950 for ust over £500 you cant beat that.

Also don't worry about the psu so much I run a Radeon 4850 on a cheap 250W PSU that came with my Packard Bell I Media which i bought years ago.
Most say you need a quality 300W or 400W psu for a 4850

skylineboy · 12 Feb 2011 at 13:55

6644kp: that is a decision you made but when I spec a system I like to air on the side of safety and reliability.
A cheap PSU can take your system out. I know any psu could do that but a quality named brand with excellent reviews and reputations can give peace of mind. Also cheap ones use cheaper components and cause a pain to continually replace.

The system KD suggested is spot on.