~£500 budget for light gaming (SC2, LoL, GW2)

jacket882 · 3 Apr 2011 at 17:36

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a desktop to be able to play games such as League of Legends on max detail at 60fps. For anyone not familiar with LoL its gfx are similar to that of an RTS such as Wc3/SC2. I would also like to play SC2 on good detail and eventually GW2 when it comes out (altho I just need to run this no need for great detail).

I've built this choosing the cheapest built-your-own-system template:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/syscon_int.php?prodid=FS-283-OK

Case: Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard
RAM: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)
Gfx Card: XFX ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE MOH Game
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)

- Onboard Sound Card (ZERO COST)
- OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
- OcUK Premium Aluminium 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive

Total: £472

Is this good enough? I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. I could add £50 to this if need be but not unless it can actually have a visual impact on these games (excluding GW2).

Also, if you think this is overkill for such a simple game, I wouldn't mind sparing £100 and buying something less powerful

So please let me know if there is anything that is "extra".

Cheers!

Tazzfalcon · 3 Apr 2011 at 17:54

jacket882 said:
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail

All looks good but I would certainly push your budget the extra £50 you mentioned to get a 955BE quad core or even a 965 if you could stretch it.

You should notice a pretty big difference in newer games.

Also get a new cooler. An Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 like the one I have would be great on your budget and quite too - the stock fans are LOUD.

The rest of the build looks promising. Though I don't know much about the case.

Hope it goes well for you.

hybrid572 · 3 Apr 2011 at 17:59

Build it yourself if you can manage it (saves a lot of money), swap the CPU for a Phenom II X4 840, and get the cooler that Tazz mentioned, or a Hyper 212 Plus. Both are awesome for the money.

John101 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:04

How confident are you in building a computer? You would get much better value for money with a build like this >

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £94.79

Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99

Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99

OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply £38.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99

OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99

Totalling in at £515 (vat + postage included)

Much better case + cpu + GfX card and you'll be able to play any game on max for a long time!

stulid · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:08

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 "95W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Coolermaster Elite 370 Case - Black £33.70
(£28.08) £33.70
(£28.08)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.98
(£12.48) £14.98
(£12.48)
Sub Total : £328.00
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £67.60
Total : £405.60

jacket882 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:10

Thanks for the quick replies

Unfortunately I'm a bit of a newbie and wouldn't really know how to go about building it myself. Would the CPU upgrade actual have a visible effect on games?

I can upgrade the CPU to Phenom II X4 840 for £28 I will go for that.

The cooler options I have are Xigmatek Dark Knight for £22 or the Akasa Venom for £33. If the 1st option is a good enough upgrade over the stock coolers I'd rather go for that to be honest but I will pay the extra £10 if there is a significant difference.

As regards the case I could get the Zalman Z9 Plus Silent Gaming Case for an extra £13 or Antec 300 Ultimate Gaming Case for £17. Any suggestions?

Thanks again for the help

Tazzfalcon · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:11

John101 said:
How confident are you in building a computer? You would get much better value for money with a build like this >

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £94.79

Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99

Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99

OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply £38.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £29.99

OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99

Totalling in at £515 (vat + postage included)

Much better case + cpu + GfX card and you'll be able to play any game on max for a long time!

John is spot on here (thx for the name check Hybrid

)

I didn't realise you weren't building it from scratch first time round (my bad for not reading properly).

Do you need an OS? As obviously that will effect your budget some.

jacket882 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:14

Well I could technically build it myself I guess but I've never really done it. I am a bit of an IT enthusiast but not really into hardware as such so never built one. Is it hard?

John101 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:15

Learning to build a computer is good fun and you cant go wrong if you be careful... and if you get stuck ask for help, The advice you get here is superb!

hybrid572 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:17

The CPU to the X4 840 is a huge difference.

As for the cooler, we're not talking about overclocking here, so you just need a decent aftermarket one to abate the noise. The cheapest one will be fine.

Cases make pretty much zero difference except for aesthetics and convenience for building, so the Xigmatek Asgard is fine.

hybrid572 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:19

jacket882 said:
Well I could technically build it myself I guess but I've never really done it. I am a bit of an IT enthusiast but not really into hardware as such so never built one. Is it hard?

It's basically like building things from lego, really easy. There's a sticky at the top. You'd save a huge amount of money.

Also, don't get a GTX 560. A 5850 at £107 is exactly what you should buy- nearly identical performance at 1080p for ~half the price.

jacket882 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:19

thank you all for the help

I'll read up a bit about building it and if I feel courageous enough I'll go ahead and try

otherwise I'll get those with the modified upgrades

amazing forum great help!

Tazzfalcon · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:23

jacket882 said:
Well I could technically build it myself I guess but I've never really done it. I am a bit of an IT enthusiast but not really into hardware as such so never built one. Is it hard?

No not really. The hard part is the research if your doing it from scratch.

One thing which will make it much easier for you:

-Read reviews for the case you want and make sure it's easy on the newcomer.
-Follow the MOBO instructions
-Youtube is a GOLDMINE of support videos and run-throughs. :cool:

The only other tricky things are luck related i.e. buying a faulty part and not being able to troubleshoot it and potentially fitting the CPU cooler with good thermal paste application but there are plenty of good guides on here.

Other than those pretty rare occurances you'll be doing yourself a big favour performance and value wise.

Join the bandwagon! It's fun! WARNING: potentially addictive.

John101 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:30

hybrid572 said:
Cases make pretty much zero difference except for aesthetics and convenience for building, so the Xigmatek Asgard is fine.

Haven't you forgotten the cooling aspect of cases too? Important to get a good case with good airflow to keep everything cool, the most important thing about cases...

hybrid572 · 3 Apr 2011 at 18:53

Any semi decent case will have adequate airflow, you'd be a fool not to put it in, and besides, he's not overclocking, so temps aren't going to rocket anyway.

My point was that a £200 case isn't much cooler than a £30 one at stock clocks.