Gaming PC spec (£500 budget)

honosuseri said:
Like I said i've not heard any people complain about that mobo, well apart from chris. It is frequently spec'd in "budget" amd gaming rigs to keep costs down and allow more money to goto the gpu.

What i told you to do is infact overclocking. I have just told you to alter the multiplier rather than keep slowly upping the FSB. In truth for gaming you want to worry more about the gpu than the cpu. The 955 made into a 965 will have plenty of grunt for gaming.

When it's aged and needs replacing you can try the black magic that is overclocking......if you fry the chip it's no matter as you were going to replace it anyway ;)
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Fair enough I'll put my trust in it then, I googled and there was no problems that I could find like that. The overclocking sounds easy enough then :) Makes me wonder why people would buy a 965 then? Unless that can be 'made into a 975' or something?

John101 said:
Id personally go for the i3 2120 as its a faster chip than the 955, ive made a build around the £500 mark if you want to see ;)
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Well, I am pretty happy with what I have so far but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to see what you have put together :)
 
Watch out for that PSU, I have a sneaky feeling it's not really meant to be that cheap. However you have a good alternative in the XFX Pro Core 550W.

The 955 is quad-core, that's got to count for something. And it can overclock, whereas the i3 can't. I can vouch for the MX518. Really solid mouse, well built, and no problem gaming. I have one for work, and a G500 for home, and it feels better built than the G500. The optical sensor is really good, no problem using it on a plain desk.

You can save money going 500GB. That's a lot of space, and yo can always add more later. Saves you around £15.

You could save £15 again if you can salvage an optical drive. It's a bit ghetto, but I've seen some good looking computers being ditched without a thought. A lot of AMD boards have legacy IDE, so even an old crummy unit will work as a placeholder.
 
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Asus GeForce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply £50.99
(£42.49) £50.99
(£42.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £33.98
(£28.32) £33.98
(£28.32)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Gigabyte M6880 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £9.98
(£8.32) £9.98

Sub Total : £420.73
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £86.40
Total : £518.38

Comes out £2 more expensive :eek: Mostly the same as your build but with sandy bridge included.

Good review of the 2120 here http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-2120-2100_5.html#sect0

No doubt the 955 is a good chip though, have it on my build OC to 3.8. Excellent at running power hungry games!
 
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There is another trick in core unlocking. AMD ended up selling some quad cores as dual cores. This is gambling though and I'm not even suggesting you do this, just pointing out there are tricks to the trade ;) £90 for the 955 is a reasonable price and it's more than man enough for the job at hand. Just think of the 965 trick as a bonus ;)

I'd like to see johns suggestion too. Although I think i already know the base components are going to be more expensive than the AMD setup. Even £10-20 can make a big difference in your options of a gpu.

I know i've gone on and on about AMD. I'm not against Intel it's simply down to pricing.....or bang for buck :P
 
olivier renault said:
Watch out for that PSU, I have a sneaky feeling it's not really meant to be that cheap. However you have a good alternative in the XFX Pro Core 550W.

The 955 is quad-core, that's got to count for something. And it can overclock, whereas the i3 can't. I can vouch for the MX518. Really solid mouse, well built, and no problem gaming. I have one for work, and a G500 for home, and it feels better built than the G500. The optical sensor is really good, no problem using it on a plain desk.
Click to expand...

About the PSU, I'm not entirely sure what you are saying. Do you think I would get a power supply that is different to what is described? As long as the 550W one is OK then I suppose I could just go for that one instead.


@John101
Well to me, seeing the differences between the two is difficult however as someone has mentioned. The 955 is a quad core. As new games are starting to utilize all 4 cores I think it would be in my best interest to go for that. I can't see any real benefits to the intel spec to be honest. Might just be my naivety though.
 
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DJmartin said:
About the PSU, I'm not entirely sure what you are saying. Do you think I would get a power supply that is different to what is described? As long as the 550W one is OK then I suppose I could just go for that one instead.


@John101
Well to me, seeing the differences between the two is difficult however as someone has mentioned. The 955 is a quad core. As new games are starting to utilize all 4 cores I think it would be in my best interest to go for that. I can't see any real benefits to the intel spec to be honest. Might just be my naivety though.
Click to expand...

Sure no problem. Your probably safer for the long term with a quad core!
 
My mate is giving me a Windows 7 upgrade disc. I asked if I would need an earlier version of windows to install it as it was an upgrade version but he ensured me that he had used an identical version on his self-built PC as an initial OS.
 
DJmartin said:
About the PSU, I'm not entirely sure what you are saying. Do you think I would get a power supply that is different to what is described? As long as the 550W one is OK then I suppose I could just go for that one instead.
Click to expand...

What I meant was that 620W was the same price as the 400W, and much cheaper than the 520W units of the same kind. So it's a bit 'weird'. It means that it could be a mistake in the price, of that it's some kind of offer that won't last long. I don't expect it to remain at £50 for long.
 
olivier renault said:
What I meant was that 620W was the same price as the 400W, and much cheaper than the 520W units of the same kind. So it's a bit 'weird'. It means that it could be a mistake in the price, of that it's some kind of offer that won't last long. I don't expect it to remain at £50 for long.
Click to expand...

I see what you mean. It says it has 10+, maybe they are just a little overstocked? :P I'm not ordering the parts yet anyway so I'll see what happens to the price.
 
Olivier I can never understand the pricing on the OC website. Last week the 5830 and 5850 were the same price. Week before that the 5770 and 5830 where priced the same. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

It's why I rarely spec a build. Prices vary weekly I prefer to point out path and let others search for the best price or indeed the OP themselves.

There are countless threads like this DJ. If stulid was here he would have spec'd u an AMD system, had u a bit more cash he would have gone i5. He is probably one of the best guys on here for spec'ing builds. Unluckily for you he's not been around it seems the last few days.

On the psu front. The Bequiet 530W would be ideal for your build. Has 2 PCI-E power connectors and enough power for your needs and is currently £44.99.

Have a think then post what you are planning on buying just so we can check it through. Good luck mate, hope i've not overcomplicated things :P
 
No everyone has helped loads. I have learnt quite a bit and hopefully once I build my PC I can return the favour by helping the noobier noobs here. I will post a little bump on this thread right before I order for quick check as well. ;)

Unfortunately I am unable to order the PSU right now and it will probably be sold out within a few days which is a shame.

Hopefully I can also work out whether I do need a Windows 7 full version too. Would be pretty ****ed if I build the whole thing and the windows disc won't work and I have to order another.

Thanks everybody
 
Yip that makes sense. Like I said the prices change weekly so get your spondoolies ready and post a spec. We can look it over quick and check for deals ;)

I only mentioned the Bequiet psu as it's good for your needs and relatively cheap. That antec psu is being spec'd like crazy so I can't see it being in stock long. Figured you might need an alternative.

Look forward to seeing what you settle on and how the build goes. See you soon(ish)
 
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £124.99
(£104.16) £124.99
(£104.16)
MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £89.98
(£74.98) £89.98
(£74.98)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1333LV4GK) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Sub Total : £430.77
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 : £88.25
Total : £529.52

£30 over but it includes an i5 2500k .
 
Smiley that PSU supplied with the case only has one PCI-E power connector and i'm pretty sure the 5850 doesnt come with a molex adapter.

This means buying one, adding cost, or buying the case without PSU and adding one which will still be over budget. Trying to get an i5 and a half decent GPU for £500 is a big ask......was worth trying though
 
The fact that so many people have suggest the i5 2500k makes it so tempting but I am struggling to reach the £500 budget. Mine isn't as flexible as some peoples on here and £500 was already a very stretched one. As it is I am getting the parts without the graphics card and then getting the graphics card about a month after.
Sorry dudes.
 
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