Budget gaming spec for the ladychum

[Shashman]

My better half is looking at getting herself a new gaming system, however, her budget is quite low, at around £400.

She isn't bothered about overclocking, in fact her only requirement is that she wants to be able to run games with max graphics settings.

Is it doable? I'm thinking get the 'core' components here and shop around for a second hand GPU, as personally, I don't think she's going to get much with that budget, but I may be wrong!

Borderlands 2 and Sniper Elite V2 will be the main games played.

Cheers

P.S. The emphasis here really is on keeping the costs to a minimum, so no fancy RAM or fancy cases, no AMD vs Intel discussiosn, just what you guys reckon is the minimum kit required to be able to game at, say, over 30FPS (ball park figure)

P.P.S. Bugger, just realised this is the wrong forum section! Could it be moved please?

P.P.P.S. Actually, scratch that haha! It's late ok?

 

[Shashman]

I think this is the best I can come up with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-3870K 3.00GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3870WNGXBOX) £107.99
2 x Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £69.38
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP2G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £25.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £437.70 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 

[stulid]

Thats ok

Used that board and a very similar Llano chip myself for a few weeks, very capable indeed

You can save money with this PSU - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-059-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

 

[Shashman]

Yeah I actually had a look at that PSU when putting the spec together, but noticed that it only has one PCI-E connector and there's no mention of the 12v amps, so could be a problem should she decide to go for a GPU now or in the future

 

[honosuseri]

I think this is the best I can come up with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-3870K 3.00GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3870WNGXBOX) £107.99
2 x Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £69.38
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP2G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £25.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £437.70 (includes shipping : £12.50).

I like that bud. I would leave the PSU as is 500W is a nice round figure if you wanted to add a GPU later, i do believe that PSU has 40amps on the rail and its modular too. You still have room to expand the memory on the mobo, so you arent limited for "cheap upgrades".

I can say sniper elite V2 runs very well on my HTPC (X2 555BE) with a nvidia 460. So worst case you might need to add a budget GPU later but it will certainly get her up and going...nice work bud

It's it worth adding a SSD instead of the 500GB HDD or does she need the storage?

 

[stulid]

i do believe that PSU has 40amps on the rail and its modular too.

Its got a quite frankly pathetic 34amps on the 12v

 

[shadow_boxer]

Just thought I'd spec an Intel option with a similar budget.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.38
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £34.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £24.98
1 x Kingston Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £430.30 (includes shipping : £12.50).




Could save a wee bit by getting a more basic motherboard but this one will allow you to upgrade the system to a Sandy Bridge or Ivybride i5/i7 in the future.

 

[Shashman]

@Stulid:That should be enough for one of the lower end GPUs though right?

@honosuseri: As for the HDD, you're right, perhaps a 120GB SSD would be a better idea. She mainly uses Spotify for music and doesn't really have much on her current HDD apart from the odd document, so I think she'd be better off going for that option If worst comes to worst, she can always pick up a second hand HDD for cheap.

@shadow_boxer: Awesome, that's a really good spec actually and includes a very decent GPU for the price! I think the only change I'd make is to go for a P67 or Z68 mobo and shave a few £s off the total. Perhaps go for one of the MSis?

 

[honosuseri]

Its got a quite frankly pathetic 34amps on the 12v

must be the 600W version at 40Amps then, cheers bud i wasn't certain. Still they are a pretty good budget PSU for the price, nice and quiet too.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/power-supplies/zardon/corsair-cx430-v2-430w-power-supply-review/2/

That's stulids cheaper option with 28 amps on the 12V rail. I havent linked the CM silent pro as stulid has rightly stated its output for you

 

[shadow_boxer]

That should be enough for one of the lower end GPUs though right?

As for the HDD, you're right, perhaps a 120GB SSD would be a better idea. She mainly uses Spotify for music and doesn't really have much on her current HDD apart from the odd document, so I think she'd be better off going for that option If worst comes to worst, she can always pick up a second hand HDD for cheap.

I've used that PSU before and ran an overclocked Athlon II X3 and a 5850 with no problems.

+1 for the SSD especially if you don't need the storage space.

 

[Stoner81]

I think this is the best I can come up with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-3870K 3.00GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3870WNGXBOX) £107.99
2 x Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £69.38
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP2G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £25.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £24.98
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £437.70 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Why is there 2 motherboards in this spec? Remove the second motherboard and change the PSU with the extra cash.

Stoner81.

 

[Shashman]

How about this? It's a bit over her budget, but not by that much really, considering the improvement:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
1 x Sandisk Extreme SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive - (SDSSDX-120G-G25) £81.95
1 x Sapphire HD 7750 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £79.99
1 x MSI H77MA-G43 Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard £74.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £24.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £455.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).






@Stoner81, are you stoned?

 

[shadow_boxer]

Crucial M4 SSD instead of the Sandisk and I'd personally get the 6850 over the 7750.

6850 v 7750

 

[honosuseri]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £95.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £37.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower Case - Black £29.99
Total : £445.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).



The i3 2120 isnt much more, should have stuck that in there really and well spotted stoner! I've had a few beers so my vision is a lil blurry what's everyone elses excuse for missing it? lol

 

[stulid]

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A6-3670K 2.70GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3670WNGXBOX) £89.99
1 x Sandisk Extreme SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive - (SDSSDX-120G-G25) £81.95
1 x Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £69.38
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Fractal Design Core 1000 Midi Tower Case - Black £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £380.38 (includes shipping : £11.75).



• The Bequiet PSU is much more powerful (you never know what the future might bring)
• The Case is better.

 

[Shashman]

Cheaper than my last spec, includes 6850 and Crucial M4, and I think in terms of bang for buck, this is looking like the winner:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £95.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £24.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £446.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I've shown her both the FD Core 1000 and the Asgard II before and she doesn't like them

 

[honosuseri]

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A6-3670K 2.70GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3670WNGXBOX) £89.99
1 x Sandisk Extreme SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive - (SDSSDX-120G-G25) £81.95
1 x Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £69.38
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Fractal Design Core 1000 Midi Tower Case - Black £32.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £380.38 (includes shipping : £11.75).



• The Bequiet PSU is much more powerful (you never know what the future might bring)
• The Case is better.

Didn't we find out the bequiet L7 only chucked out 430W? I have the L8 version at 630W but i paid £60ish from here, they are too dear I would stick with the CM silent pro M

 

[Shashman]

I think that PSU is overkill for her requirements tbh, plus it's pricier.

P.S. The original spec only has one mobo! You're both drunk and high

 

[stulid]

Didn't we find out the bequiet L7 only chucked out 430W? I have the L8 version at 630W but i paid £60ish from here, they are too dear I would stick with the CM silent pro M

Even if thats true, the coolermaster is only 408watts on the 12v

The Bequiet is 480w

 

[honosuseri]

Cheaper than my last spec, includes 6850 and Crucial M4, and I think in terms of bang for buck, this is looking like the winner:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £95.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £24.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £446.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I've shown her both the FD Core 1000 and the Asgard II before and she doesn't like them

Close to what i suggested, however i did forget the DVD drive, i do apologise. That mobo only has 2 RAM slots which is why i add 8GB (2x4gb) as you cant expand once you add 2x2GB easily