Budget gaming upgrade advice

McGraw

McGraw

McGraw

Soldato
Joined
16 Jan 2006
Posts
3,051
Hi.*

My stepson wants me to upgrade his pc for him. It's an old dell with 1.8ghz dual core that I put a 6800gt in. He was happy playing supreme commander 1+2 and starcraft 3 at low detail until he had to upgrade and now he has new friends at school who he wants to play borderlands 2 with...so, it's finally time to upgrade.

He suggested £450 but his mum wants him to spend as little as possible from his savings as it's got to go to a car so I'm trying to keep it less than £400 and ideally about £375.

I'm a techie so really want him to go SSd, i5 ivy bridge overclocked but the budget won't take it.

So, I thought an i3, 6950, 4gb, bottom of the line mobo and a psu of say 500w.

He's used to 360 and low detail pc gaming so he will definitely appreciate any upgrade at all but I have a responsibility to spec something adequate that will hopefully see him through at least 4 years until he hopefully graduates.

So, is my spec a good idea? I figure the graphics are good enough to last and he doesn't currently do anything that would need quad core. If he decides he wants I overclock in the future then I guess a £30 mobo won't have been too much of a waste.

We only need what's listed. Nothing else.

I would appreciate your help and spec suggestions.

Thanks a lot.
 
Come up with the spec below, tried to put the Z77 chipset on but it ended up to costly.

What case is he going to use?

For a little more you can get the 7850 GPU.


Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Club3D HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (CGAX-69548A) w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.95
(£83.29) £99.95
(£83.29)
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)
TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
* Sub Total : £327.42
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 : £67.48
* Total : £404.90


Another option:


Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £184.99
(£154.16) £184.99
(£154.16)
Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.95
(£83.29) £99.95
(£83.29)
Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)
XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
* Sub Total : £339.92
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 : £69.98
* Total : £419.90
 
 
 
Just double check your case can infact fit ATX/mATX mobos. Branded cases can have "custom sized" mobos fitted.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
1 x Intel Pentium G840 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £54.95
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £33.59
Total : £423.47 (includes shipping : £10.00).



I'd probably suggest that to be fair although I did go over slightly. The G840 isn't as good as the i3 but it's not far off for gaming and it's practically half the price. Far easier to "justify" writing it off much much later for a (second hand perhaps) i5K, as i used the Z77 mobo this is possible :)

It's certainly worth discussing your options. At 100 post you get free delivery so take your time and talk things through and you'll save yourself some cash :D
 
Last edited:
honosuseri said:
I'd probably suggest that to be fair although I did go over slightly. The G840 isn't as good as the i3 but it's not far off for gaming and it's practically half the price. Far easier to "justify" writing it off much much later for a (second hand perhaps) i5K, as i used the Z77 mobo this is possible :)

It's certainly worth discussing your options. At 100 post you get free delivery so take your time and talk things through and you'll save yourself some cash :D
Click to expand...

That is not a bad idea what-so-ever. The G840 won't be super powerful but will do the job. As soon as the money is there to upgrade to a i5, get a aftermarket cooler with it and OC it. Will be a proper gaming rig. :) I would probably do this. The 7850 is a good shout too.

Well done sir..
 
Doomedspeed said:
That is not a bad idea what-so-ever. The G840 won't be super powerful but will do the job. As soon as the money is there to upgrade to a i5, get a aftermarket cooler with it and OC it. Will be a proper gaming rig. :) I would probably do this. The 7850 is a good shout too.

Well done sir..
Click to expand...

I do try......ta bud :D
 
Wow, thanks for all the quick replies!

I'll study everything and post back but in the meantime, the dell is a proper midi tower case which has SATA DVD, card reader and should just take a new mobo. he'll use onboard sound (which I hadn't thought to look for).
 
McGraw said:
Wow, thanks for all the quick replies!

I'll study everything and post back but in the meantime, the dell is a proper midi tower case which has SATA DVD, card reader and should just take a new mobo. he'll use onboard sound (which I hadn't thought to look for).
Click to expand...

You are welcome bud

i3 vs G840

Reviews for the G840 are pretty positive. Ok you lose quicksync which the i3 has, however for video encoding the GPU can be called in to assist rather than quicksync.....the latter is better but its all about balance.
 
I'm finding it hard to quote/reply at the moment as I've run out of data on my iPhone and it doesn't like quick reply or quote.

@honsuseri: yes, the 100 post benefit would help...this will take the money I've put through oc to about £2500 so I wouldn't feel bad :D

I'll look into the budget chip but if I go this route, I'll just go for the cheapest mobo and worry about upgrading when necessary.
 
fwiw, i wouldnt get any mobo cheaper than the Gigabyte H61MA-D3V. for an entry level mobo, this board has pretty good specs. if not this board, then go for a z77 board (the z77-d3h minimum though)
 
tamzzy said:
fwiw, i wouldnt get any mobo cheaper than the Gigabyte H61MA-D3V. for an entry level mobo, this board has pretty good specs. if not this board, then go for a z77 board (the z77-d3h minimum though)
Click to expand...

Well said.

Some good advice flying around here.

I'd be temped to the a good motherboard so he can upgrade with no fuss.

Though to keep within budget a h61 (£45) motherboard should be perfect. Like a lot of said the H61MA-D3V has SATAIII and USB3, that'd be the one to go for.
 
Thanks.

A further conversation this evening has led to the suprise agreement of mum to let him have an SSD. Obviously just a small one for os and a game or two...which is the one to go for?
 
McGraw said:
Thanks.

A further conversation this evening has led to the suprise agreement of mum to let him have an SSD. Obviously just a small one for os and a game or two...which is the one to go for?
Click to expand...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £67.99
1 x Samsung 64GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC064D/EU) £59.99
1 x Intel 330 Series 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £49.99
Total : £187.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
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