Budget Gaming RIG - £250 - what you think?

trentlad · 6 Dec 2012 at 04:55

So I've been given £250 and managed to pick out this system but wanted to seek any other suggestions or better options:

Motherboard - ASRock H77M-ITX
CPU - i5 3570K
VGA - GTS 450 512MB
RAM - XMS3 8GB
PSU - Corsair CX500W
Case - BitFenix Prodigy

Motherboard - ASRock H77M-ITX[$55]

CPU - i5 3570K[$160]

VGA - GTS 450 512MB[$65]

RAM - XMS3 8GB[spares]

PSU - Corsair CX500W[$30]

Case - BitFenix Prodigy[$75]

I'm hoping it'll play the latest games at 30FPS+ with low settings. Any suggested changes?

olivier renault · 6 Dec 2012 at 10:40

Looks great, but for gaming... dat GPU

Probably best research videos of gaming on a GTS 450. At least you should be able to swap it for say, a 7850 or 660 OC.

dunn2010 · 6 Dec 2012 at 11:19

if you drop cpu to an ivy i3 and upgrade the gpu to a 7750 you will play most new games on medium / high

also pumping a lot of money to an have itx case, could you not put up with a midi tower case?

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 6 Dec 2012 at 11:29

How did the OP manage to get all those parts for only £250??

dunn2010 · 6 Dec 2012 at 11:30

i was wondering same thing ^^

JCX50 · 6 Dec 2012 at 13:39

If I was you, I would spend a lot more money on a machine. £250 is a little short.

trentlad · 6 Dec 2012 at 14:42

I already have RAM & PSU lying around, plus found some very good sales which is why it's so cheap. I completely agree with the GTS 450, it may be best to just tell them to use the Intel HD 4000 Graphics chip in the i5 an get them to invest in a good graphics card later.

If it wasn't for that VGA I think this build is really nice. The mobo should be able to take a very nice VGA with that PCIe 3.0 x 16 slot.

olivier renault · 6 Dec 2012 at 16:46

trentlad said:
I already have RAM & PSU lying around, plus found some very good sales which is why it's so cheap. I completely agree with the GTS 450, it may be best to just tell them to use the Intel HD 4000 Graphics chip in the i5 an get them to invest in a good graphics card later.

If it wasn't for that VGA I think this build is really nice. The mobo should be able to take a very nice VGA with that PCIe 3.0 x 16 slot.

Yeah I'd do that and save on a pointless GPU if they can upgrade later (£150), although a 450 is still better than HD4000.

Bacon? · 6 Dec 2012 at 18:56

Cut off the GPU and get a Z77 motherboard to allow overclocking

trentlad · 6 Dec 2012 at 21:26

But this mobo already supports overlocking for all K versions. Is there something I missed?

I still can't get over how this tiny thing has 6Gbps SATA, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0 x 16, 1600 DDR3, supports overclocking and integrated graphics and it's smaller than miniATX!!

olivier renault · 6 Dec 2012 at 22:31

trentlad said:
But this mobo already supports overlocking for all K versions. Is there something I missed?

I still can't get over how this tiny thing has 6Gbps SATA, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0 x 16, 1600 DDR3, supports overclocking and integrated graphics and it's smaller than miniATX!!

Not really, dunno the particulars of the board, maybe some turbo mode overclock or something, but will be very limited. Still, worth just trying it out stock, it's just the GPU lacking.

Bacon? · 6 Dec 2012 at 22:33

No H77 supports proper overclocking, only allowing turbo boost.

trentlad · 7 Dec 2012 at 01:59

Ok, let me take a look at the Z77 just for peace of mind. Thanks lads!

trentlad · 27 Jan 2013 at 03:59

Well the build was a success and it's been running without issue for about a month now. Just wanted to say thank you to all that helped.

I ended up getting a combo deal with the same CPU and the mobo and the grand total was 190 in the end, extra spares I had were worth about 60... which is why this is blowing my mind!!

olivier renault · 27 Jan 2013 at 11:40

trentlad said:
Well the build was a success and it's been running without issue for about a month now. Just wanted to say thank you to all that helped.

I ended up getting a combo deal with the same CPU and the mobo and the grand total was 190 in the end, extra spares I had were worth about 60... which is why this is blowing my mind!!

nice deal.