Help me spec a budget gaming machine

[Andyooo]

Hi there,

This will my first ever build and I have found myself completely bedazzled by all the different options.

I have no preference over makes but would just like the best bang for my buck.

I play a lot of online poker so the machine will need to be capable of running 2-3 minitors as well as handling large databases well and quickly.

Im not a massive gamer but it would be nice to be able to buy the odd current game and play it. I also play civilization V which is pretty hungry on certain settings.

I have monitors but am still using xp so will probably need to include an operating system.

I have an ATI Radeon 4600 in my current machine but I imagine this is pretty old by now.

I would appreciate if the maxhine was quite quiet but I understand my budget is quite limited.

Looking to spend up to 550 GBP although if I can do it a little cheaper that would be better.

Many thanks in advance for any replys,

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[Incrauze]

Intel,

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £44.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.98
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £580.80 (includes shipping : £12.50).



AMD,

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x MSI HD 6670 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1866C10DC) £49.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.98
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £495.95 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 

[Andyooo]

Brilliant tank you m8!

I am very tempted by the AMD is the performance of the two builds on a pa or do you get a lot extra power/quality on the inetl buildr?

 

[Doomedspeed]

There are a few issues with the specs above. To start that cooler (612s) wont fit in the Source 210 as it only has 160mm clearence and the cooler is 163mm tall..

On the intel build why did you go for the 2120 instead of the 3220, just seems silly.

Beside those factors the intel build is better due to the 7850. At £500 it maybe a bit of a struggle bu the i3 + 7850 combo should see you well.

 

[Incrauze]

Brilliant tank you m8!

I am very tempted by the AMD is the performance of the two builds on a pa or do you get a lot extra power/quality on the inetl buildr?

The Intel build is better than the AMD and is future proof if you later upgrade to an Intel i5

The AMD is cheaper as it uses HD 7660D integrated graphics with crossfire HD 6670 for multiple monitors

If you go for the Intel build then take out the CPU cooler in the basket as it comes with stock cooler and CPU can't be overclocked so no need for a aftermarket cooler

 

[Incrauze]

There are a few issues with the specs above. To start that cooler (612s) wont fit in the Source 210 as it only has 160mm clearence and the cooler is 163mm tall..

On the intel build why did you go for the 2120 instead of the 3220, just seems silly.

Thanks for pointing that out, corrections has been made,

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £44.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £550.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 

[honosuseri]

Thanks for pointing that out, corrections has been made,

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC) £44.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £550.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Use the Z9 U3 is better for not much more (I own the Z9 plus) they are great starters cases.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £164.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Cooler Master Silencio 450 Midi Tower Case - Black £49.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £37.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £555.47 (includes shipping : £10.50).



This case has sound proofing, it would be nice to get an adapter for the USB3 header on the mobo, same for the Z9 U3. You cop free games with the GPU but you could save a little cash going B grade as shown

 

[Idleman]

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 £44.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £37.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £550.81 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 

[honosuseri]

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 £44.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £37.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £550.81 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Stop trying to show me up bud

That's a nice spec, using the B grade GPU (no games) and cheaper case pays for the OS upgrade licence. You could always just try the evaluation of windows 8 for free and then choose which OS to upgrade to after the 3 months free use is up

 

[Idleman]

Stop trying to show me up bud


That's a nice spec, using the B grade GPU (no games) and cheaper case pays for the OS upgrade licence. You could always just try the evaluation of windows 8 for free and then choose which OS to upgrade to after the 3 months free use is up

Is that Evaluation still available?

 

[honosuseri]

Is that Evaluation still available?

Link

Would seem so, if it's too much faff and he isn't bothered about having an overclockers mobo for an i5K upgrade.........

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £164.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Gigabyte B75M-D3V Intel B75 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £52.99
1 x Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Edition - from XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7 £44.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £37.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £553.99 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 

[Andyooo]

Thank you loads for all the help guys!

A couple of questions:

1) Is there a downside to getting a B grade CPU? (not sure what the b grade signifys)

2) If I am reading this right the AMD set up would have limited future proofness?

3) Is it worth getting some extra memory or a new fangled hard drive to increase speed?

4) I am almost certainly getting sucked in by advertising but is an i3 really a better choice than a cpu with a name black addition quad core trinity?

Again thanks in adavance for replys!