Gaming PC-£500 Budget

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11 Jun 2013
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32
Hello!

I have little knowledge and experience when it comes to building PC's and the parts. However I am aware you get a lot more bang for your buck building it yourself. I intend to use the PC to game primarily and I would need te following requirements in the build:

-Monitor 20-22"
-OS Windows 7
-Simple clean case nothing too obscene
-Ability to run minecraft at high FPS and be able to play Arma at a smooth FPS
-Keyboard/USB slots/Optical drive
-£600 Max budget
 
I wanted some more opinions and recommendations with the given requirements I want!

If you want more opinions, it would be more effective to bump your old threads. Multiple threads on the same subject make them seem like dead threads and will put off forum users from participating. Your budget is tight but i will put something together now. Considering the budget, fufilling all your requirements and leaving you a rig that could play arma 2 at playable settings is tight and making the parts good enough to last a while would be impossible.

Here is a build minus the OS. You can use a 3 month trial OS untill you can afford a new upgrade, this way you can afford a rig that will be able to play the games which will come out next year.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £115.99
1 x BenQ GW2255 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £82.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £55.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) HDD £52.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £43.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6800 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £8.99
1 x OcUK USB Keyboard - Black £4.99
Total : £598.90 (includes shipping : FREE).



The build is also overclockable with a CPU cooler. Overclocking on one of these CPUs is easy and can be learnt by watching a few videos and reading a few forum posts. It will add a year or two, performance wise, to the lifespan of your rig.

Stretching the budget by £30 will net you the 8320 instead of the 6300, which is worth the extra 30 for sure. Another route you can go to save money is going for a trinity set up with onboard graphics. This will easily do minecraft but it will struggle with arma 2, whenever there is some action. The above spec will easily out perform any trinity APU set up. There are however, new APUs coming out at the end of this year or early next year, which might be worth waiting for. Here is a trinity spec anyway:

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GW2255 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD560KWOHJBOX) £71.99
1 x Asus F2A55 AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £68.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x MSI HD 6670 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) HDD £52.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £43.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6800 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £8.99
1 x OcUK USB Keyboard - Black £4.99
Total : £607.87 (includes shipping : FREE).



It is worth noting that:
-the A8k can be replaced with a better A10k, if you can afford it.
-Without the extra graphics card to xfire in this build, you will have a considerable performance drop in many games.

THIS is an example of game play with this build on arma 2.

You are best going for the 6300 build out of both of these, it will last much longer and you can upgrade the CPU and GPU if you need to. Both these builds require a half decent overclock to get your moneys worth though. It is worth trying.
 
If you want more opinions, it would be more effective to bump your old threads. Multiple threads on the same subject make them seem like dead threads and will put off forum users from participating. Your budget is tight but i will put something together now. Considering the budget, fufilling all your requirements and leaving you a rig that could play arma 2 at playable settings is tight and making the parts good enough to last a while would be impossible.

Here is a build minus the OS. You can use a 3 month trial OS untill you can afford a new upgrade, this way you can afford a rig that will be able to play the games which will come out next year.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £115.99
1 x BenQ GW2255 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £82.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £55.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) HDD £52.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £43.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6800 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £8.99
1 x OcUK USB Keyboard - Black £4.99
Total : £598.90 (includes shipping : FREE).



The build is also overclockable with a CPU cooler. Overclocking on one of these CPUs is easy and can be learnt by watching a few videos and reading a few forum posts. It will add a year or two, performance wise, to the lifespan of your rig.

Stretching the budget by £30 will net you the 8320 instead of the 6300, which is worth the extra 30 for sure. Another route you can go to save money is going for a trinity set up with onboard graphics. This will easily do minecraft but it will struggle with arma 2, whenever there is some action. The above spec will easily out perform any trinity APU set up. There are however, new APUs coming out at the end of this year or early next year, which might be worth waiting for. Here is a trinity spec anyway:

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GW2255 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD560KWOHJBOX) £71.99
1 x Asus F2A55 AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £68.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x MSI HD 6670 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) HDD £52.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £43.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Gigabyte M6800 1600DPI Gaming Mouse £8.99
1 x OcUK USB Keyboard - Black £4.99
Total : £607.87 (includes shipping : FREE).



It is worth noting that:
-the A8k can be replaced with a better A10k, if you can afford it.
-Without the extra graphics card to xfire in this build, you will have a considerable performance drop in many games.

THIS is an example of game play with this build on arma 2.

You are best going for the 6300 build out of both of these, it will last much longer and you can upgrade the CPU and GPU if you need to. Both these builds require a half decent overclock to get your moneys worth though. It is worth trying.

Thanks for the spec, as regards to the first build what would you advise upgrading. And how long do these PC's tend to last?
 
Thanks for the spec, as regards to the first build what would you advise upgrading. And how long do these PC's tend to last?

Pcs last as long as you can put up with the performance some people upgrade each time a new part comes out and some people stay with there current platform for years gradually turning down the settings of games.
 
Ok guy's I think I have found the PC I am prepared to buy:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £125.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £83.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £41.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £41.99
1 x Antec VP450P 450W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £28.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £513.86 (includes shipping : FREE).



Can you tell me if any of this spec are outdated and could be possibly updated?
Can this PC run minecraft at a high fps as well as be able to play Arma II/III at moderate settings?

I am going to use my T.V as a monitor but other than that, are these specs compatible and good enough for my budget of approximately £500.

Thursting!
 
As mentioned above, you could do a bit better if you are willing to use the Windows free trial and buy it in three month's time.
 
As mentioned above, you could do a bit better if you are willing to use the Windows free trial and buy it in three month's time.

Ok, so if I removed the windows 8 and got the 3 month trial. That would leave me with £80, plus maybe another £100 I will be getting soon. So any suggested upgrades with £180?
 
Ok guy's I think I have found the PC I am prepared to buy:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards £125.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £83.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £41.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £41.99
1 x Antec VP450P 450W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £28.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £513.86 (includes shipping : FREE).



Can you tell me if any of this spec are outdated and could be possibly updated?
Can this PC run minecraft at a high fps as well as be able to play Arma II/III at moderate settings?

I am going to use my T.V as a monitor but other than that, are these specs compatible and good enough for my budget of approximately £500.

Thursting!

So guys any upgrades to this spec? £150 to upgrade with, any suggestions!
 
Hmm so the op says he'all be using the os trial and you go spec him win 7? Whede's the logic in that?


Also rather than going for a cheap monitor(is it really any better than using a TV as a monitor) would be better going for a 4670k plus z86 mobo and a better PSU.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-147-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

Eh? he said he needed windows 7
edit riiiight so I posted mine 3 minutes after he did, did it ever occur to you that maybe I was still putting together the shopping list?
 
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