I'm pricing up a budget PC for my famalam and need some advice, I bought a gaming rig a couple of years ago which has held up incredibly well despite some soul-destroying initial hitches, but I have no idea when it comes to budget stuff.
Micro-ATX seems like the way forward for them, it won't be upgraded during it's lifetime and won't have a lot of expansion going on. I expect it will be used for gaming by my brothers, but not often. Main priorities are reliability and low cost, but also maintaining performance over time. Some points to consider:
I need a Case, PSU, GPU, CPU, Mobo, RAM, HDD and CPU Cooler. Already have an Optical Drive I can re-use but the rest of the parts are far too old.
- Intel CPU preferable, i5 range ideally.
- 4GB probably enough, but push to 8 if possible and at least dual channel DDR3. Will 1600Mhz be much better than 1333Mhz? Kingston have always been a good brand for me.
- nVidia Graphics 500 series maybe? My 560 Ti still holds up very well, or maybe I'll sell it to them and get myself a 770
?
- Had bad experiences with Corsair PSU's even though I still use my (warranty replaced) TX 750.
- I like WD Drives. Especially the green ones 1TB minimum
- Horrendous experience with my ASRock MOBO not supporting the CPU from day 1, had to send it back to have the firmware updated. Stick with reputable brands pls.
- CPU cooler needs to be good, they foolishly keep it in front of a radiator -.-
I think that's a pretty insane challenge, I think £450 would have to be the absolute maximum, but price is the main focus here! Enjoy this one folks
Micro-ATX seems like the way forward for them, it won't be upgraded during it's lifetime and won't have a lot of expansion going on. I expect it will be used for gaming by my brothers, but not often. Main priorities are reliability and low cost, but also maintaining performance over time. Some points to consider:
I need a Case, PSU, GPU, CPU, Mobo, RAM, HDD and CPU Cooler. Already have an Optical Drive I can re-use but the rest of the parts are far too old.
- Intel CPU preferable, i5 range ideally.
- 4GB probably enough, but push to 8 if possible and at least dual channel DDR3. Will 1600Mhz be much better than 1333Mhz? Kingston have always been a good brand for me.
- nVidia Graphics 500 series maybe? My 560 Ti still holds up very well, or maybe I'll sell it to them and get myself a 770
?- Had bad experiences with Corsair PSU's even though I still use my (warranty replaced) TX 750.
- I like WD Drives. Especially the green ones
1TB minimum- Horrendous experience with my ASRock MOBO not supporting the CPU from day 1, had to send it back to have the firmware updated. Stick with reputable brands pls.
- CPU cooler needs to be good, they foolishly keep it in front of a radiator -.-
I think that's a pretty insane challenge, I think £450 would have to be the absolute maximum, but price is the main focus here! Enjoy this one folks
