gaming pc for £600 possible or not

Samantha1968

Samantha1968

Samantha1968

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Westgate On Sea, Kent
i have a old lga775 pc at the moment and its basically running ok but it just not good enough for gaming. it has windows 8.1 pro 64bit running on it and its a strain on the system. intel duel core 3.2ghz running at 3.7ghz.

i have a asus gt640 1gb gddr5 card and a 1tb barricuda drive 6gb/s capable but only running at 3gb/s because of pc.

so what gaming pc can i build for about £600. is it possible ?

any and all advise please.
 
 
stulid said:
What PSU do you have and the case?

Maybe they can be re-used, if not,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £185.99
1 x **B Grade** MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express G (GX-225-MS) £139.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x Antec TruePower Classic 550w '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £55.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Xigmatek Mach Midi-Tower Black £22.99
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £635.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Click to expand...

its a avdavtage vit - gaming case model r.microatx form factor which does not leave much room for pie slots needed for later use. side fansd cut overhead space over cpu to below 12 cm. twin fans on side. 1 rear and 1 front.

2 x usb front and micr card reader that uses 2 usb connections. always had problems getting them all to work. so new case with good cooling space needed as will need to over-clock and keep cool.

looking at list now thank you. its important factor to get good sound and 3d capabilities from pc hdmi to 3d smart tv which isd my main monitor monitor.

will have a good look anyone else please feel free to give others.

need good graphics room to expand on graphics card'S plurel and a ssd and my hard disk and get 6gb/s from hard disk and ssd or the other m.2 version that is faster.

£600 is what i have now may get more later. unfortunatley i purchased 8.1 for this and will need to purchase another windows. need miracast capable system for progect to wireless display which current board / cpu / graphics card will not allow.

but nvidea are good cards i think so its a option i dont think they supportr but if thats the case i still prefer nvide but will need good graphics card or cards.

current gt640 1gb gddr5 is ok only sas entry level and dont think it can be mixed its a 2.0 piex16 connector and so far only seen it run at x8 because of old board.


will take time to look at what you have given me and will get back on it. if you know of a pc that will give more o/c capability and plenty pcie16 3.0 slos let me know
 
1 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16
1 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x4
2 x PCI Express x1 slots
2 x PCI slots

just noticed this on mb specs also it is not uatx. but a new case is fine as can sell old pc. however if i was to get a second card it ewill only run at 1/4 capability as x4. is there a board with picex16 3.0 with 2 or 3 slots ?.
 
stulid said:
What PSU do you have and the case?

Maybe they can be re-used, if not,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £185.99
1 x **B Grade** MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express G (GX-225-MS) £139.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x Antec TruePower Classic 550w '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £55.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Xigmatek Mach Midi-Tower Black £22.99
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £635.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Click to expand...
This spec is pretty good!
 
So you need Windows as well, plus a more powerful PSU for two cards, and, if you want Nvidia, the motherboard's going to have to be a more expensive one too for SLI. And that makes it very difficult/impossible without going second-hand.

Here's a few compromises you can make:

1. Stick to one video card. Just buy a good one each time you upgrade. The 280X is a hefty upgrade on the 640.

2. Use Windows 10 preview free till 15th April 2015 (Microsoft will remind you near the time that you need to buy it).

If you decide to do the above then Stu's spec is bang on for you, imo.

3. Or, if you really want CrossFire/SLI and to buy Windows 8 right now, then continue with your 640 for now, and get everything else in, then replace the GPU when you have more cash.
 
I just built up a gaming PC for your budget of £600.
Have a look on my thread,
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=27512632&postcount=102

In the end to keep it under budget I swapped the board for the Asus Z97 Pro Gamer.

The lad I built this for is happy as larry.

That case is pretty good for the price and it would take a big graphics card, if the 2 1/2" drive bay was taken out, its only screwed in.
But it is only £20.
 
tnx said:
I just built up a gaming PC for your budget of £600.
Have a look on my thread,
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=27512632&postcount=102

In the end to keep it under budget I swapped the board for the Asus Z97 Pro Gamer.

The lad I built this for is happy as larry.

That case is pretty good for the price and it would take a big graphics card, if the 2 1/2" drive bay was taken out, its only screwed in.
But it is only £20.
Click to expand...

Doesn't have a GPU?
 
Yep I know.

It's what I told my son when I built his and this lad. Buy some good bits as a very good foundation. It will play top notch games but on a medium setting.
While your using this machine do some extra saving up to buy a top notch GPU.

Within a couple of months my son slung in a R9 280X and can play his games on ultra.
The lad I just bulit this machine up is happy and saving to sling in a decent GPU and when he is ready to get one it will just slide in and away he goes.

I dont recon £600 would buy a top notch gaming rig and another £250 to £300 would have to be added.
£600 does buy everything else and makes for a great place to start.
 
tnx said:
I dont recon £600 would buy a top notch gaming rig and another £250 to £300 would have to be added.
£600 does buy everything else and makes for a great place to start.
Click to expand...

Well I managed to include a 280X which is a strong 1080P gaming GPU.

Samantha1968 said:
1 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16
1 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x4
2 x PCI Express x1 slots
2 x PCI slots

just noticed this on mb specs also it is not uatx. but a new case is fine as can sell old pc. however if i was to get a second card it ewill only run at 1/4 capability as x4. is there a board with picex16 3.0 with 2 or 3 slots ?.
Click to expand...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £89.99
Total : £99.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



That one does 8X/8X.

Remember you will also need a better PSU for SLI/Crossfire depending on the card/cards you pick.

That Xigmatek case for £22 takes ATX, has a fan or two fans pre fitted and for the money I think is hard to beat considering the tight budget.

The RAM is also £4 less until tomorrow.

looking at list now thank you. its important factor to get good sound and 3d capabilities from pc hdmi to 3d smart tv which isd my main monitor monitor.
Click to expand...

The 280X will pass audio via HDMI.

but nvidea are good cards i think so its a option i dont think they supportr but if thats the case i still prefer nvide but will need good graphics card or cards.
Click to expand...

There is a bgrade GTX770 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-357-MS
 
thank you all for the advise. i am prepaired and think best to get a future proof motherboard if there is such a thing now a days with constantly new versions comming out.

i can use my existing graphics card for now which even thou is only a asus gt640 1gb gddr5 it is a 2.0 so i assume putting it in a 3.0 pciex16 running at x8 would get full capability out of it. as it stands im running at x 8 as on a 1.1 pciex16 slot.

i assume that is correct.

pciex16 , pceix4 pciex2 pciex1 and pci are all different connector types but a pciex16 and a pciex16 - x8 is same size connector but only runs half bandwidth.

to must forgive me. i was a programmer and hardware engineer many years ago. pop the old memory chips out the board and 10mb hard disks. then 486 and 586. type.


my old pc which has served me well is a old lga775 and a 3.2ghz duel core running at 3.7ghz.

but i think after 4 years its had its day.

so motherboard with capability for expansion. m.2 so i can get 10gb/sec ssd for op. system.

6gb/sec sata connectors
1gb lan and not sure about the new inteligent game lans.

good built in surround sound as even thou my gt640 is capable of 7.1 surround it only sends pcm stero down 1.4a hdmi for some unknown reason. probably lg tv issue. not returning correct monitor info as sees as generic only and not windows certified.

i have a 1tb barricuda capable of 6gb/sec but only running at 3gb/sec.


so its the board that is main point and new power supply to allow for additional cards later.

ddr3 16gb if possible.
1gb lan
high grade audio with good protection so no interference.
pciex16 slots enough and spaced well for pcie 3.0 graphics cards.
m.2 10gb/sec
6gb/sec sata
also room to add additional high grade sound card if onboard is not good enough.
multi controllable cooling systems fans/ water cooler on cpu as i also need a board that i can overclock.

processor i can start at a mid grade and replace later.
as for graphics its so difficult to tell whats best as they are changing all the time. my gt640 should be 3d vision capable on 3d tv but games play in 2d. another failing.

so what would the general opinion be on best mb,psu,case,ddr3 to get to begin with that will allow for future needs and not go out of date too quickly. as its the motherboard my operating system will be tied to.

if you will all post your recommendations i can look at each and see.

i need to understand first some of the features that the new pcie/m.2 give and update myself on all features available on new chipsets.

lots of reading to do and hope i understand it all. lol

so many different Z97 boards.

Multi HDMI 3D output.
 
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I think maybe your reading too much into all the new tech.

Your GPU is not being bottlenecked by an X8 slot, most crossfire/SLI set ups end up utilising an X8, and even high end cards only lose around 1% or so. Even with 4k two or three X8 slots are fine.

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/images/perfrel_1920.gif

It's the same with 6gb sata ports, standard HDD's may have the socket spec, but do not reach that bandwidth, I think it is around 1/3rd at 170MB/s roughly, unlike an SSD with around 550MB/s.

M2, well there is little choice there and so far what has been available has shown little improvement over standard ssd.

Do you need crossfire or SLI?

Do you need 16gb? I do movie encoding, some music and photo stuff, but never see more than 8gb used.
 
Thanks for info. benn looking at budget and think about squeezing some more money out my bank. The information has ALL come in very useful and i did not realise about the cards capabilities when using in a lower version/ x8 x4 pcie. I did expect a drop in performance but a much bigger drop.

I am trying to learn as much as i can. I use to be a IT hardware and software engineer but been out the field for awhile. So looking at all this advise does help. I am going to take one last look at budget and then see about building up a PC but also one that allows good over-clocking and i can always change items later to get a better specification/cooling for O/C
 
any idea how the gtx 960 performs and its o/c capabilities ?
more for future use.

building bundle starting tomorrow hopefully and will see what the spec looks like when made final choice in a few days.

not been online due to unforeseen reasons recently otherwise would have had pc components picked.

the 280x graphics card is that not considered a low end card same as the gt640 1gb gddr5 i have ?. please.
 
just a question i see the intel chip and devils canyon the codes are the same but i see some as haswell ?

i haswell is better from reading about it , it states its a gpu and not cpu.
i know it supports ddr4 so it does mean next upgrade could still use chip , different board and ddr4. but also is ddr4 worth it.

i also assume with any new releases they develop slow speeds first so i would be better going for a higher ddr3 clock speed than a new ddr4 that is available.

please advise on my assumptions.
 
If you already have Windows 8.1 running on your Skt775 system, why do you need to buy another one?
Just install it on your new system.
 
pc is too slow and even slower now 8.1 running on it. vista was not supported on graphics drivers that i needed for 3dplay. so upgraded. it runs but too slow for my use and i need a better pc for gaming and a better graphics card.

so a upgrade is required. its a old pc and may run but its only good for general use and broswer games as too slow on other games and some games can not be played as specification is classified as too low.
 
Think Idle means the operating system, you won't need to buy a new license as you can transfer it from the old PC onto your new one.

Haswell was released as the new 1150 socket.
Devil's Canyon was the next iteration of the 1150 socket.

So both are for the Intel 1150 socket boards, with DC being the newest.
Haswell-E is part of the 2011 socket, these are the new DDR4 boards.

DDR4 is incredibly expensive at the moment as it's newer technology, for your needs DDR3 will be fine.
 
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Samantha1968 said:
the 280x graphics card is that not considered a low end card same as the gt640 1gb gddr5 i have ?. please.
Click to expand...

Samantha1968 said:
just a question i see the intel chip and devils canyon the codes are the same but i see some as haswell ?

i haswell is better from reading about it , it states its a gpu and not cpu.
i know it supports ddr4 so it does mean next upgrade could still use chip , different board and ddr4. but also is ddr4 worth it.

i also assume with any new releases they develop slow speeds first so i would be better going for a higher ddr3 clock speed than a new ddr4 that is available.

please advise on my assumptions.
Click to expand...

I think you're tripping yourself up with all the reading you're doing.

First off, 280x is no way a low end card, it's extremely capable at 1080p.

Onto your CPU queries, Devil's Canyon was just a refresh of the current Haswell generation of chips, they're all the same compatibility, the Devil's Canyon are the unlocked 'K' series of chips that allow overclocking.

DDR4 is currently only reserved for the really high end X99 based systems, it's totally out of the realm for a £600 gaming build, it's not even a consideration so don't worry about it, DDR3 is where you and the rest of us mere mortals are at and will be for quite a while yet.
 
My personal advice is don't get a 280X. Look at the amount of problems that people have with them and artefacts/crashing. They are a 7970 GHZ edition and quite frankly I don't think they are stable at those speeds.
 
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