£400(ish) Console Killer Spec Advise

achu

achu

achu

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Hope you guys can help.
Looking to build a ITX console killer for gaming as my first build.
I made a post that was originally about graphics cards but the topic deviated so here I am.

Budget: £400 (flexible-ish)
Don't need any peripherals.

Case: Thermaltake Core V1 (the only thing I've decided on) £35

GPU: AMD R9 380 (4GB) or GTX 780 (3GB) £180
Flexible on this based on what CPU I can afford with the budget. Could buy 2GB 380 etc.


CPU: No idea.
This is my biggest confusion. Haswell to keep price down but..
Should I be going for and i3 or an i5 to avoid bottlenecking GPU? People seem divided.
Interesting thread here on the topic: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/124080-gtx-780-with-core-i3/

If I went for an i5 4460 (£120) I'm already at £335 in my budget, with CPU, GPU and case. This dosn't leave much for, mobo, ram, hdd and PSU.
Or should I go super cheap and go AMD?


Motherboard: I might be wrong, but as im not OCing I dont need a z97 board??
So a H97 will do? Would prefer one with good on board audio.

PSU: Any, hoping the case can fit full size PSU as I would prefer semi or fully modular. But I realise these are more expensive, so may be a future upgrade.
RAM: Any. dual channel 8GB
HDD: 1TB

Cheers guys!
 
 
I would worry about the Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 with the 780 but as I not used one not sure about it and not really sure how good it will be with games, you could upgrade later to a i5 but to me that is a waste of £55, better to go for a quad core now it will cost you 100 more.

Do you need Thermal Paste or sata cables ?.
 
I'm currently on my phone so I can't post basket alternatives until I'm in work tomorrow. Pretty much most games, skyrim, dragon age inquisition, current gen things to some degree.
I mainly use headphones so would like a mobo with passable onboard audio.
Yeah I don't understand the hype around the g3258 especially as I'm not ocing. I would consider an i3 if needed for budget constraints.
This is my first build so I need literally everything. I'm not sure what comes with the individual components, cables, plugs etc.
 
imo you will need 4GB minimum for VRAM to keep up in the future, 2GB is serviceable now at 1080p but one thing the consoles got right was that large pool of unified memory,

we are seeing console games with textures at the same level as pc "high setting" already so i reckon having less then 4GB will probably make pc games in the future have low/medium textures settings to keep up with the pooled memory in the consoles. 4GB will probably be safe for high and ultra for 1080p

of course DX12 could really help AMD cpu's in the future so you could look into this and see what people are predicting
 
queamin said:
I would worry about the Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 with the 780 but as I not used one not sure about it and not really sure how good it will be with games, you could upgrade later to a i5 but to me that is a waste of £55, better to go for a quad core now it will cost you 100 more.
Click to expand...

I disagree, I think you should do this OP. Get a G3258 now, overclock it to 4.0-4.5 GHz and have a go. You'll probably find it's fine (you haven't told us what games you're into) and can upgrade later on, and only lose £20 or so on the Pentium since it's so cheap to begin with.
 
 
You are not going to build a "Console-killer" for £400 (especially if you aren't overclocking). If that is 100% your aim, then you need a more realistic budget of £500-£600.


Something like the below would do (meets your requirements for Modular PSU, ITX board for your preferred case, 1TB storage drive - as well as 250GB SSD, I5 Processor and 4Gb 380). Just add your case (R9 380 and the below modular PSU will fit your case)

Tgfq5ZA.png




And ignore the V300 SSD suggestions - they are terrible - stump up £10 more for a Crucial or Samsung SSD.
 
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Thanks for your suggestions guys. I've put together my own little basket, so you can see my thoughts based on your suggestions. I also forgot to mention Im buying through business so -Vat on components except GPU as im buying that elsewhere i think.
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 380 Gaming 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £121.00
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (WD10EZEX) £34.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £30.79
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £24.99
Total : £390.77



Obviously this is excluding the case (£30) and a motherboard (£45??). So with these im looking at £465 which is maybe a bit above what I was hoping for.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how i could maybe get this basket down slightly? Scrimp on any of the current components?
Obviously my biggest cost at the moment is the CPU and GPU. So any suggestions you have are welcome. I could definitely save on CPU by going AMD, but I've never owned an AMD processor and dont know how much i trust them vs Intel for gaming.
 
Drop down to a I3-4170 for £87.49 ex vat

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-572-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

Difference between a 3.7Ghz I3 (2 cores 4 Threads), and a 3.2Ghz I5 (4 Cores, turbo to 3.4Ghz) isn't going to be that much in most games (and older games will prefer the higher clock speed)



Honestly though you would be better spending a few quid more and not have to compromise (e.g. that PSU is fairly terrible - not even 80+ Bronze, and no SSD is terrible in this day and age).

A 300 quid PS4 will still be playing games at 1080P in full detail in 3 years time - if you are not careful, your compromised "console killer" won't (e.g. compromise on VRAM and you won't, compromise and cut back your processor i.e. cores and you won't).



I assume you have a legal copy of Windows to install as well, if not then you need to include that in your budget
 
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I assume you have a legal copy of Windows to install as well, if not then you need to include that in your budget
Click to expand...
Yes I have windows.
A 300 quid PS4 will still be playing games at 1080P in full detail in 3 years time - if you are not careful, your compromised "console killer" won't (e.g. compromise on VRAM and you won't, compromise and cut back your processor i.e. cores and you won't).
Click to expand...
This is a fair and I accept your point. But on a limited budget something has to be compromised.

I can get the R8 380 for £140 so I'm down to £425 with an i5. Meaning i wouldnt have to compromise on CPU, or VRAM which seems better than dropping to an i3?

Can you suggest a better PSU? I know little about them.
 
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