Flopsy wants a gaming PC for £500

Flopsy

Flopsy

Flopsy

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Joined
30 Dec 2013
Posts
205
Location
Leicestershire
Seriously considering buying a gaming rig. As this will be my first one and being a long time Mac user I'll need pointing in the right direction as I havent taken much notice of the PC scene for a while.

Looking to play Battlefield 4 mostly along with stuff like Steam for the kids. Wont be using it for much else as we have more tablets than a pharmacy for browsing the web etc.

Just looking for a base unit as already have an ok-ish monitor and peripherals are pretty easy to research.

Pre-built or self build is fine as Ive repaired plenty of computers before but mostly Macs so I know my way around the thermal paste and screwdriver side of things.

Thanks
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

For that sort of budget, you are probably looking at a Trinity build.
So, it`s safe to assume that you don`t have any hdd`s or such that can be reused?
 
I stand corrected, got this but it is slightly over budget. I would also recommend an after market cooler, when you can afford one.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 270 "BF4 Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £139.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £79.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 550W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £47.99
Total : £511.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).



This would do, if you can stretch your budget.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £17.99
Total : £23.96 (includes shipping : £4.98).

 
Idleman said:
Hello and welcome to the forum.

For that sort of budget, you are probably looking at a Trinity build.
So, it`s safe to assume that you don`t have any hdd`s or such that can be reused?
Click to expand...

Nope, need everything from the power lead up unless I find one in the loft somewhere.

Whats a Trinity build?
 
Flopsy said:
Nope, need everything from the power lead up unless I find one in the loft somewhere.

Whats a Trinity build?
Click to expand...

The Trinity is an AMD Cpu with build in graphics. But the build I have specced is far superior in gaming terms. The 270x comes with BF4, which is a nice bonus, if you don`t already have it.
 
Idleman said:
The Trinity is an AMD Cpu with build in graphics. But the build I have specced is far superior in gaming terms. The 270x comes with BF4, which is a nice bonus, if you don`t already have it.
Click to expand...

No I dont, stuck with the XBox version at the mo.

Whats the lifespan of a system like this before it needs anything close to an overhaul/major upgrade?
 
 
Flopsy said:
No I dont, stuck with the XBox version at the mo.

Whats the lifespan of a system like this before it needs anything close to an overhaul/major upgrade?
Click to expand...

It all depends if your uses change and you require it to do other more intensive work, other than gaming. With the mobo I specced, it is possible to upgrade the Cpu to an 8320 or above. Any computer will last you a good few years, it just comes down to what demands you put on the system and if it can meet these demands. If not, then you can upgrade the parts you feel no longer meet your requirements, like the Gpu, for instance.
 
Idleman said:
It all depends if your uses change and you require it to do other more intensive work, other than gaming. With the mobo I specced, it is possible to upgrade the Cpu to an 8320 or above. Any computer will last you a good few years, it just comes down to what demands you put on the system and if it can meet these demands. If not, then you can upgrade the parts you feel no longer meet your requirements, like the Gpu, for instance.
Click to expand...

OK thanks. Its primarily going to be for gaming so as long as its got a few years use with options to upgrade it should be fine.
 
You can always add an ssd for faster boot and loading speeds, when funds permit.
Any way, good luck with the new build and have fun.

And a Happy New Year to you. :)
 
Flopsy said:
No I dont, stuck with the XBox version at the mo.

Whats the lifespan of a system like this before it needs anything close to an overhaul/major upgrade?
Click to expand...

At this budget the simple answer is not long. In terms of basic office tasks it will easily last a good 5 years if not considerably longer without changing anything. But in terms of playing the latest games realistically I think this will be struggling in 18 months depending on the quality settings. Looking at reviews it looks like the 270 can manage bf4 at 1080p at almost 60fps on high settings, but by the time newer games come out in a year or so your going to be dropping to lower settings to maintain a high frame rate. Assuming you don't mind playing on med-low settings you should get a good 2.5 years out of it at a guess, but if you want to keep playing on high settings I think you will need a Gpu upgrade within 18 months.
 
BinnsY said:
At this budget the simple answer is not long. In terms of basic office tasks it will easily last a good 5 years if not considerably longer without changing anything. But in terms of playing the latest games realistically I think this will be struggling in 18 months depending on the quality settings. Looking at reviews it looks like the 270 can manage bf4 at 1080p at almost 60fps on high settings, but by the time newer games come out in a year or so your going to be dropping to lower settings to maintain a high frame rate. Assuming you don't mind playing on med-low settings you should get a good 2.5 years out of it at a guess, but if you want to keep playing on high settings I think you will need a Gpu upgrade within 18 months.
Click to expand...

never had a gaming PC so playing on different settings isnt something I have experience of.
What budget would you suggest to stretch that out to 2 possibly 3 years?

Also interested in pre-built just to weigh the option up
 
I would stick with what you have, as upgrading in the future will be cheaper, as long as you have a decent system to start with. A second hand 8320 and/or a 280/290 would most likely be a good upgrade. It`s also impossible to tell what you will need to play the latest games in 2-3 years. And with Mantle on the horizon, who Knows.
 
A pre-built is only going to cost more than building yourself. To stretch it out for 3 years I'd suggest spening closer to £800 (I personally think thats a bit of a sweet spot for gaming PC's). Something like the below would be considerably more powerful and should let you run on med-high settings for 3 years. If this really is pushing the budget too far you could remove the SSD bringing it down to closer to £730, but that would be a real shame as the SSD would make a huge difference to the overall speed of the machine. I've still kept a budget PSU / case so that all the extra money is going purely on the improved components. I did add a couple of extra cheap fans to act as front intakes, I think with this much going on inside that case just a single 120mm exhaust wouldnt really be enough. I'd mount those two 120s inside the front panel.

This link should give you an idea of how much more powerful the 280x is over the 270x (and the previous posting was only a 270 which is a little slower than a 270x)
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1043?vs=1041

This link will show you the difference between the AMD 6300 and the Intel 4670k. In most comparisons the intel chip is almost 50% quicker than the AMD.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/699?vs=837

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £229.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £95.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £65.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 550W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
2 x Arctic F12 PWM Case Fan - 120mm £4.39 (£8.78)
Total : £801.79 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
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Idleman's build above is a good compromise between his origional one and my more expensive one to be fair. For gaming the 4670k is a better prcessor than the 8320, but given thats really the only difference and theres £100 between them the AMD build above is probably the better buy.

I would still reccomend spending the £9 on those two Arctic F12 fans for front intakes if you do go for either of these two more expensive builds though.
 
hey, you've already been given some specs i agree with, so i'll skip ahead and parrot what has already been mentioned, £500 is a bit on the low side for a gaming PC, and will struggle to play on medium settings after a year or two, but £800 with a better cpu/gpu will push it out to around 3 years on high and then medium settings.

as someone mentioned, it's possible to buy a rig with a cheaper GPU now and then simply upgrade it in a year or two if cash flow is an issue, but with a lower end AMD CPU id be cautious of CPU bottlenecks at that point
 
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Tohrazer said:
hey, you've already been given some specs i agree with, so i'll skip ahead and parrot what has already been mentioned, £500 is a bit on the low side for a gaming PC, and will struggle to play on medium settings after a year or two, but £800 with a better cpu/gpu will push it out to around 3 years on high and then medium settings.

as someone mentioned, it's possible to buy a rig with a cheaper GPU now and then simply upgrade it in a year or two if cash flow is an issue
Click to expand...

probably go that route for now, car insurance is due end of January (ouch)
 
 
Ive been mulling over the build and at the same time realised a few things.

1. To justify buying another computer Im going to have to sell my lovely little Acer Revo L70 which sits behind the TV as my HTPC running XBMC etc so the new system will have to replace that.

2. That means having the rig in the lounge and running it through the TV (Panny plasma 42")

Are there any issues with using the TV as the monitor?

Also as its in the lounge it means having the keyboard and mouse there as well. Would I be able to use an XBox controller instead and would there be any drawbacks?
 
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