£350 gaming PC

[DaleTheWhale]

Personally I would get this, very very good board and at a fantastic price as well!

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
Total : £69.90 (includes shipping : £8.25).



And source a second hand 1155 chip, which shouldn't be too hard.

And yes that board would be better than the MSI.

 

[LukieBoy007]

Hmm I'd probably prefer a 1150 socket, in terms of upgrading. Am I right in saying that the next gen of CPU's will be on the 1150 socket? For example, Sandybridge and Ivybridge were both 1155, will it be the same for Haswell and the next one? Or does no one know?

 

[LukieBoy007]

Or I could go the Piledriver route:
YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x **B Grade** MSI HD 7850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £89.99
1 x **B Grade** MSI 970A-G46 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 (MB-214-MS) £45
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £43.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - White £39.95
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £30
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Single Module (GD34GB1600C11SC) £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £10.98
Total : £394.87 (includes shipping : FREE).



However, I have no idea about AM3 motherboards

 

[DaleTheWhale]

What is the absolute max you can go to? - £400 the absolute maximum?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £94.99
1 x **B Grade** MSI HD 7850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3, Nexuiz & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £89.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £47.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £30
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Single Module (GD34GB1600C11SC) £29.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter (TL-WN727N) £5.95
1 x Kingston DataTraveler 101 Generation 2 8GB USB2.0 Flash Drive (DT101G2/8GB) £4.99
Total : £408.84 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I think this would be a better route - USB to install windows instead of a disk drive nobody uses!

 

[LukieBoy007]

Already got a USB so that'd save money, but yeah I doubt an optical drive would be necessary thinking about it.

 

[dt97583]

Not sure I'd pick any OCZ parts if they're maybe near to going out of business and hence RMA would not be an option...

 

[LukieBoy007]

Argh the 7850 is no longer in stock.
I could go with an i3 and 7770 instead?
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-4130 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £95.99
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £79.99
1 x **B Grade** Asus HD 7770 GHz TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £43.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - White £39.95
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £30
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Single Module (GD34GB1600C11SC) £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £10.98
Total : £405.86 (includes shipping : FREE).



And cheers for the heads up about OCZ, I didn't know that and it's worrying seeing I've got a OCZ SSD

 

[LukieBoy007]

Would it be better going with the i3 and 7770 then? Seeing as the 7850 is now gone

 

[stulid]

A FX6300 or greater and a 970 chipset will be faster than the i3, especially in BF4


YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
Total : £161.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Start with that and build something up around it.

 

[tamzzy]

why not get some 2nd hand parts? you'll get more milage outta ur 400 quid

 

[LukieBoy007]

Thanks, I was considering a Piledriver build but I had no idea where to look for motherboards. I'm assuming that board is good enough to overclock that CPU in the future?

EDIT: I've seen a B-grade 650ti for £90. Worth it? It's a shame I missed out on the 7850 for £80
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-298-MS

 

[stulid]

The boards good for say 4GHz.

 

[LukieBoy007]

Yeah that'd be fine, don't want to do any major overclocking with it.

 

[LukieBoy007]

Any thoughts on the 650ti for £90 or should I go for the 7770 for £30 less?
Or, even cheaper, a 6850 for £50.

 

[stulid]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-309-MS&groupid=595&catid=683

I think that is quicker than all the ones you have listed, its basically a GTX570.

 

[LukieBoy007]

The cooler on it looks a bit naff though, but it is considered.

 

[stulid]

Looks naff but I'm sure its got the heels on the 650ti/7770, has a touch more Vram too which will also help.

Just spotted the GTX560ti in the BF4 graph above the other two - http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/htt...s-Test_GPU-Action-Battlefield_4-test-1920.jpg - but the "448" version is faster again, should almost be with the GTX570

 

[LukieBoy007]

Very interesting, thanks for that.
What I might do is purchase all the other parts now and wait for a good deal on a graphics card, perhaps a 7850 again. I won't wait longer than a month though as this PC will be a Christmas present.

 

[stulid]

Must be something in the MM, also with a card such as a GTX570 or what ever else you may find you should get a stronger PSU 500W+

 

[stulid]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18555609
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18555433
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18555920