£600 budget gaming pc

Byron5184

Byron5184

Byron5184

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Joined
10 Nov 2003
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Nottingham, UK
I want to replace my old pc with something with a bit more grunt without breaking my bank. I thought I'd ask on here for opinions rather than running to the store and clicking buy buy buy. I have £600 to spend on the tower and will be playing games like Guild Wars 2. I already have a Wireless N USB Adapter and the other peripherals. I also use an external HDD for most of my data so a very large hard drive isn't neccessary.

Help would be very appreciated.
 
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It is an Athlon II X2 4400 2.4Ghz
4gb ddr2 667mhz
Corsair TX650w psu (I know it's overkill but was bought cheap for planned upgrades that didn't happen)
160gb hdd
GTX 275 896mb

It failed on me this morning but I was planning to upgrade it in a few months anyway.
 
 
Sorry for the slow reply. But thank you for the responses. Today i tested my power supply and it is still working fine after the pc failure, so i will be reusing it as well as the hard drive for the short term. So the suggestion by LukieBoy looks extremely delicious for a new build. The only question i have is is it worth getting a new DVD ReWriter, as mine might be about 5 years old now from, but it's been rarely used. Is there any difference between ones sold now and those sold 5 years ago? As I could drop it off the list to save me some cash.

I have also been thinking about my current case, the Antec SLK3000, replaced by the Sonata IV. Would that case provide sufficient cooling for the more powerful build as it has less positions for fans? It's served me well and only has scuff marks on it. I don't know if it would fit the above cards either. It 'just' fits my GTX 275 with about 5mm to spare. How much bigger are the newer ATi cards?

I'm thinking if i can get everything on LukieBoy's list except the case and writer and save 100 pounds in the process that'd be great. Unless people feel the upgrade is necessary.
 
The DVD re-writer depends on whether it's SATA or not.

The 7850 (I have one myself, the MSI is pretty the same size as the sapphire) is a fairly small card in comparison to others.
 
I just checked and my dvd drive isn't SATA so it'll need replacing. also compared the size of the 7850 to the 275 and the 7850 is a 'tiny' little thing in comparison :) I'd feel like i'd break the wee little fella haha.

Thanks for the help. I'll be ordering sometime over the weekend. :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x PowerColor HD 7850 PCS+ Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Extreme4 M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £96.98
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Silver Arrow £69.98
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £39.95
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £596.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).



650W is enough to Xfire a 7850 so I've used a SLI/Xfire capable mobo. Different case to consider, still has sound proofing. The GPU is quieter than the MSI version and is overclocked higher out of the box too :D
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x PowerColor HD 7850 PCS+ Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
1 x Intel 330 Series 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £53.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £590.93 (includes shipping : £10.00).



reuse your case, hdd, and psu
ssd for bootdrive + 1/2 games
heatsink included in spec so you can oc right off the bat
 
Thanks for the other suggestions honosuseri and tamzzy. Forgot to update this thread to say that i purchased the items that Lukie listed the following day when the retail i5 (I'm not an overclocking type of person) dropped in price except the case. So i only spent £503 in total for a much better pc than I had. It should all arrive either tomorrow or Tuesday. I found a new unused 250GB drive that I will be adding to the pc as well and using as my games drive.

Thanks everyone. I'll be off my tablet for all my pc activities and ready for Guild Wars 2 in no time.
 
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Very good build for the money. Goes to show what can be done with reusing old parts. It makes me sad when i see people buying new cases for no reason. Just make sure the hdd is sata. Have fun!
 
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