£650-700 Budget Gaming PC.

ludakot · 25 Jul 2012 at 05:33

Hello all, I'm looking to upgrade my PC mainly for Guild Wars 2, although I'll want it run all the latest games on high at 1080p preferably (BF3, Skyrim etc).

Must be overclockable so I can get more bang for my buck! That also means I'll need an upgraded CPU cooler I guess.

Any ideas? Cheers.

olivier renault · 25 Jul 2012 at 10:46

7850, 3570K, the usual deal.

olivier renault · 25 Jul 2012 at 10:50

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £78.98
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 320Gb SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKX) £59.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £39.95
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £700.96 (includes shipping : £11.75).

ludakot · 25 Jul 2012 at 14:42

olivier renault said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz & Dirt Showdown PC Games £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £78.98
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 320Gb SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKX) £59.99
1 x GeIL Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £39.95
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £700.96 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Thanks for the spec, looks good!

I forgot to mention that I have this from my last build:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-034-CS

Do you think that would be sufficient to run it taking into consideration I will probably overclock everything slightly, mainly the CPU?

Indy500 · 25 Jul 2012 at 15:44

The CX500 should be fine. That spec doesn't seem likely to exceed 300W full load.

olivier renault · 25 Jul 2012 at 15:57

As long as the card doesn't require two PCIE connectors.

Then that leaves more room for stuff, for example a SSD, better case, retail CPU (retail fan + three years warranty), 1TB drive... Upgrading GPU will mean upgrading the PSU, so not reqalistic with that budget.

Indy500 · 25 Jul 2012 at 16:02

olivier renault said:
As long as the card doesn't require two PCIE connectors.

The CX500 has two PCI-E connectors.

olivier renault · 25 Jul 2012 at 16:18

hmm.. thought it had only one, the 600W version has two.

Indy500 · 25 Jul 2012 at 16:19

olivier renault said:
hmm.. thought it had only one, the 600W version has two.

The Corsair spec says it has two 6+2pin PCI-E connectors, and I also have one in front of me with the same cabling.

ludakot · 26 Jul 2012 at 00:18

Cheers guys, will go ahead and buy soon! Glad I can save a few quid on the psu as I only bought this one a few months ago so it should run for a long time.

*EDIT*

Sorry but I have to ask about this one last thing, I can't decide between this card and the one I was linked earlier.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-157-MS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-100-GI (one linked earlier)

The adjustable voltage seems nice, is there any real difference between the two?

*EDIT*

Seems they both have variable voltage, I guess they're pretty much identical?

olivier renault · 26 Jul 2012 at 08:24

Gigabyte - Quieter (?).
MSI - More overclock (?).

I like both. Three designs I consider. MSI Twin Frozr, Gigabyte WindForce, Asus DirectCU. Gigabyte and MSI (AFAIK) have UK RMA.