Advice on a new build

jaxlad · 5 Jun 2015 at 08:10

Hay folks was wondering if you could help I want to build a pc that will play steam games on my tv so want to avoid towers as it will sit under the TV. Want to be able to play games at a decent setting. Would like to aim below £500 that's not set in stone.
Thanks in advance for your help guys

ExRayTed · 5 Jun 2015 at 09:41

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x MSI Z97I AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £89.99
1 x Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £55.99
1 x Antec ISK 600 Small Form Factor ITX Chassis £49.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £46.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £41.99
1 x Antec VP450P 450W 85% Efficient Continuous Power Supply £38.99
Total : £503.53 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

The 280X beats the GTX 960 in games by approximately 10%-20%. If power consumption is a concern then get the GTX960.

PSU fits fine. No optical drive but no-one uses them anymore anyway right?

CPU is the weak link as it's only dual core. Still fine for today's games at reasonable settings but if you could stretch the budget a bit then an i3 or cheap i5 would be the way to go.

jaxlad · 5 Jun 2015 at 10:29

I could in theory go to £750 if it ment getting a good system that will last a few years

jaxlad · 5 Jun 2015 at 10:57

Alien ware do a steam machine for £750 but I'm sure we should be able to build some thing better ��

ExRayTed · 5 Jun 2015 at 11:43

Get rid of the competitor link - not allowed here.

Do you need Windows as that adds a chunk to the budget?

Alienware is generally considered to be over-priced piles of awful tat - bought for the name by people who don't really know any better.

This is a modification to the build above with a better PSU, better CPU and SSD. If you wanted to get the 'K' series i5 for future overclocking it will add another £35 'ish to the price

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £154.99
1 x MSI Z97I AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £89.99
1 x Crucial BX100 250GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT250BX100SSD1) £71.99
1 x EVGA Supernova GS 550W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £71.95
1 x Antec ISK 600 Small Form Factor ITX Chassis £49.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £46.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £41.99
Total : £707.48 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).