Budget build - some ideas to get me started?

Curio · 3 Aug 2011 at 20:33

Going to be building a 2nd PC soon - mainly so me and the missus can play co-op games again (we used to have 2 PC's up until a couple of years ago..) and especially Diablo3, when it comes out. I will need everything - including OS. I've lost track of all the latest kit and best deals, so some pointers would be great. I want to do this as cheap as possible....the absolute minimum I can get away with

Monitor: Widescreen, but smaller size due to limited space.

Graphics: I don't need everything maxed and 100fps. Native res and medium settings at playable fps is all I need.

Audio: I'll probably go for a Xonar DG as I have one in the main system and I love it - I listen to a lot of music on good headphones, so on-board doesn't cut it.

Hard Drive: Doesn't need to be big or super fast - I don't keep videos or huge files, and don't keep many games installed. Thinking WD Blue?

Those are my only prerequisites....spec away, good people!

EDIT: Small case that I can stick out of the way and isn't obtrusive would also be good!

stulid · 3 Aug 2011 at 20:40

You would want to list a budget, but looking at your location? it will be cheaper than uk.

Curio · 3 Aug 2011 at 20:59

Let's say no more than 700 quid, I guess.

stulid · 3 Aug 2011 at 21:26

Bit busy at the mo, perhaps someone else will sort you out.

ToejaM · 3 Aug 2011 at 21:51

With the board I'm using the onboard sound seems peachy, no problems/conflictions as of yet with all the games I play so you could prob skip the card if you wanted

Greavesy · 3 Aug 2011 at 21:54

Are you actually in America or are you ordeing from this site?

Curio · 4 Aug 2011 at 02:37

Yeah, I'm in the US. I'm not too concerned with prices (other than as cheap as poss) - I'm more looking for what kit is a great bang/buck right now....something to get me started. For example, I've used Celerons/Durons in the past and they were fine for me....are the latest Celerons OK or totally cack?

How about: what's the cheapest PC I could build that would play 1600x900, medium game detail settings, 50-60 fps? That's my rough goal I guess. I'm not a power user, and would use the main PC for anything too demanding. This is going to be a 2nd PC that just has to be "playable" with medium levels of eye-candy.

SheepBeast · 4 Aug 2011 at 03:24

sorry dont have time for a full spec, but a good start point would be (approx prices here in uk, cheaper for you):

CPU: i3 2100 £90
Mobo: not sure about chipsets. £90ish anyway
RAM: 4GB £30
OS: Windows 7 £80
Case: Zalman Z9 £45
PSU: not sure. roughly £40
HDD: samsung spinopint f3 1TB £40
GPU: budget of £85
Keyboard: budget of £20
Mouse: budget of £20
Monitor: budget of £130
DVD drive £15

= £685

not sure how much that sound card you're after costs but you could probably shave a little off the graphics card and monitor to give you enough for it. besides, stuff's cheaper for you so it's probably within budget already

i know that's only a rough spec i gave you but i cant really do much more given you're not ordering off this site. the i3 2100, the samsung spinpoint, and the 4GB RAM are all things i would defnitely recommend as fantastic buys within your price point, and the budgets i set for each item are about the right proportions. maybe look up suitable parts on newegg and check out reviews for them? that's how i usually go about sussing out what stuff's any good.

olivier renault · 4 Aug 2011 at 08:12

Curio said:
Yeah, I'm in the US. I'm not too concerned with prices (other than as cheap as poss) - I'm more looking for what kit is a great bang/buck right now....something to get me started. For example, I've used Celerons/Durons in the past and they were fine for me....are the latest Celerons OK or totally cack?

How about: what's the cheapest PC I could build that would play 1600x900, medium game detail settings, 50-60 fps? That's my rough goal I guess. I'm not a power user, and would use the main PC for anything too demanding. This is going to be a 2nd PC that just has to be "playable" with medium levels of eye-candy.

here are two budget PCs. relatively similarm specced in another thread. These are all inclusive.

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £110.39
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.98
1 x OcUK V-Line 221V2SB 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £99.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £44.99
1 x MSI H61M-P23 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £43.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £37.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA1339) £19.99
1 x Gigabyte M6900 3200DPI Gaming Mouse & "Ghost" Mouse Pad Bundle £19.26
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
1 x Logitech K200 Media Keyboard (920-002733) £12.98
Total : £623.64 (includes shipping : £14.75).

Something along those lines.

THread is here, but try not to hijack. I would recommend the GTX 460 if you can afford, and a decent PSU to power it. X4 + MX 518 is a great combo. All in all, you're looking at £650.Whatever that is in $$$.

Clav · 4 Aug 2011 at 08:13

Tomshardware do some good articles about budget builds, as well as listing good budget cpu's and gpu's for gaming.