Budget gaming PC for ~£500?

sonorous

sonorous

sonorous

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14 Nov 2006
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Sorry, yet another "what spec for X pounds?" thread, but I've been out of touch with PC gaming for a couple of years and as a result am a bit lost as to what to go for. I don't need any peripherals such as screen, keyboard, mouse, speakers etc.

I'd be mainly interested in running not bang up-to-date games, like HL2, Doom 3, GTA: San Andreas, Need For Speed: Carbon, etc.

My budget is maximum £500, better if I could do it for a little less. I was going to go for an ATI Radeon X1950 Pro PCI-E, but am wondering whether a 7600 GT might fit the bill? Though the difference in price might not be worth it. Also, would 1GB DDR2 RAM suffice?

Here's the spec I've conjured up so far:

  • Abit AB9 motherboard
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 processor (retail)
  • 1GB GeIL PC6400 DDR2-RAM (CL4)
  • Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB ST3808110AS SATA-II 8MB Cache (OEM)
  • Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB PCI-E (retail)

The above comes to a total of £492.21 inc VAT and shipping - however, I'm missing a case and PSU combo :(

Any suggestions how I could further make savings, yet be able to play the aforementioned games with good levels of details/smooth gameplay?

Cheers,
-sonorous
 
Depending on what resolution you are gaming at a 7600GT is a wise choice. I have one and I play every game on Max quality no probs (UT2004, Quake4, Hitman Blood Money, Doom3) but I am gaming at 1024x768. Sub £100 GFX cards might be a good idea as dx10 cards are around the corner and you could possibly upgrade at a later date. Are you going to be oc'ing your system? if so i don't know how well that board clocks....you could perhaps go for the GeiL RAM as that is a good choice and a popular one. As for the case there are a few options that you could choose, I have a Sonata II as you can see from my sig and I love it although that silly air duct that comes with it is hopeless :rolleyes: Apart from that you could go for an Asus case as they have a few decent sub £30 cases, which you could then couple with a PSU for about £50-£60...

Kiz
 
Kiz, thanks for the reply..

I'll be also gaming most likely at 1024x768 - as I've had such a long break from PC gaming, that resolution will most likely suit me down to the ground with reasonable detail levels etc.

If I were to overclock, I'd most likely only do so with regards the processor; I understand the Core 2 Duos are very overclockable, though I understand I'd need to have something other than the retail heatsink/fan combo, so maybe I'll just get the OEM version of the processor and get an uprated fan straight away in preparation for overclocking.

I was thinking in terms of futureproofing that the X1950 Pro might be a wise choice, but in hindsight (from reading other posts) it seems that it's based on an earlier card, just using a less power-hungry core. I might, as a result, consider that card instead of the 1950 Pro.

This will be a Christmas present, so I'll have to see what my parents say with regards going slightly over that 500 quid mark ;)

Cheers,
-sonorous
 
nice one mate good luck with that build. If you do go for an aftermarket cooler for your CPU then I would say freezer 7 Pro as this is a great cooler and very popular :) If you are only gaming at 1024x768 then perhaps get a 7600GT as this card works great (I have one :D) at that resolution and wont hinder your performance, an x1950 pro will probably be better suited if going to higher resolutions, in saying that though if you can afford to have it in the budget then go for it :)

Kiz
 
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