Building worlds cheapest gaming rig

CorrodedTemplar

CorrodedTemplar

CorrodedTemplar

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27 May 2012
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125
Hi folks, want some advice and ideas.

My challenge? Make a gaming pc for my technologically inept and cash strapped idiot housemate.

The budget? As cheap as physically possible, he's a moron.

What I already have:

A bunch of old Midi towers, an antec 400w psu (non modular) and some old parts; PATA hdd's and dvd drives etc.

What we need? Er, everything else. Got a pentium 4 and some celerons lying about but afaik they're as much use for modern gaming as a jack russell terrier with a monitor wired up to its anus.

What I have managed to find across the interwebs so far;

CPU: Intel core 2 quad q8200 (@2.33ghz)

MOBO: ASROCK G31M-GS R2.0

RAM: 4gb DDR2

GPU: Something similar to the following;
Geforce 8800gt
Radeon 4670 1gb
anything else i can pick up new/second hand for around £50 or less.

Now.. if my calculations are correct (which they probably aren't) this should be able to run modern games like TERA or BF3 on medium graphics without lagging like a mofo.

All help and advice appreciated. Second hand parts definately considered as long as they have been tested and not ragged.
 
CorrodedTemplar said:
As cheap as physically possible, he's a moron.
Click to expand...

Frankly and truly, moron definition lays somewhere else, he is simply poor :D

Get P41/G41, preferably from Gigabyte. They should be cheap too, and a bit more (vi)able for overclocking which is a must with Q8200.

You probably will be able to get Q8400 in similar price which motherboard would allow to run at ~3 GHz = for your housemate it would be brilliant then.

You need some aftermarket cooler, as most CPUs as sold as OEMs (with no cooler) and decent paste, if cooler bought second hand. Look for some ArcticCooling coolers, they should be cheap used, if available of course (Ebay). And ZalmanSTG-2 3.5g paste, or ArtcicSilver 5.

Don't buy 8800GT for 50 quids, if you are able to get GTX 460 within this price (Ebay, for example). Get 1GB model, and not SE or V2 version.
 
biuro74 said:
Frankly and truly, moron definition lays somewhere else, he is simply poor :D

Get P41/G41, preferably from Gigabyte. They should be cheap too, and a bit more (vi)able for overclocking which is a must with Q8200.

You probably will be able to get Q8400 in similar price which motherboard would allow to run at ~3 GHz = for your housemate it would be brilliant then.

You need some aftermarket cooler, as most CPUs as sold as OEMs (with no cooler) and decent paste, if cooler bought second hand. Look for some ArcticCooling coolers, they should be cheap used, if available of course (Ebay). And ZalmanSTG-2 3.5g paste, or ArtcicSilver 5.

Don't buy 8800GT for 50 quids, if you are able to get GTX 460 within this price (Ebay, for example). Get 1GB model, and not SE or V2 version.
Click to expand...

He earns in a week what I earn in a month, he's not poor, he's a moron. He just has no cash management and no idea how to save any money but wants things NOW.
That could be the aspergers though. I'm mean to him in a jokey friendly way though.

So you reckon get the q8400, or get the 8200 and OC it to a reasonable ghz?

I've got some good thermal compound, but I will likely have to buy an aftermarket cooler.

Thanks for the GPU suggestion, i'll do some ebaying now and see what I can find.
 
B Grade are generally parts that were returned to because people didn't want them etc. Some are pretty much brand new, others might have a little scrape or something on them or they might be bad overclockers. Either way, you're covered by OCUK for 90 days if something isn't satisfactory :D
 
altrewin said:
B Grade are generally parts that were returned to because people didn't want them etc. Some are pretty much brand new, others might have a little scrape or something on them or they might be bad overclockers. Either way, you're covered by OCUK for 90 days if something isn't satisfactory :D
Click to expand...

wow that sounds awesome. Yeah i'd totally buy into that, that card would suit him for a couple of years to come for a mere £60.
 
Can anyone tell me why the AMD A-Series A4 5300 3.4ghz dual core scores lower on the gaming cpu heirarchy charts than the 2.33ghz core2 quad???

edit, its an APU, thats why. NVM, NEXT
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A2000C9) £53.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45.00
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £281.92 (includes shipping : FREE).



The IGP isn't bad at all on Trinity. BF4 will be bundled with the new AMD GPUs in Oct. Might make sense to upgrade to a dedicated GPU then and gives him time to save some cash for it.

If I was looking for a 2nd hand bargain GPU that would have to be a Nvidia 1GB 460. I still own one and that will certainly still do me till much later in the year :)
 
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