Cheap AMD based System

enigma27

enigma27

enigma27

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Hi All.

Trying to price together a cheap gaming machine for the wife for average gaming but also a system I can use to take to LAN parties I attend once or twice a year.

came up with the following..

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £464.63
(includes shipping: £11.70)
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This about as cheap as I am going to get without going down the APU Route which i don't think will be much kop for gaming.
 
 
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I'd take the 860k over the g4400 if you don't plan on upgrading and are willing to overclock.

However, I would not recommend an AIO cooler. They're heavy and a waste of money for a lightweight CPU such as this. Use the stock fan or buy a low profile air cooler.

I'd also second the R9 380, you may wish to go with the 4GB version if your budget permits however.
 
good, but you missed out a power supply.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £498.06
(includes shipping: £17.22)
​

i went a bit different, case is obviously preference, however is smaller than the carbide, but the 8 core processor should be pretty much better and if you going to stick to only an ssd you need at least 240gb otherwise be a waste and as for the graphics card you would be better going used as while the 370 might be good enough depending on what your wife plays, you still want the best you can get for your money and would do better used.
 
 
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What nkata's suggested is pretty good and you would have upgrade options in the future. Not OCable, but very capable and you could always get a different CPU in the future. It's also current technology, not something that's been around since 2011/12.

If you do go down the FX 8-core route, I would not use the Asus M5A78L-M LE. It has no VRM cooling and the FX 8-core chips are known to hammer the VRMs. OCUK don't have any others in stock/available, so you may need to look around.
 
Thanks guys.. I have a spare corsair 600w PSU so did not need one. and i chose the air 240 as I have a 20 quid voucher which brings that down to 59 quid.

I will take a look at some of those suggestions.
 
Also OP you said "average gaming" but could you be more specific? What games she plays and at what screen res would help. Also if she demands all the graphical bells and whistles or not.
 
joeyjojo said:
Also OP you said "average gaming" but could you be more specific? What games she plays and at what screen res would help. Also if she demands all the graphical bells and whistles or not.
Click to expand...

Mostly she plays CS:GO so for her it should be more than adequate.

When i take it Lan gaming I may want to play some of the latest titles but would turn down most of the demanding effects. Res would be 1080p but on a 21:9 monitor as its my spare so 2560x1080p

Just came up with this minus PSU which i have and Cooler which I am undecided on and dependent on space.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £414.16
(includes shipping: £12.30)
​
 
No need for aftermarket cooler. Not even for noise. Even a Haswell i3 is so low heat that you can run the cooler fan very slow, and Skylake i3 runs even cooler.
 
just posting to remind myself

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £428.13
(includes shipping: £12.30)
​
 
enigma27 said:
just posting to remind myself

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £428.13
(includes shipping: £12.30)
​
Click to expand...

The board is micro-ATX and the case is mini-ITX.

Can also comment on the fan set-up but first we need to know if you're going for that mini-ITX or the micro-ATX Prodigy.
 
going Mini..

had things saved in basket that got mixed up.. thats what happens when your trying to rush out of work

for cooling was thinking 1 x 230mm in the front as intake and 2 x 120mm in the roof and 1 x 120mm in the back all as exhausts

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £437.17
(includes shipping: £12.30)
​
 
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The 230mm fan for the front is a good choice. The provided molex for it is 7v, which is actually best as 12v on that fan is a bit loud.

But the front doesn't have much intake at all unfortunately, so whatever cool air you manage to get in you want as much of it as possible to flow across your components. If you use 2 x 120mm at the top that won't happen, because the top fan nearest to the front in particular will be sucking the air out before it reaches any components. So imo preferable to use only one at the top, nearer the rear. And it may turn out that no top fans at all would be even better for component cooling. This is what I discovered when doing a mini-ITX Phenom build (very similar).

Those Shadow Wings seem to bring a 7v molex too, according to the pictures if not the specifications on the Be Quiet website. So that would be better than 12v at 1500 RPM constantly. Alternatively use a splitter to make use of the one extra fan header on that motherboard, so you can fine tune the speed.
 
Thanks Danny.

I see you can get a replacement mesh front for that case.. for 12 quid i think i may invest to provide better air flow
 
Lets put the brakes on here - GS:GO is the target game spec for a cheap rig - your original CPU selection is by far the best choice if you are wanting a mid range discrete GPU to go with it. For this game, the CPU is not a huge factor - the GPU is going to largely determine how well it runs.
 
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