cheap gaming build

walter22

walter22

walter22

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Joined
18 Dec 2010
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25
Hi all - im after a CHEAP gaming build. Haven't been on the overclockers scene for a VERY long time, the last time I had anything remotely to do with computers i was using an athlon xp 2800!

im after a cheap gaming computer, not something to power the newer games but the older ones like counter strike 1.6, them sorta games, but also be "decent" enough to encode DVD's and be smooth on every day use. Im NOT after something expensive. it'll be running windows XP if thats any reflection on how basic its going to be

I have the following parts lying around so dont need them:-

solid state hard drive - sata (hear these are pretty good now)
external hard drive for extra space (WD 500gb)
monitor
mouse - intelli 3.0 old - school!
mousemat
surround sound speakers
keyboard
AGP graphics card (radeon 9800 pro!!! lol)

Im unsure of the graphics card, its AGP and done the job great back then, even managed to use it with no problems on counter strike source... (low graphics obviously) but do they make boards that even support AGP now?

Im looking for the following parts, preferably budget and cheap

motherboard (something to accomodate parts, not expensive)
ram (is 2gb still acceptable?)
cpu (probably not going to overclock as i dont want to fork out on a more expensive psu/board/ram/cooler etc etc)
psu
case - i mean rockbottom budget..

possibly a gcard if its really cheap...

soundcard - again if its cheap (how much are the old xfi platnium ones nowadays???) these had incredible sound

im probably not going to overclock it, so a budget PSU (even one that comes with a case) would be considered

i appreicate ANY help, and all things will be considered :D :)
 
You cant use that graphics card with a new motherboard. AGP mobos are hard to get now and wouldn't be worth the cost. They also won't work with new cpu's unless you want to upgrade to a pentium 4 or something, which would just be a ludicrous idea anyway.

There isn't much point in a soundcard without decent speakers. While i can notice a huge difference between my sound card in my pc and my laptop when I plug my speakers in, they are also 200 quid speakers. Also on a budget just stick to mobo sound as the sound card is an extra, not a key part.

So what is your budget?

:EDIT:

Ah you beat me to it. Well thats going to be a challenge. I would suggest trying to pick up a second hand E2xxx series with a cheap motherboard and some second hand cheap ddr2 ram. Try and get 4gb if possible. It's possible you could get all this for 100 quid but I can't say i've ever looked. I think it woiuld be best to start there before you go looking for a graphics card as if you are only looking to play old games or just surf the web then it should come second.
 
oh thanks thats helpful wat is the E2? is that the intel core 2 duo processors? i have good speakers, they are surround sound ones with a subwoofer, i also have some noise cancelling earphones lying around somewhere, but can make-do with onboard sound for now.

damn!! cant say im surprised this graphics card is older than my daughter lol.

also - wat sockets go with them E2 cpu's?

thanks
 
Sorry, I should have been more informative probably. What i mean is like the E2 range, eg: E2200, E2180, E2160 etc. Aim for the E2200 as that is obv the fastest. If you could pick up one from the E6xxx range though that would be spectacular. But like I say, I havn't looked at pricing online. The E2200 used to sell for around £55 before it was decommissioned so expecting it to be cheap. But definitly look out for the likes of the E6600 etc.

As for a sound card, you can always add it in later if needed but baring in mind that when your budget is £150, your sound card would be half of it.
 
Oh and the socket type is LGA 775, which they still sell on ocuk infact. But i'd probably look to get it cheaper with your budget as thats still quite a bit outa 150 quid. I presume you arn't overclocking? The e2200 overclocks very well.

:EDIT:

Oh sorry I hadn't actually checked the c2d's in a long time. They also sell the E3 series still: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-350-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567


Pretty cheap, you may not have to go second hand after all tbh.

:EDIT2:

I shall get back to you tomorrow and try and be more helpful as I may have just done more harm then good. Trying to tidy up for a party and havn't been paying much attenchen.
 
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looks like what im after, still unsure of which ones to pick tho there are so many.

anyone feeling bored and wants to pick a intel E*** processor with a 775 mobo and some ram? :-) dont want to end up picking the wrong ones lol.

wonder if OCUK are doing any nice case/psu combos at the mo...
 
Elo again, bit hung over so my typing is terrible but I've been looking through things and you're still going to have to go second hand. Which obviously you'll have to do your self when you are ready to buy and have things in your head sorted as some of it may have to come from that auction site that we all pretend we don't know because its a competitor to ocuk ;).

Now a lot of this is going to depend on availability and who's selling what for what price. So really I can only tell you what to look for and you gona have to go for it. Its not too hard to work out though.

CPU:

Personaly I would shop around to see what prices you can get this lil baby for:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-350-IN

Its a nice lil buy this considering its price but see what you can get around for the same price possibly second hand.

Here is a list of cpu's performances but these are benchmarks so real world the difference between two cpu's may not be huge or even noticeable in a game dispite the benchmarks saying one is slightly better than the other. I mean, if you can notice 2fps difference in a game then you must be super human haha.

The cpu highlighted is the E3300, a tad slower than the E3400 that i've recomended there but not a lot in it so you can presume anything above the highlighted one may well be better than the E3400 too:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=[Dual+CPU]+Intel+Celeron+E3300+%40+2.50GHz

So if you see any good bargains on them you might wana think about picking them up but remember, if its second hand look for these things:

1) You must have a heat sink and thermal paste or pads. Buying it from a shop it would come with the stock heat sink that already has thermal pads attached to it. If its second hand it is likely you will have to buy your own thermal paste, this has to be factored into the cost difference. Unless it is stated to come with thermal paste of course.

2) Unless stated otherwise the cpu and heat sink may not have been cleaned with rubbing alcohol to remove the old thermal paste. You'd have to do this your self.

You may need to ask the seller these questions before you purchase.


Mobo:

Well this is going to be a tough one. I presume you arn't going to overclock, which is a shame because these cpu's overclock extremely well but that would mean you'd have to buy a better mobo and heat sink and can't afford that in this budget. So it comes down to what you want from your mobo.

Do you need certain features such as:

1) Number of usb ports
2) Do you require pci slots or PCIe slots? For tv cards and sound cards etc. Some tv cars use PCIE x1 and some will use PCI. I believe all sound cards will use PCI.
3) Number of sata ports - are you planning on a lot of dvd/blueray/hard drives etc.

If you don't have any particular needs you might wish to consider this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-221-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1490

Its got two PCI, one PCIe x16 and a PCIe x1. This is not a bad deal as it means you should be able to fit a sound card and tv card in happly or if you needed more usb ports you could slot in a card that gives you another 4 usb ports.

Alternatively on the second hand market you may wish to see if you can get a mobo from the P35 range. I don't really know much about the mobo's in the G31 range (the mobo I gave you a link to) as they came out long after the C2d buzz died down so they are just for cheap pc's now but the P35 range was the mobo's that we were using to overclock our C2D's. But if you arn't overclocking then really just go for the cheapest you can get your hands on which still has what you need like PCI slots etc.

RAM:

Well this is a tricky one.DDR2 isnt cheap any more. When I built my pc I got 4gb of DDR2 for 30 quid. Now it;s closer to 70 quid. You'll have to look about and see what you can get.

In this day and age really you wana get 4gb if you can but I guess you could just get 2gb now and upgrade later but bare in mind that its not recommended to mix different ram together so buy the same ram again if you can. If you can't it should still be ok anyway but I'm not going to make guarantees on that.

Look for something like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813

Its good quality and it's cheap but look around for cheaper prices on similar ram, you don't need anything high quality for what you're doing. You want 800mhz because your cpu runs at a stock of 800mhz. This keeps it nice and simple for the motherboard as it wont have to use whats called "dividers" to get your cpu running at its stock speed without overclocking the ram. I don't wana bog you down with explaining things you don't need to know but slower ram should still be ok but aim for 800mhz if it fits in the budget.

I think you will have to go second hand though to get it at a price that will keep you in budget as shops don't stock ddr2 very cheap any more.

Graphics card:

Now I gota be honest, i've been out the loop a long time and there are alota need gpu's on the scene that I just don't know how they stack up against each other. So I think it would be best for someone else to answer you on what gpu you should get but first we have to work out what budget you have for a gpu. So gota find the other parts first.

Case & psu:

Likewise with the case and psu. I think you are almost certainly going to have to get them together to keep in the budget but bare in mind the psu will likely not be of particularly good quality. This is not going to be an easy one to find at all so probably need someone elses help on it.


Hope i've pointed you in the right direction. I'd have a look around for cheaper alternatives but I reckon you may end up sticking with that cpu/mobo I plucked out as its going to be hard to find cheaper even in second hand I think. Really if i'm honest I think the £150 budget is probably too optimistic.
 
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haha you're welcome. I made a few ninja edits that you may have missed but they arn't too important.

However I would like to correct something, you will need to buy 800mhz ram. Buying slower ram will mean you'd have to overclock your ram to be able to run your cpu at the stock speed. I presumed the mobo would do this for you but on a re think, especialy with cheap mobos, it may not and thus I think it would be best to just get 800mhz ram and not take the risk of having your cpu running slower.
 
Also you don't have access to the members market yet do you? It's where ocuk members sell their stuff to other ocuk members. I think you need something like 250 posts and an aloted amount of time you've had your account for. Either way that may be a very good place to get these parts. Though it's not as safe as other aution sites you will probably get better deals from people who you can at least hope know what they are talking about. I think it is very rare to have scammers on here from what i've seen. And I believe that the "OCUK Police" managed to track down where one of them lived and pretty much threatened with legal action and it all got sorted haha. was very impressive how they found out all the things about him.
 
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