Cheapest possible system - Best possible performance

jidoujoe · 18 Dec 2012 at 14:48

Apologies if this thread has been started 9000 times already, but I need the info regardless and I'm sure that you lovely people will be able to help.

What I'd like to know is how much I'll need to spend in order to get the best possible machine for the lowest possible price. This is quite ambiguous, so let me elaborate - I want to spend as little as possible for the best possible parts, but still play 'today's' games with some degree of quality and be as 'future-proof' as possible.

Your help is most welcome and greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

dt97583 · 18 Dec 2012 at 15:40

A few questions for you...

Is it purely a machine for gaming? Any CAD / photoshop work? What type of games would you want to play? Self build or pre-built? If self built what parts could you reuse? Do you have a monitor, keyboard, mouse or OS? What's your budget?

Something Else · 18 Dec 2012 at 16:09

power/cost/reliability

choose 2

altrewin · 18 Dec 2012 at 16:27

Well it really depends on a few things. Primarily what you would class as "Future Proof"
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £167.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD250BW) £159.98
1 x Seasonic X-Series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £124.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (OEM) £74.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x NZXT Tempest 410 Midi Tower - Black £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £23.99
Total : £1,175.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

________________
Would be what I'd class as "Future Proof"
80' Plus Gold PSU with enough power for CF/SLI, mobo has Thunderbolt for when devices that use the interface become the norm. Oh and a Blu-ray drive for the same reason.
7950 has enough power to play pretty much any current game maxed out, could probably do next years too

Changes: Could add an i7, could downgrade GPU to 7850 if you want to spend less.

jidoujoe · 18 Dec 2012 at 17:20

Thanks for the responses all.

- This machine is purely for gaming.
- I'd like to be able to play *any* game I throw at it
- Self build, but assume that I don't have an existing rig.
- Exclude Monitor/KB&M from build
- No budget per se, I just want to know where I'm pitching.

One other thing I forgot to mention is that I'd like to run the OS from an SSD.

jidoujoe · 18 Dec 2012 at 17:21

**** but the *absolute cheapest* I would have to spend to meet these requirements with an average level of graphical quality.

jidoujoe · 18 Dec 2012 at 17:23

altrewin said:
Well it really depends on a few things. Primarily what you would class as "Future Proof"
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £167.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD250BW) £159.98
1 x Seasonic X-Series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £124.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (OEM) £74.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x NZXT Tempest 410 Midi Tower - Black £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £23.99
Total : £1,175.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

________________
Would be what I'd class as "Future Proof"
80' Plus Gold PSU with enough power for CF/SLI, mobo has Thunderbolt for when devices that use the interface become the norm. Oh and a Blu-ray drive for the same reason.
7950 has enough power to play pretty much any current game maxed out, could probably do next years too
Changes: Could add an i7, could downgrade GPU to 7850 if you want to spend less.

This looks great!

What else could you strip out of this/downgrade to make is an acceptable build? - (games don't need to run maxed out)

dt97583 · 18 Dec 2012 at 17:35

jidoujoe said:
This looks great!

What else could you strip out of this/downgrade to make is an acceptable build? - (games don't need to run maxed out)

It'd help if we knew what sort of price range was acceptable.

Uncle Petey · 18 Dec 2012 at 17:47

This is about the lowest I'd go, although an i5 would be preferable.
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3 & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £56.99
1 x Xigmatek Midgard II Gaming Tower Case - Black £51.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £23.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £655.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Need an OS?

jidoujoe · 18 Dec 2012 at 17:54

Uncle Petey said:
This is about the lowest I'd go, although an i5 would be preferable.
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3 & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £78.98
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £56.99
1 x Xigmatek Midgard II Gaming Tower Case - Black £51.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £23.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £655.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Need an OS?

Brilliant!

Actually, I do need an OS - Thanks for reminding me!