Decent gaming PC for around £450 - possible?

[AmDaMan]

Hi, i'm juggling the idea getting a normal PC instead of a Dell Vostro laptop.

The laptop will have an 8600GT and a 1.8C2D.. It will be useful when I just want to move downstairs etc, but I don't think it has a port replicator option

So i've been toying with the idea of a desktop again. I will be playing games like Company of Heroes and some eye candy would be nice (as i'm currently on a T42p with an ATI9600)

I'm not really clued up on all the modern hardware though, so not sure what's compatible with what? When I was last building a PC AMD were ahead of the game but this looks to have changed...

I'll have around £450 and don't need a monitor yet, so is this possible?

Cheers.

 

[benjo]

It can indeed be done

I'm sure someone could improve on this though! Not 100% the cooler will fit. The NB heatsink is rather large.

edit: Somebody already improved it! Although my spec still has 50 squids spare.

 

[jak731]

if its the tower only

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core 2 Duo E2200 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44)
Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3250410AS) £33.99
(£39.94) £33.99
(£39.94)
OcUK Huntkey 550W PSU £34.99
(£41.11) £34.99
(£41.11)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU £22.99
(£27.01) £22.99
(£27.01)
Sub Total : £376.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £68.23
Total : £458.09

may require some minor/major OCing depending on what you feel like

 

[AmDaMan]

Would I need a 64bit O/S?

Is the Abit board good for overclocking?

I have a 400w PSU already but would that be sufficient?

Cheers for the help

 

[ShaoliN.uK]

used benjo's spec as a template. A tad over your budget but i think its worth it. ie: much better cpu, great motherboard, 500gb full speed harddrive and lifetime warranty with BFG graphics card.

Youd really be flying.

You dont necessarily need a 64bit OS but if you want to upgrade your ram to 4gb and squeeze every bit of speed you can then maybe yeh.

400w psu should be just on the limit of ok but what make is it?

hope this gives you some ideas

 

[PhoenixUK]

If you want to OC I think the 2160/2180 are going a bit better.
My e2200 wont go over 3.2ghz without heavy volts and I think you can get the same on e2160/80.

I would get this :

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB22GB6400C4DC) £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
Sub Total : £150.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £27.86
Total : £187.07

Also if you just going to play on 1280x1024 only you can save yourself extra 20-40quid on GPU and get something from the 80-100 range.
400w PSU will be more than fine as long as it's something decent and no one of the chinese nonames.

You should be able to get this to 2.8 - 3.2 rock stable OC with Tuniq keeping it cool at lowest speed which will be TOTALLY silent.