Gaming on a low budget.

Citadel

Citadel

Citadel

Associate
Joined
13 Aug 2011
Posts
24
Location
Brighton, United Kingdom
Hi there folks!


Been stuck with the same (however reliable) pc for perhaps too long now. I would like to be able to do something more, but of course have little knowledge on what actually is best in price, part by part.

As for purpose. I do like to play games, and I would like to confidently broaden my aspirations towards some of the more setup demanding titles.


Here's the relic -which I may add has served me very well-

Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Akasa EVO 120 Heatpipe Copper Heatsink (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) OEM

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 XT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU Blue

2 x GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)

Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache OEM
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache OEM

Liteon DVD-8900 16x DVD±RW/RAM (Black) OEM
Akasa Rounded Floppy Cable (0.45m) Black
Sony Floppy Drive

Belinea 2225S1W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming case


Changing, swapping or simply replacing everything, I'm open to ideas, with the only problem being budget - which is around £500.

I included the monitor and housing I have, however those are parts that can likely be kept out of the budget (assuming the case can be used along with the given motherboard/graphics card options currently available). But in all honesty, if I can downscale the size of the PC case -that would be amazing (and if so may slightly stretch the budget for).

Not sure if it's practical to ask, but will add that I do like my two HHD setup and would like to replicate that in respects towards a good SSD setup -if possible
I do like some sort of eye candy, a light strip or something (kiddish I know- but it would be sooo pretty!!)

I am planning to assemble the thing myself, however if any suggestion needs a cable or adapter - please assume I am unaware of those things so if required include them in any suggestions.

I realise the budget is quite low, and some of my ideas may simply not fit within a low budget (and yes I am very jelly of the water cooled colour-matching semi-skynet systems some of you guys own and enjoy!). So help a poorer gamer out and sprinkle some knowledge this way please *warm smile*.
 
 
Citadel said:
Hi, thanks for asking. Windows 7 64bit.. Not afraid to try 8 if there's a performance boost/requirement.
Click to expand...

Thanks. No, wouldn't say the slight boost is worth buying 8 when you already have 7. And Micky's is a good spec for the budget, imo.

If you decide to keep your case, you can grab a 256GB SSD for £80 or so. If your DVD drive is SATA, then it should work with the new build too, and you can save a bit there too.
 
why do you all keep adding a cd/dvd as once you do the fist instal do you ever use it again i only instlall from a usb stick quicker , do keep a usb dvd drive for the few times i need to burn a disk for the old people
 
Yeah, go with Mickeyflinn's spec as a starter. A well-rounded build.

If you think you might want to overclock your CPU in future, get the Gigabyte 970a-UD3P motherboard instead - the DS3P will offer limited overclocking. You would also need an after-market CPU cooler.

There's no reason you can't re-use your old case, to save a little, unless you prefer something new.

Use your old Seagate HDD as secondary storage (with the SSD Mickeyflinn specced as main boot drive)
 
Overclocking has always sounded interesting to me, just been too afraid to look further into it, saying that these days most forums talk as though it's as simple as re-arranging a living room.

970A-UD3P AMD 970 over 970A-DS3P AMD 970A?

(wondering where I'd look for an "after-market" cooler to look at likely prices)

As for Micky's list, most of it is in a basket already ! I was just watching the thread a small bit longer, in case some one else had a nugget of advice to contribute.

Will reuse my case too, seeing as it's not THAT bad (yet) and Danny75 did point out the benefit of doing so.
 
Okay, so left this thread for long enough for opinions/ideas. Now looking over the basket, I'm left with a PSU question I think. Basket put together largely with the helpful posts from Mickyflinn's setup and cheesyboy's tip for the motherboard.

Made a choice about the drives, as my sturdy 7200rpm HDD is almost seven years old now, to get two new ones which I hope are good choices. It was also advised I look at "after-market" coolers and hope the option I looked at is a good one for fit as well as quality and price.

What I'm about to purchase -

Gigabyte 970A-UD3P AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail
Powercolor Radeon R9 270X "PowerBank" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01)

Storage choices -

Intel 520 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD

My best idea on what an aftermarket cooler pick was, which led to the idea of hopefully improving the fan setup on my old case -

Prolimatech Samuel 17 CPU Cooler
Three Fan Bundle - Akasa AK-FN058 Apache Black Super Silent 120mm Fan - 4 Pin PWM

Which leaves the PSU and a question. If I plan to include my 16x DVD R+W drive, include my old HDD drive (for however long it has left to live) and at a later date add on a BlueRay drive. Is 550w enough ? The USB3 ports will be put into regular use as well.
Current option is a NZXT Hale Power 90+ 550W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply but for a little more I was looking at SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black so would be hoping to get an opinion on this as I'm not sure I can work out how many watts the final setup is likely to require.

Strangely, the basket with the NZXT Hale Power PSU has shipping at £11.75 where as with the Superflower Golden Green the shipping is slightly lower at £8. Not sure what that's all about!

With the storage choices as well as the cooler/fan additions, the basket hits over my budget at £615 (Inc VAT at £102.50 and shipping at £11.75) So will likely be looking at money or the finance option to spread the cost over a couple of months time. Thanks all who have helped and those who have read my wall of text!
 
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