Gaming pc - £400

CarlD · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:31

My friend has asked me to spec him a gaming rig for £400

I couldn't really spec a £400 machine

So im asking you guys to help me

The most demanding game he will be playing is counter strike source.

ps. dont need monitor , keyboard or mouse .Just the tower

Thanks

marc2003 · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:15

here you go....

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX)
£39.99 (£46.99)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
£25.99 (£30.54)
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU
£59.99 (£70.49)
Leadtek GeForce 7600 GT 256MB SILENT Heatpipe GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£89.99 (£105.74)
DFI LanParty UT RDX200CF-DR Crossfire (Socket 939) Motherboard
£34.99 (£41.11)
OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit
64.99 (£76.36)
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£16.99 (£19.96)
Sub Total : £332.93
Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £60.00
Total : £402.88

or take a looky on the members market. more bang for your buck to be found there.

thefishdude · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:25

i went a lil over

and built a up to date conroe system.mmmm
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
(£124.54)
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£19.96)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
(£30.54)
OcUK 1GB (2x512MB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
(£75.19)
Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£58.74)
Sapphire X1650 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£93.99)
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU
(£70.49)
Sub Total : £402.93
Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £72.25
Total : £485.13

or witha less power am2 cpu

Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£19.96)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
(£30.54)
OcUK 1GB (2x512MB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
(£75.19)
Sapphire X1650 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£93.99)
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU
(£70.49)
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
(£74.01)
MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£52.86)
Sub Total : £354.93
Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £63.85
Total : £428.73

£400 is a very tough budget for a gaming rig. i also know that games based on steam and the source engine like a good cpu.

CarlD · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:30

Would that be a big performance increase from a..

Intel celeron 1.6ghz
512mb ram
fx5200 gfx

^ That's his current spec ;P

(on about the 3000+ athlon system

, i no the conroe will be a massive performance increase)

marc2003 · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:34

the difference will be huge even at stock speeds. and if you clock that a64 it will be even more. i'm sure they clock well even with the stock cooler. and you need not worry about the fact it's value ram, just use a divider to keep the ram at it's rated speed.

CarlD · 4 Jan 2007 at 06:09

Ah ok

thanks for help guys

sean · 4 Jan 2007 at 10:07

How about using a barebones to free up a little cash? A friend's using one of the ASUS socket 939 barebones for his gaming rig and it's practically inaudible!

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (£74.01)
OcUK 1GB (2x512MB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (£75.19)
Asus Vintage V2-AH2 Barebones System - AMD Socket AM2 (£85.76)
Asus DRW-1608P3S 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (£19.96)
Gainward BLISS GeForce 7900 GS "Golden Sample" SILENT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (£116.31)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (£30.54)

Sub Total : £341.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with: City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
Shipping : £8.95
Vat : £61.41
Total : £412.30

steve258 · 4 Jan 2007 at 10:41

thefishdude said:
i went a lil over and built a up to date conroe system.mmmm
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
(£124.54)
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£19.96)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
(£30.54)
OcUK 1GB (2x512MB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
(£75.19)
Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£58.74)
Sapphire X1650 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£93.99)
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU
(£70.49)
Sub Total : £402.93
Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £72.25
Total : £485.13

I'll go for this one but swap the 1650XT with a 7900GS which is just a few £ more then you have a pretty decent rig there. Tell your friend to save another £100.

Jezza101 · 4 Jan 2007 at 11:53

Those kinda specs will be just fine for 'current' games. HL2 ran 'ok' on my 2500+ and ran great on my 3700, with a last gen gfx card. You gotta remember that the Steam engine is geting old now and the big guns are ready to be rolled out in 2007, eg UE3 based games.

The prob will be when it comes to the new releases this year with big titles like Supreme Commander and UT2k7 demanding high specs. That said, Im sure lower spec machines will be able to run these games - just aslong as you turn off the eye candy!