Gaming PC (£500 budget)

Smoggie · 18 Jul 2011 at 18:20

Hey guys

I'm looking into buying a gaming PC. At the moment I have a budget of £500 (Not including buying the OS, Monitor, Keyboard & Mouse etc.)

Anyway I've been quoted £499 for this setup:

AMD Phenom II 3.2ghz
SLI Motherboard
4gb DDR3 Ram
1TB Hard Drive
1GB GTX460 Graphics Card
DVD Writer

The make & model of the above are

The Motherboard was an ASUS M4N75TD
AMD Phenom CPU
Kingston Memory
Seagate Hard Drive
Lite On DVD Writer
Palit GTX460 1gb Graphics Card

Anyway what I would like too ask is if I was to build the computer myself and was wondering with £500 how much better could it be if I made it myself?

Thanks in advance,

EDIT: Forgot to mention it's a quad core processor

Murray · 18 Jul 2011 at 18:22

how much cores does the CPU have?

Smoggie · 18 Jul 2011 at 18:28

The one I was offered is a quad-core,

Reaper 392 · 18 Jul 2011 at 18:39

are these pre built, or the parts on their own?

you also havent said what make/model the PSU is, which is probably the most important part of the PC

Murray · 18 Jul 2011 at 18:42

You got offered something like this :

Plus there isn't a power supply there or case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 PCI-Express ATX Motherboard £89.98
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £31.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £399.32 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Here is what I would spec you :

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £134.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
1 x Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** *LOWEST UK PRICE* £72.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £35.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £485.51 (includes shipping : £10.50).

5850 v 460 :
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/313?vs=295

i3 v Phenom II X4

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=289

Smoggie · 18 Jul 2011 at 18:57

Murray said:
You got offered something like this :

Plus there isn't a power supply there or case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 PCI-Express ATX Motherboard £89.98
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £31.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £399.32 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Here is what I would spec you :

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £134.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £91.99
1 x Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** *LOWEST UK PRICE* £72.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £44.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £35.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £485.51 (includes shipping : £10.50).

5850 v 460 :
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/313?vs=295

i3 v Phenom II X4

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=289

Would the i3 have any problems running games that are heavier on the CPU or would that not be a problem?

Murray · 18 Jul 2011 at 19:00

It is better than the Phenom II X4 but it won't be as good as the i5 which is the best gaming CPU at the moment until Bulldozer most likely but it is a good CPU.

Jony27 · 18 Jul 2011 at 19:03

why spec a p67 board, a H61/67 will do the jobbie

Murray · 18 Jul 2011 at 19:10

Jony27 said:
why spec a p67 board, a H61/67 will do the jobbie

so he can upgrade to a i5 or i7 easier and possible ivy bridge plus if he does it will be easier to overclock.

Smoggie · 19 Jul 2011 at 00:17

Reaper 392 said:
are these pre built, or the parts on their own?

you also havent said what make/model the PSU is, which is probably the most important part of the PC

I haven't been given the make or model of the PSU, shall find out for you if I can.

Murray said:
It is better than the Phenom II X4 but it won't be as good as the i5 which is the best gaming CPU at the moment until Bulldozer most likely but it is a good CPU.

Would it be worth paying the extra money for an i5?

DJ_Martin · 19 Jul 2011 at 00:27

Smoggie said:
Would it be worth paying the extra money for an i5?

This is probably up there with the top 10 most asked questions here. If you can afford an i5 while not significantly hurting the rest of your spec then it is definitely worth it being the best CPU you could get assuming you don't make use of hyperthreading technology of the i7. Also having just bought a phenom x4 and looking at some benchmarks.

Phenom < i3 < i5

Murray · 19 Jul 2011 at 00:39

i5 would definitely be worth getting!

Smoggie · 19 Jul 2011 at 01:20

DJmartin said:
This is probably up there with the top 10 most asked questions here. If you can afford an i5 while not significantly hurting the rest of your spec then it is definitely worth it being the best CPU you could get assuming you don't make use of hyperthreading technology of the i7. Also having just bought a phenom x4 and looking at some benchmarks.

Phenom < i3 < i5

Murray said:
i5 would definitely be worth getting!

Thanks, will definately look into getting an i5

Red Porsche · 19 Jul 2011 at 01:31

Don't forget the i3 as specced above cannot be overclocked while the i5 2500k can be, you'd probably get 4.4+ easily with a half decent cooler! (maybe 4.8).

I appreciate that you have a defined budget but it really is worth looking at getting the i5.

And maybe look at getting a 560 over the 460 if you are gaming at res over 1680! It might be worth the extra tenner for the 560 anyway just to last you that bit longer!

IMO unless you are gaming at over 1920 or need super processing power then an i5 2500k and a GTX560 is the best bang for buck combination at the moment for most people who game regularly

If you cant stretch to around £600 for a decent i5 2500k and GTX560 system then you could either get an i3 2100 and GTX460 instead and save £110. That would still be adequate for gaming at 1680!

hybrid572 · 19 Jul 2011 at 07:14

Where are you getting the £10 from? As I see it, the GTX560 (non-Ti) is a good £30 more expensive than the 460.

If your budget is a strict £500, then Murray's i3 2100 w/ 5850 spec above is the best, but if you can push up to an i5 2500K for an extra £64, it's a huge power boost for the money.

Red Porsche · 19 Jul 2011 at 11:49

I think i was meaning the 5850 for some reason when i was talking about price oops! Well the 560 can be had for 144 and the 460 for 100 just to clear things up.

danewesley · 19 Jul 2011 at 12:25

am i missing something here or?

Edit:i dont mean did i miss something off the build, i know there isnt a dvd drive, install win7 off a usb using win2flash.

olivier renault · 19 Jul 2011 at 13:25

You need a better PSU than the Elite 500W imo.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £155.99
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £119.99
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** *LOWEST UK PRICE* £72.98
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £47.99
Xigmatek Midgard Midi Tower Case - White £29.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £29.99
Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £23.98
Antec Kuhler Flow High Performance CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £16.99
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
Total : £511.99

Smoggie · 20 Jul 2011 at 08:34

Alright so the situation now is I have £760 for the lot.

Meaning the computer itself, a monitor, an OS, and a keyboard and mouse, I'll be buying the parts in a couple of weeks if it makes any difference.

Thanks in advance

olivier renault · 20 Jul 2011 at 11:23

It will yes. The deals will be different. All we can provide is a sort of example, so better start again when you are ready.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
MSI GeForce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £131.99
Asrock Z68 PRO3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £105.98
OcUK V-Line 221V2SB 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £83.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £47.99
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £37.99
Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £29.99
Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £29.98
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £25.99
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
Total : £770.77

Note that you can also build a 2400 + H67 and leave a lot more room for the graphics card. Maybe a 560ti / 6950 2GB. And there is room for saving money on the gaming peripherals. And that the 460 GTX OC is at £113 right now. It's a decent card for a £500 budget build, but you should have a little more room for something better.