Gaming pc build for 500, possible?

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j0n

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I haven't bought an entirely new pc for about 6 years now, been surviving with various hand me downs selotaped (literally, its whats stopping my mobo shorting out) together. My current pc will only boot if its on its side and it runs any new games pretty badly, I tried the cell factor demo and It gave me an epileptic fit. Is it possible to build a new pc (everything except peripherals and monitor) that will run new games and stuff so that I get decent fps and they also look nice? I played through all of f.e.a.r with it looking like hl1.
My budget would be around 500/600 quid, I am really not up to date with hardware at all and have no allegiances to either intel or amd. So basically I guess this is a 500 quid spec thread?! Another! :)
 
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-175-AM)
£65.95 £65.95
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£54.95 £54.95
CD-020-AS Asus DRW-1608P3S 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-020-AS)
£24.50 £24.50
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£13.95 £13.95
MY-005-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
£64.95 £64.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£126.95 £126.95
HD-050-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB ST3160812AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-050-SE)
£39.95 £39.95
CA-004-AS Asus TA-210 Series Midi Tower (Black) - 360W PSU (CA-004-AS)
£32.00 £32.00
CA-003-ZA Zalman ZM460-APS 460W ATX2.03 PSU (CA-003-ZA)
£54.95 £54.95
Subtotal £478.15
VAT £83.68
Total £561.83

Got a 2.4ghz AMD64 with 1mb cache so it'll be really fast even before you start overclocking, and at £80, its an absolute steel. Then youve got the newest ATi video card at only £160 which again is a cracking price (considing they were £300+ when released i think) A decent and reliable motherboard suited to overclocking and renowned for their reliability. However, i would be very tempted to get 2GB of Geil RAM instead of 1GB as itll last you a lot longer. A 160GB SATA hard drive which should be enough for now, and a good DVD-RW to back up data etc. Case is obviously personal choice but i like the simplistic black look. The CPU fan is also recommended for price and its quietness, as is the zalman 460W PSU.
 
Just had a look at the reduced AM2's on here and they seem pretty good value? I forgot to mention I already have a psu, Hiper 580w, will that be good enough for a new build, I got it hoping it would be future proof. I agree about the 2gb of ram, looks like ill probably have to push it to 600 quid :E.
Thanks for the advice!
 
OzZie said:
CA-004-AS Asus TA-210 Series Midi Tower (Black) - 360W PSU (CA-004-AS)
£32.00 £32.00
Click to expand...

I would avoid that case if u can. I used that on a build last year. It looks cheap and ugly. The plastic front panel is very flimsy and the stealth drives are horrible. The pictures make it look far better than it is.

Try the akasa zen at 32ish quid including vat. Seems good value for money http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17603140&page=1&pp=30
 
You'd be crazy not to go C2D if planning not to upgrade for awhile again (see here why)...
  • Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN) £112.95
  • Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-003-AK) £53.95
  • G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR) (MY-014-GS) £106.95
  • Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) £126.95
  • NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) £19.95
  • Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR) £14.95
  • Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN) £29.95
  • Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA) £42.50
  • Subtotal £508.15
  • VAT £88.93
  • Total £597.08
If not that, AM2 :D
 
Last edited:
Thanks Hp, that sounds good. I would like not to upgrade for as long as possible! Currently running a p4 2.4 533fsb and 768 of 2100 ddr , shudder.
Im hoping that whatever I get it will significantly rinse my current pc in pretty much everything and that it will boot while standing up, I dont ask for much...
 
Any more opinions on the mobo?
Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard.
Seems pretty cheap hp, is it worth a shout?
 
CPU
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
Price: £112.95 (£132.72 Including VAT at 17.5%)


MOBO
Intel DP965LT 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-011-IN)
Price: £74.95 (£88.07 Including VAT at 17.5%)


MEMORY
Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC4200 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT533D2) (MY-096-CS)
Price: £108.95 (£128.02 Including VAT at 17.5%)



CASE
X-Blade Gaming Midi Tower Case - Black (No PSU) (CA-13-OK)
Price: £28.95 (£34.02 Including VAT at 17.5%)


GRAPHICS CARD
Asus ATI Radeon EAX-X1600 XT SILExtreme NT/TVD 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-090-AS)
Price: £89.95 (£105.69 Including VAT at 17.5%)


HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB ST3160812AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-050-SE)
Price: £39.95 (£46.94 Including VAT at 17.5%)


CPU COOLER
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
Price: £14.95 (£17.57 Including VAT at 17.5%)


CD-DRIVE
Samsung SH-C522C CD-ROM (Beige) - OEM (CD-071-SA)
Price: £8.15 (£9.58 Including VAT at 17.5%)


DVD-RW DRIVE
Asus DRW-1608P3S 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-020-AS)
Price: £24.50 (£28.79 Including VAT at 17.5%)



CASE FANS
AcoustiFan C-Series Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-008-AF)
Price: £7.95 (£9.34 Including VAT at 17.5%) X2


Total=£610.08 (a little over budget but i did include 2 case fans :D )

total price includes 2 case fans

This is my first conroe spec so i hope everything is ok. I said 2 fans because you have one blowing hot air out of the case and the other sucking cold air in. I havnt included a psu because i think you said you already have one.
 
Just gone into the mobo forum to check out motherboards and I have now remembered why I havent bought a pc for 6 years. How on earth do you pick what to get?! Theres thousands of contrasting views and always something better on the horizon, 965?! 975?! Im lost :/ But I do like hp7909's spec :)
 
j0n said:
But I do like hp7909's spec :)
Click to expand...
His spec would be very good for some time. A better motherboard, perhaps when Conroe motherboards mature a bit, would make it a very long-lived machine indeed. That Asrock board doesn't allow for voltage controls so it is not up to the task of extreme overclocking but you should be able to get that E6300 into FX-60 territory regardless. :)
 
I could up the budget a bit to get a mobo if its worth it for longevity. Or is it a case that there are no tried and tested conroe boards around yet?
 
j0n said:
I could up the budget a bit to get a mobo if its worth it for longevity. Or is it a case that there are no tried and tested conroe boards around yet?
Click to expand...
Mostly they've been compatibility issues with RAM, etc :(

If you can stretch the budget, then definitely go for Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-062-GI) £104.95 BUT with Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-092-CS) £124.95 :cool:
 
Think I can manage the extra 60 quid for that mobo. Is it considerably better? Im guessing it overclocks better or something? :) Just had a quick read and it seems there will be some better conroe boards out by september, should I hang around till then?
 
j0n said:
Think I can manage the extra 60 quid for that mobo. Is it considerably better? Im guessing it overclocks better or something? :) Just had a quick read and it seems there will be some better conroe boards out by September, should I hang around till then?
Click to expand...
Hang around if you want. the Asrock board isn't that bad. What I meant before is that you could get the cheap Asrock board now then upgrade it later when better boards are available, Gigabyte has sorted out their memory compatibility issues, the nVidia chipset is available, and the market is generally more established. The Asrock will do fine for now and if you want to go faster in the future you can upgrade.

If you don't want to upgrade in a few months step up for a DS3 or a DS4. :)
 
I dont think im much of an extreme overclocker, I guess ive never bothered before because my pc was too crap for it to matter :)
Id rather spend the money on a good board now then upgrade in a couple of months I think. Is the DS3/DS4 as good as the boards that will be coming out soon or is it just the better of a so/so bunch. I also have no idea how good this build will actually be as I'm so out of the loop, do you have any idea what kind of games it will be able to handle and how well it will handle them :D ?
 
j0n said:
Any more opinions on the mobo?
Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard.
Seems pretty cheap hp, is it worth a shout?
Click to expand...

Got this and it works great for me, i'm not bothered about overclocking cpu for now though. One problem I did have was that I couldn't get the sata drivers to work on until i installed windows (no sata driver floppy included and function on cd rom to make one didnt work either).

Apart from that I would have no problem with it.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. So far the spec is looking like this (much the same as hp's spec :) )

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM
£112.95

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£104.95

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£126.95

Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA)
£42.50

NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-037-NE)
£19.95

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£14.95

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-092-CS)
£124.95

Akasa AK-ZEN-01-WH Zen White Case (CA-021-AK)
£27.95

Subtotal £575.15
VAT £100.66
Total £675.81

Its crept up a bit due to the ds4 mobo, is it worth it for the extra 60 odd quid? Especially as I may not overclock ( would I be stupid not to overclock?)
Thanks!
 
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