Gaming PC for £400?

SouthEastBlue

SouthEastBlue

SouthEastBlue

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My brother is after building an up to date PC for gaming, budget is roughly £400, although he would be happy to buy a second hand GPU to cut costs.

Ideally would like to include an i5 CPU, 120GB SSD, 8GB ram. He will play pretty much all games but wants it to perform good on World of Warcraft mostly so AMD CPU isn't an option.

Budget is a little flexible but close to £400 as possible. No need for OS, monitor or hard drive (only SSD).

Thanks in advance! :)
 
Can he re-use his old case?

Also, why not an AMD CPU for WoW? Genuine question, I don't play it.
 
WOW performs better on Intel and it's less power hungry than FX range. He wants to play other graphics intensive games aswell which would require a GPU.

Looks like I could grab a R9 270X for about £80 - 90 off members market.

Also is it possible to do a limited overclock on the cheaper i5 non 'K' haswell CPU's with a multiplier boost?

Edit: He has no old parts to use so need case, PSU, CPU, motherboard, SSD.
 
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Given how much an i5 rinses your GPU budget, it seems unwise to force one in to such a budget build; one built to play all games.

I've never played WoW, or any game if its type, so I don't know about real world performance, but the AMD FX pliedriver CPUs perform perfectly adequately in Tom's Hardware's benchmark;
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/fx-8350-vishera-review,review-32550-16.html
 
(GTX 750 is placeholder for the second-hand 270X)

i3 @ 3.7GHz:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-4360 3.70GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £113.99
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 750 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £79.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G1600HC9DC01) £55.99
1 x Asus H81M-PLUS Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £40.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Neos ATX Tower Black/Gold Window £33.95
Total : £438.49 (includes shipping : £8.00).




i5 @ 3.1-3.3GHz:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel Core i5 DIY Micro ATX Motherboard Upgrade Kit £209.98
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 750 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £79.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Power Supply (100-W1-0500-KR) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Neos ATX Tower Black/Gold Window £33.95
Total : £437.50 (includes shipping : £8.00).




Hard to say which would be better for WoW. WoW typically runs not more than two cores, apparently. The i5 has more L-cache but just how much will that be of benefit in this case? If any decent amount of multi-tasking will be done while playing, then the i5 would be better, imo. Otherwise, I might be tempted to get the i3, after doing more homework on it and reading more opinions.

Years ago, I had a dual core processor @ 2.66GHz that was snappier than a quad core @ 2.33 GHz, for some games/tasks. Not sure if that would still be true today.
 
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SouthEastBlue said:
WOW performs better on Intel and it's less power hungry than FX range. He wants to play other graphics intensive games aswell which would require a GPU.

Looks like I could grab a R9 270X for about £80 - 90 off members market.

Also is it possible to do a limited overclock on the cheaper i5 non 'K' haswell CPU's with a multiplier boost?

Edit: He has no old parts to use so need case, PSU, CPU, motherboard, SSD.
Click to expand...

you could get an 7970 for £120 on the bay right now(not mine)

£400 for an intel gameing rig is a big ask.
Why cant he use AMD? i play all sorts of games on my system with no problems

i recently made 2 amd system that hammer WOW. one lad dose 5hr's a day on the game as is very happy with his amd system
 
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Just a heads up @ P4Clock - the 270X (if the OP gets one of those) requires 2 x 6-pin. The Corsair CX 430W only has one. It's 12v rail output is very poor too, only 336W. In my opinion, the "430W" name is very misleading on behalf of Corsair.
 
Danny75 said:
Just a heads up @ P4Clock - the 270X requires 2 x 6-pin. The Corsair CX 430W only has one. It's 12v rail output is very poor too, only 336W. In my opinion, the "430W" name is very misleading on behalf of Corsair.
Click to expand...

mmmm lots of venders are doing this now days. i just today found out my 700w is a 630w
 
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Thanks for the specs guys, that Core i5 bundle with motherboard/ram looks pretty decent and just what I was after, how would that compare to an 'overclocked' FX6300? The only reason to get the AMD on a budget would be for overclockability I guess since per core performance is much lower.

Also I have a CX430 in my daughters PC with a Ivy dual core, and a 560Ti and runs fine with a molex to PCI-E adaptor but I would prefer something with 2 plugs as standard. :)

He asked me to send him a couple of builds - one with a lower i5/B81 board and another with a 4670k/Z87 or Z97. Like I said budget is slightly flexible, and he would probably be fine buying the basics now and some extras next month. It's his first proper gaming PC so he wants it to be relatively powerful, so dual core i3 although 4 threaded is out of the equation. :)
 
none K i5 vs overclocked 6 core, i would think it would be a clock match.

if the budget is flexible and he can get a better board and K chip go intel
 
I would build the best i could and just not play for a few months.

only the buyer know the real budget so ask him. dose he want to play £400 and play now, or spend more but have to wait
 
Yeah I would prefer if he even bought some now, and some next month to get a better PC and save upgrading again in a year or so.

Are all the Z97 boards compatible with the i5 4670k, since I thought I read somewhere they were meant for the Haswell refresh CPUs?

Also is there anything wrong the Kingston V300 SSD? I have a Samsung myself and although it's been great shaving some pounds off would help I guess. :)
 
SouthEastBlue said:
Yeah I would prefer if he even bought some now, and some next month to get a better PC and save upgrading again in a year or so.

Are all the Z97 boards compatible with the i5 4670k, since I thought I read somewhere they were meant for the Haswell refresh CPUs?

Also is there anything wrong the Kingston V300 SSD? I have a Samsung myself and although it's been great shaving some pounds off would help I guess. :)
Click to expand...

I think they are. Just make sure that you get a motherboard with a 1150 socket if you are going to use a 4670k.

Its worth spending an extra £20 or so and get the new intel devil canyon i5
 
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With a £400 budget, how about an i7 920, still a good chip. You can pick up a Cpu, mobo and ram for £120. Would allow you more money for a decent card(280x under a £150).
 
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