Gaming PC for £600

hitman_net · 30 Apr 2009 at 16:13

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to build myself a gaming pc for around £600.

Main games I will be playing are WOW, COD4/5, Left for Dead & Starcraft 2 (When it gets released).

I'm only using a 17" Monitor at 1280x1024 Res, but may upgrade in the furture.

Benchmarks suggest that Core2Duo CPU's perform better than the AMD Phenom II's.

I realise that 775 is old technology & Phenom II is new and more furture proof, but no one knows what the future holds, so i'm living for the now and which ever gives me better performance now.

Is this Spec OK? or whould you suggest any changes?

Intel Core2Duo E8400 CPU £140
Asus P5N-D nForce SLI Motherboard £93
Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHZ Hyper X Memory £43
Gainward GTX260 Golden Sample 896GB GDD3 Video Card £155
CoolerMaster 330 Case £30
CoolerMaster 520W Modular PSU £66
Western Digital 500GB SATA II 7200RPM HDD £45
LiteOn DVD+/-RW £16

Thanks

hitman_net · 30 Apr 2009 at 16:16

BTW I dont need any OS or Peripherals

Audigex · 30 Apr 2009 at 17:18

I'd up the case a bit - not a fan of the CM 3-series. If you can get something better, you'll probably appreciate it. For most people, the case outlives most other components (except maybe the DVD drive)

Raikiri · 30 Apr 2009 at 17:55

killari · 30 Apr 2009 at 18:24

Slightly over budget

Crossfire tho

eGu_Ryan · 30 Apr 2009 at 20:31

EDIT: Overbudget, misread the picture. I would go for Phenom II x3, with DDR2 Memory though.

Kennysevenfold · 30 Apr 2009 at 21:37

killari said:
Slightly over budget

Crossfire tho

Why crossfire, your better getting a sinlge, better card for the same price as those in crossfire

cmndr_andi · 30 Apr 2009 at 21:40

Thats what I thought - but two of those badboys gives you 4890 beating performance

Kennysevenfold · 30 Apr 2009 at 21:42

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £120.74
(£104.99) £120.74
(£104.99)

Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
(£98.25) £112.99
(£98.25)

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4850 "XXX Edition" 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £92.99
(£80.86) £92.99
(£80.86)

Lian Li PC-A07B Aluminium Midi-Tower - Black (No PSU) £66.69
(£57.99) £66.69
(£57.99)

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD6401AALS) £63.99
(£55.64) £63.99
(£55.64)

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply £61.99
(£53.90) £61.99
(£53.90)

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P13334GK) £51.74
(£44.99) £51.74
(£44.99)

Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64) Sub Total : £512.26 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £78.90 Total : £591.91

Kennysevenfold · 30 Apr 2009 at 21:44

cmndr_andi said:
Thats what I thought - but two of those badboys gives you 4890 beating performance

Slightly better, but with no room for upgrading later on....

killari · 30 Apr 2009 at 21:51

According to this

http://en.expreview.com/2009/04/28/first-look-at-radeon-hd-4770-crossfire-benchmark.html/4

The 4770 in CF trumphs the 4890 by 20% on average. The 4890 costs £195 on ocuk whereas 2x 4770 costs £174.

Now if we look here we can see that the 4890 isn't that far behind the gtx285:
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/xfx_hd_4890_xxx_1gb_pcie_graphics_card/6

So if you average it out linearly then heck its an excellent choice for the price!

Worked for me. Plus it can overclock pretty nicely.

http://vr-zone.com/forums/422999/radeon-hd-4770-overclocked-pretty-well.html

killari · 30 Apr 2009 at 21:55

And I quote from the OP

hitman_net said:
...snip
so i'm living for the now and which ever gives me better performance now.

Hence the disregard for future upgradeability.

JTrickle · 30 Apr 2009 at 22:36

I cant believe people are spending £600 to use on a 17" monitor.

**** almighty, just buy a £130 22" and spend £470 on the tower.

E8000 processors arent that much better than E5000 ones.

killari · 30 Apr 2009 at 22:47

JTrickle said:
I cant believe people are spending £600 to use on a 17" monitor.

**** almighty, just buy a £130 22" and spend £470 on the tower.

E8000 processors arent that much better than E5000 ones.

Just advising the OP what's best for their money. The OP also stated that a monitor upgrade may happen in the near future and this set up would work well for it.