Gaming Pc for my son

SparkiUK

SparkiUK

SparkiUK

Associate
Joined
27 Sep 2007
Posts
38
I'm trying to put together components to build my son a new pc, old one now way too slow. He mainly uses it for school work, or plays World of Warcraft on a 22inch monitor and the occasional PC DVD game. But struggling to put together a compatable system for my budget (around £500) that can easily be upgraded in future. Is what i've chosen OK do you think? or is something over the top or underpowered? He's keen to have a system capable of running World of Warcraft on full settings with the next expansion comes out.

CASE: CoolerMaster Elite 310 Mid Tower Gaming Case with see-thru side panel
CPU: AMD Phenom™ II X2 550 Black Edition Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Cooling Fan: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS M4N68T-M NF630A AM3 DDR3/1066 SATA PCI-Express MBoard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, &7.1Audio
MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Dual Channel Memory )Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX460 768MB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Power by NVIDIA)
Power Supply Upgrade: 700 Watts Power Supplies (SLI / CrossFire Ready Quad Rail Power Supply *** Not Recommended for Overclocking***)
Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache HDD [+3] (Single Hard Drive)
Optical Drive: Samsung 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color)
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Network: ONBOARD 10/1000 NETWORK CARD
 
The spec is a bit vague my friend. Only in that many parts such as the PSU haven't been named so we can't state if they are good or bad.

Phenom II X2 555BE would be better. Nice thing about these CPUs (550 included) is that many mobos can possibly unlock them to X4s. This is done through the bios if you google phenom II core unlocking you'll see how simple it is.

If you can repost the spec in more detail (brand names & price) we can offer more advice
 
apprecaite that, not too sure if i should upgrade the CPU or not, or if the graphics card is a bit over the top for what he wants to do. Or should i go Intel? I'm no techie.

Budget is £500. As for brands, think i said for most of them, but i just selected bits i thought went together, and can see some don't say what brand, but then neither did the part when i chose it, so guess they will be some budget unless stated, eg memory is Corsair. I put the spec together off a website that has a core set of components then you can tweak it, ie extra £32 for the next processor, and assume i can't post the link to that spec on here, but would rather get it all from people like you guys who know what they're doing.
 
Last edited:
capturegn.jpg
 
He did say £500 stulid. For gaming few games use more than 2 cores so the money is better put towards the gfx card and the mobo. Like i said the X2s can sometimes be X4s if u are lucky just buy a decent heatsink (arctic freezer or similar) to keep the heat in check.

The board you picked im sure has onboard graphics which you clearly don't need. A mobo with 2 16X pci-express slots would be preferable for futureproofing.

Stulid is excellent at spec'ing systems i'm sure if you ask nicely he'll put something together if you are having trouble
 
Palit GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
(£127.65) £149.99
(£127.65)
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £86.94
(£73.99) £86.94
(£73.99)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £82.24
(£69.99) £82.24
(£69.99)
Asus P7H55-M Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard Asus P7H55-M Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £65.99
(£56.16) £65.99
(£56.16)
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £36.99
(£31.48) £36.99
(£31.48)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £30.54
(£25.99) £30.54
(£25.99)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £26.99
(£22.97) £26.99
(£22.97)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£13.61) £15.99
(£13.61)
Sub Total : £421.84
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £75.88
Total : £509.47

I'm sure dual cores will still be fine for WoW after the next expansion, the graphics card is more than enough.
 
Was just trying to keep the upgrade paths open, 8x8 crossfire is ok and the 800 series motherboards are rumoured to be able to take the next gen chips. Surely they will add more threads to the game, or other games his son might play.
 
Not saying your suggestion was a bad spec, but if WoW is his focus then the i3 spec would be a bit faster (and slightly cheaper, yours is £540 once you add a DVD drive).
 
Palit GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £123.36
Asus M4A87TD/USB3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £82.24
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £36.99
Coolermaster Elite 360 Mini Tower Case - Black £27.99

Sub Total : £431.96
DPD Next Day Parcel : £11.25
VAT : £77.56
Total : £520.77

Something like that? Not the case you asked for, as OCUK don't stock it, it seems. I imagine you could change the GTX 460 for a 5770 with no difference to WoW, making a £20 saving.
 
Thanks all, seems you may agree on the GTX 460 for graphics, processor no idea about and same for the mobo, but for that card, do i not need a 700w or so power supply?
 
Redmint said:
Palit GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
(£127.65) £149.99
(£127.65)
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £86.94
(£73.99) £86.94
(£73.99)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £82.24
(£69.99) £82.24
(£69.99)
Asus P7H55-M Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard Asus P7H55-M Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £65.99
(£56.16) £65.99
(£56.16)
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £36.99
(£31.48) £36.99
(£31.48)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £30.54
(£25.99) £30.54
(£25.99)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £26.99
(£22.97) £26.99
(£22.97)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£13.61) £15.99
(£13.61)
Sub Total : £421.84
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £75.88
Total : £509.47

I'm sure dual cores will still be fine for WoW after the next expansion, the graphics card is more than enough.
Click to expand...

+1 for this
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom