help making a cheap gaming pc for myself

Neal · 12 Jul 2007 at 10:47

Hi all.

I sold my motorbike last week, and now the cash is burning a hole in my pocket.
Just upgraded to an E2160 on a cheap abit board... but i want something a little better for playing games on basically, as this mobo has no overclocking on it... :rolleyes:

I have a case, i have HDD's (ide only though

) and dvd re-writers (ide) and i have 2gb DDR2 667 ram - and a crappy pci-e 7300le nvidia graphics card.

basically i want something i can overclock a little too, not to the hilt though.

The e2160 is a great little cpu, but only has the 1mb cache - would the E4300 or E4400 be a better choice, i dont want to spend more than £100 on a CPU if possible.

Sata HDD? should I?
Mobo?
Sata DVD drive? should I?
PSU - better than 450w?
Graphics card?

Looking to spend about £300 all in all really. or am i going to have to spend more?

Cheers

Neal

Neal · 12 Jul 2007 at 10:57

just thought i'd add,

I have never really played games on a pc before, so i know nothing of what makes a good system really.... other than fast, and big graphics lol any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Neal

melbourne720 · 12 Jul 2007 at 10:58

I hate to be a self promoter but...

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17751381

The e2160 will keep up with a more expensive CPU clock for clock. What you need is a good clocking motherboard, and something to keep the CPU cool.

I'd get a P35 DS3, a tuniq tower and keep your e2160.

Get an 8800 GTS 320MB and you'll have a monster system for £300ish

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
(£93.99)

Asus GeForce 8800 GTS HTDP 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£199.74)

Total : £303.42

Get an TT if you have any extra cash...

MumboJumbo · 12 Jul 2007 at 11:08

^^^^^^^^
what he said

...although surely you'll need to buy some cpu cooling on that too

eyetrip · 12 Jul 2007 at 11:25

Don't get the P35 DS3, as it has very few IDE connectors!

Edit: just wanted to get the last in quickly in case you were an impatient person like me and did not wait long before purchasing

Edit again: oops, missed the part where you said would get SATA drives... Yes, the DS3 is good

Neal · 12 Jul 2007 at 11:51

cool so the E2160 will be ok for standard gaming use.

I was thinking about Pxx series mobo, as it seems to have good reveiws on here all the time...

I have a thermalight MST-9775 heatsink in my cupboard at home, will that be ok?

hmmm 8800 gts 320mb.... that sounds pretty trick.. but probably way more than i'll really ever use...

I was thinking of a

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro Extreme 512MB GDDR3 @ £117.24

and maybe 2 SATAII hdd's @ £70.48

Pxx series mobo around £100

I'll look into it, money doesnt clear in my bank for 2 more days, then i can tootle off to O'cers as I only live about 6 miles away... woooop no delivery waiting!! lol

PS thanks for the advice, all good, as im learning all the time lol

melbourne720 · 12 Jul 2007 at 11:58

You could drop down to a regular DS3, that would save about £20, which you could put towards a SATA HD which would speed up your PC enormously.

I'd keep the 8800 GTS - no one has ever regretted owning one.

Darg · 12 Jul 2007 at 12:01

For the SATA harddrive get a WD Caviar 500GB AAKS drive. Around £55. Just make sure its AAKS as they're supposedly quite a bit faster.

Neal · 12 Jul 2007 at 12:05

it just pains me to spend £200 on a graphics card... lol call me tight!!

hmmmmm great fps and high res....

I suppose i can sell my abit IL9 pro mobo and put the ££'s to the graphics card, the sell the 7300le on fleabay and put that to it too... hmmm think i will... then its still only costing me about £120 - 130 lol

maybe a better heatsink & fan though?

Neal · 12 Jul 2007 at 12:16

ahhh so the "500gb AAKS drive Around £55" will not only outperform the cheap hitatch ones, i can get 180 extra gb for £15 less... Im swung!!

My final spec:

E2160 c2d cpu on a Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3P mobo
450w silent optronics PSU
2 gb DDR2 667 ram
500gb SataII cavair AAKS HDD
Thermalight Heatsink and fan (as pictured above)
8800gt Graphics card 320mb

also have a Aerogate I fan controller lying about, and 3 case fans... that will have to go in too! lol

and just had my new 17" flat panel delivered - absolute bargain at £97 with vat, from my staples business account!

I cant wait now.... come on halifax... claer that cash!!

many thanks for the advice

Neal

Mark47 · 12 Jul 2007 at 13:23

The ATI card is very good for the money but at the same time I wouldn't build a gaming PC that doesn't support DirectX10. Games are just starting to support this and it enables better graphics with less performance hit.

These core2Duo processors are easily fast enough, even the cheapest one, but if you spend more money on the graphics card you will really notice it more when playing games later this year and next year.

The GTS offers great bang for buck, especially the 320mb if you only have a small screen. I would get the 600mb version if you are considering a larger than 20".

Neal · 12 Jul 2007 at 15:49

Mark47 said:
These core2Duo processors are easily fast enough, even the cheapest one, but if you spend more money on the graphics card you will really notice it more when playing games later this year and next year.

The GTS offers great bang for buck, especially the 320mb if you only have a small screen. I would get the 600mb version if you are considering a larger than 20".

I am going to get the GT 8800 rather than the cheaper ATI card - Like you say, i'll be gutted if I have to upgrade in 12months! lol

And if i sell my mobo, and graphics card I should be able to claw back £60 or so... all good.

Neal