help with a low budget system needed

The_Xander

The_Xander

The_Xander

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Joined
28 Feb 2011
Posts
3
Hi there,
I am currently using a laptop, but it is horrendous and am looking for a low budget gaming PC to replace it. I have no experience of building computers and no time really to do that so I am stuck with package deals. With no real experience of what is good and sadly no real time to read up on reviews of parts etc I need some help with which of these packages seem the best. I don’t have the money for a monitor, so I will be using my HD TV instead until I can dig up enough money to get one that is a bit more wieldy. Similar for speakers, mouse, keyboard; make do with the trash that I can find and upgrade when I have the money. The budget that I am working to is loosely 400. Possibly 470ish at maximum
I can get Windows cheaply through the student deal that they are doing so the package do not need it.

Package 1;
System Specification
- Case: Xigmatek Asgard - Black
- Power Supply: OCZ 500w StealthXStream II
- CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3)
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
- RAM: OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel
- Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6GB/s
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GT 430 1024MB GDDR3
- Sound: ALC888B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Optical Drive: LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-259-OK)
£350

Package 2;
-Choice of EZ Cool H550 OR Gigabyte GZ-X6 & Other Cases

-1 x 120mm Standard Case Fan Case Fan

-Intel Pentium Dual Core E5700 (3.00GHz, 2MB Cache) CPU

-Standard Heatsink & CPU Fan

-Asus P5KPL-AM Motherboard

-Choice of ATI HD 5670 1GB OR nVIDIA 9800GT 1GB PCI Express Graphics Card

-4GB (2 x 2GB) Crucial PC6400 800MHz DDR2 Ram

-500GB 7200rpm SATA II Hard Drive

-22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter Optical Drive

-Choice of Windows: 7 Home Premium OR XP Home With Original CD

-Standard 650W PSU

-1 Year Return To Base Warranty

£400


Package 3;
AMD Athlon II 250 2 x 2.9 GHz
AMD Heatsink & Fan
Corsair 2GB XMS3 PC3-10666 1333MHz (2x1GB) - Lifetime Warranty (DDR3)
ATI Radeon HD 5770 - 1 GB - DVI/VGA/HDMI (XFX) (PCI-E)
Asus M4A78LT-M (AMD 760G)
Motherboard Integrated HD Sound
Motherboard Integrated Ethernet Lan (Broadband Ready)
Motherboard Integrated USB Ports
700W PSU
500 GB SATA-II 16MB (FREE UPGRADE TO 750GB BEFORE 11:59 PM ON 28-02-11)

£400 without windows

Package 4;
Capella GT4
• AMD Athlon II 250 X2 Dual Core Processor
• 4GB Corsair XMS 3 Memory
• ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3 Motherboard
• Corsair 430CX Power Supply
• Seagate 500GB SATAII Ultra Fast Hard Disk
• Gainward Geforce GT 430 1024MB Performance Graphics
My friend who seemingly knows about such things has said to upgrade to the AMD Radeon™ HD 6850 XFX card. Its an extra 90 quid almost though, but he says that it is well worth it. Any opinions on this?

Thanks very much, any help would be appreciated, I am super new at this.

Xander
 
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I'd say the first one, though maybe ugrade the cpu to an athlon X3/4 for an extra 30ish quid (off the top of my head) -the second one is a bit outdated for 2011, the third one is alright, but tehyre porbably skimping on other components (mono, ram, psu) and puttings the 5770 in to make it look good. 4 is about the same as 1

it depends what your'e using it for. if your not playing games, then that gpu is fine, or even for light gaming. if you're a medium gamer, i can recommend the HD 5770 which is a great bang for buck card at around £90 and should play most games on highish settings and playable fps (50-60) around 1080p

the 6850 sounds like a good card (i poersonally havent tried it yet) and will outperform the 5770 (its the next gen equivilent) however, costs £50 more.

with the price of your build, i wouldnt skimp on certain components. get components that are equivilent to each other (manly pointing to the custom builds here)
* at this point i notice that they are all prebuilt :P *
its really up to what you use it for. - you can always ask OCUK to alter the order slightly to fit your needs ;)
 
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wow, is that all your getting for £400-470?

you might find this useful: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/syscon_int.php?prodid=FS-283-OK

i am 99% sure that OcUK builds what you select there

*edit*
hows this, using the link i posted:


Case: coolermaster Elite 342
Processor: AMD Phenom X4 840
no overclock
no extra cooling
either of the two 4GB RAM options
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770
standard everything else

comes to £450 including VAT, and expect another £15 or so on top of that for delivery
however, not surprisingly, this is still a little way off of my £450 rig i got last week


i'd wait till someone else here gave the go ahead for this build, because im not fully up to speed on the different graphics card choices.
 
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Just looking at the deals, the first one looks the best deal out of the lot,
Reaper 392's idea will be a lot more powerful, and if you can afford it, I'd go for that one, I myself can vouch for the 5770 being a great card at 1080p, perfect for a budget-mid range rig.
 
Thanks very much everyone who took the time to post, its all very helpful.

have removed the links - forgot to do so when copy and pasting from word doc. sorry!

any other opinions on Reaper 392's build? I am thinking of going with it presently.

thanks!

Xander
 
Sorry to be slightly off topic, but just wondering where you're getting your Windows 7 Student deal! Been looking high and low for one of these!

kd
 
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