Light gaming rig

Jay85 · 8 Jan 2011 at 15:55

Hey guys, just want to run this through with you before i make the purchase. I'm building a light gaming rig for my bro as his laptop isn't up to its job at the moment. He's on a low budget and i have a few parts left over from my old build aswel which i will use in the process. Just wanna make sure there aren't any compatibility issues with these components so if you could just do a quick run over or offer any good or better alternative components please let me know, thanks!

SPEC:

Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Already got)
Phenom II 955 BE 125w
Asus Silent knight cpu cooler (Already got)
2x2GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333mhz Ram
CD/DVD combo drive
1TB WD 7200 HDD
Powercolor 5670 512mb (Already Got)
(not chosen make yet) 300W PSU
OcUK RaidMax Simplex Gaming Tower Case - Black

Budget of about £300 excluding the parts i already have for the build.

Thanks
Jay

Kouba · 8 Jan 2011 at 16:00

300W PSU places a huge limit on future upgrades, maybe consider something a little higher.

Jay85 · 8 Jan 2011 at 16:06

But is 300w more than enough for this rig? He's not wanting an upgrade at all in the future. This will be a gap filler before he buys his own proper rig in a few years time.

Kouba · 8 Jan 2011 at 16:22

I went ahead and used the Antec PSU calculator, and 300W seems to be borderline acceptable for that rig, Personally, I would have gotten one a bit more powerful just to be sure. Possibly a 400-500W or 300-400W if you're on a lower budget.

zinadinpeterson · 8 Jan 2011 at 17:03

This is a good budget gaming system. If it's a habit you want to look at the Phenom II. The price should be similar, but it works better than the Q8000 Phenom II. 9800GTX + is a decent card and should be more than enough to play with the settings and maximum resolution.

Jay85 · 8 Jan 2011 at 17:31

Might just be able to push it to a 400w psu. Not quite sure which brand to go for yet as I haven't had a proper look. The phenom II 955 BE 3.2ghz surely is more than enough for this light gaming rig. I already have the gfx card so I don't need to buy another. Does anyone recommend a good 400w psu please?

MADEinSTOKE · 8 Jan 2011 at 18:18

this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-146-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

Jay85 · 9 Jan 2011 at 03:01

Thanks man, i'll look into it and see if he can stretch his budget a bit more.

cmndr_andi · 9 Jan 2011 at 03:06

MADEinSTOKE said:
this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-146-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

+1 a very nice PSU

Out of interest, what 300W PSUs were you looking at?

Also, instead of going for 5670 (~£70), something like a second-hand GTX 260 or 4870 would be much more powerful and cost the same.

Jay85 · 9 Jan 2011 at 12:42

I'm not sure yet, i haven't looked but atm the 400W antec seems a really good price. I would get those if i could but i already a graphics card for use in this build left over from my last build so there is no need to buy another gpu.