Looking through the threads to gain spec ideas but..

Cpukid · 2 Dec 2013 at 19:11

It's been a year since I built my last PC

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18471781 post 53 was final build parts

So much seems to have changed very few Intel CPU's recommended most of the parts now obsolete or way more expensive?

However I'm now looking to spec another PC for £500-£600 to be blunt it needs to run Fifa 14 and COD so fairly powerful, don't need OS or monitor included, would want a small SSD for OS and prob 1-2tb HD, I can either pickup parts or get free delivery so not to be taken into account. Looking forward to peoples views compared to a year ago

Bayk · 2 Dec 2013 at 19:37

is this to replace your current rig or just another pc in general?

Cpukid · 2 Dec 2013 at 20:45

its another rig, my son needs one he keeps taking over mine

Fallen god · 2 Dec 2013 at 20:55

I wouldn't go for a SSD tbh in this price range but I have included one regardless. With the budget best way to go is AMD, I'm not great with AMD systems but I think I picked some decent parts, the PSU might be a bit overkill.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X WindForce 3X OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included £164.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £75.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £65.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £65.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX) £61.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £42.95
Total : £625.43 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Cpukid · 2 Dec 2013 at 21:06

Thanks that's a good start, why is memory so expensive compared to last year?

Fallen god · 2 Dec 2013 at 21:16

Cpukid said:
Thanks that's a good start, why is memory so expensive compared to last year?

Prices change a lot with ram, last year it was at the peak for price so you could get 16GB for the same price.

This is the cheapest 8GB, the above spec'd one was blue so it would look a little nicer

.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-033-TG&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

OvEr_KiLL · 2 Dec 2013 at 21:29

i have the m5a97 r.2 which is similar mobo and im running 8gb 1866mhz
i would recommend you get 8gb 1866mhz memory and then change the XMP profile in the bios to the 1866mhz

Danny75 · 2 Dec 2013 at 21:59

If you leave a HDD out, and add it later when the SSD is filling up too much (not sure how fast your son uses up storage):

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270X HAWK OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £75.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x EVGA 600W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (100-B1-0600-KR) £49.99
1 x Aerocool V3X Advance Evil Blue Edition Midi-Tower - Black/Blue £25.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £621.44.

If the SSD can be something other than a Samsung:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270X HAWK OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £75.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £62.99
1 x EVGA 600W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (100-B1-0600-KR) £49.99
1 x Aerocool V3X Advance Evil Blue Edition Midi-Tower - Black/Blue £25.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £604.43.

Just throwing that in because presumably in a month or two he could save up £40 or so, to get a HDD for a computer that would have slightly better processor and memory etc than otherwise. The case wouldn't be the best (no USB 3.0 on front so motherboard I/O USB 3.0's connections would need to be used) but it would do the job and has a nice look. 600W PSU is a bit overkill but will give him more options for upgrading video card in future.

EDIT: Actually it does look to have USB 3.0 on the front-left.

Cpukid · 2 Dec 2013 at 22:07

Hmm interesting tbh I prob have a tb HD lying around I could stick in, a year ago this would have been all Intel, interesting to know what's changed (except the price of the i5 from a year ago!!)
The case looks cool, kids love cool!
How does the cpu stand upto the i5?
And the Radeon to the 660?
Just trying to get a understanding into the changes and progression

Danny75 · 2 Dec 2013 at 22:21

Cpukid said:
Hmm interesting tbh I prob have a tb HD lying around I could stick in, a year ago this would have been all Intel, interesting to know what's changed (except the price of the i5 from a year ago!!)

Well... if you want Intel... there is an alternative two-stage build that can end up in something very decent...

It consists of using the HD4600 graphics of the Intel processor (can enter "HD4600" in a youtube search and check out the videos using those graphics to judge whether that will do your son for now) until he gets a good video card for b-day or whenever.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £143.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £107.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x EVGA 600W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (100-B1-0600-KR) £49.99
1 x Aerocool V3X Advance Evil Blue Edition Midi-Tower - Black/Blue £25.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £609.48.

That's got a 250GB SSD in there to possibly keep him going for far longer than a few months (again depending on his storage needs). Or it can be exchanged for a 120GB, in order to get a better case/better PSU or the HDD, for example. Motherboard with aftermarket cooler.

Bart_Hunt · 2 Dec 2013 at 22:36

I can vouch for the hd 4600, at least with lower settings :-)

I am playing some older games on it with high settings or some MMOs witth low/medium.
Been doing thatt for over 2 months now, waiting for gtx780ti classy :-)

Good alternative if you can wait and you know you can afford a better gpu later.

Danny75 · 2 Dec 2013 at 22:39

Cpukid said:
How does the cpu stand upto the i5?
And the Radeon to the 660?
Just trying to get a understanding into the changes and progression

The i5 is better and the R9 270X's get my vote. Just my opinion overall, without going into fine details where one may outperform the other in certain things.

Danny75 · 2 Dec 2013 at 23:22

120GB SSD, 1TB HDD included, better PSU (non-Modular but great for the price) and better case with fan controller and LEDs switchable from blue to red:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £107.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £42.95
1 x Galaxy Evo Gaming Case USB3.0 3x Red/Blue LED Switchable Fans £34.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £593.48.

Fallen god · 3 Dec 2013 at 00:02

270x is better then the 660, and I personally would go with a amd cpu so u can actual include a GPU, since this is a gaming PC.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7503/the-amd-radeon-r9-270x-270-review-feat-asus-his/5

Cpukid · 3 Dec 2013 at 19:15

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas been thinking about this, I do like the idea of a two stage build - had a quick look at you tube and the graphics seem to be fairly OK certainly good enough initially. May be for the wrong reasons but I only have experience with intel. I'm still not swayed however either way, this will be the 4th PC in my house ( I got 3 boys) so probably be here again in a year!
Problem is I keep swaying - do I give him my PC that will meet his needs with ease and get myself a much cheaper non gaming PC (I don't play many games got a Raedon HD 7700 in mine) but then again will the only difference be no GFX as opposed to a GFX
Please keep your input up, I'm finding it a big help and will get there eventually

Fallen god · 3 Dec 2013 at 22:12

Cpukid said:
Thanks for the thoughts and ideas been thinking about this, I do like the idea of a two stage build - had a quick look at you tube and the graphics seem to be fairly OK certainly good enough initially. May be for the wrong reasons but I only have experience with intel. I'm still not swayed however either way, this will be the 4th PC in my house ( I got 3 boys) so probably be here again in a year!
Problem is I keep swaying - do I give him my PC that will meet his needs with ease and get myself a much cheaper non gaming PC (I don't play many games got a Raedon HD 7700 in mine) but then again will the only difference be no GFX as opposed to a GFX
Please keep your input up, I'm finding it a big help and will get there eventually

With my younger brother I let him use my Gaming PC but he has a Guest account that just has all my games installed on it, I buy all the games anyways. This way he can play all the games he wants and I don't need to buy him his own PC.

Also I understand what you mean with feeling comfortable and trust Intel, I was the same way with Nvidia cards, but I have an AMD card now and it works well. Also a lot of other users with similar budgets have gone for similar spec'd systems and they have had good success. With children as well I doubt the CPU will be an issue and having games just run faster most of the time is the bigger deal.

Danny75 · 3 Dec 2013 at 23:36

Another Intel idea. One stage (if you have that spare HD).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X WindForce 3X OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included £164.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4570 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £155.99
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard - FREE Alpenfohn Civetta Cooler!! £86.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (100-B1-0500-KR) £39.95
1 x Aerocool V3X Advance Evil Blue Edition Midi-Tower - Black/Blue £25.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £629.48.

The i5-4570 seems very similar to the i5-4670 - four cores, four threads, 6MB Cache, etc. And its speed is only 0.2GHz (3.2 Stock, 3.6 Turbo) under the latter. Not going to be overclockable but it's another option for close to that budget if you lean more towards Intel.