need help on a budget build for mate
- Thread starter TwistNut
- Start date
Hey, and yeah.
I'd migrated to a 'gaming laptop' a few years back, so I'd need most everything but the mouse. Anyway, I've seen the error of my ways and going back to a desktop.
Loose budget is £500~ but not too stringent like nut said, it's mostly just about avoiding nickel and diming myself, with buying more than I'd need etc. It's perhaps a little cheap but hey, I figured aim low and check for any bottlenecks on what I spec'd, but nut rushed me. ^^;
So yeah, OS/Monitor etc. It's used mainly for gaming. Guildwars 2, when it's released, primarily. Peripherals like Dragon Age 2/Battlefield 3 etc. I don't mind suffering sub-max settings, but I would like to be able to run GW2 on max at a stable fps - it shouldn't be too demanding, I hope. Would a GTX 460 be adequate for that kind of thing?
Edit: Probably better to consider the budget for the tower, but am very open to recommendations for a monitor, too.
I'd migrated to a 'gaming laptop' a few years back, so I'd need most everything but the mouse. Anyway, I've seen the error of my ways and going back to a desktop.
Loose budget is £500~ but not too stringent like nut said, it's mostly just about avoiding nickel and diming myself, with buying more than I'd need etc. It's perhaps a little cheap but hey, I figured aim low and check for any bottlenecks on what I spec'd, but nut rushed me. ^^;
So yeah, OS/Monitor etc. It's used mainly for gaming. Guildwars 2, when it's released, primarily. Peripherals like Dragon Age 2/Battlefield 3 etc. I don't mind suffering sub-max settings, but I would like to be able to run GW2 on max at a stable fps - it shouldn't be too demanding, I hope. Would a GTX 460 be adequate for that kind of thing?
Edit: Probably better to consider the budget for the tower, but am very open to recommendations for a monitor, too.
Last edited:
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5830 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £94.99
(£79.16) £94.99
(£79.16)
OcUK V-Line 221V2SB 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £61.98
(£51.65) £61.98
(£51.65)
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £54.98
(£45.82) £54.98
(£45.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Logitech S-220 2.1 Speaker System - OEM (980-000022) £24.98
(£20.82) £24.98
(£20.82)
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.98
(£14.15) £16.98
(£14.15)
Logitech 600 Media Keyboard (920-000031) £11.99
(£9.99) £11.99
(£9.99)
Sub Total : £473.54
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £20.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £98.73
Total : £592.37
Motherboard is AM3+ so will take the upcoming Bulldozer CPU's
5830vsGTX460 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/171?vs=180
Gaming Mouse, decent keyboard and a 2.1 speaker system.
Is it to much money?
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5830 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £94.99
(£79.16) £94.99
(£79.16)
OcUK V-Line 221V2SB 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £61.98
(£51.65) £61.98
(£51.65)
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £56.99
(£47.49) £56.99
(£47.49)
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £54.98
(£45.82) £54.98
(£45.82)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Logitech S-220 2.1 Speaker System - OEM (980-000022) £24.98
(£20.82) £24.98
(£20.82)
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (910-000616) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.98
(£14.15) £16.98
(£14.15)
Logitech 600 Media Keyboard (920-000031) £11.99
(£9.99) £11.99
(£9.99)
Sub Total : £473.54
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £20.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £98.73
Total : £592.37
Motherboard is AM3+ so will take the upcoming Bulldozer CPU's
5830vsGTX460 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/171?vs=180
Gaming Mouse, decent keyboard and a 2.1 speaker system.
Is it to much money?
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £119.99
1 x OcUK V-Line 221V2SB 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
1 x AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £65.99
1 x Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £59.98
1 x OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £33.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £29.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Logitech K200 Media Keyboard (920-002733) £12.98
Total : £590.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £119.99
1 x OcUK V-Line 221V2SB 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
1 x AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £65.99
1 x Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £59.98
1 x OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W Power Supply £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £33.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £29.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x Logitech K200 Media Keyboard (920-002733) £12.98
Total : £590.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).
What would you guys recommend if you were speccing a 'budget' gaming rig, without a budget, out of curiosity? Not to waste your time or anything, but I'm curious if my initial figure was too tight, since I was assuming like a gtx 460, i5 sandybridge etc. would have been the base. Sorry if I was too vague, I just haven't dealt with a desktop in years. I just didn't really want to overspend for what I wanted to accomplish. 
Last edited:
Just a tower unit with Win7 from me would be like this,
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** *WITH FREE MSI GRENADE* £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.98
(£14.15) £16.98
(£14.15)
Sub Total : £456.09
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £93.97
Total : £563.81
CPU - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300_7.html#sect0 - rather fast isnt it
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
OcUK GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** *WITH FREE MSI GRENADE* £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.98
(£14.15) £16.98
(£14.15)
Sub Total : £456.09
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £93.97
Total : £563.81
CPU - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300_7.html#sect0 - rather fast isnt it
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card [N560GTX-TITWINFROZR2]
Could I ask after your opinions on this card? I may or may not have been nudged in to splurging a little. Would anything else on your setup change to accommodate it?
Could I ask after your opinions on this card? I may or may not have been nudged in to splurging a little. Would anything else on your setup change to accommodate it?
Its a good card here is what its like compared to the 460 :
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/313?vs=330
Okay, okay. Muddling my way through. To add to the usage specs above, streaming might also be on the table.
Intel Core i5 3.1GHz
MSI GeForce GTX 560 ti Twin FrozR II
I've read good things about that card, and apparently anything more than the i5 2400 would superfluous, since the GPU would bottleneck?
W7 & Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB Bundle
Seems like a no-brainer, £20 for the HDD. Though, I've heard good things about samsung spinpoint HDDs being excellent value for money, but going out of production. Would there be any noticeable improvement in performance with the aprox. 20£ price jump?
Edit: w7 pre-installed? (sorry if that's a stupid question.)
... tbc, sorry. dragged away again. ._.
Intel Core i5 3.1GHz
MSI GeForce GTX 560 ti Twin FrozR II
I've read good things about that card, and apparently anything more than the i5 2400 would superfluous, since the GPU would bottleneck?
W7 & Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB Bundle
Seems like a no-brainer, £20 for the HDD. Though, I've heard good things about samsung spinpoint HDDs being excellent value for money, but going out of production. Would there be any noticeable improvement in performance with the aprox. 20£ price jump?
Edit: w7 pre-installed? (sorry if that's a stupid question.)
... tbc, sorry. dragged away again. ._.
Last edited: