Super budget challenge build!

claypigeon101

claypigeon101

claypigeon101

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Hi guys. My friend is from the US, and is in the country a few more months before he goes back for good. He wants to build a gaming PC that's as versatile as possible for a super tight budget of £300.

Buying brand new is fine, or I'm happy to source second hand parts if you recommend any; the whole system is going to be sold, or passed on, in six months' time so I'm out to buy and build as quick as possible.

I was thinking something along the lines of 3570k, undecided chipset, 8GB ram, Geforce 560Ti, simple but solid PSU and case, air cooled. 500GB HD.

We have a small full HD TV that can be used as a monitor so I'm aiming for medium settings at 1080 res.

I'd love some suggestions as to what to go for... I know there are some brand new and used hidden gems out there that you guys will be aware of.

What do you think?!
 
For that price, buy used and get the best of what you can. :)

I recently spent a total of £300 on a PC, the specs were:

i5 750
Gigabyte P55 somethingsomething (sorry :p)
8GB (2x 4GB) Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey
Palit GTX580 Dual Fan
Corsair VX550
WD Blue 500GB
Bitfenix Neos Black & Gold (windowed) - the only new part.
 
You'd be better of buying used, you can get something decent for that price.

Have a look on youtube at Linus Scrapyard Wars. Nice little series with relevant comparisons and information.
 
Doable with decent specs if you're patient and savvy.

Find a decent motherboard and build it around that. For instance if you get a H67 board, no point in spending more on a "k" chip as you won't be able to exploit the overclocking, so go for something cheaper ;)

Scrounge some old ddr3 and a HDD from a friend or something and grab a used 2500k, but only if you can find a decent enough board for it - scour b-grades/clearance sections and the like.

Preowned gpu from fleabay
£11 cooler from OCUK: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-013-RT

Laughing.

Did something similar for a mate recently; got a tidy build to £415 with a 2500k, gtx 670 or 280/x or 770 (auction price dependant) AND a 24" ips 1080p monitor. Just beg, borrow and steal for the less glamourous parts such as ODD, HDD, RAM and case.
 
If you're lucky you might pick up a decent h77 board cheap, I just got my hands on an msi h77ma-g43 for £48, in some other etailer's clearance stock. You might find them on the rainforest or soemthing. It allows overclocking too, though wether or not you can adjust the multi beyond turbo is something I don't know as I never tried it. If that's what you're after it might be worth having a google.

If you don;t want overclocking, then any h77 board should serve you well enough, even h67/h61 if you aren't too fussed about sata 6gb/s

You can get pre-owned i5 2500ks for around £90 :)
 
You have a budget of £300 and are looking at more expensive 2nd hand components?

Personally I would stick with budget, and not go chasing 2nd hand deals that may bite or cost more than a budget system to get the job done. The below system would be more than adequate for someone wanting to play a few PC games while visiting another country for a few months. Windows 10 Beta would provide a free OS for that period.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 750Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (90YV05J0-M0NA00) £115.99
1 x Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £55.99
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £37.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
1 x Kingston 60GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/60G) £34.98
1 x Antec VP450P 450W 85% Efficient Continuous Power Supply £33.95
1 x Zalman T3 Micro -ATX Case USB 3.0 - Black £15.95
Total : £340.44 (includes shipping : £8.00).




You may get some second hand stuff cheaper, but not usually in one package from one seller with a guarantee, and the packaging intact to sell it on.
 
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Or spend slightly more on a laptop, and take that with him?

I assume he doesn't have one, or he would logically have taken it with him coming from the US... Returning there it would give him access to a computer without further hassle... assuming he didn't leave something vaguely decent behind.
 
if you're gonna get that bundle, i'd rather get this bundle instead.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel Core i5 DIY Micro ATX Motherboard, CPU & RAM Bundle £224.98
Total : £234.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).



for £30 more, you get an i5 processor, which will destroy the pentium AE in newer, multithreaded games.
also, resale values definitely gonna be higher in the i5 bundle due to the fact you're paying a premium for ocuk to overclock for you in the pentium bundle - and even then, 4.2ghz is not really a beasty overclock to begin with (most of them hit 4.5-4.7ghz with ease)
 
 
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3.6GHz i3 vs 6-core Piledriver... what do you think in the real world? I'm partial to intel+nvidia for gaming plus 1150 socket means we could drop in a top i5 in the future if needed...
 
... what do you reckon

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-245-OK

YOUR BASKET
1 x "Xenon H97" Configurable Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 Micro ATX Home PC Bundle £82.79
- 1 x No Upgrade - Intel Stock Cooler (None overclocked systems) £0.00
- 1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £95.99
- 1 x Standard Build Laptops - Approximately 3 to 5 working days £0.00
- 1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £47.99
Total : £236.36 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
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claypigeon101 said:
... what do you reckon

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-245-OK

YOUR BASKET
1 x "Xenon H97" Configurable Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 Micro ATX Home PC Bundle £82.79
- 1 x No Upgrade - Intel Stock Cooler (None overclocked systems) £0.00
- 1 x Intel Core i3-4150 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £95.99
- 1 x Standard Build Laptops - Approximately 3 to 5 working days £0.00
- 1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £47.99
Total : £236.36 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Click to expand...

This one still has the faster CPU - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-010-AS&groupid=2833&catid=2836 - but an inferior board.

Ansd the 270X above is not a bargain, I have seen Bgrade 7950 for less and a 280X here for just £10 more :D
 
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