What can £500 get?

thenameDS

thenameDS

thenameDS

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Like the title says what can £500 get? That's the absolute maximum, don't mind B-grade or second hand stuff tbh. Already have OS, keyboard, mouse, monitor, Samsung 840 Pro 128gb ssd and external dvd drive.

This will be used to play games on a 1080p tv, when I say games probably on League of Legends, Day Z standalone and other not too demanding games (F2P games).

Something small maybe? Or normal size I don't mind, just want suggestions really :p
 
So are we talking CPU/Motherboard/RAM/GPU, or the above but with HDD/PSU/Case? I can't tell if you're upgrading an existing system or building a new one with some recycled parts.

If you need case/PSU etc, I'd suggest going for a mini-ITX build, of which the Bitfenix Prodigy is pretty much your best bet. i5 and something like a HD7850+HDD or 7870 if you don't need HDD, plus RAM and a nice Gigabyte Motherboard should round out your £500.

I'd spec both up for you but unfortunately my basket is in use.
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x HIS HD 7790 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.95
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £76.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart Series 530w Modular '80Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £504.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).



or

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 660TI Direct CU II 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £194.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £76.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £49.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart Series 530w Modular '80Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £512.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
 
With a "B" grade mobo.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x HIS HD 7790 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £99.95
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x Thermaltake Smart Series 530w Modular '80Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £49.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £487.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Or to save a bit more you could go for the Z68 mobo, but you would need to check with OCUK that is has the bios update for IB Cpus.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £45.95
Total : £55.85 (includes shipping : £8.25).



Or a non K chip.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7870 Black Knight 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R7870-2GD5T/OC) £167.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3330 3.00GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £149.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £49.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £45.95
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £500.95 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
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You have to choose either a decent CPU with a relatively not great GPU or you can add £100 to your budget and get a PC with a good CPU AND GPU. I would save up another £100 or one of those is going to be a bottleneck to the other.

Save another £100 and you can get a 7870 and 3570k.

If you are spending £500 it would honestly be stupid not to just save another £100 and get a good CPU AND GPU.
 
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mickyflinn said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 660TI Direct CU II 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £194.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £76.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £49.99
1 x Thermaltake Smart Series 530w Modular '80Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £512.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).

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I like this one, leaves room to upgrade in the future too, could always pick up a 3570k down the line from the bay. How about if I was looking at a bitfenix prodigy case, would the price go a lot higher? Tbh I don't mind starting off with something basic and not high end as long as it offers a upgrade path. Say I spend £500ish now then in September or October I have another £300 to upgrade what's inside.

NirK said:
You have to choose either a decent CPU with a relatively not great GPU or you can add £100 to your budget and get a PC with a good CPU AND GPU. I would save up another £100 or one of those is going to be a bottleneck to the other.

Save another £100 and you can get a 7870 and 3570k.

If you are spending £500 it would honestly be stupid not to just save another £100 and get a good CPU AND GPU.
Click to expand...

I could do, but my main gaming rig is in my signature and I can play most games comfortably on that. This is just something that's going to be plugged into the tv so I can play those more casual games in the living room , my girlfriend will probably use it too instead of her macbook for light gaming.

I'm looking to take this one as more of a long term project, add new things every now and then by upgrading and improving every 3 months or so.
 
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thenameDS said:
I could do, but my main gaming rig is in my signature and I can play most games comfortably on that. This is just something that's going to be plugged into the tv so I can play those more casual games in the living room , my girlfriend will probably use it too instead of her macbook for light gaming.

I'm looking to take this one as more of a long term project, add new things every now and then by upgrading and improving every 3 months or so.
Click to expand...

Ah right you did not say that, I thought it was your only system or something... Anyway coming from that system in your sig, one of those cheap graphics cards is going to be BAD. You should get a 7870 minimum.
 
pipson said:
Why does everyone spec an intel built, at £500 you can get a very good built if you go AMD way...
Click to expand...

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7870 Black Boost Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £167.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £65.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £59.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Warranty £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £500.99 (includes shipping : £11.75).



I forgot a PSU, but yeah, you can get a better deal with AMD, I have that motherboard and Phenom II chip and it works good.
 
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pipson said:
Why does everyone spec an intel built, at £500 you can get a very good built if you go AMD way...
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Who are AMD? Lol just kidding.

It seems to be Intel all the way these days. I no longer care for AMD CPUs they have to do some significant investment for me to give a rats about what they are releasing. Their chips appeal to such a small niche minority of people. Those that want a cheap chip and quick under only certain tasks.

Reality is, people building their own machine are more savvy and tend to have cash. So almost alway plump for intel, it's a no brainer. There is a stigma AMD will have to shift, and its gonna take a few years to fix.

As for their graphics cards...I have given up on them, great hardware terrible drivers and UI. CCC is just junk, the engineers have no UI skills.


Sorry. Rant over!
 
lol the typical amd or intel and amd or nvidia, amd cards are good for the price, although they struggle with phys-x games they dominate in open-cl games where as an equivalent nividia card will dominate in phys-x will completely die in any open-cl game, however if you have near a grand lying about the 690 or titan will win everytime versus a 7970. as for cpu intel overall is better however the amd cpus are decent and for an 8 core it is half the price of an i7 and in my experience of having both and i7 and 8350 the difference is minimal, by 5-7 frames in battlefield 3 and in some games the amd actually is better than the i7, which you pick is up to you and your budget
 
I do prefer myself a Intel cpu, but for graphic cards I do tend to go down the AMD route for the price and performance you get for that price. Will be buying some things soon for this machine and probably do a build log over the next few months, I estimate it will be complete around December time if my the Xbox One doesn't take up much of my time and money on games ;)
 
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