Guide - the Budget Gaming PC

0Paragon0

I have the following (5-7 year old) hardware:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4Ghz
ABIT KN9 SLI, n Force 570 SLI, Socket AM2
GeForce 7600GT 256MB, GDDR3, PCI-E
2GB Corsair Twin2X 6400 DDR2
Seasonic 350ATC PSU (350W)
Windows XP
Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360GD 10K RPM (for programs)
Maxtor 200 GB and Western Digital 500GB eternal HD (for storage)


Graphics card is the only thing that has to be replaced - it's about to die on me.

I was thinking of throwing about €200 at an upgrade. Can that be done to any great effect or should I just get the cheapest graphics card on the market? (Or quit being a cheapskate and get a proper upgrade)

deconduo

0Paragon0 wrote: »

I have the following (5-7 year old) hardware:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4Ghz
ABIT KN9 SLI, n Force 570 SLI, Socket AM2
GeForce 7600GT 256MB, GDDR3, PCI-E
2GB Corsair Twin2X 6400 DDR2
Seasonic 350ATC PSU (350W)
Windows XP
Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360GD 10K RPM (for programs)
Maxtor 200 GB and Western Digital 500GB eternal HD (for storage)


Graphics card is the only thing that has to be replaced - it's about to die on me.

I was thinking of throwing about €200 at an upgrade. Can that be done to any great effect or should I just get the cheapest graphics card on the market? (Or quit being a cheapskate and get a proper upgrade)

Item|Price
Intel Pentium G840 Box, LGA1155|€62.46
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€40.79
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€33.60
Club 3D Radeon 6670 1024MB, AMD Radeon 6670, PCI-Express|€57.83
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€213.67


Should be a pretty big upgrade for everything.

IrishMetalhead

no point buying a gpu for €200 as it will be seriously bottlenecked by the cpu and ram, best to go with a 6770 or a 6850 at a stretch

http://www.dabs.ie/products/xfx-ati-radeon-6770-hd-850mhz-1gb-ddr5-pci-express-hdmi--claim-dirt3--7GVP.html?q=6770&src=16

http://www.dabs.ie/products/asus-ati-radeon-6850-hd-790mhz-1gb-pci-express-hdmi-779C.html?q=6850&src=16

IrishMetalhead

deconduo wrote: »

Item|Price
Intel Pentium G840 Box, LGA1155|€62.46
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€40.79
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€33.60
Club 3D Radeon 6670 1024MB, AMD Radeon 6670, PCI-Express|€57.83
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€213.67

Should be a pretty big upgrade for everything.

If your recommending a 6670 would he not be better getting a apu to increase graphics performace (dual graphics mode)?

IrishMetalhead

Item|Price
Total build cost: €215.50 + €18.99 shipping
AMD A6-3650 APU mit AMD Radeon HD 6530D Grafikeinheit, Sockel FM1, boxed|€86.65
ASRock A75M-HVS, FM1, mATX|€50.99
Club 3D Radeon 6670 1024MB, AMD Radeon 6670, PCI-Express|€57.83
4GB-Kit Corsair Valueselect DDR3-1333 CL9|€20.03

0Paragon0

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

no point buying a gpu for €200 as it will be seriously bottlenecked by the cpu and ram, best to go with a 6770 or a 6850 at a stretch

http://www.dabs.ie/products/xfx-ati-radeon-6770-hd-850mhz-1gb-ddr5-pci-express-hdmi--claim-dirt3--7GVP.html?q=6770&src=16

http://www.dabs.ie/products/asus-ati-radeon-6850-hd-790mhz-1gb-pci-express-hdmi-779C.html?q=6850&src=16

Sorry, I wasn't clear in my post. Was thinking spending next to nothing on a new gpu (I figured cpu etc. would seriously bottleneck anything remotely decent) or throwing €200 or so on a few new components if it's worthwhile.

Thanks both of you for the really fast response btw. This board is a fantastic source of info for a newbie like me. Wish I had this help when I first built my pc 7 years ago.

deconduo

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

If your recommending a 6670 would he not be better getting a apu to increase graphics performace (dual graphics mode)?

Item|Price
Total build cost: €215.50 + €18.99 shipping
AMD A6-3650 APU mit AMD Radeon HD 6530D Grafikeinheit, Sockel FM1, boxed|€86.65
ASRock A75M-HVS, FM1, mATX|€50.99
Club 3D Radeon 6670 1024MB, AMD Radeon 6670, PCI-Express|€57.83
4GB-Kit Corsair Valueselect DDR3-1333 CL9|€20.03

Not really, the G840 dominates the A6 in gaming, and the bonus from asymmetric crossfire wouldn't come close to covering that gap. Also if you are buying a llano you really need to get 1866MHz RAM or better, which adds to the cost.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/403?vs=405

0Paragon0

deconduo wrote: »

Item|Price
Intel Pentium G840 Box, LGA1155|€62.46
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€40.79
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€33.60
Club 3D Radeon 6670 1024MB, AMD Radeon 6670, PCI-Express|€57.83
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€213.67


Should be a pretty big upgrade for everything.

Decided to go for this thanks. Arrived in the door today. Bit of a hitch - have the components installed but pc won't turn on. I believe the problem is my case's power/led/reset switch cables connecting to the motherboard. The led cables are fine, but the power button and reset button cables each go on two pins, while the mobo's system panel header have one pin for each. There are ground pins beside each and i tried every configuration I can to no effect. Any suggestions?

My case is an Arctic Cooling Silentium T2. Couldn't find any support docs for it.

Problem may lie elsewhere but I would've thought the fans at least would come on if the power switch was connected properly.

deconduo

0Paragon0 wrote: »

Decided to go for this thanks. Arrived in the door today. Bit of a hitch - have the components installed but pc won't turn on. I believe the problem is my case's power/led/reset switch cables connecting to the motherboard. The led cables are fine, but the power button and reset button cables each go on two pins, while the mobo's system panel header have one pin for each. There are ground pins beside each and i tried every configuration I can to no effect. Any suggestions?

My case is an Arctic Cooling Silentium T2. Couldn't find any support docs for it.

Problem may lie elsewhere but I would've thought the fans at least would come on if the power switch was connected properly.

Quick way to test it is to just jump start it. Place a screwdriver between the + and - power pins for a second to see if it starts up.

crazygeryy

deconduo wrote: »

0Paragon0 wrote: »

Decided to go for this thanks. Arrived in the door today. Bit of a hitch - have the components installed but pc won't turn on. I believe the problem is my case's power/led/reset switch cables connecting to the motherboard. The led cables are fine, but the power button and reset button cables each go on two pins, while the mobo's system panel header have one pin for each. There are ground pins beside each and i tried every configuration I can to no effect. Any suggestions?

My case is an Arctic Cooling Silentium T2. Couldn't find any support docs for it.

Problem may lie elsewhere but I would've thought the fans at least would come on if the power switch was connected properly.

Quick way to test it is to just jump start it. Place a screwdriver between the + and - power pins for a second to see if it starts up.

In the newegg video on youtube when the guy is building the pc he assembles it outside the case first to see if everything is working ok.
Is this worth doing?

deconduo

crazygeryy wrote: »

In the newegg video on youtube when the guy is building the pc he assembles it outside the case first to see if everything is working ok.
Is this worth doing?

Yeah, its a good idea because it helps to make sure every part is working properly.

JustPaddy1

Hi everyone I’m a student and I work part time so I don't have much to be spending on buying parts but I hope someone here could help me with exactly what I’m looking for.

Also hopefully I will want to upgrade the PC in the future.

1. What is your budget?
[€500-€600ish]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
[Gaming (Call of Duty, Battlefield etc.) and maybe some video editing

3. Do you need a copy of Windows?
[No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
[No]

5. Do you need a monitor?
[I think I can use my T.V.]

5a. If yes, what size do you need.
[]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future?
[Not sure about the size but i think its over 30 inches and HD] [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals?
[Keyboard & Mouse but i could pick them up myself if it’ll be easier]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking?
[Not unless I have too]

8. How can you pay?
[PayPal or Laser Card]

9. When are you purchasing?
[A month or two]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based?
[I have put together and taken apart standard PCs so I can do the basics if that’s enough and I live in North Dublin]

Jackb45

Howayee lads.

Ive spent the past year living with my fiance in Slovakia and my budget was as tight as a wrens rear end. How could it not be with a 400 euro a month average wage. No wonder so many of them came over here.

Ive come home for the summer and will have access to a bit of cash but as i'm planning to return to Slovakia in September so my girl can finish her college I dont want to completely break the bank when building this new machine.

I'm hoping to set my budget to around 500 - 600 euro.

I am an avid gamer at heart and have spent the past year playing old classics like system shock 2, half life 1, elder scrolls morrowind etc and ive been absolutely drooling over the games that I could only dream about playing such as skyrim, fallout 3 and many more. Help me make it my reality!


1. What is your budget?
[€500-€600]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
[Gaming, Gaming, Gaming!]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows?
[No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
[No]

5. Do you need a monitor?
[nope]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future?
[Its an 80 euro buy from argos, not sure the resolution tho its a widescreen] [definitely]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals?
[no]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking?
[if its safe]

8. How can you pay?
[PayPal,Laser Card,credit card, cheque]

9. When are you purchasing?
[A month or two]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based?
[I'm in the west of Ireland. Not a clue how to build a pc but i want to make it a summer project]


Thanks for readin!

FlyingIrishMan

Feel free to create your own thread, bit busy at the moment to help you now but you'll get a lot more attention if you post your own thread

IrishMetalhead

Well I'm guessing if your monitor was only €80 i'm guessing you be using a lower res then 1080p probably 1360x768 which means theres no point in spending more then €150 on a gpu so what i did was add a 6870 instead of going for a 7850 which would be overkill for your monitor and used the money saved on that for a better cpu so you can enjoy your pc for everything else that bit better:

Item|Price
Total build cost: €572.15 + €18.99 shipping
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€37.72
LG GH24NS bare schwarz|€16.43
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€61.80
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€32.16
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€54.33
Intel Core i5-2320 Box, LGA1155|€164.32
Sapphire HD6870 1G GDDR5 PCI-E DL-DVI-I+SL-DVI-D / HDMI / DP|€147.59
MSI B75MA-P45, Intel B75, mATX, DDR3|€57.80


if you need a smaller case to make the move abit easier replace the BitFenix Merc with this:
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Mini/49193/FRACTAL+DESIGN+Geh%C3%A4use+Core+1000+black.article

Jackb45

Fair play to ya IMH I cant fault your selections.

I would be willing to stick a 2gb in there because i will definitely be upgrading my moniter in the future.

For 500 euro that is a bang on machine, honest to god I was gonna fork out 1700 to dell for something similar :eek:

IrishMetalhead

2gb models are virutally useless unless your going for ubber high res or multi monitors like eyefinity, that 6870 is more then enough for your build and it still plays most games on every settings on max on 1080p

Jackb45

Ive been checking out some reviews on processers and seen that the Intel Core i7-950 got a much faster 3dmark score but is cheaper then the i5-2320 ... is this down to the multithreading aspect ive heard some people talkin about which doesnt really affect gaming performance

Jackb45

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

2gb models are virutally useless unless your going for ubber high res or multi monitors like eyefinity, that 6870 is more then enough for your build and it still plays most games on every settings on max on 1080p

Good man i'll keep that extra few bob in my pocket if thats the case.

IrishMetalhead

Jackb45 wrote: »

Ive been checking out some reviews on processers and seen that the Intel Core i7-950 got a much faster 3dmark score but is cheaper then the i5-2320 ... is this down to the multithreading aspect ive heard some people talkin about which doesnt really affect gaming performance

well any i7 will beat any i5 but there really expensive and in real gaming offer very little, they may score well on 3dmark cause 3d mark can makes use of al threads but most games don't use anymore then 4 threads so it would be a waste to buy an i7 for gaming only go with an i7 if your going to be using it as a owrkstation aswell for multi threaded apps like vide encoding etc.
plus the 950 is fairly old now and the new and simularly priced 2600k and that would be the minimum i7 i would recommend and it costs €270!

netzteil

Hi. Have a dell laptop and a playstation but would now like to build my first pc. With some advice from a few people and looking at many of the posts here I was looking at something like this from hwvs. Any advice would be much appreciated
Thanks

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-3450 Box, LGA1155|€170.41
ASUS P8Z77-V LX, Sockel 1155, ATX, DDR3|€96.92
Samsung SH-224BB bare schwarz|€18.16
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€54.03
Sapphire Radeon HD 7850, 1GB GDDR5|€164.72
Antec One, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€55.11
Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit (SB-Version)|€86.09
Logitech LS21 2.1 Speaker System|€21.90
Sharkoon Drakonia Gaming Laser Mouse|€24.67
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€714.32




1. What is your budget? [€700-750]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Internet] (COD Minecraft)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [320gb Hard drive/4g Ram]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]


5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080] [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Mouse/Card Reader/Speakers]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In 7days]

Amirani

You should start your own thread, be easier for you to follow.

That CPU isn't overclockable btw.

netzteil

Ok will do that. Not so sure about overclocking.

Monotype

You could fit a 3570K into there just about. I think that's the best upgrade you could do on that.

It doesn't look like the Antec One has a 3.5'' bay, so you might need one of these:
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Misc./54479/BitFenix+Halterahmen+für+2%2C5+%26+3%2C5+Zoll+in+5%2C25+Zoll%2C+SofTouch%2C+schwarz.article

netzteil

Ah yes I hadn't noticed that about the 3.5" bay.
What if I went for the slightly faster i5-3570 over i5-3540 and a h77 board instead of the z77 or would it be better to have the option to overclock in the future. I'd need a new cpu cooler then too?

Item|Price
ASUS P8H77-V LE, Sockel 1155, ATX, DDR3|€91.34
Antec One, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€55.11
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€54.03
ASUS DRW-24B5ST Retail|€19.97
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
Sharkoon Drakonia Gaming Laser Mouse|€24.67
Logitech LS21 2.1 Speaker System|€21.90
Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit (SB-Version)|€86.09
Sapphire Radeon HD 7850, 1GB GDDR5|€164.72
Intel Core i5-3570 Box, LGA1155|€187.04
BitFenix Halterahmen für 2,5 & 3,5 Zoll in 5,25 Zoll, SofTouch, schwarz|€5.26
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€732.44

I had made a new thread for this here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056792407

netzteil

Thanks Monotype and NiallSparky for your help.
Purchased a system from dabs this morning. I got most things from used stock.
Its possibly a bit risky but the stuff has a 90 day warranty at least.

Got the following:
i7 2600k 3.40GHz,
OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD,
Seagate 1TB Barracuda SpinPoint SATA 3Gb/s 7200RPM,
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H,
Gigabyte ATI Radeon 7850 HD 975MHz 2GB,
Corsair Carbide Series 300R Gaming Case
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 XMS3 1600Mhz DIMM CL9
Corsair Builder Series CX 80+ Bronze, 500 Watt,
Samsung 24x SH-224BB DVD-RW,
Zalman Wireless Optical Mouse M5000WL,
Cherry 105KEY PS2 19\" GB BLACK,
Creative Inspire T10 Speakers ,
Delivery €20.14
Total €708.53
Your order has been discounted with a coupon worth €39.95 inc VAT

Still have to get OS.

paul40

Hello,

Need help to build gaming PC have 450, will probably able to strech to 500, have monitior which is is capable of displaying most new games, needs to be wifi capable, need key board and mouse.

Paul

Monotype

Can you expand on the details of your monitor? Do you know what resolution it runs at?

Do you need Windows and which games in particular do you have in mind?

TheZenWithin

paul40 wrote: »

Hello,

Need help to build gaming PC have 450, will probably able to strech to 500, have monitior which is is capable of displaying most new games, needs to be wifi capable, need key board and mouse.

Paul

Hi Paul,
with current prices what they are and off the top of my head here is a rough idea of what you could get for that:

i3-2120: €120
4GB ddr3 Dominator RAM : €30
CoolerMaster 500w PSU: €50
GeForce 650Ti: €150

Thats €350 so far. After that you need your case, dvd drive and mobo. These would be more down to your preference. With the mobo just make sure it supports the ram and processor and you are good to go.

BloodBath

Make a new thread Paul and fill out the questionnaire.