Guide - the Budget Gaming PC

Grandmasha_Yoda

Hi Solitaire,

Thanks for the reply.

Resolution is 1680x1050, its a 24" Targa Visionary.

Budget is around the €500 mark, so if that leaves any room for some more 'oomph' that would be great.

Thanks.

Jonathan

Solitaire wrote: »

PSU is arguably overpriced but I don't trust most of the cheap PSUs aside from the CX400, which is out of stock (again!).

I ordered the last one. Went out of stock after my order went through :pac:

Solitaire

AMD re-spin:



WHO is the most demanding app you've listed and it doesn't benefit from additional cores so I stuck with a fast dualie. The X2-550BE is a bit more expensive than the E6300, but is still cheaper than the (inferior) E7400 and also a lot cheaper than the slightly superior (mostly due to higher OC headroom) E8400. The good bit is that it has an unlocked multiplier, so to OC it you just raise the multiplier and can leave the FSB and memory well alone (you may still need to increase voltage once you get past a certain threshold). The bad bit is that its quite a bit hungrier than its Intel rivals (it has a TDP of 80W, and for once that's not a ludicrous exaggeration!)

Only problem is that given its thirst it might get a wee bit hot under OC with the stock cooler. I was going to spec an Arctic Freezer 64 Pro (very cheap but still decent and very quiet to boot) for CPU cooler duties but its still out of stock and there's no sign of it returning anytime soon Nothing else there that would keep you within budget yet significantly outperform the stock cooler.

Grandmasha_Yoda

Soltaire,

Thanks for those builds. Am gonna have a look see at which to pick over the next few days.

slowlydownwards

Great thread going here. Not to take anything from the well informed and helpful posters here, but can I point out (for those that do now know about it) about monthly builds that good people at bit-tech.net put up regularly ("What hardware should I buy"). It's by no means the last word when it comes to choosing components, but can be helpful nevertheless.

Jonathan

slowlydownwards wrote: »

Great thread going here. Not to take anything from the well informed and helpful posters here, but can I point out (for those that do now know about it) about monthly builds that good people at bit-tech.net put up regularly ("What hardware should I buy"). It's by no means the last word when it comes to choosing components, but can be helpful nevertheless.

Direct link:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2009/07/08/what-hardware-should-i-buy-july-2009/1

mercury127

Don't suppose I could get away with the CX400 in that build Solitare? :P

Jonathan

mercury127 wrote: »

Don't suppose I could get away with the CX400 in that build Solitare? :P

It can supply about 470ish Watts, but it isn't 80plus at that point.

Solitaire

Jonathan wrote:

It can supply about 470ish Watts, but it isn't 80plus at that point.

Run a PSU over its rated maximum and almost anything could happen. Fatal overheating due to excess current draw is the logical conclusion, but with a decent PSU even if the overcurrent protection isn't tripped the final defense, overheat protection, would. But even if the CX400 could run that high you'd be looking at $#!£ty regulation and sub-par efficiency to boot (plus outside the manufacturer's specification there's no need to remain within safe ripple voltage spec, is there? :P)

mercury127 wrote:

Don't suppose I could get away with the CX400 in that build Solitare?

You probably could, but out of a possible 30A the CPU can draw up to 7A with a slight OC, and the GPU can draw over 9A on a bad day. System power draw while gaming could head past 20A, which isn't anywhere near the PSUs max, but like all PSUs you start to find yourself wandering Ye Olde Land Of Diminishing Returns past 50% output (i.e. over 15A on the CX400).

On the other hand when you're not gaming the power consumption drops like a stone. Hell, if you got the Sapphire Value HD4850 the GPU is virtually persona non grata in a 2D environment (stupidly low idle ) - you probably won't drop too far below 15% PSU output (the low-end limit after which things start to get less efficient - pity the many fools out there who run Firefox on 1kW+ PSUs and forget to fold in the background! )

Jonathan

Solitaire wrote: »

Run a PSU over its rated maximum and almost anything could happen. Fatal overheating due to excess current draw is the logical conclusion, but with a decent PSU even if the overcurrent protection isn't tripped the final defense, overheat protection, would. But even if the CX400 could run that high you'd be looking at $#!£ty regulation and sub-par efficiency to boot (plus outside the manufacturer's specification there's no need to remain within safe ripple voltage spec, is there? :P)

I not recommending it at all :pac: Just based on this.

mercury127

I suppose I could swap out the 550 for the 545, which seems almost identical except for the price. Or even the 65w Athlon X2 250 and go with the CX400. Performancewise they all seem pretty similar, although information on the 545 is turning out to be rather dificult to find.

jonny72

slowlydownwards wrote: »

Great thread going here. Not to take anything from the well informed and helpful posters here, but can I point out (for those that do now know about it) about monthly builds that good people at bit-tech.net put up regularly ("What hardware should I buy"). It's by no means the last word when it comes to choosing components, but can be helpful nevertheless.

Checked out the site and the builds. It just seems to be for people who have no clue about PC's, fair enough. It also seems to be just one giant ad for a retailer with not great prices.

Stick with Solitaire and hardwareversand I say.

mercury127

Just tossing this Komplett build out there for some criticism. I have an old hard drive I could recycle but I'm a bit skeptical about the Athlon processor. The motherboard says it only supports x3 and x4 but I've seen that board with the 250 in so I'm not sure what to believe. Perhaps a BIOS update would be necessary but I'd rather avoid that if possible as I may very likely screw the whole thing up. I've read reviews and it seems sound enough but I still like to get some more opinions.

Any thoughts?

spektr

lads
17 pages...sorry if what I'm looking for has been posted before.
here is the story: the thing I'm typing this text through has served me faithfully and bravely since 2003. but it needs to retire.
a friend of mine helped me to build it and I hope I will be able to do it myself this time.

so what I'm looking for is something at 550 max including everything (delivery from hardwareversand.de (or anywhere else if better), mouse&keyboard, monitor, case, etc..no printers, hi-fi sound systems, usb christmas alarms. no need for software either).
the servant is mainly to be used for fighting virtual monsters and some photoshop imagery and photo mumbo-jumbo. now I won't expect it to run this morning released game fast and easy at highest video options but rather at medium ones and even a bit older games are fine for me. what I definitely want it to be reliable, i.e. more chances the parts will be friendly with each other long, the better.

the only preference I have is 19" square (not those wide ones) monitor and perhaps seagate hard drive as I always trusted them (but that's not important).

thanks all!

elazar55

spektr wrote: »

lads
17 pages...sorry if what I'm looking for has been posted before.
here is the story: the thing I'm typing this text through has served me faithfully and bravely since 2003. but it needs to retire.
a friend of mine helped me to build it and I hope I will be able to do it myself this time.

so what I'm looking for is something at 550 max including everything (delivery from hardwareversand.de (or anywhere else if better), mouse&keyboard, monitor, case, etc..no printers, hi-fi sound systems, usb christmas alarms. no need for software either).
the servant is mainly to be used for fighting virtual monsters and some photoshop imagery and photo mumbo-jumbo. now I won't expect it to run this morning released game fast and easy at highest video options but rather at medium ones and even a bit older games are fine for me. what I definitely want it to be reliable, i.e. more chances the parts will be friendly with each other long, the better.

the only preference I have is 19" square (not those wide ones) monitor and perhaps seagate hard drive as I always trusted them (but that's not important).

thanks all!

Hey, I know this great site, it's german so you know it's cheap. they have core i7 computers for under €800!!

I will tell you the cheapest websites there is.
no.1 is aria.co.uk
It's cheaper than hardwareversand in most areas.
no.2 www.ankermann-pc.com
They are even cheaper and they come built, if you want a recommended configuration from me for under €550. please pm. I don't want to be wasting my time typing this for nothing. (I don't know why the writing is like this.)

Effluo

elazar55 wrote: »

It's cheaper than hardwareversand in most areas.
no.2 www.ankermann-pc.com
They are even cheaper and they come built, if you want a recommended configuration from me for under €550. please pm. I don't want to be wasting my time typing this for nothing. (I don't know why the writing is like this.)

Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Ankermann is not a good idea.
You get what you pay for with them and often enough you don't get what you paid for.
A lot of reports of different(worse) graphics cards and processors and coolers and power supplies and so on and so on in their builds.

Really should avoid them

also aria's prices are excluding vat...

elazar55

efflou. aria is cheaper. i checked. i even clicked the "show prices inc.vat"

Jonathan

elazar55 wrote: »

efflou. aria is cheaper. i checked. i even clicked the "show prices inc.vat"

Might be cheaper but you pay for it in lack of customer care.

HL

Hi Guys,

I've been using a dell laptop for four years now. Over this time it's gotten worse and worse to the point where it now takes 10-15 minutes to start up and freezes nearly anytime I have more than 3 programmes running at once. When my external hard-drive broke on me I lost all my music and video saved on it so I decided to build a new PC.

I've never actually done this before and I'm not much more tech-literate than anyone else my age (22) but all the guides I found online make it seem feasible enough.

What I'm looking for is something to store and manage my music and DVDs (I like to back them up because when you lend them to people or leave them in someones gaff they tend to get ****ed) and maybe handle some gaming (not terribly important but if it can be fitted in for the price it's all good). I've got a monitor and peripherals. I wouldn't want to spend much more than €400.

Thank You

Effluo

elazar55 wrote: »

efflou. aria is cheaper. i checked. i even clicked the "show prices inc.vat"

I checked too!
Granted some of their special offers are indeed very good prices ie. Samsung F1 1terrabyte for only 64 euro is great and they have some good prices on nvidia graphics cards too...

But in general they are more expensive.
Also something to note would be the credit card and banks share of the exchange rate.
When you buy in a foreign currency, either paypal/googlecheckout or indeed the website itself will take an extra percentage when converting the currency.
If you get them to do it then the bank will....

It's generally cheaper to buy stuff in euros even if the exchange rate says otherwise.

Enough of that now though it's not really guide to budget gaming pc

edit: just realised aria's delivery charges.... yes a whole €31

Effluo

HL wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I've been using a dell laptop for four years now. Over this time it's gotten worse and worse to the point where it now takes 10-15 minutes to start up and freezes nearly anytime I have more than 3 programmes running at once. When my external hard-drive broke on me I lost all my music and video saved on it so I decided to build a new PC.

I've never actually done this before and I'm not much more tech-literate than anyone else my age (22) but all the guides I found online make it seem feasible enough.

What I'm looking for is something to store and manage my music and DVDs (I like to back them up because when you lend them to people or leave them in someones gaff they tend to get ****ed) and maybe handle some gaming (not terribly important but if it can be fitted in for the price it's all good). I've got a monitor and peripherals. I wouldn't want to spend much more than €400.

Thank You

Your laptop at 4 years old really should be able to handle all those things that you require(except maybe for the gaming part...)
Defragment your hd, run ccleaner, do you have an anti virus?
Better still just do a complete Operating system reinstall. That will speed it up to near what it was like the first day you got it.(sometimes even faster as the amount of junk that comes on pc's is uncredible)
Then get a new external Hard-drive(be gentle with it this time) and you'd be flyin', so to say.

It might also be wise to post what you have(in your laptop) up on the computers and technology forum(not in this thread), cause you might benefit greatly from a ram upgrade.

If you still however fancy a new pc..
For 400 euro you'd prob be better off with a Dell...
There have been arguments here in the past about which is better a 400 euro Dell or a 400 euro self build. Dell are very competitive at that price range although if you want anything other than what's in their basic system they can become more expensive.(upgrading anything with them costs a bomb)

Get the cheapest dell desktop and then get your own 1 terrabyte hard-drive here maybe.
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/1Tb+Samsung+EcoGreen+F2+SATA-2+Hard+Drive+?productId=35347

for around 60-70 delivered

Solitaire

HL wrote:

I've been using a dell laptop for four years now. Over this time it's gotten worse and worse to the point where it now takes 10-15 minutes to start up and freezes nearly anytime I have more than 3 programmes running at once.

Think I'll go out on a limb and say that the laptop's suffering from a necrotic OS installation. Time to cut out the gangrene methinks - reformat and reinstall everything from scratch and most of your issues will mysteriously vanish...

Except the bust external HDD wiping all your media, that is

Effluo wrote:

edit: just realised aria's delivery charges.... yes a whole €31

That's worse than HWVS!! :eek:

spektr

ok I got sorted: accidentaly noticed a special offer at the dell website and found something that suits me.

HL if you decide to get something off dell as you got recommended, you better hurry up as that offer ends on 26th.
what I got there is Inspiron 545 (a third one with the offer!) + 512mb video card added which came up in total of 399. all specs are there, so you can see them and decide for yourself.

dkmedia

hi everyone, the gaming computer on page 1 is a bit old now, so I thought I'd post a new budget gaming computer which is great for the money:

Amd Phenom II x3 720 BE 2.8ghz €139
Gigabyte Ga-MA770T-UD3P €81
Crucial DDR3 4gb kit CL7 €53.99
Antec Three Hundred Black €53
Corsair vx450w psu €61.01
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 €93
Delivery €25

Total €506

I have left out the operating system, hard drive and dvd drive, as I assume you have them all, but if not then add around €170 to the total which brings it to €676, a bargain! This is all from www.komplett.ie

The processor is a black edition which has an unlocked multiplier so overclocking is simple!

The above setup should be good for upto 1920 x 1080 at medium/high setting. If you want to game at 1920 x 1080 at all high then I'd suggest an Ati hd 4870 which adds at least €30 to the cost.

Unregistered.

dkmedia wrote: »

Amd Phenom II x3 720 BE 2.8ghz €139
Gigabyte Ga-MA770T-UD3P €81
Crucial DDR3 4gb kit CL7 €53.99
Antec Three Hundred Black €53
Corsair vx450w psu €61.01
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 €93

*scratches back of neck*


Eh, yeah, most games come on discs.......




Oh and somewhere for the OS...... and shit...

dkmedia

Unregistered. wrote: »

*scratches back of neck*


Eh, yeah, most games come on discs.......




Oh and somewhere for the OS...... and shit...

Yes, so if you continued reading my post you would have read, that you should add at least €170 to the total to include hard drive, dvd drive and operating system!

*scratches back of neck*

Unregistered.

dkmedia wrote: »

Yes, so if you continued reading my post you would have read, that you should add at least €170 to the total to include hard drive, dvd drive and operating system!

*scratches back of neck*

Hardly makes it a budget machine @ 676.......

dkmedia

Unregistered. wrote: »

Hardly makes it a budget machine @ 676.......

I'd call that a budget pc. If you already have a dvd drive, hard drive and Os then €506 is a great price for a good gaming pc that can handle high resolutions as well as medium to high detail.

Unregistered.

dkmedia wrote: »

I'd call that a budget pc. If you already have a dvd drive, hard drive and Os then €506 is a great price for a good gaming pc that can handle high resolutions as well as medium to high detail.

Fair enough, but I'm sure with a bit of shopping around *cough HWVS cough* that the same spec machin you put up with a HD and DVD drive can be had for under 500!

dkmedia

Unregistered. wrote: »

Fair enough, but I'm sure with a bit of shopping around *cough HWVS cough* that the same spec machin you put up with a HD and DVD drive can be had for under 500!

Well maybe, as long as similar quality components are used, ie, corsair & Antec 300. No point getting everything cheap if it stops working after a year!
C3computers are great also if you email them for a quote.