Building a Budget Gaming PC

Lago

I've never had any experience of building a computer, and to be honest I don't even know what it involves. I know you need a motherboard, CPU and graphics card. I can only sort of guess after that. So that's why I've come here looking for advice

As the title says it's mainly for gaming but I'll probably use it for internet as well. Most of the games I play are hard on the processor (Football Manager, Paradox Interactive games etc.) so a good CPU would be the main priority. At this stage, it's almost like a dream of mine to have a powerful processor

For the graphics card, a slightly above average one would do, I'd like the best I could get that wouldn't jack up the price too much. My current computer has a Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT in it at the moment and that's been working perfectly for me. So if I could get that switched in this build it would be a handy money saver but I'd have to be sure the new build would work first

My budget is about 600 euro. I have plenty of keyboards, mice and monitors so I don't need them.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

PseudoFamous

Total build cost: €566.13 + €30 shipping
8GB-Kit GeIL Value Plus PC3-8500U CL7 €45.88
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €45.14
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.30
Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower - black/orange, ohne Netzteil €32.10
ASRock P67 Pro3 SE (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX €89.75
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €175.28
Cooler Master Hyper TX3, alle Sockel €16.59
Sapphire HD6770 1G GDDR5 PCI-E HDMI / DVI-I / DP €92.05
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W €52.04

Wasn't sure if you needed an OS, but if you do, get the German version of Windows 7 from that site, DL an .iso of an English version, burn it to a disk, and use the German authentication code with it. It will work. You'll be slightly overbudget if you do need an OS with that, sorry. If you need to squeeze some extra cash in order to do so, you can drop the aftermarket fan, get a smaller HDD, and get less RAM.

If you're a student, you could get it on the cheap from Software4students

If you have a copy of Win7 or whichever OS you decide to use, you could invest in a beefier gfx card. Otherwise, that should all do you fine.

Solitaire

Thought that looked too cheap... reason turns out that your list is missing a PSU Rather vital that

PseudoFamous

Solitaire wrote: »

Thought that looked too cheap... reason turns out that your list is missing a PSU Rather vital that

Fixed. I think I dropped a few IQ points, I was just forced to sit through Jedward for an hour.

Solitaire

I feel sorry for your brain right now

Lago

PseudoFamous wrote: »

Total build cost: €566.13 + €30 shipping
8GB-Kit GeIL Value Plus PC3-8500U CL7 €45.88
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €45.14
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.30
Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower - black/orange, ohne Netzteil €32.10
ASRock P67 Pro3 SE (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX €89.75
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €175.28
Cooler Master Hyper TX3, alle Sockel €16.59
Sapphire HD6770 1G GDDR5 PCI-E HDMI / DVI-I / DP €92.05
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W €52.04

Wasn't sure if you needed an OS, but if you do, get the German version of Windows 7 from that site, DL an .iso of an English version, burn it to a disk, and use the German authentication code with it. It will work. You'll be slightly overbudget if you do need an OS with that, sorry. If you need to squeeze some extra cash in order to do so, you can drop the aftermarket fan, get a smaller HDD, and get less RAM.

If you're a student, you could get it on the cheap from Software4students

If you have a copy of Win7 or whichever OS you decide to use, you could invest in a beefier gfx card. Otherwise, that should all do you fine.

Thanks mate, a lot cheaper than I'd thought it'd be. Plus, I can pick up Windows 7 now, which is a bonus. Just wondering, any suggestions for a graphics card just incase I can't do anything with my current one?

PseudoFamous

Lago wrote: »

Thanks mate, a lot cheaper than I'd thought it'd be. Plus, I can pick up Windows 7 now, which is a bonus. Just wondering, any suggestions for a graphics card just incase I can't do anything with my current one?

There was one in that post

Lago

PseudoFamous wrote: »

There was one in that post

Ah sorry, my German is brutal :P

Solitaire

Excuse Fail

Lago

Hi guys

Sorry to be a pain but I've only just found out about hardwareversand's payment and for me it's either Paypal or nothing. I'm usually calm when it comes to payment methods but to me, bank transfer just seems to be a ridiculous way to have to pay for something online.

So I was wondering if someone could help me find another website to buy those (or similar) parts from. Sorry again

jack888

Lago wrote: »

Hi guys

Sorry to be a pain but I've only just found out about hardwareversand's payment and for me it's either Paypal or nothing. I'm usually calm when it comes to payment methods but to me, bank transfer just seems to be a ridiculous way to have to pay for something online.

So I was wondering if someone could help me find another website to buy those (or similar) parts from. Sorry again

I thought same thing but all other sites are considerably more expensive and have much less stock available.

You can pay with Aib or bank of ireland Internet banking, its very easy and quick.

Lago

jack888 wrote: »

I thought same thing but all other sites are considerably more expensive and have much less stock available.

You can pay with Aib or bank of ireland Internet banking, its very easy and quick.

I was thinking they might be more expensive but to be honest, and this will sound stupid, I would probably rather pay more for it than have to go through the security risks, hassle and potential hassle that something like a bank transfer would and could bring

Fluffy88

A bank transfer doesn't involve any security risks, its actually safer. And although a small bit more hassle if you don't have online banking not that big a deal, a trip to your local branch is all that's needed.

But if you insist, http://www.scan.co.uk/ is a very good site too,.

Jonny7

Lago wrote: »

I was thinking they might be more expensive but to be honest, and this will sound stupid, I would probably rather pay more for it than have to go through the security risks, hassle and potential hassle that something like a bank transfer would and could bring

Bank transfers are very secure, and usually much easier to reverse or get kicked-back if there's a prob - I should know I work in one

The Germans are perfectionists too, I work with a good few of them, and I often order from ebay.de just because I know the fecker will foam-pack it, zip-loc bag it, bubble-wrap it, include invoice, etc, etc, etc

All that said, if you still wanna go UK, then scan.co.uk shouldn't be too much more expensive, and luckily exchange rate isn't too bad at the mo.

Solitaire

Another fan of German suppliers and bank transfers. Once you know what goes where its easy as pie and very secure if you know who you're trading with!

And you said Paypal... HWVS do PayPal AFAIK, its the only other way to pay for stuff there... or have I missed something

Burgo

Fluffy88 wrote: »

But if you insist, http://www.scan.co.uk/ is a very good site too,.

If you do go for scan then you have to check out the today only deals, saved myself almost £30 with my last order.

Tea_Bag

they do paypal. ive just gone through placing 3 orders with them (dont ask) and i didnt see the paypal option, but others do use it. it does have a 3% extra charge though..

Lago

Tea_Bag wrote: »

they do paypal. ive just gone through placing 3 orders with them (dont ask) and i didnt see the paypal option, but others do use it. it does have a 3% extra charge though..

Hardwareversand do Paypal? If so I'd happily pay the extra 3% to use it. However, I can't see anything about Paypal on the website

Burgo

Lago wrote: »

Hardwareversand do Paypal? If so I'd happily pay the extra 3% to use it. However, I can't see anything about Paypal on the website

When you are in the process of ordering, at the payment option page there is an option to pay with paypal.

Lago

Oh God, what a pain

I went to pay with Paypal and it says my card is already in use and won't accept. Now unless someone has robbed the card, it's refering to the other Paypal account I have which I created because I forgot I already had one set up. Thing is, I closed that other account and it still says my card is in use. :mad:

Plus it also seems HWVS aren't accepting Paypal at the moment anyway. So it looks like I'll have to find the parts on another website and pay straight through Mastercard