Attempting to build a budget gaming PC for ~€600

G.J.

I was looking around hardwareversand trying to skimp as much as I could and came up with this build, and I'm wondering if it's alright/if it will actually work.

I'm completely new to this, so I'm not too sure as to what I should be looking at. A friend helped me with most of it, I sort of twiddled around with what I could.


RAM: 8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 - €35.52
PSU: Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W - €56.11
MOBO: ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX - €90.77
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s - €77.42
CASE: 3R Systems Design Gehäuse R480 Schwarz - €25.90
GPU: Sapphire HD6870 1G GDDR5 PCI-E DL-DVI-I+SL-DVI-D / HDMI / DP - €155.07
CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155 - €111.88
SHIPPING: €18.99
TOTAL: €571.66

Procrastastudy

No help needed there.

Oh hang on cheap plastic crap alert - By the Merc Beta

U_Fig

Maybe drop the z77 of you don't plan on overclocking.. Save a few quid on a cheaper mobo and bump up the gpu a bit.. That's what I do in games gpu will be the biggest bottleneck..

G.J.

So switch the case, drop the motherboard a bit and raise the GPU?

I also changed the PSU, the 650W was a little cheaper too.

So would this work?

Component|Item|Price
RAM| 8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€35.52
PSU | Super-Flower SF650P14P 650W | €44.72
MOBO | ASRock B75 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX | €72.44
HDD | Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s | €77.42
CASE | BitFenix Merc Alpha | €31.90
GPU | XFX RADEON HD 6950 830M 2GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI | €193.18
CPU | Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155 | €111.88
|SHIPPING | €18.99
|TOTAL | €586


Or could I use an mATX and make it even cheaper?

U_Fig

To could make it matx as long as the case accepts it check this out and you don't need the the extra pcie slots..also I doubt tou'll save much on getting an matx board.. Also 550w more than enough..the previous one is a better psu its more efficient ..it's 80+ certified.

G.J.

Yay?

Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€35.52
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€61.57
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€31.90
Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155|€111.88
XFX RADEON HD 6950 830M 2GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI|€193.18
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€55.94
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€91.34
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€600.32

U_Fig

G.J. wrote: »

Yay?

Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€35.52
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€61.57
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€31.90
Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155|€111.88
XFX RADEON HD 6950 830M 2GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI|€193.18
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€55.94
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€91.34
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€600.32

Looks ok but you went back to the z77 board..accident?

G.J.

U_Fig wrote: »

Looks ok but you went back to the z77 board..accident?

It was more thinking that I had the money to get it. I just said why not.

I can't really think of somewhere else to use the money, and a 500GB HDD should do me grand. The possibilities are better with a Z77 board are they not?

Procrastastudy

G.J. wrote: »

It was more thinking that I had the money to get it. I just said why not.

I can't really think of somewhere else to use the money, and a 500GB HDD should do me grand. The possibilities are better with a Z77 board are they not?

I'd probably keep hold of it. There will probably be quite a few i5-2500K and 3570K near the end of its life going so maybe grab one of those and clock the guts out of it to extend the life of the PC a bit.