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Cheap-as-chip PC build for a new PC gamer

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  • 04-04-2016 8:48pm
    #1
    Serephucus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,180 ✭✭✭


    'Sup lads?

    So I have a friend who I think would be a great candidate for a gaming PC. He's really into a lot of indie games and plays some of them on an old laptop (IGPU), but can't really play much because low specs.

    He has thought about a PC before, but never really done it because of funds, and because he's not so sure about the ROI, I think.

    I've been thinking about trying to throw together something as cheap as possible to surprise him with.

    So what do people think I should look at?

    Certainly older stuff, second-hand. CeX had a Q6600 for €25 the other day which sounds pretty good to me, but I don't know how many 775 boards are still floating about these days. They also had an i7 920 for €35, but I'd guess 1366 stuff is even harder to come by.

    I have an old 1TB drive I can use, as well as a 128GB M4. I'm kicking myself because up until about two months ago I also had a G3258. :(

    Anyone have any hardware that might fit the bill that hasn't made it to Adverts?Any advice on where to look? I'm not really familiar with the lower end stuff, mostly where AMD's CPUs/APUs slot in when compared to Intel.


    Edit: *chips


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    #2
    ronkmonster
    Registered Users Posts: 1,181 ✭✭✭ronkmonster


    i have a i5 2500k, motherboard, ram and cpu cooler I've just replaced. I also have a i7 920 and 930 + motherboards.
    Might be too expensive for his budget?


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    #3
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    Buy 2nd hand machine complete rather than attempt to build. If it's only indie titles, a decent Core 2 Quad based machine with 4GB of ram, a Win license and a 2nd hand card like a HD7750 or R7 250 wouldn't cost more than about €150 in total when you factor in buying a 2nd hand card separately.


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    #4
    satguy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,759 ✭✭✭satguy


    The Q6600 is an OK Quad Core,, but it is Socket 775,, you can find 775 boards that will take DDR3 Ram but they can be hard to find,, otherwise you will be stuck on DDR2 Ram, and that's not good...

    I would give 1366 a miss ...

    That leaves FM2 or AM2 / AM3 ... some APU's might game low end games,, But really you are looking at the 860K or an old amd phenom ii x6..

    You can still find AM3 boards at low cost,, and a phenom ii x4 or x6 can be found for about €40 ...


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    #5
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    If you were going to go down FM2 or AM3 you would be better off getting a cheap 2nd gen i5 based Dell/HP/etc as they are cheap as chips (about €150), and add a card, they're actually faster than the AMD FX processors overall.

    Am2 is slower than Core 2 Quad also, and DDR2 ram is fine for the likes of indie games. The 860K is a really bad processor if you're buying new. It wouldn't make any financial sense to go spending money on an AMD cpu/board new, or even second hand when older generation i-series machines are dirt cheap.


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    #6
    Serephucus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,180 ✭✭✭Serephucus


    Thanks lads. Sort of confirmed what I was thinking, for the most part.

    Thanks for the offer ronk, but yeah, 2500K is way more than I'd want to spend. Hoping for around €150 or so ex. GPU.

    Will have a look-see on eBay for Dells and HPs. I'd looked on Adverts for systems but they seem to have a higher BS tax than single components do, so I was leaning away from them.


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    #7
    Serephucus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,180 ✭✭✭Serephucus


    So, I've sourced all parts minus GPU, and I'm thinking I'll leave that to him (he has a bit of money, IIRC, and can invest whatever he deems appropriate) but at least I've taken care of the up-front PC cost.

    i3 3240 (3.4GHz), 8GB DDR3, H61 board, 128 SSD, 1TB HDD, VS450 PSU, Fractal Core 1100 case

    Cost me a grand total of €188. :)

    Had a look on Adverts but was full of people wanting basically retail price for 2-3 year old hardware. Absolutely insane. Actually managed to get a couple of the bits in CeX in town. Pity they don't do more components, as it's actually really handy for stuff like this. I had the 1TB drive lying around, and the rest was from Amazon Warehouse.

    He'll be playing off a TV initially, and I think I have a spare keyboard and mouse lying around somewhere.


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    #8
    2ndcoming
    Registered Users Posts: 3,571 ✭✭✭2ndcoming


    Serephucus wrote: »
    Had a look on Adverts but was full of people wanting basically retail price for 2-3 year old hardware. Absolutely insane.

    For some reason the PC components section seems particularly bad for this. Only thing I managed to pick up off adverts was a PSU.

    Put fair bids in for a few other items but lots of people don't seem to understand if you're charging the same or more as something costs new on Amazon you don't have the right to complain about "lowballing" when people offer 60% retail for a 2nd hand item.


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    #9
    zarquon
    Registered Users Posts: 3,734 ✭✭✭zarquon


    2ndcoming wrote: »
    For some reason the PC components section seems particularly bad for this. Only thing I managed to pick up off adverts was a PSU.

    Put fair bids in for a few other items but lots of people don't seem to understand if you're charging the same or more as something costs new on Amazon you don't have the right to complain about "lowballing" when people offer 60% retail for a 2nd hand item.

    adverts.ie is a nightmare. A lot of sellers call below RRP offers as "low balling" and "ad spoiling" despite being 2nd hand. Everyone knows tech depreciates at a high rate but a lot of sellers try to recoup their full initial investment. Reasonable offers incur anger, crys of low balling, deleting comments and reporting users. It's amazing to me that sellers sell items with prices that are higher than amazon prices. Make an offer, get rebuked then tell the seller that the item is cheaper brand new on amazon and then get accused of ad spoiling. It's a waste of time now and i find myself using ebay more and more now.

    There are a few sellers that are very reasonable i.e take offers in line with the actual value but these are few and far between

    Had a look at ebay and there are some low i5 base PCs going for about €150 which is reasonable. Add a budget card and you have a cheap gaming pc with little effort


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    #10
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,649 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    Adverts is terrible. Most of the stuff is over price. If you try to sell anything you get pittance and messers. If you even get an offer.

    The main issues with a gaming PC is getting one with a Power Supply that will work with the graphics card you are going to use. Also is there space in the case for the gfx card. Finally the Windows Licence.


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    #11
    long_b
    Registered Users Posts: 4,939 ✭✭✭long_b


    Young lad's inherited Dell XPS410 c2d 3 Ghz has just died.

    Hoping to upgrade to a better PC but very cost conscious.
    Minecraft and Arc mostly (Arc ran pretty poorly)

    Would like to reuse these bits I had picked up for the Dell (along with the ssd and hdd) .

    VTX3D Radeon HD 6670 1GB 1024MB GDDR3 PCIExpress Graphics Card DVI HDMI VGA PCIE

    4GB (2x2GB) CM2X2048-6400C5 Corsair XMS2 Ver 3.1 DDR2 Performance Ram.

    Could anyone recommend a full machine on eBay for 150-200? Adverts does look expensive.


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    #12
    Serephucus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,180 ✭✭✭Serephucus


    Pretty sure there was someone selling a 775 rig in the gear selling thread a couple of weeks back. Might want to give that a look. It's that or something AM2 based (I think).


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    #13
    long_b
    Registered Users Posts: 4,939 ✭✭✭long_b


    Serephucus wrote: »
    Pretty sure there was someone selling a 775 rig in the gear selling thread a couple of weeks back. Might want to give that a look. It's that or something AM2 based (I think).

    Thanks for the reply but I'm afraid it's gone right over my head.
    Would somethingike this be much of an upgrade or would it be totally unsuitable because of power supply or something?
    I'm pretty clueless in this area in afraid

    http://m.ebay.ie/itm/121970221342?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&_mwBanner=1


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    #14
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,649 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    Everything on a gaming PC depends on the graphics card.

    The first limitation on the graphics card is the Power Supply. That Dell only has a 265W PSU. Too little. The XPS 410 had 375 watt PSU as stock.

    I'm using a quad Q6700 with a Radeon 7750, 4GB and a 305 PSU. Plays Minecraft great. WOT ok. I don't know what Arc is. But the PSU is marginal for me.

    I tried Minecraft and WOT on i3's with the onboard graphics and they were just too slow.

    This one has 300w.
    http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/fujitsu-p400-tower-desktop-pc-core-i3-3-10ghz-hdmi-4gb-wifi-win7-intel/10243592

    I think though to get a decent low end gaming PC you really need to spend about 350~450 and build it yourself.


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    #15
    Serephucus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,180 ✭✭✭Serephucus


    Went to assemble this thing the other day, and after much troubleshooting (and swearing) I have a dead board. Sent that back, waiting on a new one to arrive, and hoping the bent pins I didn't notice the first time didn't also fry the CPU. :(


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    #16
    beauf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,649 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    beauf wrote: »
    Everything on a gaming PC depends on the graphics card.

    The first limitation on the graphics card is the Power Supply. That Dell only has a 265W PSU. Too little. The XPS 410 had 375 watt PSU as stock....

    You might be able to swap the PSU for your old one. But then that makes the dell even a worse deal.


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