£600 gaming build for a friend!

[RadeonHDx]

Hey guys!

OK so I'm completely open to any suggestions for his build, He will be using the rig for solely gaming at 1080p at medium to high settings. He most likely won't be going crossfire in the future. Here is what I've picked for him so far from aria:

FX-6300 (I've heard that they are just as good as the 3570k)
XFX 7870 2GB Core Edition
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 AMD 970
8GB Mushkin Blackline 1600MHz @ 1.5v
Corsair CX500m
1TB Seagate Barracuda
NZXT Source 210 White
Windows 7 Home Premium

Thanks for any reply's!

 

[tinytomlogan]

FX-6300 (I've heard that they are just as good as the 3570k)

You heard wrong.

 

[seumasbeathan]

For £600 I would try and squeeze out a 3570k build

3570k
MSI Z77A G45
HD 7870 Tahiti LE
Corsair CX500M
Corsair 300r
8GB Vengeance 1600mhz
1TB WD Green

Then later on get an ssd for boot drive and use the wd for storage

 

[RadeonHDx]

Oh, ok. Could you suggest a budget build for my friend?

 

[seumasbeathan]

£600 - £650 is always a good amount to spend, I think what I suggested comes within that

 

[RadeonHDx]

It came to £693 with Windows 7 and he said that he wanted that in the cost.

 

[tinytomlogan]

It came to £693 with Windows 7 and he said that he wanted that in the cost.

So get him to wait a couple weeks till he has the money. That spec above is spot on.

 

[SuperFly]

Although I agree with everyone above, I wouldn't buy that.
Gaming = 85% GPU. (Random number, but you get the point). Your friend would be better of the rig that I'll now list below.

CPU: Intel Core i3 3220 = £90-100
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B75-D3V = £65 (Z77 if he/she'll be overclocking, B75 if not)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB = £45-55 (Depending which Profile you get)
PSU: Corsair CXM 500W = £52
GPU: EVGA 2GB 660 = £190 / £175-190 (Depending on version of course)
HDD: Seagate 1TB = £50
Case: Corsair 200r = £50
OS: Windows 7 = £100

The above are rough prices, variation of where you're shopping, I recommend Scan, Aria, or eBuyer, actual total may be a little higher/lower than listed above. To add to that, I believe you get free shipping from Aria PC if you're a member of TTL/overcock3d. However whatever the use £600 These days can be a little tight. As other people have said, I'd urge you to tell your friend to wait a couple weeks until he has around £50-100 more so he/she'll have enough for an SSD, although it's not a necessity.

But just go from the above, and your friend will be fine. Some people may argue otherwise, however as anyone with a light interest in PC Gaming/Building should know that gaming is mainly reliant on the GPU. So depending on what games your friend plays, stick to the above and just alter between GPU's.

Happy shopping and good luck

 

[Cru]

Although I agree with everyone above, I wouldn't buy that.
Gaming = 85% GPU. (Random number, but you get the point). Your friend would be better of the rig that I'll now list below.

Intel Core i3 3220 = £90-100
Gigabyte GA-B75-D3V = £65
Corsair Vengeance 8GB = £45-55 (Depending which Profile you get)
Corsair CXM 500W = £52
EVGA 2GB 660 = £190 / £175-190 (Depending on version of course)
Seagate 1TB = £50
Corsair 200r = £50
Windows 7 = £100

The above are rough prices, variation of where you're shopping, I recommend Scan, Aria, or eBuyer, actual total may be a little higher/lower than listed above. However whatever the use £600 These days can be a little tight. As other people have said, I'd urge you to tell your friend to wait a couple weeks until he has around £50-100 more.

But just go from the above, some people may argue otherwise, however as anyone with a light interest in PC Gaming/Building should know that gaming is mainly reliant on the GPU. So depending on what games your friend plays, stick to the above and just alter between GPU's.

Happy, shopping and good luck

i really don't agree
the 7870 is better than a 660 anyways

 

[tinytomlogan]

Although I agree with everyone above, I wouldn't buy that.
Gaming = 85% GPU. (Random number, but you get the point). Your friend would be better of the rig that I'll now list below.

Intel Core i3 3220 = £90-100
Gigabyte GA-B75-D3V = £65
Corsair Vengeance 8GB = £45-55 (Depending which Profile you get)
Corsair CXM 500W = £52
EVGA 2GB 660 = £190 / £175-190 (Depending on version of course)
Seagate 1TB = £50
Corsair 200r = £50
Windows 7 = £100

The above are rough prices, variation of where you're shopping, I recommend Scan, Aria, or eBuyer, actual total may be a little higher/lower than listed above. However whatever the use £600 These days can be a little tight. As other people have said, I'd urge you to tell your friend to wait a couple weeks until he has around £50-100 more.

But just go from the above, some people may argue otherwise, however as anyone with a light interest in PC Gaming/Building should know that gaming is mainly reliant on the GPU. So depending on what games your friend plays, stick to the above and just alter between GPU's.

Happy, shopping and good luck

The 7870 Tahiti beats the 660 mate. So your point is invalid.

 

[SuperFly]

@Cru3L139 Fair enough you disagree. Would you care to explain why?

@TomLogan Don't get the wrong idea, but what I said was simply my recommendations, and is better than anybody else has yet suggested. I have the utmost respect for you, and you definitely have my support on all your videos. But my point is invalid? I don't quite get what you mean.. May you please explain?

And to stop confusion, a Tahiti Le version 7870 may be better, I mean't to type Radeon 7870 in the first place, that's why there's a random £175-190 There. I simply suggested a GTX 660 because it's the price equivalent of a 7870.

 

[Cru]

@Cru3L139 Fair enough you disagree. Would you care to explain why?

reffering to the previous suggestion (3570k, MSI mobo, 7870):

well basically the CPU you choose is worse, i'm not a fan of these complete "budged" motherboards since it's an important part, and the GPU tends to perform worse

so i'd go with the 3570k build that got suggested

 

[SuperFly]

Uh.. Well of course it's worse, it's a Dual Core i3. You're right, of course it' an important part, it's the heart of a computer, however you say you're not a fan of "Budget" Motherboards, but that's kind of the point in having a budget, there's not much his/her friend can do about that. And the only reason a GPU would perform less on for example a Gigabyte B75 Board than an ASRock Extreme6 is because of the Graphics Interface. i.e PCIe 2.0 > 3.0. There's not much difference, especially on budget builds, and since you plug your monitor into the GPU. There's no other reason two of the same 7870's both connected on PCIe 2.0 by HDMI would perform less on different Motherboards.

And you say MSI Motherboard, The manufacturer doesn't matter. And assuming you mean the Z77 that was suggested, isn't better. There's no need to spend more on a Z77 when the OP's friend won't be overclocking, which is what I asked on my post.

 

[Cru]

Uh.. Well of course it's worse, it's a Dual Core i3. You're right, of course it' an important part, it's the heart of a computer, however you say you're not a fan of "Budget" Motherboards, but that's kind of the point in having a budget, there's not much his/her friend can do about that. And the only reason a GPU would perform less on for example a Gigabyte B75 Board than an ASRock Extreme6 is because of the Graphics Interface. i.e PCIe 2.0 > 3.0. There's not much difference, especially on budget builds, and since you plug your monitor into the GPU. There's no other reason two of the same 7870's both connected on PCIe 2.0 by HDMI would perform less on different Motherboards.

that's not what i tried to say. i'm just talking about reliability and that kind of stuff.
sure there's a budget and you can't go with a 300€ motherboard, but still I'd tend to "trust" the suggested MSI board more than the Gbyte one

 

[SuperFly]

Oh okay I see, I apologize. But in my opinion, reliability isn't much of an option with such low budget builds. If it's Gigabyte you don't like, just switch to a different B75 Board. As I said before, there's no reason for the op's friend to get a Z77 if he/she won't be overclocking, which I wouldn't recommend on such low budget builds anyway. But if he/she would the op would need to save more for better airflow.

After all, we're all just trying to help the OP, not compete with each other on who's builds are better.

 

[seumasbeathan]

When you can get an i5 k processor build with a quality msi motherboard for just a little more I would very much suggest it would be better to go with that. And what do you mean by " I wouldn't recommend on such low budget builds"? This is a 3570k and an MSI Z77A G45, they are quality components, and even on stock cooling your looking at getting 4GHZ easy

 

[SuperFly]

For a little more? Aha uh, no.. Not exactly. An i3 3220 is £95 whereas an i5-3570k is £180. Already almost double than an i3, not to mention a single i5-3570k is 1/3 of the entire budget. You're missing the point of a budget, of course an i5-3570k and Z77 are better in general, as they offer/support more, therefore are more expensive, however that doesn't mean they would BE better. It all depends on what the needs are. The OP's friend want's a budget gaming computer. On all budget computers, you note what the user will be doing so you can focus on that section, Gaming = GPU.

You say "Quality MSI Motherboard" What makes MSI any more quality efficient than Gigabyte? You're making it sound like an i3+B75 will blow up. Fact of the matter is, the user's friend only has £500 To spend on a computer, so buying an i5-3570k which has no benefits for the user over an i3-3220, and a Z77 Motherboard which is also pointless, (Assuming that the op's friend won't be overclocking) Would leave hardly any money for the most important part of the build, = The GPU.

Also note: Some people tend to find what I say a little offensive, so if you are please don't be, as everything I've said so far hasn't mean't to be.

 

[alienware]

For a little more? Aha uh, no.. Not exactly. An i3 3220 is £95 whereas an i5-3570k is £180. Already almost double than an i3, not to mention a single i5-3570k is 1/3 of the entire budget. You're missing the point of a budget, of course an i5-3570k and Z77 are better in general, as they offer/support more, therefore are more expensive, however that doesn't mean they would BE better. It all depends on what the needs are. The OP's friend want's a budget gaming computer. On all budget computers, you note what the user will be doing so you can focus on that section, Gaming = GPU.

You say "Quality MSI Motherboard" What makes MSI any more quality efficient than Gigabyte? You're making it sound like an i3+B75 will blow up. Fact of the matter is, the user's friend only has £500 To spend on a computer, so buying an i5-3570k which has no benefits for the user over an i3-3220, and a Z77 Motherboard which is also pointless, (Assuming that the op's friend won't be overclocking) Would leave hardly any money for the most important part of the build, = The GPU.

Also note: Some people tend to find what I say a little offensive, so if you are please don't be, as everything I've said so far hasn't mean't to be.

The I3 will hold back a 7870 LE. The I3 is best suited to the 7850 which is nowhere near as good.

Whilst I see what you are trying to say you're just picking peanuts out of poo. The system isn't hundreds of pounds over budget so it's worth waiting a little longer and just getting parts that will last far longer.

Whilst your budget PC may fall within budget the OP's friend will find himself upgrading it sooner rather than later and it will just cost more in the long run.

 

[iBeInspire]

3570k, MSi z77 G45, 7870 (Tahiti or not, depending on budget), Corsair PSU, 8gb 1600mhz ram, nice case.
Should be able to fit into a £600 budget with ease

EDIT : Didn't realise budget included OS.

Rev.2:

Same as above, but with i3 3220 and 7850/7870 depending on budget

Keeping the z77 mobo will keep your upgrade path open for when you inevitably want a 3570k for some overclocking fun

 

[SuperFly]

The I3 will hold back a 7870 LE. The I3 is best suited to the 7850 which is nowhere near as good.

Whilst I see what you are trying to say you're just picking peanuts out of poo. The system isn't hundreds of pounds over budget so it's worth waiting a little longer and just getting parts that will last far longer.

Whilst your budget PC may fall within budget the OP's friend will find himself upgrading it sooner rather than later and it will just cost more in the long run.

Peanuts in poo? Moving on.. o.o. The system isn't hundreds of pounds over? Despite the fact that getting any i5/Z77 is pointless and will grant no extra power/features for the user, an i5-3570k is £180-190 whereas an i3-3220 is £95, so rounded up and say £100 there, £10-20 For Z77 Motherboard, with shipping costs the op's already looking at another £120, which depletes the whole idea of a budget. The point is, if the op's friend wanted to spend more, I'm sure he/she would.

The point I'm trying to make is, there's no point in recommending a rig that's £100+ over budget. The budget is £600, £100 For an OS. I know that that £500 These days is nothing, and that he/she could do a lot better with more, but that's what the thread maker has to spend, so suggesting parts that are over budget is pointless.

And in all honesty, I know I talk a lot, so please do forgive me if I'm being rude, but I can't quite understand your logic. You said an i3 is "Bests suited to a 7850" I'm not sure I follow you.. Would you explain? How are you thinking that an Intel Core i3 3220/3225 CPU is going to hold back a 7870 GPU? It's not a mystery that I'm no expert, I haven't claimed to be, however I literally cannot understand what you mean by that. And another thing I can't quite wrap my head around is, you keep making it sound like an i3/B75 setup is going to be unreliable and blow up or something, have you had bad experience with i3/B75 setups before that's leading you to think this? Because where I'm from, in my silly small room that I had no choice on >_< I can't seem to pick up on what you're trying to say.

And just for the record, every Tahiti LE 7870's I've found have been around £170-200 (Amazon, Aria, eBuyer) whereas an XFX Radeon HD 7870 from Scan is £166, so that's a no brainer.

And again, I am a nice person, believe me.. So if anything I've said has offended you please just let me know as I honestly aren't meaning to be out of line if I am.