Low budget gaming pc

[quotidian]

Haswell will be entirely different - it isn't even going to be on the same socket. Z77 will certainly go the way of the do-do too. The advantages built into z77 over z68 are slight anyway and most people won't make use of it. IB is more energy efficient, has a better RAM controller (only important if you want to overclock with all 4 RAM slots filled) and has pcie3 support (only important if you intend on running 2x top of the range latest gen cards).

So should I get an AMD CPU and a good gpu now and then upgrade the mobo and CPU to next year when Haswell comes out?

 

[PetrolHead247]

If i was you i'd go with Master&Puppet's AMD build, it's the best you can do on your budget, and it will be a great gaming rig and should handle programmes like GIMP well enough too

 

[SieB]

So should I get an AMD CPU and a good gpu now and then upgrade the mobo and CPU to next year when Haswell comes out?

Haswell is a long way off, around this time next year are what the rumors are saying. If need a rig to last you till then go for the AMD build and the best GPU you can afford

 

[Jadarite]

Ok so me and some friends had a look at what could be done with a budget of £500 to build a i5 build and this what we come up with, with a view of geting a gpu and cpu cooler later,

ASRock Z77 Pro 4 S1155 Intel Z77 DDR3 ATX £89.98

Z77 Pro 4

Intel Core i5-3570K S1155 3.4GHz 6MB £175.99

BX80637I53570K

Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) Tactical DDR3 1600MHz CL8 1.5v 240pin £47.98

BLT2CP4G3D1608DT1TX0CEU

Western Digital 500GB Caviar Blue 7200RPM 16MB SATA 6Gb/s £56.98

WD5000AAKX

Crucial 128GB m4 SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive £84.99

CT128M4SSD2

Corsair 600W Builder Series CX V2 ATX PSU £49.99

CMPSU-600CXV2UK

Best Value 777 T-BIRD-Red Gaming Case (No PSU) £21.99

OEM-777-T-BIRD-RED

Delivery Cost £1.35

With Discount of £25 (sunny25)

Total £504.25

 

[quotidian]

I think I could maybe stretch my budget to £550 and so I came up with this setup and that allows me £25 to cover shipping and extra bits and bobs like thermal paste and leads.

http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/9t8b

Couple of questions about it,

1. Is that CPU cooler enough to let me overclock the FX-4100 to the 4.2ghz of the FX-4200.

2. How would that CPU and GPU combo handle running a Minecraft server and client at the same time, maximum of 1 local connection and occasionally 2/3 external connections.

3. Do any of those components not work together or could be replaced by better / cheaper components.

Thanks

Al

 

[quotidian]

I think I could maybe stretch my budget to £550 and so I came up with this setup and that allows me £25 to cover shipping and extra bits and bobs like thermal paste and leads.

http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/9t8b

Couple of questions about it,

1. Is that CPU cooler enough to let me overclock the FX-4100 to the 4.2ghz of the FX-4200.

2. How would that CPU and GPU combo handle running a Minecraft server and client at the same time, maximum of 1 local connection and occasionally 2/3 external connections.

3. Do any of those components not work together or could be replaced by better / cheaper components.

Thanks

Al

Also does anyone know if I would have difficulty fitting that GPU into that case as I have read some reviews online that said it was hard to fit the 6950 into some cases?

 

[seumasbeathan]

I wouldn't have thought it would be a problem fitting it

 

[Master&Puppet]

I think I could maybe stretch my budget to £550 and so I came up with this setup and that allows me £25 to cover shipping and extra bits and bobs like thermal paste and leads.

http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/9t8b

Couple of questions about it,

1. Is that CPU cooler enough to let me overclock the FX-4100 to the 4.2ghz of the FX-4200.

You actually don't need an aftermarket cooler to overclock the 4100 to ~4.3 (and maybe even a little higher). The 4170 is supplied with the standard AMD cooler and runs at 4.2/4.3 out of the box.

2. How would that CPU and GPU combo handle running a Minecraft server and client at the same time, maximum of 1 local connection and occasionally 2/3 external connections.

You will take a minor performance hit I expect but I don't think it will be big enough to make much difference.

3. Do any of those components not work together or could be replaced by better / cheaper.

Looks good to me, it looks like there is enough room for the 6950 in that case from the pictures.