Low budget gaming pc

[quotidian]

I'm looking to build a gaming pc later in the summer (after I've saved up some cash for it.) I've researched around and have came up with a list possible candidates for each component, however my research is probably not definitive and somebody may be able to suggest better / cheaper alternatives.

CPU

I5-2500K

I5-3570K

Possibly AMD as their a bit cheaper but all the bad press they have got recently has put me off.

Motherboard

MSI Z77A-G43

Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H

ASRock Z77 Pro3

RAM

Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 16 GB

Patriot 16GB (4x4GB) Quad Channel Kit G2 Series

Corsair Vengeance 16 GB

OR if I need to cut costs

Kingston HyperX Genesis XMP X2 Grey Series 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB

Corsair Vengeance 8GB Memory Kit (2x4GB)

G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB Memory

PSU

Corsair 500W CX V2 PSU

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply

Hard Drive

Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 500GB HDD

Its the only one with 6gb/s SATA thats within the amount I've budgeted for it. 500gb will be enough storage space for me as I store all my documents on external drives and flash sticks.

Graphics Card

Sapphire HD 6850 1GB

Sapphire HD 6870 1GB

I had looked at Nvidia but I couldn't see any cards that would match either of the above 2 at the same price.

Optical Drive

LiteOn iHAS124 DVD Drive

Case

I'm not sure whether to get a Full Tower or Mid Tower, space isn't an issue as its going on the floor (ontop of a couple of pieces of square tubing to help airflow)

The cases that I've seen that I've liked have been

CM Storm Enforcer

Casecom CL-86

Fractal Design Core 3000

Bitfenix Shinobi

Do any of those parts not work together or are there any cheaper / better alternatives I should look out for?

I'm trying to stick to a budget of around £500 for just the tower unit.

Thanks

Al

 

[SieB]

If the is strictly a budget build then i'd go with AMD, the 8150 is a decent CPU, it's not as good as a 2500k but if you are on a budget then it's good enough, with the money saved put it towards an SSD or a better GPU. Seen as it's a gaming build spend as much as you can on a GPU and cut back on the things that are less important.

For your RAM you only need 8gb, 16 is overkill, also you only need dual channel kits not quad.

 

[Master&Puppet]

This just for Gaming I presume?

 

[quotidian]

This just for Gaming I presume?

Mainly gaming and web surfing. Occasionally I'll need to use it to do schoolwork or reports or possibly use AutoCAD and GIMP (although I only need AutoCAD in 2d so rendering 3d models isn't an issue)

 

[quotidian]

If the is strictly a budget build then i'd go with AMD, the 8150 is a decent CPU, it's not as good as a 2500k but if you are on a budget then it's good enough, with the money saved put it towards an SSD or a better GPU. Seen as it's a gaming build spend as much as you can on a GPU and cut back on the things that are less important.

For your RAM you only need 8gb, 16 is overkill, also you only need dual channel kits not quad.

I'm just looking to spend that amount initially but I intend to add extra components to it afterwards ie. maybe better cooling if I over clock or an SSD for the OS.

 

[Master&Puppet]

Best I can do for the budget.

Mainly gaming and web surfing. Occasionally I'll need to use it to do schoolwork or reports or possibly use AutoCAD and GIMP (although I only need AutoCAD in 2d so rendering 3d models isn't an issue)

Hmm it's tempting to get you a cheap intel build were you can upgrade to an i7 in the future then. Is rendering engineering samples going to be an increasing part of your life?

 

[Jadarite]

I'm just looking to spend that amount initially but I intend to add extra components to it afterwards ie. maybe better cooling if I over clock or an SSD for the OS.

in that case get the main build done and get the gpu later would be my suggestion

 

[quotidian]

Best I can do for the budget.

Hmm it's tempting to get you a cheap intel build were you can upgrade to an i7 in the future then. Is rendering engineering samples going to be an increasing part of your life?

I only do the CAD stuff occasionally as my dads an engineer and sometimes he gets me to edit the wiring diagrams if changes have been made during the installation, hence why I only use 2D and sometimes I need GIMP to tidy up the images and logos.

I can't see engineering becoming a major part of my life anytime soon, heck I'm only doing my A levels next year.

 

[Jadarite]

A new case thats just come out is the Silverstone PS07 White Edition which is a very good case by the looks of it

http://youtu.be/0y-5tM7PkfA​

 

[seumasbeathan]

If it was me I would go for an i3 2120 over the FX-4100, from all the reviews I have just looked at they all had a recurring theme, the FX-4100 is not a great gaming chip

From this link you can see that even in more cpu dependant games the i3 2100 still either beats it or goes toe to toe to it - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4100-core-i3-2100-gaming-benchmark,3136.html

I know the FX-4100 has 4 cores and the 2100/2120 only has 2 but this way you would have a possible upgrade path to ivybridge

 

[Master&Puppet]

Which reviews exactly? you can overclock a 4100 to 4.3+ on the stock cooler (or just buy a 4170) and it beats the i3 noticably then...

 

[seumasbeathan]

Yes but with the i3 you have an upgrade path to ivybridge or 2500k

 

[Jadarite]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Thank you to eveyone for their suggestions as this has been a big help when compiling the following list, I am now wondering if anyone could suggest any alternatives to maximise this build list [/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 Socket AM3+ 7.1 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard £88.06[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]WD 500GB Caviar Green SATA-III 3.5" Hard Drive £55.00[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Sharkoon T9 Case - White Edition £46.66[/font]

AMD FX-4170 AM3+ 4.2GHz 12MB 125W £99.99 or ([font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]AMD FX-4100 AM3+ 3.6GHz 12MB 95W £84.98 and save £15.01)[/font]

Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD-RW SATA OEM (Black) £11.98

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Corsair 600W Builder Series CX V2 ATX PSU £49.99[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) Vengeance Blue DDR3 1600MHz DIMM 240-pin CL9 LP £36.05[/font]

Sapphire Technology ATI Radeon 7770 HD 1120MHz 1GB PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI OC £95.35

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Delivery costs £0.99[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Total cost £484.07 (£469.06)[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Or the same as above but with a Asus GeForce GTX 560 810MHz 1GB PCI-Express HDMI DirectCU £131.98 instead of the Sapphire 7770 OC[/font]

Total cost £520.70 (£505.69)

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Thank you[/font]

 

[Master&Puppet]

Yes but with the i3 you have an upgrade path to ivybridge or 2500k

Yea but you won't be able to overclock on a £50 mobo which this build has. I agree that intel is much better but this is what it is - a low budget gaming build. You put even an i3 in there with a decent mobo in preparation for upgrade to an i5 (like gd55) and you are spending £70 more on the mobo which means £70 less on the gpu. That means a poorer gaming setup - much weaker gpu and even a weaker cpu because the amd is overclockable. What Cram has suggested, the 7770, is in that price range - £100. Now take a look and see how a 7770 compares to a 560:

http://www.guru3d.co...-7770-review/11

It's not just slower - it not even a comparison in most games. The 7770 is 20/30/40/50% slower depending on the game.

If he goes for what you suggest it could be several months or maybe much longer before the OP is able to save up to afford a new cpu and gpu (both of which he needs to improve his pc over what I've suggested).

The AMD cpu will get you 55+ fps typically in games on average (and will definitely keep you above the 30 min fps mark based on reviews I have seen). In order for that to bottleneck a system you need to be talking powerful gpus 7870/580+ if you keep increasing the graphics settings. Take look at the modern games in that review I linked - in Metro a GTX590 only just manages 54fps average and in BF3 none of the gpus even make it over 45fps average.

 

[Jadarite]

If you do go intel then i would suggest the msi Z77ma g45 with a intel 3450S also have a look on dabs.com and try code sunny10 as this might get you £10 off, hope this is some help to you

Also the Asus GTX 560 810MHz 1GB DirectCU might be the way to go

 

[quotidian]

I'm thinking on getting the I5-2500k and then waiting until the new the next series of intel chips come out (haskill?) Would that be a good idea or would I be better off with the AMD cpus recommended above?

Is there a noticable difference between different speeds of Hard drive both SATA speed and disk rpm?

Someone recommended this set up to me and it comes in under 500

i5 3570k - £173

MSI Z77A-G43 - £74

Casecom 6788 Case - £28

Corsair 500W CX V2 PSU - £51

Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 1 X 4GB RAM - £22

Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 500GB HDD - £53

and then that leaves me with enough money to get a 6850 or possibly slightly better if I dropped the 3570 to a 2500.

I also don't think I need a DVD drive just now as I can salvage one from another PC I have here that doesn't work.

 

[Jadarite]

I'm thinking on getting the I5-2500k and then waiting until the new the next series of intel chips come out (haskill?) Would that be a good idea or would I be better off with the AMD cpus recommended above?

Is there a noticable difference between different speeds of Hard drive both SATA speed and disk rpm?

Someone recommended this set up to me and it comes in under 500

i5 3570k - £173

MSI Z77A-G43 - £74

Casecom 6788 Case - £28

Corsair 500W CX V2 PSU - £51

Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 1 X 4GB RAM - £22

Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 500GB HDD - £53

and then that leaves me with enough money to get a 6850 or possibly slightly better if I dropped the 3570 to a 2500.

I also don't think I need a DVD drive just now as I can salvage one from another PC I have here that doesn't work.

If you want to use all the features of the z77 chip set then you will be better off with a 3rd gen processor, like 3570K as the 2nd gen processors are only compatible with the z77 chip set

 

[Master&Puppet]

The AMD build I made has a better gpu than any of the other suggestions so it will game much better.

If you don't mind gaming on lower settings then get the better cpu if you think you'll appreciate the extra power but the 4x00 cpus are quite capable of running everyday tasks and moderate gaming. It is only when you get top notch gpu(s) that you need the extra power to keep up with the graphics performance or if you need the cpu power for another reason like photo/video editing or 3d engineering work etc.

I'm not an AMD fanboy by the way (infact I have just jumped ship from a 1100t to 3570k) - it is just that most people massively over emphasise the role of the cpu in gaming.

I'm thinking on getting the I5-2500k and then waiting until the new the next series of intel chips come out (haskill?) Would that be a good idea or would I be better off with the AMD cpus recommended above?

Next gen is Haswell, due about this time next year I think - yes it is likely to be a good upgrade from the current cpus but getting a 2500k would last you a couple of years for gaming anyway I expect well into Haswell's lifetime. I've got an IB build and there is no way I'm going to consider upgrading to Haswell 1st gen and probably not 2nd gen either unless something drastic happens in the gaming market.

What you find is that because games are so much more dependant on gpu power than cpu power you can upgrade through 2-3 generations of gpus before your cpu will begin holding back the fps.

If you are considering getting a Haswell build then buying the 2500 over the amd is absolutely the wrong thing to do in the meantime. You would be better off buying the cheaper cpu which will tide you over until next year. If you buy a 2500k then don't consider a new cpu - get a better gpu instead.

Is there a noticable difference between different speeds of Hard drive both SATA speed and disk rpm?

Broadly speaking - yes. 7200 is faster than 5400 by about 0.1 seconds and sata 3 has both 3gb/s and 6gb/s channels. But it depends upon what you want to use it for. Most people use HDDs for media content and documents which doesn't require a fast storage speed. You've mentioned that you will store your docs on external hdds/usb devices so why not consider getting a small ssd (60gb) for your operating system and games? You won't have much space but do you need to keep anything else on there?

Someone recommended this set up to me and it comes in under 500

i5 3570k - £173

MSI Z77A-G43 - £74

Casecom 6788 Case - £28

Corsair 500W CX V2 PSU - £51

Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 1 X 4GB RAM - £22

Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 500GB HDD - £53

and then that leaves me with enough money to get a 6850 or possibly slightly better if I dropped the 3570 to a 2500.

Again - it's the same argument. If you buy a better cpu then you get a worse gpu - the 6850 is not as good as the gtx560 I included and by some margin. The 3570k probably has 3 or more years left in it for gaming purposes whereas the 4170 will probably need replacing in a years time to keep you in sensible frame rates.

Either way with your budget you have to sacrifice something. Get a worse cpu today with a better gpu and youll have the better gaming experience over the next year or so. Get the better cpu and worse gpu today and you will have a worse gaming experience until you can afford the better gpu. The alternative, and this has been mentioned, would be to not get a gpu at all this time round. Get a 3570k cpu and just game on it using the iGPU. You will get playable fps on low/medium settings for the next few months until you can scrape together another £100 or so which ontop of the other £130 you saved by not getting a 6850 today gives you enough to get a very respectable 7870.

 

[quotidian]

If you want to use all the features of the z77 chip set then you will be better off with a 3rd gen processor, like 3570K as the 2nd gen processors are only compatible with the z77 chip set

Will the next series of Intel CPUs use a different chipset or will they likely stay with the Z77?

 

[Master&Puppet]

Will the next series of Intel CPUs use a different chipset or will they likely stay with the Z77?

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).