Recommendations for Budget gaming PC UK

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by Darkeh, Sep 5, 2013.

  1. Darkeh

    Darkeh Member Guru

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    Hi all,

    Fancy a cheap gaming pc to play the odd game on now and again.

    Just wondering if anyone could recommend me a setup.

    Im in the UK.

    All I need is CPU/Mobo/GfX and Ram

    Budget is tight at around £300 as I don't want to spend a lot as I got rid of my sig rig a while ago and fancy a mess about.

    Ill be playing at 1600x1200, Probably mainly BF3/4 nothing major. Im not too picky on GFX level aslong as it looks ok.

    Cheers
     
  2. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    What about the specs in your sig, is that what you're upgrading from? If so I'd just slap a new GPU in it.
     
  3. Darkeh

    Darkeh Member Guru

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    Hi,

    Thanks for the reply, I don't have that PC anymore, just too lazy to update it :)
     
  4. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    Ah.

    Well, while £300 is a bit of a tight budget you should be able to get something half decent. For example...

    FX 6300 - £83
    8 gigs of DDR3 - £45-65 depending on the speed you go for
    A decent mobo - (A 970 maybe? I'm not overy clued up on AMD motherboards) £70 +

    Or

    I3 - 4130 £95
    H87 or Z87 - £70 +

    The GPU is the tricky part. You might be able to find a 7850 cheap enough to just about fit in with your budget if you shop around. Otherwise you're looking at something like the 7770 or 650TI. Either should work well with your resolution however.

    I'd link to some examples but I've only just got in and the site I use to price check (OCUK) is blocked on this forum.

    I would say that either of the above is just about your best bet for that sort of money.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013

  5. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

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    For £300 I would seriously go with an AMD APU and maybe upgrade from there in the future.

    Something like this

    [​IMG]

    You might need to check the compatibility of that motherboard with that CPU and make sure it supports the new Trinity CPU's. If it doesn't just swap out the 6600K for 5600K which will be even cheaper. As for case that is your choice and preference. And that 700W PSU you have should be more than enough to power this. You also have the option down the line to upgrade to an actual GPU as that CPU should be good for anything up to a 7950 or GTX770 and not bottleneck it.

    That board does not support overclocking I don't think, but with the RAM I suggested and its 2133MHz speed should provide a nice boost for the iGPU on the APU I suggested.

    Hope this helps.
     
  6. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    I think he already has a HDD. Not sure if I'd go for an APU with a £300 budget for the components he needs. You can do better on that budget tbh.

    [​IMG]

    Slightly over budget at £315 if you discount shipping and will have some nice upgrade options in the future. Should be able to get it a little cheaper + free shipping from shopping around. You can come in just under £300 with an FX6300 build. APU's are fantastic and all, but buying one with the intent of adding a powerfull GPU down the line defeats the purpose of buying one imo.

    Edit: Oops, thought that was 8 gigs of RAM. Not to worry though, you can find sets for around the same price as is listed in the image.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013
  7. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

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    Darkest that is over his budget, and I did leave him with some room for upgrades. £50 less and he doesn't even need the HDD so there another £50 saved for a decent GPU. The A8 5600K or the 6600K is a very capable APU. Sure with its iGPU it won't max out BF3 or BF4 but it will play it very well on low medium settings @ 720p with frame rates over 30-40fps.

    Though if the OP is willing the spent the extra cash that build you proposed is very good indeed, though if he plans on upgrading anytime within the next two-three years then I think that i3 CPU may hold back his choices when it comes to a GPU upgrade. The APU's I proposed are pretty strong in tests showing that they hardly bottleneck even a 7970 or GTX680/770 at 1080p.
     
  8. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    As I said it's barely over budget, and shopping around will take it under budget quite easily. It's only £15 over minus the shipping, and a lot of places offer free shipping in the UK. An FX6300 build would come in under the £300 mark. If he has £300 to spend I don't see the point in spending £200 instead. While I agree that the APU's are fantastic (I built my brother a 5800K rig awhile back and it performs decently) it has limited upgrade options compared to the likes of AM3 + or 1150. He most definitely can come in under budget with one of those sockets, and honestly they're the best options in my opinion.

    If he decides to upgrade in a year or two he'll be able to plop a Broadwell I5 or I7 in there without a problem.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013
  9. Darkeh

    Darkeh Member Guru

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    Hmmm Intel, never even contemplated them (due to budget)

    Budget wise, im willing to move, if it costs more it costs more :) Im just trying to keep it closer to what I want to spend

    Been looking today at an AMD 8320, but with a slightly cheaper mobo, something like an asrock extreme 3/4... budget wise that takes me to similar price levels of that i3, but what about performance of that i3 v the FX? I also looked at a 6350, but the price difference is negligible.

    and then what card to add? im sliding between a few, 7770, 7850 etc, even up to a 760 or 670 (yer I know bigger budget for that)

    what do you guys think? pay the extra get a better card (even at 1600x)? Or stick to budget/slightly over?

    and yer have HDDs, Opticals, Case, PSU etc
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013
  10. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    I'd say a 2GB 7850 (you can pick them up for about £120-130 would be a sweet spot for that resolution, I don't think I'd bother buying much better unless you plan on upgrading to a better monitor sometime in the near future. The 8320 is a great chip with a lot of OC room, although I'm not sure if you want to skimp on a mobo with one too much, especially if you do intend to OC.
     

  11. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    1600x1200 do you have a 21" CRT?
     
  12. Darkeh

    Darkeh Member Guru

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    Yer 7850 was looking attractive.

    http://www.********************/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-060-AK&groupid=701&catid=1903

    Edit. Hmm filtered url... ASRock 990FX Extreme3 AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard

    That mobo..... decent ish overclocker for the 8320?

    And sorry 1600x1050, been out of the game too long ;)
     
  13. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Definitely not.
     
  14. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

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    If you can stretch just a little further try and get one of the 7870 Tahiti LE cards, they are pretty rare now for some reason but those cards are complete and utter beasts. They overclocks EXTREMELY well and they come in at around £140-£160 if you shop around for one.

    As for the board, if you are going AM3+ CPU then get either a Gigabyte, Asus, or MSI. All three of those vendors boards should overclock ok, the Asrock boards are pretty much hit and miss with overclocking from what I have seen/read online and Pill seems to agree, he has more knowledge when it comes to AMD boards so listen to that man.
     
  15. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    The Extreme3 is a very poor overclocker. The Extreme4 would be an improvement but really a decent ASUS or GA is the way to go.

    Tbh $300 GBP/Euro's are not going to get u very far.....however 2nd hand hardware can be found on eBay in good condition at low prices, def something to consider when on a tight budget.

    Edit:
    This is a good board (ocuk site) http://www.********************/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-559-AS&tool=3

    Or if you don't want SLI then here is one for the same price as the Extreme3 http://www.********************/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-502-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2046

    I have a 970 EVO in my lounge and it's been happily running an X4 955 @4.2Ghz for 1.5 years.
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2013

  16. PinguX

    PinguX Maha Guru

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    [​IMG]

    That motherboard is fine for overclocking quad cores, not so great for the 6 and 8 cores though.
     
  17. Darkeh

    Darkeh Member Guru

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    well,

    thanks for all the replies guys...

    so far im thinking of upping my budget a bit 360ish and skipping on buying new ram.

    so im thinking....

    Amd 8320 £120

    Amd 7870 Boost edition (Tahiti LE) £165

    Mobo:- Few options

    Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 AMD 990X £110 top end of price really because I upped for the GFX

    Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 £90 No Sli, only 970 Chipset

    MSI 990FXA-GD65 AMD 990 FX £95 Not too sure on MSI, as I have never had one

    As for Ram, for now I can use some spare DDR3 Corsair Value stuff I have lying about at work so thought best to get a better core machine.

    What do you guys think?
     
  18. signex

    signex Ancient Guru

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    What about the 650 Ti boost/GTX660? I think it's much better then tho's ATi cards mentioned above.

    And it's in the same price range.
     
  19. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    You would be wrong with that assumption. The 7870 in question uses a Tahiti LE core and is more like a cut down 7950. Even if you were talking about the standard 7870 it's still faster in general than a 660.

    http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/783?vs=857

    @OP I'm not sure on the motherboards as I'm not clued into AMD stuff as much as a couple of others on the forum. However, out of the boards listed I'd splash the extra on the Asus M5A99X. That said the Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 should perform just as well for your needs, and OC to a similar degree if you want to save 20 quid. You wont have multi-gpu options in the future but I doubt that's a problem for you.

    If that 7870 you're looking at has a stock cooler you might want to check out OCUK (or even look elsewhere as there are similar deals knocking about), they have a 7950 for the same price.

    Other than that I'd say things are looking good, if you've some RAM that you can put in to shift money to other things then I'd say it's the way to go.
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2013
  20. signex

    signex Ancient Guru

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    Uhm, you guys we're talking about the 7770/7790/7850 not 7870.
     

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