Budget Gaming Build [£450-£550]

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kalvinsaranna

kalvinsaranna

Honorable
Apr 7, 2012
5
0
10,510
Approximate Purchase Date: Summer 2013

Budget Range: £450-£550

System Usage from Most to Least Important: High-Resolution Gaming, Blu-Ray Movies, Schoolwork

Parts Not Required: (keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, hard drive, Windows 7)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: amazon.co.uk/aria.co.uk/dabs.com/scan.co.uk

Location: Coventry, West Midlands, UK

Parts Preferences: Preferably an Intel/Nvidia rig [Very interested in the i5-3570k for oc'ing]

Overclocking: Yes!!

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe in the future, when i have more money

Monitor Resolution: currently 1280x1024 but i want to upgrade to 1920x1080 later on.

I was thinkingof the following parts, please advice on my choices:
PCPartPicker Build

i5 3570k 3.4GHz
8GB 1600MHZ
Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2
Gigabyte GA-z77-DS3H ATX
MSI GTX 660 OC TwinFrozR :love:
Coolermaster Elite 335 ATX Case
Corsair 430W Builder
1x92mm case fan
3x120mm case fan
 
Solution
lunyone
I would recommend:

* CPU is fine for gaming.
* RAM, make sure you use LOW PROFILE heat spreader set and 1600 mHz at 1.5v in a set of 2 x 4 gb.
* CPU HSF isn't needed right away, but I'd opt for the CM Hyper 212 EVO over teh Freezer 7 Pro.
* Mobo will work just fine. Even the AsRock z77 Pro3 will do fine and might free up some $ for other upgrades.
* GPU should be fine, but I'd opt for a 7870 or 7870 XT LE Tahiti core, if it fits the budget.
* Case could use a bit of an upgrade. The Corsair 200R, NZXT Source 210 Elite, NZXT Tempest 210, Rosewill Redbone U3 would be some other options.
* PSU will work fine with any GPU needing only 1 x PCI-e power connector (up to GTX 660). Any GPU requiring 2 x PCI-e power connectors would require at...
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lunyone

lunyone

Splendid
Feb 22, 2006
6,517
0
26,960
I would recommend:

* CPU is fine for gaming.
* RAM, make sure you use LOW PROFILE heat spreader set and 1600 mHz at 1.5v in a set of 2 x 4 gb.
* CPU HSF isn't needed right away, but I'd opt for the CM Hyper 212 EVO over teh Freezer 7 Pro.
* Mobo will work just fine. Even the AsRock z77 Pro3 will do fine and might free up some $ for other upgrades.
* GPU should be fine, but I'd opt for a 7870 or 7870 XT LE Tahiti core, if it fits the budget.
* Case could use a bit of an upgrade. The Corsair 200R, NZXT Source 210 Elite, NZXT Tempest 210, Rosewill Redbone U3 would be some other options.
* PSU will work fine with any GPU needing only 1 x PCI-e power connector (up to GTX 660). Any GPU requiring 2 x PCI-e power connectors would require at least a 500w quality PSU.

Something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£171.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£76.20 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£45.39 @ Dabs)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£146.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£41.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply (£41.75 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£45.35 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £569.64
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-15 12:42 BST+0100)

or if you can check out an AMD build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£158.61 @ Dabs)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£71.98 @ Dabs)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£45.39 @ Dabs)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£146.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£41.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply (£41.75 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£45.35 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £552.06
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-15 12:43 BST+0100)

or better gaming machine:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£90.22 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£71.98 @ Dabs)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£45.39 @ Dabs)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (£219.99 @ Dabs)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£41.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.41 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£45.35 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £567.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-15 12:48 BST+0100)

or NVidia GPU w/AMD CPU:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£90.22 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£71.98 @ Dabs)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£45.39 @ Dabs)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card (£219.99 @ Dabs)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£41.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.41 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£45.35 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £567.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-15 12:51 BST+0100)

Best gamer of the bunch would be the AMD FX 6300 w/AMD 7950, but it's up to you on what you would like to do.
 
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