Building Budget Gaming PC - no more than £350

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Macbeth_77

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I have a current list, it will be my first PC build so I really want to make sure that every component I have is compatible with one another. Some things I'm not sure on, like I say I'm new to this so if you guys could offer any better components then I'll be welcome to it. At the moment my list it:

PSU - Corsair 430 WATT ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze
RAM - Corsair CMV4GX3M1A1333C9 4GB
GFX - Asus Radeon HD7770 DirectCU
HDD - Seagate 500GB 3.5 inch 7200rpm
CPU - Intel Pentium G850 2.8GHz (or G860?)
DVD - LieOn IHAS 124-04 24x SATA

I'm looking to run Planetside 2, DayZ and most probably BF4.
Thanks a lot.
 
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PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pb5
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pb5/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pb5/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£87.76 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£77.88 @ Dabs)
Memory: Kingston Beast 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£49.99 @ Dabs)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£44.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card (£180.42 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£36.18 @ Aria PC)
Total: £477.22
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when...
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Trenchcoat

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What's your display device's maximum resolution?

Battlefield is super cpu intensive. You'd be better off saving up an extra 250-400 to buy a gaming system that will last for years rather than something that will already struggle out of the box.
 
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Trenchcoat

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If you have a LCD TV you might be able to use that. You'll also need a motherboard and case to put all those components in, If you're using an older case make sure it supports ATX form factor. If you plan on using an old motherboard: don't. You may also need to buy a new keyboard or mouse as modern motherboards have phased out PS2 connections (the circular male lead with pins) in favour of USB.

You can't build a gaming PC for modern titles for £350, especially when you may need so many peripherals.

Have a think, list anything you have that could potentially work as a component/peripheral. Try to get product details of what you already own with serial codes or even better; online links to those products, revise your budget and get back to us.

 
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Macbeth_77

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Great thanks! I have a couple of components at the moment I'm confident I'd get.

Case - CiT Fortress USB3 Micro ATX Gaming Case
MoBo - MSI H61M-P31-G3
PSU - Corsair Builder Series CX 500 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze
Monitor - Samsung LS20B300NS 20" LED Monitor

I will get back to you when I have looked more in depth at the other components. I reckon I could increase the spend to £550, will that still be too little?
 
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Trenchcoat

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£550 should get you something worthwhile. check out this site for best gaming cpus and gpu's for the money and build around that.
 
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Macbeth_77

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Just a quick check, I'm thinking of changing the motherboard to the Asus P8H61-MX USB3. Will the one I've already listed be good enough or should I use the one just mentioned?
Also I'm looking at the Intel Core i3 3220 Dual Core CPU, I just want to make sure it's compatible with the motherboard(s)?
Thanks
 
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Trenchcoat

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It's all compatable. You can save money by buying a normal size computer though.
 
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Hazzacanary

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Just a suggestion - you might want to look at getting an fx 6300, rather than an i3; they're roughly the same price here in the UK, and the fx has additional threads and there's a chance that future games will be better optimised for AMD, seeing as how the new consoles will be running on amd. Furthermore, AM3+ is not a dead socket, with steamroller (amd's next processor generation) still to come, whereas socket 1155 (the i3's socket) will receive no further CPU upgrades.
 
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Hazzacanary

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Also, check with your friends and relatives to see if they have any old computer bits lying around you could have; lots of people have moved to laptops in the last few years, so you can probably scavenge a case, DVD drive, and monitor/mouse/keyboard, keeping costs down.
 
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Macbeth_77

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Awesome, thanks a lot!
 
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Hazzacanary

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PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pb5
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pb5/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pb5/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£87.76 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£77.88 @ Dabs)
Memory: Kingston Beast 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£49.99 @ Dabs)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£44.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card (£180.42 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£36.18 @ Aria PC)
Total: £477.22
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-17 19:13 BST+0100)

Ok there's a set of components which should game pretty well. The motherboard I've chosen is good for overclocking as well, so you could get an aftermarket cooler for christmas and overclock. Notice it's at the £480 mark; this leaves you room to get an OS. However, it also assumes you can get a case, monitor, keyboad and mouse and stuff for free, and the PSU is a little weak. If you had to fit a case and dvd drive as well, it might turn into this:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pkE
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pkE/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/17pkE/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£87.76 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£52.82 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Kingston Beast 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£49.99 @ Dabs)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£44.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card (£141.62 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Xigmatek ASGARD PRO (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£34.17 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£36.18 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.99 @ Dabs)
Monitor: Hannspree HE225DPB 21.5" Monitor (£88.51 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-K6800 Wired Standard Keyboard (£8.50 @ Ebuyer)
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-M5050 Wired Optical Mouse (£1.41 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £558.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-17 19:22 BST+0100)

That one has a weaker GPU, and a motherboard that you can't really overclock on; it does, however, have a monitor.

One final point - none of these builds have an OS with them. If you need windows, it sets you back an extra £70, so it may be worth going linux or using a trial edition of windows to save up money for the full version.
 
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Macbeth_77

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Thanks for the post, I'll definitely look into those parts. Are there any graphics cards that are really good bang for buck and are around £120? I know that's pushing it and if I can't get a relatively decent one for that price then let me know!
 
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Hazzacanary

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Scan are currently doing a 2gb 650ti boost for £127 plus postage, which is incredible! http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-palit-gtx-650-ti-boost-28nm-pcie-30-(x16)-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-980mhz-cores-768-dport-dl-dvi-hdmi However, if you want to xfire down the line, look into the AMD hd 7790, which will be around £115 with some free games. Or, you could look for an old 1gb 7850 on ebay, see if you get lucky.

As for performance they're both fine in modern games; the 650 ti will probably give at least 30 fps in all modern games at 1080p high settings, whereas the 7790 might need to need to drop some anti aliasing to get smooth framerates.
 
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Macbeth_77

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Okay I have my finalised list, really hope this stuff's okay.

Case - CiT Fortress USB3 Micro ATX Gaming Case
Monitor - Asus VS228H 21.5 inch LED Widescreen Monitor
MoBo - MSI H61M-P31-G3
CPU - AMD FX6300 6 Core
PSU - Corsair Builder Series CX 500 Watt ATX
RAM - Corsair CMV4GX3M1A1333C9 4GB
HDD - Seagate Barracuda ST1000BM003 3.5" SATA 1TB
GFX - Asus HD 7770 2GB AMD Radeon

I have a keyboard and mouse plus the DVD drive so I should be set.

 
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Hazzacanary

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That motherboard is not compatble with the fx 6300, as it's for intel cpus, whereas the fx 6300 is an AMD chip. Look for a chipset 760g motherboard or 970a. A good board to look at would be the Ga-78lmt-usb3. Make sure to get the latest revision (4.1) as it supports the fx 6300 out of the box; should be around £40. Also, it might be worth getting a phenom II x4, and getting a 7790 or 650 ti boost instead, as that will give you better gaming performance in most games. Also, you'll be able to upgrade to an fx 6300 with the same board, and possibly even steamroller in the future, although I wouldn't hold out much hope as you're probably looking at a fairly cheap board. Also, you may want to look at 8gb of ram, although 4 will work.
 
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Trenchcoat

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Before you order that you need to change the motherboard. You've changed from an Intel chip to an AMD chip which won't fit.
 
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Macbeth_77

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Ahh okay, that wouldn't be good... Any recommendations? I mean looking briefly I can only see this in my budget, would have to be around £40. Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Socket AM3+ VGA DVI HDMI 7.1 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard
 
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Trenchcoat

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AMD CPU and motherboards... Honestly I know slightly more than nothing and you'll need the opinion of someone else. Hazzacanary above advised exactly the same board.
 
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