Gaming PC for around £400 - First build.

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Mirage1990

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Jun 27, 2014
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I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I'm considering building my own budget gaming pc for around 400 pounds but to be frank, I have no idea what to go for, there's just far too much choice and contradicting opinions and it just basically leaves me flat out confused.
I currently have an Acer 5750 laptop, with 6gb RAM and an Intel Core i3-2350M CPU @ 2.30GHz (4CPUs) . This is fine for web browsing and light gaming like Football Manager but not exactly ideal for actual games. It can run some games like Civilisation 5 and EU4 but whilst theyre playable, it can be a bit of a drag at times, especially now that my laptop seems to be dying a little. I'd like a rig that could at least run games like Battlefield and Elder Scrolls Online to a playable level, it doesnt have to be at the highest graphic settings, just enough that it doesnt run slowly.

So basically i'm looking for a rig that ideally would be able to play most games to a decent standard, is better than my current laptop, and would be upgradeable so i'm not having to buy a whole new computer any time soon. And of course for around £400, maybe a little higher if needs be.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
 
Solution
ekagori
Your build looks good, but I would highly suggest going back to the 120GB ssd I suggested. Once you load up your os, add a couple of essential programs like office, take into account the over provisioning an ssd needs, you will be running it at full capacity. That is not good for the life of an ssd and also for performance. The extra £30 spent on a larger ssd will be worth it.
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NBSN

NBSN

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Please help us help you better. If someone answers your question without asking for more information to actually help you get what you really want...then you already know that they are just throwing out cookie cutter and quick answers. I want to actually help you as much as possible which is why I ask these questions.
If you have already provided some of this information, and see the question below, that is merely to clarify what your posting already stated.



1. Do you need a keyboard? Any preferences? Wired/wireless/mechanical?

2. Do you need a mouse? Any preferences? Wired/wireless/DPI?

3. Do you need a monitor? If you already have a monitor/tv, what type is it and how many hz is it? Do you plan on using multiple monitors? Or do you have any monitor/tv preferences? Screen size, built in speakers, resolution, refresh, hz?

4. Do you want a blu-ray drive, dvd/cd drive, or no drive? If you already have one, what is it?

5. Do you prefer Intel or AMD processors? If you already have a processor, what is it?

6. Do you want to be able to overclock the processor?

7. Do you prefer NVidia or AMD graphics cards? Do you plan on using multiple GPUs at a later date?

8. Do you plan on overclocking the graphics card?

9. Do you want to have more options for upgrading later on, such as adding extra RAM or running multiple graphics cards together?

10. What operating system do you prefer, Windows 7 or 8.1, or Ubuntu/Linux? If you already have an operating system, then what is it specifically? For example: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. (list the entire specifications for your operating system. Check this link if deciding what Windows OS you want http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx )

11. Does your budget include the operating system?

12. Do you prefer air cooling or liquid cooling?

13. Is there a particular case size you would like to go for, mid tower, full tower, etc?

14. Is there a particular theme or color scheme that you prefer, or a particular style case? (Please give a few examples)

15. What is your budget, minimum and maximum costs?

16. What sort of games or programs do you want to use? (Please give plenty of examples)

17. What settings, fps, resolution do you want to play those games at?

18. What country do you live in, so we can know what currency and/or sites to link for you?

19. Do you have a hard drive type preference, such as normal hard drive, hybrid, or SSD? Or do you want a smaller SSD for the operating system and a normal hard drive for saving files to?

20. Is there any other component that you already have that was not asked about specifically already? If so, what is it?
 
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ekagori

ekagori

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Feb 9, 2013
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It's £400 without an os £480 with it. If you have a spare key for an os then you don't need it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£120.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£64.78 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£54.93 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X 1GB Video Card (£83.66 @ CCL Computers)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer (£12.52 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£79.89 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £482.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
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Mirage1990

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Jun 27, 2014
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1. No keyboard needed

2. No mouse needed

3. Don't currently have a monitor but my friend has one that he isn't using but I'm not sure of the specs. I dont want the monitor to be included into the build budget so would rather someone gave me options for a build and then i'd plan my monitor choice around that.

4. DVD/CD Drive.

5. This is where a lot of my confusion comes from, as I don't really know the difference between the many processors out there, but I'm open minded about this and would like the best value for money/performance, whether that be Intel or AMD.

6. I'm not knowledgeable about overclocking and don't know the pros/cons to it or even how to do it, so I don't feel I can really answer this.

7. Similar to the processors, I don't know that much about them and how they differ and as such I have no preferences.

8. Same as answer 6.

9. I would like to be able to upgrade the components as and when the need arises as opposed to having to go out and buy a whole new rig.

10. Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

11. No

12. Whatever is best for the budget and build, again I have no preferences.

13. Not really, whichever offers value for money and is able to house the build adequately and if possible would be able to cope with future upgrades.

14. No preferences, whichever is more practical for the build and budget.

15. Minimum £400, max would be around £450.

16. Elder Scrolls Online, Battlefield 4, Civilisation 5, Europa Universalis, Skyrim and pretty much most games similar to those. I also use photoshop from time to time for basic photo editing but this isn't a necessity.

17. Anything which would give me a decent gaming experience without wanting to pull my hair out. I'm not fussed about playing games with max graphics, just as long is its playable.

18. UK. Scotland to be precise.

19. A smaller SSD for the OS would be nice but I don't see it as must have. I would however like the hard drive to be at least in the 500gb area.

20. Would of course want to be able to connect to the internet, so a wired network adapter is a must.
 
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Mirage1990

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I like the look of that, but just one thing. On the pcpartpicker site it says "MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard has an onboard USB 3.0 header, but the BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case does not have front panel USB 3.0 ports"

Does this mean the Mobo and Tower Case aren't compatible ? Or am I overlooking something ?
 
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ekagori

ekagori

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Feb 9, 2013
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I added a 120gb ssd and changed case so you can use the usb 3.0 header. Deleted os.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£120.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£64.78 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£54.93 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£55.49 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X 1GB Video Card (£83.66 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Cooler Master K280 ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.20 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer (£12.52 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £459.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
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sora

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No, because the USB 3.0 ports could be on the back of the motherboard. It usually does fit in the case.
 
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Mirage1990

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I've upped my budget to £550 so if anyone has any ideas what I could do to improve on the suggestion already posted by ekagori using the extra cash, I'd be happy to hear it.

Meanwhile, I want ahead and changed/added a few things myself, notably upgrading the GPU from a Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X 1GB to a Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X. I was going to go for the XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Double Dissipation but it would cost nearly £20 more and i'm not sure it's much better than the Dual-X, although my knowledge isn't great, so I could be wrong.
I also added a cooler, not sure if it's a good one or whether it's necessary, but thought I'd add one seeing as I upgraded the GPU and increased the wattage from 284w to 379w.
Lastly I changed from a single 120gb SSD to a 40gb SSD with a 1TB Western Digital HDD, mostly because i'm not too fussed about an SSD atm, but would like one for running my OS from and I thought the 40gb would be adequate for that.
Again though, my knowledge on all things computer building sucks, so any advice or changes to what I have would be appreciated.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/6mpTzy

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 45.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage1: Intel 320 Series 40GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage2: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card
Case: Cooler Master K380 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer
Total: £523.40
 
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ekagori

ekagori

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Feb 9, 2013
407
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Your build looks good, but I would highly suggest going back to the 120GB ssd I suggested. Once you load up your os, add a couple of essential programs like office, take into account the over provisioning an ssd needs, you will be running it at full capacity. That is not good for the life of an ssd and also for performance. The extra £30 spent on a larger ssd will be worth it.
 
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Solution
M

Mirage1990

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Jun 27, 2014
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I did revise my build somewhat in the days since I last posted and in the end I opted for a 120gb Samsung EVO. The rest of my build remained the same with the exception of my Mobo and PSU, which I changed to a MSI Z97 PC Mate and Corsair CX600 respectively. Although not really needed because I have a locked CPU, it gives me more options if I want to switch to a k-type Intel processor in the future, without having to buy a new mobo aswell.

Anyway, thanks for the help all who answered.
 
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