Budget Desktop £400 - £500

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dobbythenerd

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Jun 26, 2015
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Hello everyone

Recently my girlfriend has decided she wants to get a desktop so she can play a few games like minecraft, runescape and the sims. She currently has a laptop but it is just terrible.

We have a budget of £400 - £500 but unfortunetly she is being specific on what she wants. I am struggling to find the components for her price range.

She really wants to get a touchscreen monitor that is roughly 20" or more and something that will play games on medium to high setting at a reasonable frame rate.

I am very familiar with building computers myself so component ideas are welcome. Any ideas? Thanks
 
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Sapphire Thunder

Sapphire Thunder

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May 28, 2015
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Touch screen monitor? Just speak her out of that. Tell her they cost as much as the whole budget.

As for the desktop that can play those...you can go with the The Sims 4 requirements.


http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/sTyGzy


CPU: Intel i3-4160 £85.34 Ebuyer
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 1600Mhz DDR3 2x4Gb £44.98 Ebuyer
MOBO: Asus H97M-E £67.92 Amazon UK
SSD: Crucial BX100 250GB £66.99 Amazon UK
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB £40.33 CCL Computers
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX £113.99 Aria PC
PSU: XFX ProSeries 450W £36.41 More Computers
case: BitFenix Neos Black £28.31 Aria PC

Total: £484.27



Another choice:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/mdRDdC

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 £48.38 Amazon UK
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 1600Mhz DDR3 2x4Gb £44.98 Ebuyer
MOBO: Asus H97M-E £67.92 Amazon UK
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB £40.33 CCL Computers
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX £113.99 Aria PC
PSU: XFX ProSeries 450W £36.41 More Computers
case: BitFenix Neos Black £28.31 Aria PC

Total: £380.32
 
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datguy20

datguy20

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Nov 6, 2013
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I think a 20" touchscreen monitor will eat up the majority of that budget. The cheapest one I'm seeing on Newegg is $189 (£169?). That doesn't leave you with much. Sounds like a budget AMD 6300 + R7 260(x) build is in her future. Maybe an AMD APU with no GPU would be the best route? I'm not sure how good those can run games like that, but I'm sure it wouldn't be super awful.
 
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dexter2

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Jun 7, 2015
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I agree with with both datguy20 and Sapphire Thunder, a touchscreen will be way out the budget, but if your building a PC I can't help with any components. But, I can recommend some very decent sites for £400-£500 gaming pcs:
http://www.ramcomputersystems.co.uk/category/gaming_pcs_under_400
http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/search/ (Click "Up to £449")
I own a RCS Tornado MkIII Intel Dual Core G3258 4Ghz (Overclock) GTX750 Graphics Card which is £425 altogether (Link: http://www.ramcomputersystems.co.uk/product/rcs_tornado_quad_core_gaming_pc (You may need to purchase a wifi card +£10) It works spectacularly, runs every game I own at 1920 x 1080. The fans are generally automated, they run faster when needed, although you can change it manually if needed. *The fans can sometimes get loud if your in a quite room if they're running at full capacity.
 
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dobbythenerd

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Jun 26, 2015
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That is ace man. Really gave me a good idea on what to get. What cpu fan/watercooling could i get for this as i don't trust stock cpu coolers. Had problems before.

Also would this ram be just as good?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CML4GX3M2A1600C9B-Vengeance-Profile-Performance/dp/B0058J1Q06/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1435356609&sr=8-23&keywords=1600mhz+ddr3+2+x+4gb

 
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kwa-e

kwa-e

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Mar 1, 2015
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Just putting this out there for consideration but-

If you were to cram all your budget focusing on best bang-for-buck while keeping high quality components in the build this is what you are looking at give or take.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£139.54 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£57.42 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£44.98 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.33 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 280 3GB TurboDuo Video Card (£154.75 @ More Computers)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£27.84 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.40 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £511.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-26 23:32 BST+0100

EDIT: And RAM mentioned above is 4GB, 8GB is the minimum requirement for today's games.
 
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dobbythenerd

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Jun 26, 2015
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Okay i have changed a few things because we still need to get a desk, keyboard, monitor etc. Do these things look alright? Any suggestions or are we good?

LIST:
Operating System: Windows 8.1
CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS5X Performa CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card
Case: BitFenix Neos Black ATX Mid Tower Case
Power supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply

Partpicker: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/43wRXL

Any objections?
CPU:
 
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kwa-e

kwa-e

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My two cents;

-Get rid of the cooler, Today's intel stock coolers are quiet enough already and will do the job quite nicely

-Are you sure you want to go with 4GB of RAM?, Many games today are unplayable with that amount and 8GB is pretty much just standard for every rig.

-(PERSONAL PREFERENCE) Subjectively better motherboard with excellent onboard sound.

-Changed the 750ti for the better performing 270, Only costs an extra 10USD a year to run over the 750ti and the extra performance is worth it.

-I've seen that case get a lot of bad reviews, Changed it for a similarly priced case with superior build quality and excellent out-of-the-box airflow

-The EVGA unit is okay but uses cheap components which can compromise the whole system lest it fail, Changed for a higher voltage unit with much better capacitors and tighter voltage regulation

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£85.34 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£68.06 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£44.14 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.33 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card (£113.80 @ More Computers)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£27.84 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.40 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £425.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-26 23:53 BST+0100

EDIT: Forgot the build, Do'h
 
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Sapphire Thunder

Sapphire Thunder

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There are 2 budget coolers which I often recommend:

CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO
Scythe Katana 4 SCKTN-4000

Scythe has lower noise than Hyper 212, same price, only slightly worse cooling. (1-2C higher temps)
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO has slightly better cooling but louder noise.

I used the Scythe on my FX-8350 before upgrading to Hydro H100i and it kept it at very reasonable temps (under 55-60C)

Also, that Corsair Vengeance is good RAM.
 
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Sapphire Thunder

Sapphire Thunder

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Maybe, but the size of that thing can be a problem. I mean, it is HUGE.

Cryorig%20H7%20(30).JPG


 
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madmatt30

madmatt30

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Jan 1, 2013
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You don't really need the evo or any other 120mm tower with an i3 mate.

Cheap,quick easy fit.
RAIJINTEK 0R100005 - Raijintek Rhea Heatpipe CPU Cooler - PWM - 92mm https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IM8DGPS/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_9MQJvbYJ442GM

There aren't many reviews but it is essentially a raijintek aidos prefitted with Intel push pins.
http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/Raijintek/Aidos/1.html
http://www.hardwareslave.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/cooling-hardware-reviews/raijintek-aidos-cpu-cooler-review/

For the money you can't go wrong.

Also ram wise you can't go wrong with xms3 - & it also happens to be damn cheap at the moment.
Corsair CMX8GX3M2B1600C9 XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL9 Performance Desktop Memory Kit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005G9C4K4/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_WQQJvbS20WCP1
 
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S

sora

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Oct 30, 2013
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That looks like a pretty good build to me!
 
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