Low Low Budget Gaming System

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ashmista

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May 17, 2008
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Hi all, I am here to ask for your advice once again ><.

My friend as decided he wants a new comptuer and has asked me to build it for him.

His budget is £580 which is really low for a gaming system but he isn't the sort of person who wants a suer awesome ZOMG computer, he wants to be able to play games well on his HDTV and ovbiously for general purpose such as word and internet.

I have come up with these parts within the budget and I would like you to give me some advice on wether this is a good build or any changes are needed.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971
(C2D E8400)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145748
(Asus P5Q Deluxe)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160669
(Palit 259 gts 512mb)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148816
(Corsair 4GB DDR2 1066MHZ)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150246
(WD 50Gb Sata 7200RPM 32Mb cache)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135197
(800 watt power supply)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149639
(Samsung DvD rw)

The case is undecided so if you guys would like to give some ideas on one please feel free but obviously with everything else it needs to keep in the budget.

Cheers guys
 
Tech-Boy

Tech-Boy

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Nov 28, 2008
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I would change the e8400 for the x3 720 (cheaper and faster), then pair that with 790gx am2+ motherboard.

Good Luck

 
ke7diz

ke7diz

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+1 on the amd 720 and 790gx
(amd fan)
get ddr3 if you go this way though
+1 on the psu change

not shere on the price but the antec 300 is real good

if the amd change saves you enough money the next graphics cards to look at is the gtx260 and hd4870 1gb
 
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ashmista

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OK I am moving sligthly towards the amd route, after looking at a few benchies I am rather impressed TBH. But which motherboard do you guys suggest?

I'll save £20 on the AMD cpu, and with this mobo i'll be spending an extra £13. This a right choice of mobo?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159769#

So i'll be saving £7 but then the DDR3 ram is more expensive the cheapest 4gb kit i found was £66. meaning My friend may have to go over his budget unless you guys have a good idea?

I was thinking for the Antec 300 I've heard so many good things about it, and i found it for £45 ><
 
D

dzuk

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I would go with the AMD route but just use a 790GX mobo and DDR2 ram. From what I've been advised with my own build, it isn't really worth it to go for DDR3 yet. Especially if it'll push you're friend's budget, DDR2 is just fine in my opinion. Not one of the pros here though. Just going by what I've been told. :)
 
ke7diz

ke7diz

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definitely 790gx
the fx overclocks slightly better but i don't think you need that

i would go ddr3 because of the better upgrade path
 
sub mesa

sub mesa

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IF you're on a budget a cheaper Phenom II 720 system with 40 pound motherboard would be more suitable - i think. Invest more on the videocard and get a better HDD (not one with 250GB platters, those are of an older generation).
 
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ashmista

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So a cheaper motherboard will suffice? Then spend more on gpu etc? Oh is the one I chose of 250Gb platters? I didn't notice that.

OK I am going to go with the Phenom route.

I will go with a x3 720 processor.
4Gb ddr3 1600mhz ram
250 gts palit 512mb (for now)
the hdd i showed above (for now)
The OCZ stealth 500w psu.

If I can get away with a cheaper mobo then I will invest in a 260 maybe ever better gpu.

If you guys can find me a mobo for this system of a maximum price of £150 then i'll be happy :)

But i would like someone to clarify Sub mesa's opinion on the cheaper mobo idea and whether this will be good enough or not.
 
sub mesa

sub mesa

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pick DDR2 not DDR3; you want cheap gaming system so stop choosing components that add 1% performance but add 100% cost. You want it the other way around; invest little but have maximum rewards.

So:

Processor: AMD Phenom II X3-720 Black Edition
Memory: 4GB DDR2-800 CL4 or so
Motherboard: motherboard with GeForce 8200/8300 or AMD 780G/790GX chipset
Harddrive: some modern 640GB harddrive with 320GB platters; or a single platter 500GB will do but i don't know those at the moment.
Videocard: GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 or GeForce GTX 285

Motherboard you can look at Asus and Gigabyte, both have nice AMD mobo's for a low price. 65-85 euro should be your target price in this segment.
 
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ashmista

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A 260 core 216 says it requires 525 watts of power. The power supply I ahve chosen is a 600watt OCZ stealth. will this power supply be able to handle the rest of the system?(cpu mobo ram dvd fans etc). Or would it be best to go with a 700watt?
 
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xydin

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Well first off, what type of games will your friend be playing though? The 790gx has pretty good integrated graphics, it has really advanced a lot from what it used to be, and it would be good enough to play most games right now at playable rates, and then maybe he can wait a month to invest in a 4870 1gb. I mean even with Crysis, at lowish settings the 790gx gives you very playable framerates, which should be able to hold him over for a month or so until he can afford to buy a dedicated GPU.

Plus with the money he saves not buying the GPU now he can spend on maybe a Phenom II 920/940 or maybe a 1tb drive, since 1tb drives are starting to be below $100.

Well, this is just my suggestion ^^.
 
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ashmista

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Well games that are mainly CPU based like crysis, supreme commander and COH. So I suppose this could be the best way to go.

But I think he would rather have it all over and done with now and upgrade as times progress.

how do you guys feel about this set up?

Amd Phenom x3 720
260gtx core 216
640Gb HDD
OCZ stealth 600w
Corsair 4GB ddr2 1066mhz

And this mobo... http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-MA790X-UD4-AMD-790X-AM2plus-PCI-E-20(x16)-DDR2-1066-1200-800-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX

Well anyway guys this brings the total to around £540ish which is cheaper than the budget, I was going to try get an AM3 mobo which is around £113 but then get some damn ddr3 ram which is an extra £20 on top of the current ram price :/.

Why are there so many parts and things to chose from? :p
 
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dannyboy33

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I went with a 720 build as well and ordered last night. Here is what I used, maybe it helps you:


CPU: X3 720 BE
Mobo: Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P
HD: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB
Cooling: Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Case: Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower
VGA: Sapphire 4870 1 GB
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 610W Silencer
Optical: Samsung SH-S222A/BEBS 22X DVD
RAM: Patriot Viper Extreme Performance DDR3 1333 4GB(2x2GB)

Cost me about $1100 CAD Dollars, that's probably not to far off where you want to be if you convert to pounds.
 
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ashmista

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This brings to £623. Which is unfortunately over the budget I was hoping while converting that it would be bang on but it wasn't :(. This would have been a great build for me to use.
My friend is coming over tonight so I might try and convince him to top that budget up ;).
 
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xydin

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dannyboy's setup is actually exactly the same as mine, except I grabbed a 1TB hdd, phenom II 940, a OCZ Fatal1ty 550w, and a thermaltake armor +mx.

Ran around $600 - $700 from Newegg after rebates and promos, not sure how many pounds that is though
 
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xydin

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I'm not sure if Newegg Delivers to england, thier live chat support is open right now if you wanted to talk to them.

Oh by the way I never fall below 25 FPS without overclocking on crysis with completely max settings @ 1680 x 1050, if you wanted to know how it would run for your friend.


And yes, I did mean USD xD
 
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ashmista

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They don't deliver to the UK, same its really cheap :/. I may eBay as I bought my Asus maximus formula of their brand new for £100 when it had just come out :/.
But i'll convince my friend to stretch his budget.

I suppose I could give him some money for his bday ;)
 
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xydin

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Just found out that $800 USD = 550 pounds, so even without the rebates and promo's it would probably still be within budget.
 
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xydin

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Hmm, a lot of the parts on eBay that I see are right around Newegg prices, so that would probably be a good choice, just be careful and make sure the seller offer returns and stuff just incase the product is broken or DOA.

I haven't really had any bad experiences with eBay, but I've never bought computer parts on it.
 
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ashmista

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I've always bought comp parts of eBay when having a tight budget and the parts were flawless but like you said there are the possibilities of getting riped off... Stupid pirates -.-.

Anyway i'll come crawling back for more info after speaking to my friend,
 
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