Mid-Range Gaming Rig for my uncle

[K1ash3r]

So guys my uncle just asked me to built him a mid-range gaming rig. When I was mid-range that what I mean. I was thinking of a dual core processor witha a decent graphics card and probobly 4gigs of ram. I will also need a motherboard, it doesnt have to have two bios chips or 2 slots for the GPU, just so the processor matches the socket, but lets not go to the extremes, the mother board isnt the most important thing. What Im focusing is getteting the right cpu and gpu, prefebly a dual core. So can u guys give me some advice on what cpu and gpu i should get him and if u can recommed a possobly motherboard and ram. Thanks. I was planning on getting him atec 300 so tell me what you think of that.

 

[obsidian86]

please http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261222-13-build-advice

 

[K1ash3r]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: late decemrt

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming and surfing the web

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: monitor keyboard mouse OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: overclockers.co.uk

PARTS PREFERENCES: dual core and decent graphics card

OVERCLOCKING: if possible yes SLI OR CROSSFIRE: no

MONITOR RESOLUTION: dont know

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: none

 

[enzo matrix]

What games? What is the pricerange? and what game settings?
Depending on this, you could be looking anywhere from a $70 radeon 4670 to a $400 Radeon 5870

My personal opinion on "mid range" is something along the lines of the radeon 4850 to the 4870. about $130-180. I would pair an Athlon IIx4 240 with it. $100 quad core, and games are moving towards more multi-core optimized. This processor overclocks well to up to about 3.6GHz. If you want to go lower for a dual core at about $60, the AMD Athlon IIx2 240 is a 2.8GHz processor that's good. This kind of setup will be able to play games like COD4 and Far Cry 2 at higher settings. but not maxed out with AA on. These of course are all in american dollars. And Crysis becomes playable on lower-medium settings. Get at least a 500W PSU from a reputable brand such as Antec or OCZ. 4GB of DDR3 memory on an AM3 board. Asus and Gigabyte are well reputed. I'm personally very happy with my Asus.

 

[dndhatcher]

Without knowing the monitor resolution, its impossible to know what graphics card to choose.

 

[K1ash3r]

What games? What is the pricerange? and what game settings?
Depending on this, you could be looking anywhere from a $70 radeon 4670 to a $400 Radeon 5870

My personal opinion on "mid range" is something along the lines of the radeon 4850 to the 4870. about $130-180. I would pair an Athlon IIx4 240 with it. $100 quad core, and games are moving towards more multi-core optimized. This processor overclocks well to up to about 3.6GHz. If you want to go lower for a dual core at about $60, the AMD Athlon IIx2 240 is a 2.8GHz processor that's good. This kind of setup will be able to play games like COD4 and Far Cry 2 at higher settings. but not maxed out with AA on. These of course are all in american dollars. And Crysis becomes playable on lower-medium settings. Get at least a 500W PSU from a reputable brand such as Antec or OCZ. 4GB of DDR3 memory on an AM3 board. Asus and Gigabyte are well reputed. I'm personally very happy with my Asus.

Thanks, I dont know if it a typo or what but I never heard of athlon X4 240, maybe they dont sell them in UK but besides that thanks for all the info, I was thinking of gettinga intel dual core. Ill try to get some more info from my uncle exactly on what he wants. He did mention that he wanted to play Empire Total War so what setup would you recommend to be able to play ETW on medium settings

 

[enzo matrix]

My bad. Athlon IIx4 620. The Dual core is the 240.
And based on my quick research on ETW, The setup I recommended should do the trick.
And I found this: http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,678150/Empire-Total-War-uses-two-CPU-cores-at-most/Practice/
Apparently ETW can only utilize two cores.

Also, this article is related to laptops but can give you an idea.
http://optimitza.cat/news/2009/06/23/empire-total-war-in-low-end-laptops/

 

[K1ash3r]

k thanks, quick question one do you recommend the athlon x2 instead of a intel dual core

If I understand right you're saying 4850-4870 paired up with athlon x2 240 should run empire total war at medium settings?

 

[K1ash3r]

yea i live in UK so all those deals mean nothing to me, I think a 4870 is a but to much for my uncle same with the quad core.

So, one question, what setup would run empire total war at medium( not hight)

At first I was thinking about a prie range from 200 to 300 pounds including:
cpu
gpu
mobo
ram
psu
case
hard drive
optical drive
So can you guys recommend me potential builds for this^^ price range. Thanks

 

[enzo matrix]

Oh about the Antec 300, I just ordered one from NCIX with an OCZ modxstream 600W PSU. When gets here and i have my build up and running, I'll let you know what I think of it.

 

[K1ash3r]

bumb^^

 

[dndhatcher]

AthlonIIx2 240 (L46)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-252-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=
Gigabyte Motherboard (L70)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-198-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481
OCZ Gold RAM (2x2GB) (L70)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-183-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1516
Seagate 250GB HDD (L32)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-215-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=768
XFX 5750 GPU (L88)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-155-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515
Soy Optiarc DVD Writer (L18)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-041-OT&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=951
Antec 300 (L44)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-101-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160

Total L368
Thats the cheapest dual core CPU and AM3 motherboard on that site. I dont think you can go any cheaper than this and still call it a mid-range gaming computer.