Help Please on building a Budget Gaming PC

[allen4pyd]

Hello,

I have recently decided that I should leave the consoles behind (Xbox 360) and move over to the PC. Unfortunately I know very little about PC's except what the components look like and a basic idea of what they do.

I want to run FPS's such as Counter-Strike, MW2 and TF2. I already have a Case, Power Source and Optical Drive (it doesn't matter to much as I am looking to use steam and I dont watch many movies ect.). I have a tight budget so I'll probably slowly buil it up over a few months as I get the money.

I've got a basic set up which I have chosen from recommendations on other posts so these components may not even match. I would also really appreciate it if you think I can get more for my money, if I need other parts and if this is good enough/more than I need to run these type of games...

Cpu – Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz (Socket 775) (1066FSB) Processor £92.25
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158339

Motherboard - ASUS P7H55D-M EVO Socket 1156 i5/i7 VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard £101.82
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190025

Graphics - Sapphire HD 4670 1GB DDR3 DVI VGA HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card £61.56
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173708

Memory – G.Skill RipJaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit £91.64
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/DDR3+1333+%28PC3-10666%29/G.Skill+RipJaw+4GB+%282x2GB%29+DDR3+PC3-10666C9+1333MHz+Dual+Channel+Kit+?productId=37609

Hard Drive - Maxtor STM3250318AS 250GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache – OEM £30.21
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159393

TOTAL = £377.47


Finally, I am also confused on what to choose for my OS. I know that windows is the most popular and I know how to use it, but I don't want to have to pay for virus protection as I know all to well it picks up viruses too easily. I would appreciate any thoughts about Linux, Mac or any good free virus protection software.

Thanks a lot for any help you can give me..

 

[batuchka]

1. That LGA 775 socket processor is incompatible with the LGA 1156 motherboard
2. That is far too much $$ for rudimentary/entry level gaming performance
3. For around the same $$ off EBuyer UK:

4. Above assuming u have a half decent PSU, unsure just state what model/make PSU u on currently

 

[allen4pyd]

1. That LGA 775 socket processor is incompatible with the LGA 1156 motherboard
2. That is far too much $$ for rudimentary/entry level gaming performance
3. For around the same $$ off EBuyer UK:
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q205/batuchka/Unti-1.jpg
4. Above assuming u have a half decent PSU, unsure just state what model/make PSU u on currently

Hi,
I don't think its that great, It's out of my old family PC....

It's A Solarmax KC-300 300w ATX...

Would this lower performance....

Cheers..

 

[batuchka]

Oh oh time to buy a decent 80+ certified PSU hehe Hmm and possibly case: what are your cooling option with that family PC case?

 

[allen4pyd]

Oh oh time to buy a decent 80+ certified PSU hehe Hmm and possibly case: what are your cooling option with that family PC case?

Right OK..

I dont really know, and i'm not sure what model it is... The back and side has got grids... Theres no built in fans ect.

What do you think of these for a/Building a first gaming PC...

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172709

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Bundles/Motherboard+Bundles/Gladiator+AMD+Athlon+II+X2+250+Home+%26+Office+Motherboard+Bundle+?productId=40459

 

[batuchka]

1st one:

a. GF7100 is never gonna eek out frames significant enuff for u to game
b. brand name PC casings, especially budget configs are horrible at ventilation/layout for gaming rig hardware
c. 220W Acer OEM PSU will not cut it

2. 2nd one:

ECS Geforce 6100PM-M2 V2.0 is effectively AM2 mobo with HT limitation, PCIex16 gen 1.0/1.1 So outdated, inferior tech with DDR2

 

[asteldian]

I would turn to AMD instead of Intel to save money, ideally an X3 model at least - you don't want dual core anymore.

Building your own PC to game with is a struggle with a budget under £500, but whatever can be built will always be far better than what you can get premade

 

[asteldian]

If you were looking for Intel, the ideal budget build would be something like:

i5 750 - £156.75
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel-Core-i5-750-Lynnfield-45nm-Quad-Core-266GHz-8MB-Cache-95W-Retail

HDD - Samsung Spinpoint £38.20
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500GB-Samsung-SpinPoint-HD503HI-EcoGreen-F3EG-SATAII-5400RPM-16Mb-Cache

Mobo Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L - £81.72
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-P55-US3L-rev-2-Intel-H55-Express-Sok1156-PCI-E-20-DDR3-2000-SATA-3Gb-s-RAID-ATX

Dual Layer DVD - £14.91
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Samsung-SH-S223C-BEBE-22x-DVDR-12x-DVDR-DVDplusRW-x8-RW-x6-SATA-Black-OEM

PSU 500W Silverstone Strider - £44.57
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500W-Silverstone-Strider-ST50F-ES-80-Plus-SLI-CrossFire-EPS-12V-20-24-pin-120mm-Fan

Case - £25.24
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Xclio-3060-PLUS-Black-Silver-Midi-Tower-Case-w-o-PSU-36CM-Side-Fan!

G Skill 4gb 1600mhz CL7 RAM - £102.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180490

Total: £463.63

That is without a Graphics card and no OS. Add about £92.91 for Windows 7 (based on www.scan.co.uk)

New Total: £556.54

Then you need to factor in the Graphics card still and depending on size of your monitor. The GPU you picked is £54 at scan rather than £61 at ebuyer.

As I mentioned in the above post, things could be cheaper going with AMD and a weaker CPU - with AMD you can always replace the CPU with a better one thanks to the same sockets being used

 

[Hereisphilly]

Here is a system i've drafted up, i've used ebuyer for everything, and yes the video card is a bit more expensive than other places, but this way u make use of ebuyers free shipping on big orders.
I've left out the OS cos different places have it cheap, and it depends if u want an OEM license, or u can use an old OS to get an upgrade license etc.

You could factor in an aftermarket CPU cooler, if u want to OC, but i've left it out. The mobo has USB3 and sata 6 so you are covered there aswel

 

[allen4pyd]

Right OK, i'm pretty skint at the moment.

I could probably get £350 right now and then build it up from there...

If I used the ideas you gave me and settled for a 350GB hard drive, my old 1GB memory for a month or two... I guess it could work

Thanks anyway for the help, couldn't of got this far without any help!

 

[Motopsychojdn]

AsRock's M3a770DE board is £52ish on ebuyer if that helps trim it down a bit for you
and yeah, you can probably go smaller on a hard drive til you want/need/can afford a bigger one but unless your old ram is ddr3, youll need to buy that 4Gb kit listed as well
Hope this helps some,
Moto