Looking For The Best Gaming PC I Can Build With This Budget

[Guest]

Approximate Purchase Date: 9th July 2012

Budget Range: As close to £400 as possible.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Primarily for gaming, browsing the Internet, movies, music etc.

Parts NOT Required: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, Hard Drive, CD/DvD Drive, Floppy Drive

Parts Required: CPU, GPU, RAM (preferably 8gb), Power Supply, Motherboard

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Anything such as Amazon, Ebuyer.com, etc. As long as it's reasonably priced.

Country: England

Parts Preferences: I much prefer Intel & Nvidia. That's about it for parts preferences.

Overclocking: I won't be overclocking.

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080


Additional Comments: I realise that the budget may not be that big, although it is for my brother's birthday which is on the 15th July, next week basically. He's intent on playing upcoming games such as Guild Wars 2, and would also like to be able to play games which have been released in the past couple of years such as the recently released 'The Secret World', Diablo 3, Battlefield 3, etc. I've managed to make up around £400 from different family members, and would love to build him his own PC for gaming. I already have some decent parts here which I've mentioned above, therefore I only need a certain several things.

I think as long as he'll be able to play Guild Wars 2 & Battlefield 3 comfortably/smoothly on his PC, he'll be more than happy.


I'm hoping you guys will be able to find something that will fit within this budget. Any help would be much appreciated.


Thank you.

 

[amuffin]

You won't be able to play any of those games smoothly with that kind of budget! Especially at 1080P.

 

[Guest]

How does this look for £420?

I'm assuming you'll be able to play most recent games on at least medium with this setup.


- Motherboard £80 (http://www.ebuyer.com/351598-gigabyte-ga-z77-d3h-socket-1155-vga-dvi-hdmi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z77-d3h)

- Graphics Card £135 (http://www.ebuyer.com/267865-gigabyte-gtx-560-oc-edition-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-mini-hdmi-pci-e-gv-n56goc-1gi)

- CPU £171 (http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-core-i5-2500k-3-3ghz-socket-1155-6mb-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500k)

- 8gb RAM £34 (http://www.ebuyer.com/342351-crucial-8gb-ddr3-1333mhz-ballistix-sport-memory-bls2cp4g3d1339ds1s00ceu)


As mentioned above, I already have many parts so these are the only real parts I need.

I've left out the PSU, as I'll probably have to get that in the near future.

 

[Hazle]

the 560 is fine, but expect some compromises in graphics settings in some games @1080p (assuming this is the non-ti version)

i'm somewhat surprise you could get a 2500K into that budget along with a z77 board, though i guess you went with a 560 and haven't factored in the psu just yet.

if you're not overclocking, consider getting an H67/H77 motherboard with a non-K quad core Sandy or Ivy Bridge, whichever's cheaper. hopefully you can fit in a 500-600W PSU all snugly within your budget.

edit: well, Ok, i see you haven't included the chassis yet. assuming you need to buy one, you may need to tone that CPU down a bit to an i3, which is still perfectly fine for gaming.

 

[Guest]

the 560 is fine, but expect some compromises in graphics settings in some games @1080p (assuming this is the non-ti version)

i'm somewhat surprise you could get a 2500K into that budget along with a z77 board, though i guess you went with a 560 and haven't factored in the psu just yet.

if you're not overclocking, consider getting an H67/H77 motherboard with a non-K quad core Sandy or Ivy Bridge, whichever's cheaper. hopefully you can fit in a 500-600W PSU all snugly within your budget.

edit: well, Ok, i see you haven't included the chassis yet. assuming you need to buy one, you may need to tone that CPU down a bit to an i3, which is still perfectly fine for gaming.

Well, the PC is for my brother. I tried to base it off MY OWN PC as much as possible, as my PC is decent enough for playing recent games smoothly. My PC specs are as follows:


OS - Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU - Intel Core i5 2500k
Video Card - 1.25gb Nvidia GTX 570
RAM - 8gb DDR III
Motherboard - ASUS P8Z68-V Pro


I just figured that I'd try to make it as close to this as possible.

I've already got the Tower, Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, Hard Drive & CD/DvD Drive.

Based on what you said about the i3, are they still viable & future proof for gaming? I never really bothered reading up on the i3 CPUs when I purchased my own PC, although if you feel it's good enough, I may go for an i3 instead for my brother's PC.

I found this i3 for around £100 cheaper than the i5, which would be great if the i3 would infact do the job, as it'd fit much much better into my budget. What do you guys think?

i3 - http://www.ebuyer.com/254976-intel-core-i3-2100-3-10ghz-socket-1155-3mb-l3-cache-retail-boxed-bx80623i32100

 

[Hazle]

Well, the PC is for my brother. I tried to base it off MY OWN PC as much as possible, as my PC is decent enough for playing recent games smoothly. My PC specs are as follows:


OS - Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU - Intel Core i5 2500k
Video Card - 1.25gb Nvidia GTX 570
RAM - 8gb DDR III
Motherboard - ASUS P8Z68-V Pro


I just figured that I'd try to make it as close to this as possible.

I've already got the Tower, Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, Hard Drive & CD/DvD Drive.

Based on what you said about the i3, are they still viable & future proof for gaming? I never really bothered reading up on the i3 CPUs when I purchased my own PC, although if you feel it's good enough, I may go for an i3 instead for my brother's PC.

I found this i3 for around £100 cheaper than the i5, which would be great if the i3 would infact do the job, as it'd fit much much better into my budget. What do you guys think?

i3 - http://www.ebuyer.com/254976-intel-core-i3-2100-3-10ghz-socket-1155-3mb-l3-cache-retail-boxed-bx80623i32100

with a new gen of gaming consoles coming soon, it's hard to say regarding future proofing with an i3. most PC games are optimized console ports, based on older tech, hence why 6 cores doesn't make that much a difference in most of them. these new consoles may or may not fully utilize 4-6+ cores for gaming, which would affect how much CPU cores you may need for an optimized performance in future games on a PC .

hopefully at least dual cores, as were single cores, would be phased out slowly as the min. requirements. my advice is to upgrade the system over time as you see fit focusing on the CPU and GPU first.

 

[Onus]

As you try to scrimp and save, keep in mind that the PSU is not the place to go cheap, as your (well, your brother's) entire rig is dependent on clean, reliable power. A quality modern PSU has full range active PFC (no little voltage switch) and some level of 80+ certification for efficiency. Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, XFX, and Enermax/LEPA are among the better brands. FSP has some good current models also. Five hundred watts would be a good, safe size for that system.