Is this a good gaming pc on a budget?

[patrioticknight]

Is this Prebuilt Gaming PC any good, could anyone kind enough to give the below link a visit and tell me if it's good/bad? Many thanks.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281026861104

 

[quilciri]

As a gaming PC, it's horrible. While the CPU is great, the amount of RAM is excessive for a gaming PC (4gb of system RAM is enough for any game now or in the near future, many gaming systems go with 8gb to be safe). The big issue with that machine is the video card is *extremely* weak, which leaves the machine unable to game worth a damn.

If no one posts a better build for you before I get a chance, I'll post one when I get home this evening (or possibly sooner).

 

[patrioticknight]

Thanks for taking your time to reply quilciri, and will appreciate all the help you can give me. Thanks again.

 

[quilciri]

Are you looking for a pre-built machine, or would you be willing to put it together yourself? (or talk a friend into doing it )

 

[mindless728]

I would also suspect the PSU for being complete crap (550W Evo Labs Power Supply)

this is what I could find on the PSU easily
http://www.ebay.com/itm/550-Watt-ATX-Silent-PC-Power-Supply-Unit-PSU-550W-SATA-/300718374855?pt=UK_Computing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item4604363fc7

doesn't look very good to me (30A on the 12v rail is not that high), would be surprised if it could output all 550w at all (or even all 360w on the 12v). Not to mention they do not link the numbers for their certifications (so you can't look it up)

 

[quilciri]

Not to mention they do not link the numbers for their certifications (so you can't look it up)

That they labelled that machine a "gaming PC" makes any certs they may have irrelevant, they sure as heck have no idea what they're doing here

 

[patrioticknight]

I would prefer prebuilt because it's all done for you, and as for building it myself. I don't think I can afford all the parts, my budget is £450 GBP? Not alot I know but I'm sure there something around this price that is fairly decent.

 

[patrioticknight]

or could anyone list a complete set of items that I would need to make a decent gaming rig? Thanks again.

 

[quilciri]

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

 

[nix327]

I would prefer prebuilt because it's all done for you, and as for building it myself. I don't think I can afford all the parts, my budget is £450 GBP? Not alot I know but I'm sure there something around this price that is fairly decent.

Its cheaper to build it yourself rather than getting a prebuilt..what quilciri gave you is a pretty good build.

 

[patrioticknight]

Thanks for your help guys, especially with that site you've listed, can you tell me why a CPU cooler isn't on the list, you gave me? I'm new to all this, as you can imagine.

 

[quilciri]

Boxed retail CPU's include a CPU cooler. Folks generally buy an aftermerket cooler only to overclock, but the I3's are multiplier locked so not very overclockable.

 

[patrioticknight]

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

Thanks for this, I would like to know will this play Battlefield 3 for example and other games at high/ultra setting, Long shot I know, but thought I'd ask.

 

[quilciri]

Assuming you're gaming @ 1920x1080; high yes, ultra no.

 

[patrioticknight]

Assuming you're gaming @ 1920x1080; high yes, ultra no.

Thanks for the reply, what would I need to change to the list to make the system play ultra, that's for helping me quilciri

 

[quilciri]

what would I need to change to the list to make the system play ultra

the budget. Short of that, this is the about best gaming system you can get with that money.

I *could* drop the quality on a couple components, and drop the RAM down to 4 GB to fit a gtx 660 card in, which is a slightly stronger card than the 7850 at stock speeds, but you may find you'll want more RAM down the road if you go with that option.

 

[quilciri]

the gtx 660 version still wouldn't give good fps on ultra 1920x1080 BF3, though. You'd need a budget around £700 to get good framerates on ultra.

 

[patrioticknight]

Last question quilciri, Would changing the graphics card in the future (say a £250+ one) give me ultra on the games, while keeping everything else the same on this list??

 

[nix327]

Last question quilciri, Would changing the graphics card in the future (say a £250+ one) give me ultra on the games, while keeping everything else the same on this list??

Yes and no..depends on what games you will play..depends on when you will upgrade your gpu. Even a high-end build has limitations as far as future-proofing is concerned..some of the best gpus you can get now won't completely max out some of the games available right now..far cry 3 for instance..also you'll have to upgrade other parts like the cpu to prevent a bottleneck..

far cry 3 benchmark
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/far-cry-3-performance-benchmark,3379-6.html

and here is a benchmark of battlefield 3..the 7850 2gb will perform slightly better than the 1gb version
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-650-ti-benchmark-gk106,3318-6.html

 

[patrioticknight]

Yes and no..depends on what games you will play..depends on when you will upgrade your gpu. Even a high-end build has limitations as far as future-proofing is concerned..some of the best gpus you can get now won't completely max out some of the games available right now..far cry 3 for instance..also you'll have to upgrade other parts like the cpu to prevent a bottleneck..

far cry 3 benchmark
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/far-cry-3-performance-benchmark,3379-6.html

and here is a benchmark of battlefield 3..the 7850 2gb will perform slightly better than the 1gb version
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-650-ti-benchmark-gk106,3318-6.html

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

 

[patrioticknight]

I would be lost without the help of you guys, I think I better ask more questions, so In the list it shows a Midi Tower Case for £29.94 and a 450w Power Supply for £39.99
.
I found this on ebay which I prefer (the pc gaming case) comes with a 500w power supply (please see link)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-VANTAGE-TYPE-R-MIDI-ATX-500W-PSU-GAMING-TOWER-COMPUTER-CASE-4-RED-FANS-/250990594380?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL&hash=item3a7034894c

Will this working with everything I have? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[quilciri]

In short, yes.

A dual core CPUwill struggle a bit with multiplayer BF3, regardless of graphic settings (single player will be fine). The only 4+ core chips in this budget are AMD chips, but I wouldn't reccommend them unless you are willing to overclock your CPU (or know someone who can).

If you can stretch your budget, change the CPU out for an I5-3330
http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i53330

 

[nix327]

I would be lost without the help of you guys, I think I better ask more questions, so In the list it shows a Midi Tower Case for £29.94 and a 450w Power Supply for £39.99
.
I found this on ebay which I prefer (the pc gaming case) comes with a 500w power supply (please see link)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-VANTAGE-TYPE-R-MIDI-ATX-500W-PSU-GAMING-TOWER-COMPUTER-CASE-4-RED-FANS-/250990594380?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL&hash=item3a7034894c

Will this working with everything I have? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

That is a no no..because the power supply is one of the most important parts of your build..a psu that comes with a case is more than likely of cheap quality and won't last very long..and there is a good chance that it will damage your other components.

 

[quilciri]

my previous answer was in response to your graphics card question.

As far as that case, I would stay away from it. PSU's that come with are almost universally of poor quality, and aren't to be trusted to deliver their full rated wattage. Any kind of efficiency goes out the window as well. The only scenarion I would use a built in PSU for is a small form factor, low power HTPC, and even in that case, I still wouldn't trust the PSU for more than 2/3 of it's rated wattage.