Low-end PC for playing older games (200-250£)

[Coyote_Lash]

Hi
I want to build a really low-budget PC for my nephew next week and I could really use some advice on the configuration that would give the maximum performance for this rather low price.

I'm by no means an expert on hardware so I don't expect the parts I've chosen to make a lot of sense so any feedback would be much appreciated.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13Ghz Dual-Core Processor (£30.00 @ CCL Computers)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling UCACO-AP11301-BUA01 Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£6.61 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock G41M-S3 Micro ATX LGA775 Motherboard (£38.20 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston Value 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£17.86 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£30.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GT 610 1GB Video Card (£30.13 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Xigmatek Asgard II Black ATX Mid Tower Case (£29.03 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£36.18 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (£13.26 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £231.27
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-20 05:58 GMT+0000)

I don't need any additional components for this build.

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[tiny voices]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£78.96 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (£45.00 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£21.02 @ Dabs)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£30.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Xigmatek Asgard II Black ATX Mid Tower Case (£29.03 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£36.18 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (£13.26 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £253.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-20 06:15 GMT+0000)

This will be 10x as powerful for gaming.

 

[properbuilds]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G550 2.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£29.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H61M-P20 (G3) Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£32.00 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£19.50 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital AV 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£29.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 6670 1GB Video Card (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£29.38 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£36.18 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£12.22 @ Dabs)
Total: £239.25
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Hi, this will get you a much better cpu than the previous dual core you had listed, and a much better gpu, you can also find a better hdd for about the same price.
Since i has some to spare within 250£, i recommend a 500GB hdd, if he needs more space -> http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st500dm002

 

[guanyu210379]

Hello Coyote_Lash,
basically the biggest mistake one can made is to do new build with old specification.
This not effective and an absolute no-go.

If you need a new low classed PC, I would prefer to go for actual low classed AMD built.
AMD integrated GPU is quite good in my opinion.
I have built and tried A8 3850 and I quite like the system, especially for the price.
I am not a fan of those G series from Intel but that is only my personal preference.
I still tend to buy current Intel for mid to high classed rigs.
So...I vote +1 for tiny voices recommendation.

The second possibility is of course to find either second handed old parts or system in ebay...although I would prefer new built.

 

[Coyote_Lash]

Thanks for the responses guys, gave me some stuff to consider.
Will A8-5600K actually provide better performance in gaming than G550+Radeon HD 6670 combo? I've never used integrated GPU before so I have absolutely no idea which option to pick.

 

[tiny voices]

Thanks for the responses guys, gave me some stuff to consider.
Will A8-5600K actually provide better performance in gaming than G550+Radeon HD 6670 combo? I've never used integrated GPU before so I have absolutely no idea which option to pick.

Yes, it will be better.
You can even add a 6670 later on and crossfire with the integrated GPU.

 

[properbuilds]

:O

Hi, it will not be better, for gaming the 6670 1GB GDDR5 is MUCH better than the integrated graphics of the a8-5600k, and the pentium G550 will not bottleneck the 6670 1GB DDR5.
And bottom line the pentium G550 plus 6670 1GB DDR5 build is cheaper.
You can add a better card in the future and upgrade the cpu for an i5/i7(sandy or ivybridge).
Adding a 6670 with crossfire with the cpu is useless(check some reviews) and it will just add only in the costs, why not get it now with a decent cpu?
And in terms of cpu that it can be upgrades, i don't see any apu reaching an i5 ivybridge in terms of cpu performance.
Also the intel board supports pcie 3.0 16x with i5 or i7 ivybridge cpu