£600 Gaming PC - newbie in need of help

[Drif73r]

Approximate Purchase Date: By the end of the month.

Budget Range: £600 max.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, general Internet browsing, watching movies.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Scan, ebuyer, dabs.. But go with the cheapest price.

Location: UK

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Additional Comments: Would perhaps prefer an Intel CPU, maybe an i3 for my budget, but I am open to any suggestions.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Making the switch from console to PC gaming.

 

[g-unit1111]

Man with monitor and OS that's going to be an incredibly tricky budget to work with and still get a decent system.

Maybe try this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£92.52 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£72.02 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£37.51 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£55.46 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card (£99.94 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£33.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£67.66 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On DS-8A8SH DVD/CD Writer (£19.16 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: LG IPS224V-PN 21.5" Monitor (£106.51 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) (£71.64 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £655.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

 

[Drif73r]

Man with monitor and OS that's going to be an incredibly tricky budget to work with and still get a decent system.

Maybe try this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£92.52 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£72.02 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£37.51 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£55.46 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card (£99.94 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£33.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£67.66 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On DS-8A8SH DVD/CD Writer (£19.16 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: LG IPS224V-PN 21.5" Monitor (£106.51 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) (£71.64 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £655.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Thanks for the reply

That looks like a good build for the price. What videos would you recommend to watch on how to build a pc or is there anything I can read to get a better idea?

I've been told that by building your own pc you can shave a lot of the price, so that's why I looked into it. The big companies always seem to be so expensive and the parts aren't even that good compared to this build!

 

[lighter17]

For gaming purposes this is about as good as you'll do with your budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (£52.63 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£62.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£29.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.98 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card (£135.59 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 335 Upgraded ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.87 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£35.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer (£13.98 @ Novatech)
Monitor: Hannspree HL229DPB 21.5" Monitor (£98.98 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) (£71.64 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £584.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

If you can afford £50 more you can upgrade to an i3-3220.

 

[lchrisk]

For gaming purposes this is about as good as you'll do with your budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (£52.63 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£62.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£29.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.98 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card (£135.59 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 335 Upgraded ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.87 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£35.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer (£13.98 @ Novatech)
Monitor: Hannspree HL229DPB 21.5" Monitor (£98.98 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) (£71.64 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £584.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

If you can afford £50 more you can upgrade to an i3-3220.

Everything looks good except the CPU. It will bottleneck the GPU, as it's on the lower end line of Intel. Don't get me wrong, its a great processor for the price, just not for this. Anyways, you could go the APU route, as it is cheap, but still a good way to go.

 

[lighter17]

Everything looks good except the CPU. It will bottleneck the GPU, as it's on the lower end line of Intel. Don't get me wrong, its a great processor for the price, just not for this.

That's not what this article says.

 

[Drif73r]

For gaming purposes this is about as good as you'll do with your budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (£52.63 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£62.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£29.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.98 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card (£135.59 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 335 Upgraded ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.87 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£35.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer (£13.98 @ Novatech)
Monitor: Hannspree HL229DPB 21.5" Monitor (£98.98 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) (£71.64 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £584.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

If you can afford £50 more you can upgrade to an i3-3220.

How well will this build play the latest games? How long do you think it will be before I have to upgrade, say, the graphics card?

 

[lchrisk]

That's not what this article says.

Took a quick look through that, and you are correct on a certain extent. Some games require more than 2 cores, for example, battlefield 3 multiplayer, the pent would obv have some lag issues.

 

[lighter17]

How well will this build play the latest games? How long do you think it will be before I have to upgrade, say, the graphics card?

It should play most current games on high settings (some on ultra). Some of the more hardware challenging games will require medium settings. As to upgrade time that's highly dependent. What games are you going to want to play? What will their hardware requirements be? How tolerant are you of lower settings/slower framerates? (Those are rhetorical questions, I'm not expecting an answer.)

As a guess I'd say you should be able to get at least a couple of years out of this system before you would need an upgrade.

Took a quick look through that, and you are correct on a certain extent. Some games require more than 2 cores, for example, battlefield 3 multiplayer, the pent would obv have some lag issues.

True, but so would an i3 (hyperthreading is only worth about 30% more performance). I don't see how he'll get an i5 into his budget. And AFAIK BF3 multiplayer is the only current game where more than 2 cores really helps significantly.

 

[g-unit1111]

It should play most current games on high settings (some on ultra). Some of the more hardware challenging games will require medium settings. As to upgrade time that's highly dependent. What games are you going to want to play? What will their hardware requirements be? How tolerant are you of lower settings/slower framerates? (Those are rhetorical questions, I'm not expecting an answer.)

As a guess I'd say you should be able to get at least a couple of years out of this system before you would need an upgrade.



True, but so would an i3 (hyperthreading is only worth about 30% more performance). I don't see how he'll get an i5 into his budget. And AFAIK BF3 multiplayer is the only current game where more than 2 cores really helps significantly.

Yeah I tried to configure my build with an i5 but it wasn't possible since monitor and OS are needed.

How well will this build play the latest games? How long do you think it will be before I have to upgrade, say, the graphics card?

With Catalyst 12.8 the 7770 is a fairly decent performer now and it won't max out everything but it will last a while.