£500 - £600

[TtotheC]

Hello everyone.

If you wouldn't mind I need some advice and general discussions on building a light to medium gaming budget machine (Eve online, and maybe Civ 5 at a push. I game on an Xbox for fps), as well as a HTPC.

Purchase date: Within the month
Budget Range: £500 - £600, though I'd rather it stay lower, or even under £500.

Sadly I need it to be all inclusive: Monitor, Windows 7, keyboard and mouse included in the price. The one exception being the hard drive, as I have a 2.5' hard drive from an Acer 5536 that I can use, until hard drive prices drop to their previous levels.

Anyhow this is how I'm seeing the current build developing:

i3 3.3ghz: £95.13 (Yoyotech)
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3: £79.99 (Amazon)
G-Skill 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Ripjaws: £17.99 (Ebuyer)
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply: £51.99 (Amazon)
Coolmaster Elite 430 case: £37.47 (Amazon)
Liteon Internal DvD drive: £13.95 (Amazon)
BenQ G2220HD : £84.97 (Amazon)
Windows 7 OEM: £71.71 (Amazon)
Radeon HD 6770: £90 (Amazon)
2.5"->3.5" drive conversion kit: £6.99 (ebuyer)
Microsoft Wireless Desktop 2000: £25 (ebuyer)
Hard drive: 500gb 2.5" from an Acer 5536.

Total cost: £574.69


But I might have to drop it all down for a A8 3870K, to save on costs (as a back up plan if any of the money falls through). Any advice on bringing cost down would be muchly appreciated, or if I've made an utter **** up of picking parts.

 

[tlmck]

You could save a few dollars by dropping to the Core i3-2100. Just as good for what you are doing.

Since you will not be over-clocking or doing double cards or anything, you could drop to this motherboard. That is unless you are going to use the Virtu switchable graphics feature of the z68. If that is the case, then you have a very good deal on the z68. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-SKT-1155-H61M-DS2-B3-Motherboard-Rev/dp/B0065PMCVE/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326535016&sr=1-1

Other than that, everything else looks spot on. The A8 3870K is decent enough, and the graphics may be all you need for now. You could always add a discreet graphics card later if needed or as more funds become available. I especially know about the funds part. : )

 

[TtotheC]

Thanks for the response.

I might well go with your motherboard option if I go i3 route though here's the AMD A8 option I came up with:

AMD A8 3870K: £104.99
Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H: £69.30
8gb 1600mhz RAM: £35.98
Cooler Master RC-430-KWN1 Elite 430 Midi Tower: £37.47
Novatech PowerStation Gaming 400W Silent ATX2 Modular Power Supply :£32.98
LiteOn DvD drive: £13.95
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium:£71.14

(Plus the same monitor, keyboard and mouse and bay converter as the other build)

In total it works at out £483.26, which frees up £90 for an emergency hard drive if the 2.5" doesn't work out, and the possibility of getting Microsoft Proffesional (£40 as I'm a student). It also leaves room to try over clocking for the first time, but I honestly wouldn't know where to start with that side of things. But in case I do slide over to the darkside, what would be a good budget overclocking fan for the CPU?

 

[tlmck]

Found this AMD motherboard if you want to shave a few more dollars. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-SKT-FM1-A55M-S2V-Motherboard-Rev/dp/B005DQ4RZU/ref=sr_1_20?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326576389&sr=1-20

Found this ram which will work just as well. I have used the Kingston value stuff over the years with no issue, and 1333 speed will be fine. http://www.ebuyer.com/172949-kingston-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-1333mhz-i5-memory-kit-non-ecc-cl9-1-5v-kvr1333d3n9k2-8g

I have DDR3 1600 because I found an amazing deal on it. Got a 16gb kit for $50 which was dirt cheap at the time. Split it between my two rigs. Both my AMD HTPC and Intel gaming rig(below) default to 1333 speed. Still run great.

Also, Novatech makes a 500w version of that power supply which would be a slightly better price for the Intel rig, or even the AMD rig should you add a video card later. http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/nov-psg500.html

 

[peter12]

deifinately get student version of win7 beware though its only an upgrade. you must have an ac.uk email address.

try software4students.co.uk

 

[peter12]

also just found this hd 6850 1gb graphics for £99 defintaely worth it for you at £9 more

 

[deadjon]

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i3-2100-1155-sdy-bridge-31ghz-5gt-s-hd2000-igp-850mhz-3mb-cache-31x-65w-retail - i3 2100

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-z68ap-d3-intel-z68-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-vga-on-board-atx - Gigabyte Z68-AP SLI/Xfire ready mobo

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-vengeance-jet-black-lp-pc3-12800-(1600)-non-ecc-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-15v - 8GB Corsair Vengance LP 1600Mhz

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-evga-gtx-460-superclocked-3800mhz-gddr5-gpu-763mhz-shader-clock-1526mhz-336-cores-2x-dl-dvi-i-mi - GTX460 SC 1GB 256bit (100mhz Overclock Out of Box)

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-elite-430-all-black-mid-tower-case-with-side-window-120mm-front-led-blue-fan-and-120mm- Coolermaster Elite 430

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-psu-corsair-builder-series-cmpsu-500cxuk-80-eff-uncertified-quiet-fan-atx-v23 - Corsair 500w PSU 80+ Eff

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/215-acer-v223hqvbd-black-full-hd-lcd-monitor-dvi-vga-1920x1080-200001200cd-m-5ms - 21.5 inch Acer Monitor - 1920x1080

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/icy-box-ib-2535sts-convert-a-25-sata-ssd-hdd-to-35-sata-hdd-form-factor-with-heatsink - 2.5/3.5 Converter

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/logitech-mk260-wireless-desktop-compact-spill-resistant-multimedia-keyboard-and-optical-mouse-1000dp - Logitech Wireless MK260 Mouse/Keyboard combo

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-64-bit-sp1-operating-system-single-oem - Win7 Home Premium 64bit

Total - £614

(If you can get the Win7 discounted i strongly suggest you do, it gives us £70 more to play with, bringing you into the GTX560/6870 league of cards)

For £110 that EVGA GTX460 is going to give you excellent price/performance - equal to or greater than that of a 6850.

 

[peter12]

the 460 you propose is £21 more and not nearly half as good Raiddin gave me this link
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html 6850 is15th on list the gtx 460 is 29th on list

regardless 6850 is more bang for money especially at £100 compared £120 the exttra £20 take you over budget

 

[deadjon]

the 460 you propose is £21 more and not nearly half as good Raiddin gave me this link
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html 6850 is15th on list the gtx 460 is 29th on list

regardless 6850 is more bang for money especially at £100 compared £120 the exttra £20 take you over budget

Worthless, synthetic benchmark.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/37499-hd-6870-hd-6850-vs-gtx-460-1gb-overclocking-study-15.html

When overclocked - AND at stock, the GTX460 is more powerful.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Stick with i3 / Intel build. Don't sway towards AMD CPU's.

Highly recommend checking out SCAN's Today Only Deals. You can end up saving a fair amount on most components. http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx