Are there any desktops out there <£300 that will run games like Skyrim well?

[officeface]

Owner of a laptop here. By that I mean I suffer with an integrated Intel HD graphics card .. 64 mb. The processor is an i3 which is fine for most things but the graphics card makes games like minecraft run poorly, and I want to play Skyrim :/

Question is - are there any desktops that have good graphics cards and will run these games but for reasonable prices? I could probably find something but my knowledge is sadly lacking and help is always appreciated Thanks!

 

[jonnyrb]

Owner of a laptop here. By that I mean I suffer with an integrated Intel HD graphics card .. 64 mb. The processor is an i3 which is fine for most things but the graphics card makes games like minecraft run poorly, and I want to play Skyrim :/

Question is - are there any desktops that have good graphics cards and will run these games but for reasonable prices? I could probably find something but my knowledge is sadly lacking and help is always appreciated Thanks!

Yes, it's called a PS3

realistically based on the recommended settings, I would suggest no. Sure it could be "playable" but at one point will is be good.. they suggest a 4890 and quad core cpu. Assuming budget quad core I'd go AMD. As for gpu I would suggest something around a 5850 -- 460 ish. brand preference.
which will run you about $150 and the lowest quad core cpu I could ever recommended is a Phenom II X4 which will run you ~$120

I'll round down to make a point. This puts you at $250 (270..) if you can get a mobo - psu - memory - case for ~ $50 then by all means.

Your best bet is a bare bones machine for about $300 then buy the gpu putting you near $450

I would ball park something like this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1101418&CatId=332 However I didn't check to see if the PSU could handle a 460 class gpu...

P.S. it's a fantastic game. Spreading the love.

 

[fatfatr]

Why not an Athlon II x3 445 with a Radeon 4890/5770? That should run skyrim on Ultra/High smoothly depending on resolution and AA. That will set you back $170-$180. You can get a PSU for $40, $65 mobo, $20 for 4GB of memory, $30 case, $70 HDD and a $15 DVD burner. That's around $415.
Your best bet would be buying second hand, waiting for black friday, or until HDD prices return to normal. Otherwise, you can't do much with $300.

 

[jonnyrb]

Why not an Athlon II x3 445 with a Radeon 4890/5770? That should run skyrim on Ultra/High smoothly depending on resolution and AA. That will set you back $170-$180. You can get a PSU for $40, $65 mobo, $20 for 4GB of memory, $30 case, $70 HDD and a $15 DVD burner. That's around $415.
Your best bet would be buying second hand, waiting for black friday, or until HDD prices return to normal. Otherwise, you can't do much with $300.

Athlon is an ancient branded cpu, the newer dual cores are faster.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/202?vs=204

I would suggest a 4890 as per the recommended settings, but they aren't sold any more. at least not that I could find. The closest relative card from my perspective is a 460 5850 ish card. (both being higher calibre)