Interesting that most people seem to be going for nvidia gpu's either the 750 or 750ti.
I thought an AMD gpu would provide a better performance / cost ratio. such as the R7 260x which price wise is between the 750 and ti, but performance wise it's closer to the Ti.
Or for a little bit more than the ti you can pick up an R9 270.
The haswell celeron could be a bit of a sleeper hit, it depends if amd sorted out there cores such that 2 amd cores is approximately equal to 1 intel core.
Consoles are plug and play solutions,and the hardware will remain relevant years after a budget gaming PC,has passed its prime. Plus the users don't need to worry or care if the hardware is good enough to run the game,or if their software is up to date. They are targeting a totally different market. Its all about convenience.
I agree with person who mentioned the OS (win8). If one had a spare OS, you could easily beef up that system even more. Good system overall for what`s available at that price.
Am genuinely interested in the power usage, price and performance to some extent (Could do with Beema) VS maybe a Tablet option believe it or not lol
BTW,I am not sure it is wise using a non-branded PSU with a discrete graphics card. It is kind of a recipe for disaster IMHO. Not even a Dell uses a non-branded PSU. Also,running RAM in single channel does kibble performance too.
CPU and motherboard
X4 760K and A58 motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/507066-amd-ath...-ad760kwohlbox
http://www.ebuyer.com/602462-a58ml-motherboard-a58ml
Biostar tend to make better low end motherboards than MSI who have been known to have issues.
OR
FX4130 and 760G motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/409706-amd-fx-...-fd4130frgubox
http://www.cclonline.com/product/886...-4-1-/MBD0412/
The Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 is quite an interesting motherboard. Its based on an older chipset,but supposedly its VRM is strong enough to get an FX8320 to just over 4GHZ. It also has four RAM slots.
Graphics card
Gigabyte R7 260X
http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyt...i-oc-96V8.html
Case
AvP Defender 100
http://www.cclonline.com/product/103...-Mini/CAS0766/
Can take upto 30CM long graphics cards.
PSU
FSP 400W
http://www.cclonline.com/product/982...t-OEM/PSU0486/
Other parts
http://www.ebuyer.com/272944-seagate...ive-st500dm002
http://www.ebuyer.com/173122-corsair...x4gx3m2a1600c9
http://www.cclonline.com/product/115...D-OEM/SFT0434/
The total should come to around £350.
However,if you spend another £15 on the graphics card you can get an HD7850 2GB:
http://www.cclonline.com/product/132...I-VGA/VGA2109/
Edit!!
If you go with this clean pull Samsung F1,you might just about get an HD7850 2GB into the budget:
http://www.cclonline.com/product/145...rnal-/HDD2426/
However,I am not sure if I trust a clean pull drive though.
Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 12-04-2014 at 01:41 AM.
I'd also recommend 2nd hand parts from the classifieds/ebay etc.
This is where non overclockable CPUs are a comfort - at least you know someone hasn't been frying the thing for a while.
I'd agree with the comments regarding it being something of a false economy. The consoles are convenient, not to mention they allow you to play new games such as the upcoming Watch Dogs which has a recommended requirement exceeding anything you can build at this price point -
OS: Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1) or Windows 8 (Please note that we only support 64 bit OSs.)
Processor: Eight core - Intel Core i7-3770 @3.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 X8 @ 4 GHz
Memory: 8GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 11 graphics card with 2GB Video RAM - Nvidia Geforce GTX 560 ti or AMD Radeon HD 7850
DirectX: Version 11
Hard Drive: 25GB available space
Obviously you can trim specs here and there to bring the budget down but I'd still be looking to spend around £500 for a basic gaming machine to try and match one of the new consoles.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (£38.39 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£31.85 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Kingston Beast 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£45.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£58.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (£110.82 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£28.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£36.39 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £351.30
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-12 14:55 BST+0100)
Build forsakes Windows for better hardware, just whack SteamOS on there, plenty of games coming in there thick 'n fast.
Last edited by aidanjt; 12-04-2014 at 02:56 PM. Reason: bloody Maplin
Originally Posted by Agent
I thought 30 squids for OCZ Petrol was quite cheap, looked on-line I am seeing them at £60 odd inc Maplin. Also these drives have a terrible reputation...
But Steam OS is a good shout.
Sky rockets in flight... Afternoon delight
The problem is that SteamOS is still in a much worse state than Windows for gaming though. Hardly any AAA games have Linux ports. The only recent one is Metro:Last Light and it appeared months later on Linux. A console will still have far more games available.
The other issue is the major multi-platform engines,ie,CryEngine3,Frostbite 3,id Tech 5 and the upcoming UE4 are all multi-threaded.
Unless you want to be spending more money on CPU upgrades in another year or so,you really should be aiming for a FX6300/FX8320 or Core i3 instead. Even then I would take an X4 760K over a Pentium dual core anyway.
Edit!!
£450 to £500 would get you a machine with significantly longer lifespan TBH.
For example:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-FX6300-E...eywords=FX6300
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-970...ywords=amd+970
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.ebuyer.com/614458-powerco...70-2gbd5-tdhe-
http://www.ebuyer.com/272944-seagate...ive-st500dm002
http://www.dabs.com/products/xfx-450...its&origin=pla
http://www.ebuyer.com/581064-oem-mic...-dvd-wn7-00614
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...FdShtAodQywAnw
£500 will get you an FX6300,R9 270,8GB of DDR3 and a 2TB HDD,with a decent Seasonic made PSU and a decent budget case.
Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 12-04-2014 at 10:57 AM.
TBH that spec looks a bit short (case and PSU for £22 ...mmm)also how do you make your games work? (no way of control) add Keyboard and mouse so £30 to add. No AAA game or Kinect as well. IMHO you can't get a base, decent gaming PC for £350 more like £500. Slashing down to the lowest price point misses the value of the PC though, the entry price may be higher but the scope and power is also higher. Game price better and scope way better. Buy which area you want to join, simples (that £10 PSU makes me shudder).
I've been playing around with components for a £400-450 pc for my younger bro so he can play and do game streaming with his friends, and a common component i have almost always picked has been the AMD Fx-6300 and a toss up between the R9 270/270x or the GF 750 Ti. and funnily enough i can still bidget in a branded PSU from the lovely boys at corsair (CX430/430m). Other than that its all a bit up in the air, although i've told him that once i have built a full loop in my Fractal Design Arc Mini he can have my H60.
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270 Gaming Edition OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £137.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x Gigabyte H81M-D2V Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £40.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 450W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £39.95
1 x BitFenix Comrade Midi-Tower - Black £29.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £415.88 (includes shipping : FREE).
Make me sad that must of the budget is eaten up by windows 8.
It is certainly the case the Windows OS license distorts the budget but would it also be fair to allow some budget to compensate for the difference between console and PC game prices? Factoring in a number of games over a period might make it interesting. It is fascinating to see how much the budget can get you and really opens up the question about premium pricing for console games when they are now running on what is basically a PC with a specification fixed at a point in time which will probably begin to look outdated in a time period much shorter than the lifetime of the previous generation of consoles.
Using my discounts ( I own a small retail operation) here's what I was able to come up with for £350
£95.65 AMD FX-8350 with closed loop cooler
£38.97 Coolmax ZPG-600B 80 Gold PSU
£45.67 ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0
£37.68 Gskill Sniper Series 8 GB (2x4GB sticks)DDR3 @ 1866
£42.73 PNY XLRB 240GB SSD
£81.37 Power Cooler AX7870(Radeon 7870)
£4.50 used Xbox 360 wired controller
£0.99 LG BDXL blu-ray burner (I actually have 25 of these in stock at the moment so I am giving myself the employee discount)
£0.00 Raidmax Raptor Case ( my supplier has a ton of these and has given me about 6 of them for custom rigs in the past and shows no signs of letting up)
£0.00 Windows 7 OEM enterprise edition install
£0.00 Generic Keyboard and Mouse
Grand total of £347.66
I could probably do better but I think this is sufficient to kick the Xbox One to the curb.
Bugger. I should have known with Maplin and checked. Fixing that now lol.
? SteamOS is perfectly usable. Also you don't have to deal with the mess of Windows updates and manually staying on top of drivers and 3rd party utilities and their multitude of different updating programmes wasting resources in the background and all the other Windows junk which makes it a hassle to maintain.
Right, although current engine development includes Linux support from the outset, so we wont need to wait for engines to be retrofitted into each individual game where the developer wants to take a chance, as used to be the case.
Unfair generalisation not related to this thread. Technically, right now, SteamOS has more than twice as many games available for it since the XBone eschewed the 360's library. The Steam Linux library has grown 900% since last year, and while I don't expect it to continue or increase at that rate, it's still going to keep growing fast, and we should see a sharp rise in AAA titles over the next year or so as the next gen engines come into fruition.
Right, but you don't need a core per thread. The OS will happily and fairly allocate thread scheduling time from the available CPU time. Most games are, and will continue to be, primarily GPU bound, so that's where most of the budget should go IMHO.
That goes without saying, but it's a budget way off from the scope of this thread.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote