Gaming Desktop for around £400 (no montior)

[usxhe190]

Can anyone recommend what specs should be expected nowadays for a gaming desktop without a montior for around £400 (give or take £10)?

any help appreciated!

[WoLFe]

Seeing as I've been studying hard over the last 3 or 4 days at the best value specs currently on offer, I'll try my best to help.

Do you need prebuild?

[kalniel]

PS3/X360?

CPU: Amd X2 5400 or Intel C2D 4500 £70
Motherboard: £30-40
Ram: 2gb DDR2 800 £30
PSU: 450-500W high quality £45
GPU: 8800GT £110
HDD: 500gb £45
OS: £60

Total: £400

[WoLFe]

PS3/X360?

CPU: Amd X2 5400 or Intel C2D 4500 £70
Motherboard: £30-40
Ram: 2gb DDR2 800 £30
PSU: 450-500W high quality £45
GPU: 8800GT £110
HDD: 500gb £45
OS: £60

Total: £400

Well, I'm impressed!

[kalniel]

...But I forgot a case - doh!

Drop HDD down to something smaller, maybe go for a 9600GT instead, and you'll have enough for a decent case. Alternatively wait for special offers, as all the above prices are based on full retail price.

[Dreaming]

...But I forgot a case - doh!

Drop HDD down to something smaller, maybe go for a 9600GT instead, and you'll have enough for a decent case. Alternatively wait for special offers, as all the above prices are based on full retail price.

You can get an antec case with a decent psu from ebuyer if memory serves correctly...

Antec NSK4480 Black & Silver Mini-Tower ATX Case - With 380W EarthWatts PSU - Ebuyer

[kalniel]

What's the amperage on the 12v rail like? The 8800GT and similar class of cards all need a fair whack.

[Dreaming]

What's the amperage on the 12v rail like? The 8800GT and similar class of cards all need a fair whack.

17a on two rails I think.

[kalniel]

Does anyone know the actual amp requirements for a 8800GT? I was frightened by the first retailer I saw saying 26A.. but that's an ungodly amount for one rail...

[Webby]

Don't forget that the graphics card manufacturers will say you need an PSU with x Amps onthe 12v rail but that will be based on a single rail and will be overestimated vastly so as to allow for the most extreme of situations. In the current market multiple 12v rails are the standard and a PCIe card can draw a maximum of 150W (75W through the bus and another 75W through the 6 pin PCIe Power connector, obviously cards with multiple PCIe connectors 2900XT, GTX, Ultra, 3870 X2 can draw more) so you need 12.5A on the 12v rail to cover that power requirement. So since other things use 12v as well you need a bit more than that but if you have 2 rails with 17A on each you will have no problems at all running a card with a single 6 pin PCIe power cable.

On that bombshell the Antec Earthwatts 380W (which is in the suggested case) has 17A on each of the 12v rails so should be sufficient for a 8800GT

[shadowmaster]

http://forums.hexus.net/current-barg...oday-only.html
http://forums.hexus.net/current-barg...ml#post1430833

Two very very good deals, especially the psu

[SiM]

The FSP 700W on today only is under £30... and the 3850 is about £60... bargains for a cheap gaming machine...

[staffsMike]

There have been some good suggestions, just thought I'd through mine in there

CPU: Intel E7200 ~£80
Motherboard: Abit IP-35 dark Daider ~£65
RAM: 2GB PC6400 Corsair XMS2 ~£30
Case and PSU: Antec NSK6580 Mid Tower Case - With 430W EarthWatts PSU - Ebuyer

Hard Drive : Samsung Spinpoint 500GB F1 ~45
Optical: Samsung DVD-RW ~£15

Graphics Card: 8800GT ~£110

Comes in around £405, you could add something like an artic cooling freezer pro for £15 to.

If you want to overclock you could reduce the CPU to a pentium dual core which around around £45 and overclock nicely to 2.8GHz or so.

If you don't want to go for the antec combo this is a very similar case in terms of cooling and noise to the antec 900, it also has far better cable managment It's certainly wort the £5 over the 300 and it's also around £45 when it is scans today only (normally once a week).

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[usxhe190]

Thanks guys!!

[looney]

go with what staffsmike recommended, but change the case to this bundle: Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER* - Ebuyer

and get this graphics card: Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[Muska]

go with what staffsmike recommended, but change the case to this bundle: Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER* - Ebuyer

and get this graphics card: Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

you should throw this into the bargains forum, looks a very good deal for a budget system. i think custompc list this case as ideal for a bargain build, plus the psu on its own is around 40 quid so you get a 30 quid case almost free

looks like the price has gone up by 3 pounds since morning