Gaming pc advice

[nickp8]

Looking to build someone their first gaming pc. Budget is £500 just for the pc (no o/s, keyboard, mouse, monitor needed). Other than gaming it will be used for everyday things - internet browsing, word processing etc. Going to get the parts from one place - SCAN.

Antec 300 - £44.85
1TB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1 - £57.43
Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22x DVD±R - £16.43
Hauppauge WinTV Nova - £42.88

This leaves about £337 for the graphics card, cpu, motherboard, ram and psu. Components wont be overclocked.

I am not really a gamer myself so looking for some recommendations on what to get. For this budget I guess dual core would be best but would an Intel or AMD system give best performance for the price?

Thanks.

[shaithis]

What resolution does he want to game at?

[nickp8]

1920 x 1080 is the resolution of the monitor he has, but not sure on max game resolution. He plays COD4.

[kalniel]

You'll need to price a graphics card into the equation as well then, and not the cheapest one.

[nickp8]

Sorry forgot to put it on the list.

[Terbinator]

Check the today only deals, there was a full system available when i checked for £212 - Dual-core, 4GB ram etc only needed a grafox card adding to it as it was a G31 motherboard and the built in grafix is poo.

[kalniel]

okay well a first iteration might look something like this:

AMD Phenom II X2 550 black edition £74.52 :
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...MHz-85W-Retail

Asus M4A785D-M PRO £58.64 :
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-M4A785D-M-PRO

2GB corsair value select DDR2 800 cas5 £20.29 :
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-C...Unbuffered-CL5

500W Silverstone Strider ST50F £52.87:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500W-...lar-cable-V-10

1gb Power Color HD 4850 £78.07:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-P...I-I-HDMI-D-Sub

Total: £284.39 (inc vat)

That system would easily game COD4 at that resolution, has a blindingly fast CPU, and if you were running a 64bit OS you have enough left over to go to 4gb RAM easily (no point if on 32bit though - won't make a difference in XP).

[shaithis]

Your probably going to have to replace the 4850 with something more powerful for a 1920 display.....the 4890 puts you only slightly over budget.

I'd have gone the intel route for the cheaper CPU (plus a decent overclock)

LN24435 500w Silverpower SP-SS-500 "Green Power" 80 Plus Certified,Intel ATX 12V, 6×Serial ATA £41.99 £48.29

LN25142 Asus P5QL SE, iP43, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, ATX £45.97 £52.87

LN26185 Intel Pentium Dual-Core, E5300, S775, Wolfdale, 2.6 GHz, 2MB Cache, 13x Core Ratio, 65W, Retail £43.89 £50.47

LN27633 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC, Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18 £35.64 £40.99

LN27761 1GB XFX HD 4890, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 3900MHz GDDR5, GPU 850MHz, 800 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV, HDCP Ready £124.90 £143.64


Total £347.09

You could reduce the RAM from 4 to 2GB to keep it in budget....but TBH, it's probably worth spending that little bit more.

[kalniel]

Your probably going to have to replace the 4850 with something more powerful for a 1920 display......

Not for COD4:



(And they were only testing the 512mb version)

[staffsMike]

Kalniel's build is essentially what i would do. The HD4850 is more than enough for COD4 and most games at this resolution but if you have more money, then go for a HD4870 or even a HD4890 but I would try and get a sapphire vapor x card, lovely quiet and effective coolers

[nickp8]

kalniel that looks ideal. 64bit O/S will be installed and so will be putting in 4GB ram.

Antec Three Hundred Black Midi Tower Case w/o PSU £44.85
500W Silverstone Strider ST50F-230 v 1.0, PSU Silent, Modular, V 1.0, 80+ Eff' £52.87
Asus M4A785D-M PRO, AMD 785G, AM3/2+/2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1200/1066/800, SATA 3Gb/s £58.64
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition, Callisto, S AM3, 3.1GHz, 7MB Total Cache HT 4000MHz, £74.52
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC, Unbuffered £40.99
1GB Power Color HD 4850, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 1900MHz GDDR3, GPU 625MHz, 800 Cores £78.07
1TB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £57.43
Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM £16.43
Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-T PCI Freeview receiver (909) £42.88

Total (inc VAT) £466.68

Will leave £33.32 to upgrade the graphics card.

Could get the 1GB XFX HD 4870, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 750MHz, 800Cores, 2x Dual Link DVI-I, HDCP Ready and come in just £2.50 over budget.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...I-I-HDCP-Ready

[shaithis]

Well, fair enough, if you trust Toms and your sure your freind won't be looking at any newer games any time soon, the AMD build is better.

[nickp8]

Have asked the person who it is for to check with their son if there are any new games he plans on getting.

Using kalniel suggested build it will come in £33.32 under budget so could upgrade the graphics card to the 1GB XFX HD 4870, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 750MHz, 800Cores, 2x Dual Link DVI-I, HDCP Ready and come in just £2.50 over budget. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...I-I-HDCP-Ready

[Domestic_Ginger]

Thinking P2 x3 720 instead of a x2 550. 3 cores vs 2? These come on today only at ~£86.

An extra core for £12? If you downgrade the MOBO to a 770 (ca £52) it will only put you about £4 overbudget. Of course the timing thing may come into it.

[nickp8]

Dont think the third core will make a great difference in gaming.

But think I will look for a similar priced full size ATX board if possible and one without onboard VGA as it is not needed. I think on the MATX board space will be a issue as the TV card needs to go next to the gfx.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Dont think the third core will make a great difference in gaming.

.

Not in the next few years though.Plenty of games such as ARMA II,Lost Planet,GTAIV and Farcry 2 actually run better on triple and quad cores. If the PC is going to be used for a three to four years it would be better to get a triple core than a quad TBH.

If you intend to go with a dual core then there is also the X2 545 which is only clocked 100mhz slower but is much cheaper than an X2 550(around £8 IIRC).

Also instead of the 785G based motherboard look at a 770 based one such as the Gigabyte MA770-UD3 revision 2 which is cheaper and lacks integrated graphics but has the same SB710 southbridge:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D3-Motherboard

Many members on Hexus have used this motherboard and it is excellent value for money.

Also remember that the Phenom II X2 and X3 processors can be in some cases "unlocked" to a full quad core if you are lucky using motherboards with either the SB710 or SB750 southbridge which have ACC.