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Thread: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

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    Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    My current PC is:

    Proccessor: AMD ATHLON 64 X2 2ghz
    Motherboard: MSI MS-7253
    Ram: 1GB DDR2
    HDD: 80gb HDD
    Graphics: Nvidia 8400gs 512mb

    My aim is to build a PC that can play most of the following games at as close as possible to 60fps on max settings at 1280 x 720.

    The list of games I will be playing are:

    GTR 2
    GRID
    F1 2010
    GTA IV
    Half Life 2
    Portal 2
    Oblivion
    Test Drive Unlimited 2
    Trainz 2011

    And i will want to try and play these to games but im guessing 60fps wont happen with my budget

    Crysis 1 & 2
    Metro 2033

    Some of them are older than others but they are the reason I am upgrading as I will want to play them all at the specs I stated above.

    I have been looking at this bundle:*http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/Intel-Core-i3-Bundle-Asus-P8H61-M-LE-Intel-Core-i3-2100-4GB-DDR3-1333Mhz-p1102.htm

    Which is £167 and consists of:

    Processor: i3 2100 3.1ghz
    Motherboard:*Asus P8H61-M LE
    Ram: 4gb ddr3

    And I was going to get this case and PSU:*http://www.dabs.com/products/best-value-437-09b-micro-atx-case--500w-psu-7LDK.html

    Which is £25.

    And this graphics card:*http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/ATI-Radeon-HD-5570-1GB-82p874.htm

    ATI Radeon HD5570 1GB which is £57.

    And this HDD:*http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/-b-NEW-b-1TB-S-ATAIII-6-0Gb-s-13p1067.htm

    1TB SATAIII 6.0GB/S which is £40.

    The total for this is £289.

    I already have a monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse.


    Is there anything as you think I should add or replace and what performance do you think I should expect? Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to your opinions.

  2. #2
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    You're not building a monster PC on that budget.

    Especially since you'll need to add £70 for a new Windows license, if your old PC had OEM Windows, when you replace the motherboard.

    If I were you, I'd consider doing this bit by bit, or saving up more - the mobo etc bundle is pretty good value, but the GPU you're looking at is a bit crap. And that PSU will likely explode under stress.

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Max settings for f1 2010 and TDU2 @ 60 fps will require a decent graphics card, which a 5570 is not. I'd be looking at least at an hd 5870 or gtx 560.

    The bundle is fine - budget, but won't be especially limiting.

    Never go for a no-name PSU - you might get lucky, but far better to go for a known PSU maker.

    You can save a few quid on the hdd - there are cheaper 1TB drives out there.

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    The suggestions I made in your earlier thread are still worth looking at:

    http://forums.hexus.net/2100991-post12.html

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    The suggestions I made in your earlier thread are still worth looking at:

    http://forums.hexus.net/2100991-post12.html
    This, +70quid for a windows license.

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    You're not building a monster PC on that budget.

    Especially since you'll need to add £70 for a new Windows license, if your old PC had OEM Windows, when you replace the motherboard.

    If I were you, I'd consider doing this bit by bit, or saving up more - the mobo etc bundle is pretty good value, but the GPU you're looking at is a bit crap. And that PSU will likely explode under stress.
    I have already purchased windows 7 home, haven't installed this copy on any machines as it is for the one I want to build.

    And after abut more research I think I might get the GTX 460 1GB, because in benchmarks at the resolution I want to play at it does really well on most games I would play. How do you feel about this card?

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    Max settings for f1 2010 and TDU2 @ 60 fps will require a decent graphics card, which a 5570 is not. I'd be looking at least at an hd 5870 or gtx 560.

    The bundle is fine - budget, but won't be especially limiting.

    Never go for a no-name PSU - you might get lucky, but far better to go for a known PSU maker.

    You can save a few quid on the hdd - there are cheaper 1TB drives out there.
    I can't really afford either of them cards, do you think a GTX 460 1GB OC'D would be close until these other cards come down in price?

    I will definitely get a better PSU, I will go through some reviews and try and get the best bang for my buck on that. Would I just need a 450W or a 500W with my set up do you think?

    And yes I have found a cheaper one already, and in a future upgrade I think I will add an SSD for the operating system but they are too expensive at the moment.

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    The suggestions I made in your earlier thread are still worth looking at:

    http://forums.hexus.net/2100991-post12.html
    I have found a cheaper HDD, don't want to go with AMD processor anymore, I need a mATX case now but the PSU I think will be great. Will 450w be enough for me? And also will the motherboard I am getting let me upgrade to the i5 2500k? As I don't want to have to pay for another windows licence and motherboard when I upgrade again :/

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    This, +70quid for a windows license.
    Already have purchased a copy of windows 7 home thanks.

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    GTX 460 will play TDU2 and F1 2010 fine, not sure what size monitor you have though, my GTX hasn't struggled with any game I've thrown at it.

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Quote Originally Posted by AndiWhitts View Post
    I have found a cheaper HDD, don't want to go with AMD processor anymore, I need a mATX case now but the PSU I think will be great. Will 450w be enough for me? And also will the motherboard I am getting let me upgrade to the i5 2500k? As I don't want to have to pay for another windows licence and motherboard when I upgrade again :/
    The F3 is one of the fastest 1TB hard disks.

    The motherboard is cheap and nasty. The H61 chipset lacks SATA3.0,USB3.0,ACHI and RAID. The lack of SATA3.0 and ACHI will not help with an SSD. It is also limited to two RAM slots too. If you are getting a motherboard at least get one with 4 RAM slots and something half decent. The Core i5 2500K will be off no use in a motherbboard using an H61 or H67 chipset as you cannot overclock using those chipsets.The motherboard is one of the components you don't want to skimp on.

    TBH,I would save up another £100.
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 03-08-2011 at 12:07 AM.

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    If you bought a retail version of windows 7 not an OEM one then it's not bound to any motherboard.

    as to that motherboard and an i5 2500k, can it use it? yes, can you overclock? no.
    You need a Z68 or p67 chipset motherboard to overclock.

    main issue you have here is this is not so much of an upgrade as it is a new system.

    For a graphics card a 6850, gtx460 768mb or gtx460 1gb (not SE version) would be fine at 720p resolutions.

    AMD would be the way to go, esp a socket AM3+ motherboard as that should give you the option to upgrade to a Bulldozer cpu when they come out.

    Does it have to be an mATX case?

    Gigabyte GA-870A-USB3 AM3+ Motherboard £70 http://www.ebuyer.com/262269-gigabyt...d-ga-870a-usb3
    Athlon II X3 450 £55 http://www.ebuyer.com/238326-amd-ath...-adx450wfgmbox
    Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz HyperX Memory £24 http://www.ebuyer.com/169240-kingsto...1600c9ad3k2-4g
    Samsung f3 1tb hard drive £41 http://www.ebuyer.com/173804-samsung...-cache-hd103sj
    Asus 6850 direct CU £118 http://www.ebuyer.com/244442-asus-hd...c-2dis-1gd5-v2
    Xigmatek midgard white knight edition £30 http://www.ebuyer.com/274410-xigmate...-cpc-t55dw-u01 (this is a real bargain, it's the same internals as the original coolermaster 690)
    Be Quiet 530W Pure Power PSU £47 http://www.ebuyer.com/190751-be-quie...ower-psu-bn106
    Samsung DVDr/w £12 http://www.ebuyer.com/129233-samsung...-sh-d163c-bebe
    Delivery is free (supersaver)
    Total £397

    Additional extras, from special tech as ebuyer's current range of fans isn't great, these can be got later.
    Xigmatek GAIA SD1283 cpu cooler £20 http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...pid-13988.html
    Bitfenix 140mm Spectre fan White LED £8 (x2 to put in the top of the case) http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...pid-12799.html
    140mm Aluminium Mesh Fan Filter £3 (x2 put over the side panel vents to reduce dust) http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...pid-11125.html
    Delivery will be £5 (supersaver)
    total £47

    I'll leave CAT to pick that build apart and improve it a bit.

    edit: you could get away with a weaker graphics card just not run everything at max settings, heck I still do ok with a gtx260 at higher res.

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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!


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    Re: Need to upgrade my gaming pc, what components? Got £300 to do it!

    Yes but it's a better case, it basically the original 690 with a different bezel

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