Need a gaming PC for under £300, i know.. any ideas

[Ravens Nest]

My Cousin wants a mid-tower PC, what can i get with a £300 budget?

He does not need a screen, or operating system (He has windows 7 already) just the machine, keyboard and a mouse, it doesn't have to be a top game performer (No chance with that budget) but the most bang possible for the money he has got.

Any ideas?

[herulach]

If it was my cousin, something you can buy off a shelf, that way you're not forever supporting the damn thing. However, if you're less jaded than I am, I'd be looking at the APU range - A8 should be doable in that kind of price range, maybe even a10 for a bargain, and it will do half decent in most games.

[Pob255]

I'd agree here, unless you want to go looking at 2nd hand bits

[Bonebreaker777]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Agr5

With cash back and offers plus the cheapest keyboard plus mouse (for now) your mate should do just fine and stay close to £300 (estimated).

What say you?

[tamzzy]

its doable, just about...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (£39.59 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£37.06 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£33.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£33.54 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X 1GB Video Card (£86.40 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£28.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential 400W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.08 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £305.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-28 23:03 BST+0100)

dual core + 260x, they shouldn't bottleneck each other (much)
the only weak point is 4gb ram, but that's easily upgradable later on

[Ravens Nest]

If it was my cousin, something you can buy off a shelf, that way you're not forever supporting the damn thing. However, if you're less jaded than I am, I'd be looking at the APU range - A8 should be doable in that kind of price range, maybe even a10 for a bargain, and it will do half decent in most games.

I know what you mean i was thinking the same (At his beck and call, free lifetime PC support for my cousin)
The A10 7850K seems very tempting

I'd agree here, unless you want to go looking at 2nd hand bits

Second hand PC, that would be the only to get really good performance for the money.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Agr5

With cash back and offers plus the cheapest keyboard plus mouse (for now) your mate should do just fine and stay close to £300 (estimated).

What say you?

Interesting specs like the case , perhaps with a 7850K instead of the AMD HD7770 and X4 750K then he could put another videocard in later if he wants to.

its doable, just about...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (£39.59 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£37.06 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£33.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£33.54 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X 1GB Video Card (£86.40 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£28.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential 400W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.08 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £305.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-28 23:03 BST+0100)

dual core + 260x, they shouldn't bottleneck each other (much)
the only weak point is 4gb ram, but that's easily upgradable later on

Thanks for that the 260X looks interesting good bang for your money vs the 7850, the CPU seems a tiny bit better than what bonebreaker777 suggested it seems. (Not by a massive amount though.)

Just wondering if a 7850K with an FM2+ is any good vs those 2 shown?
Thanks you all for your suggestions and ive never seen PCPartpicker before so thats a useful website, as at xmas time i have to make my son a PC for £500

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What games are being run?? BTW,Aria charges for postage so the previous build list will be more than £300.

[tamzzy]

Thanks for that the 260X looks interesting good bang for your money vs the 7850, the CPU seems a tiny bit better than what bonebreaker777 suggested it seems. (Not by a massive amount though.)

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/68...aswell/?page=7
compare the table with the graphs

[KeyboardDemon]

This might not be the opinion you are looking for, but IMHO:

Buy cheap, buy twice!

See if you can get him to either up his budget by about £100 or wait until he can save the extra.

[Biscuit]

What games are being run?? BTW,Aria charges for postage so the previous build list will be more than £300.

So do Scan technically, unless you are a regular Hexus poster.

Not sure 1300 odd posts over 11 years would count? That works out at less than 1 post a month doesn't it?

[Ravens Nest]

What games are being run?? BTW,Aria charges for postage so the previous build list will be more than £300.

Probably a few games at 720p medium settings like tombraider, bioshock and Batman origins, yes i noticed the postage charge and found some parts are more expensive but the free postage makes it cheaper from some of them.

This might not be the opinion you are looking for, but IMHO:

Buy cheap, buy twice!

See if you can get him to either up his budget by about £100 or wait until he can save the extra.

Very true, i wonder if the pentium G3220 CPU would do for now as its LGA1150 so can take a much better CPU later on..

So do Scan technically, unless you are a regular Hexus poster.

Not sure 1300 odd posts over 11 years would count? That works out at less than 1 post a month doesn't it?

Lol yeah i dont post much, i didnt post for over a year but i read a lot of the posts here.
no free shipping for me i doubt.

[Biscuit]

Lol yeah i dont post much, i didnt post for over a year but i read a lot of the posts here.
no free shipping for me i doubt.

You might get away with it...

I wont tell anyone

[Goobley]

It's actually almost exactly 10 posts per month average. I'd say you have a pretty good chance...

[Biscuit]

It's actually almost exactly 10 posts per month average. I'd say you have a pretty good chance...

Yep, right you are. Drunken math fail from me!

[Bonebreaker777]

Of you going to buy anything from Amazon, you can give a go to Flubit.Easy to use plus you will get it always cheaper.

So if PcPartPicker found anything what is cheapest in Amazon, go Flubit and you will get it even cheaper (5-10% discount at average).that £15-30 extra can afford you an SSHD or quad-core CPU (or similar).

[george1979]

If your cousin can stretch the budget a little you could get an 8-core CPU:

http://forums.hexus.net/retail-thera...4-94-dabs.html