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Thread: Budget Gaming PC

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    MGP
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    Budget Gaming PC

    Hi folks, hope all is well within the Hexus community!

    Being a console gamer for some years now, and I'd like to return to my old routes. Also, I'm starting from scratch on this.

    I have a budget of £600 to spend on a new gaming rig. The items I don't need, keyboard, mouse or OS as these have already been purchased.

    Any suggestions?

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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    KKKKAAAAAAAAAJJJOWWWWW

    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

    CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£170.99 @ Ebuyer)
    CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer i11 74.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£18.98 @ Novatech)
    Motherboard: Asus H170M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£85.82 @ More Computers)
    Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£35.60 @ Amazon UK)
    Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP900 64GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£40.79 @ More Computers)
    Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£44.79 @ Misco UK)
    Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB STRIX Video Card (£119.99 @ Amazon UK)
    Case: Fractal Design Core 1500 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£39.50 @ Amazon UK)
    Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£42.66 @ Amazon UK)
    Total: £599.12
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-09 13:01 BST+0100

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    MGP
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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Thanks for the reply!

    I've been browsing about whilst waiting for advice, kinda building a spec up slowly.

    Looking at the Intel i5-6400, Z170, 8/16GB memory, 1TB hybrid HDD? Not sure I need an SSD?

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Wazzickle's build doesn't include a monitor, and I note that you don't say in your original post that you have one. If you need a monitor that's going to impact what you can fit in the build.

    How long can you wait? AMD's RX 470 and RX 460 graphics cards will be coming out very shortly and should bump performance up a notch or two in the £100 - £200 price bracket. I certainly wouldn't spend £120 on a GTX 750 Ti; the faster R7 370 is cheaper than that, and the MUCH faster GTX 950 is barely any more expensive.

    The RX 460 is meant to perform similarly to a GTX 950 and should cost around £100 (although the pound's recent crash isn't going to help the pricing any). Nearer £150 will get you an RX 470, which should perform more like a GTX 960/R9 380. They should be hitting the market any time really, and if you can hold off a month or two I'd be amazed if one of them didn't end up being the best option for your new build.

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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Quote Originally Posted by MGP View Post
    Thanks for the reply!

    I've been browsing about whilst waiting for advice, kinda building a spec up slowly.

    Looking at the Intel i5-6400, Z170, 8/16GB memory, 1TB hybrid HDD? Not sure I need an SSD?
    Agreed with what scaryjim said and you can get the RX480 4GB for £174 on pre-order from Ebuyer too.

    PS:

    Once the GTX1060 comes out I intend to do a general summer build guide too!

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    Keep it sexy Zhaoman's Avatar
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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    Once the GTX1060 comes out I intend to do a general summer build guide too!
    I'm looking forward to that CAT!

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    MGP
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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Sorry, yes I have a monitor too. I'm interested in the RX480. Also, is 8GB memory enough for system memory? Also noticing that the RX480 comes in 4GB and 8GB? 4 GB enough?

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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Quote Originally Posted by MGP View Post
    Sorry, yes I have a monitor too. I'm interested in the RX480. Also, is 8GB memory enough for system memory? Also noticing that the RX480 comes in 4GB and 8GB? 4 GB enough?
    You've not told us what monitor so hard to assess whether the 4GB is enough or not - but for now all 4GB cards can unlock to 8GB anyway

    8GB is enough system memory if you're just gaming.

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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Yeah my system spec should come with the caveat that I know less than the average hexian (?) on gpus as I think I've probably purchased two or three lifetime, most of my gaming has been on PS3/4.

    You don't 'need' an SSD, but you NEED an SSD.

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    MGP
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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    I'm using a 42' TV, 1080p screen. I was looking at 16GB memory, but if 8GB is enough then I can put savings into something else.

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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Quote Originally Posted by MGP View Post
    Sorry, yes I have a monitor too.
    Which variable refresh rate technology does it support? DisplayPort's Adaptive Sync (aka freesync) or nVidia's G-sync? That'll determine your choice of graphics card brand as nVidia's currently pushing their own solution rather than supporting the DisplayPort standard.

    Quote Originally Posted by MGP View Post
    Looking at the Intel i5-6400, Z170, 8/16GB memory, 1TB hybrid HDD? Not sure I need an SSD?
    I'd much rather have a £40 motherboard and £50 SSD than a £90 Z170 board.

    8GB memory is enough for now, but you will have to upgrade it in the life of the computer.

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Quote Originally Posted by wazzickle View Post
    ... the average hexian (?) ...
    The word I normally use - and have seen most often on the forum - is hexite, but hexian has quite a nice ring to it...

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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    but for now all 4GB cards can unlock to 8GB anyway .
    What what what!?

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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    Quote Originally Posted by wazzickle View Post
    You don't 'need' an SSD, but you NEED an SSD.
    Agree totally. It's not worth NOT having one now they're so cheap!

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    Re: Budget Gaming PC

    For stuff on a budget, don't muck about with fashionable things. Buy what is needed to feed your graphics card, and put most of your money there.

    I offer you this slightly different build - things to note, cheaper CPU - not quite the same headline figure but it won't have a massive impact. It's rare for a current (well written) game to max out your cores. Your GPU on the other hand will get maxed out very easily, so if you can divert some funds there, then do. You also don't need an aftermarket cooler, the stock cooler supplied with the CPU is just fine. Yes, you can get quieter ones, and yes you'll want something beefier if you're overclocking and what not - in that case, buy a different cooler when those requirements are being actively utilised.

    Hybrid hard-drives are a great way to keep the costs down without running out of space. They have a (very) small SSD built-in and the drive itself manages what goes onto SSD and what goes onto the rest of the disk. It works out what you use a lot of (Windows boot files, your browser files) and puts them onto the SSD part. So you get the day-to-day performance increase without having diskspace issues. Again, if you suddenly find you can't wait the extra 5 or 10 seconds to load into a level and you have cash to spare at the time, you can then bung in a bigger dedicated SSD for your games.

    You're never going to get a fantastic PSU at this end of the market. Buy cheap and replace it in 3 years when it gives up the ghost. You don't need lots of power, efficiency is achieved when PSUs are under load, so if you get a too powerful PSU it won't be running efficiently without a seriously powerful system. An i5 based system is going to be using around 50W when sat around. You might be able to push that up to over 200W (at the wall) when playing games.

    The list above is currently £608.51 - prices, especially currently, fluctuate so you may have to tweak if your budget is firm, but there is room in a cheaper case or motherboard. This updated one is £609.95 - but the graphics card is no longer an entry level one but a high-end GeForce GTX 970, which is a cracking card and an absolute bargain at the current price.

    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

    CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.98 @ Novatech)
    Motherboard: Asus H170M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£85.82 @ More Computers)
    Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£35.73 @ BT Shop)
    Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£59.96 @ BT Shop)
    Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
    Case: Fractal Design Core 1500 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£39.50 @ Amazon UK)
    Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£32.97 @ BT Shop)
    Total: £609.95
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-11 15:53 BST+0100

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