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Thread: Gaming PC - sub £550 - recommend alterations!

  1. #1
    Senior Member cptwhite_uk's Avatar
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    • cptwhite_uk's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI B450i Gaming plus Wifi
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 3700X
      • Memory:
      • 16Gb DRR4 Trident Z 3200 C16
      • Storage:
      • Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 1Tb NVME SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • RX 6800 16Gb
      • PSU:
      • Corsair SF600 Gold
      • Case:
      • Ncase M1 v6
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF (2560x1440 144Hz Nano IPS)
      • Internet:
      • Bt 500 Mbps

    Gaming PC - sub £550 - recommend alterations!

    Hi everyone. Just a little about what I'm trying to achieve - I'm going for maximum performance with the aid of small amount of overclocking. This system is for a friend who will be playing games such as Microsoft Flightsim. This is a CPU dependant sim I believe and as such should benefit from a little over clocking. Anyway the spec so far is as follows:

    Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 Socket 939 nForce 4-4X PCI-E ATX £56.49 + VAT

    AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Socket 939 512Kb Inc Fan (Winnie) £108.36 + VAT

    Inno3D GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E DVI-I VO £86.77 + VAT

    2 x Corsair Memory CMX512-3200C2PT XMS3200 512MB CL2 Silver £112.40 + VAT

    Samsung Spinpoint P80 80GB UDMA133 £33.19 + VAT

    Samsung DVDROM 16x CDROM 48x IDE Beige £11.92 + VAT

    DabsValue Gaming Case 400W - Silver £32.09 + VAT

    TOTAL - £525.40


    I'm cutting corners where possible to shave a few pounds off the cost.

    80Gb IDE will suffice to save me £15
    Doesn't need DVD / Cd Writer as there are others in the house
    I've gone for a budget Case / PSU - It's a bit of a gamble but should be fine to power his system the case looks well ventilated anyway. He can always buy a better PSU at some point in the future.

    View Case Here - It's a Dabs Value branded job but I trust Dabs as I've had there stuff before and it's been pretty decent for the price.

    Information I'm looking for really are recommendations for a decnent CPU cooler (was thinking of the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 which I read a good review about but would welcome recommendations.

    Also is the RAM going to give me a decent overclock. Also what's the motherboard like - I've seen good reviews of it but I'm not sure about it's overclockability - does it need a FSB lock on the PCI-E ? I've heard about AGP lock on AGP boards.

    Would like to get Athlon 3500+ / 3800+ range performance.

    All advise appreciated!
    Last edited by cptwhite_uk; 25-03-2005 at 11:44 AM.

  2. #2
    Moderator DavidM's Avatar
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    I would advise spending more on the case and getting a good solid one with a decent PSU. A decent CWT PSu would cost about 30 quid - and a reasonable case about the same.... (Although I'd personally go Enermax or Tagan - cwt is a cost effective psu that is quite decent)

    Also either the Corsair value select paired memory or TwinX would be a good alternative.

  3. #3
    RDL
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    I'm just wondering where you get these cheap prices from. A winnie 3200 for £33.19 plus VAT, what's going on?

    The Gigabyte isn't supposed to be that great an Nforce 4 board, but it is by far the cheapest.

    I'd also watch out on that Dabs gaming case, the PSU will most likely be dodgy. Check the Amps on the 12V rail. You might be better off looking at a Yeong Yang case, with a seperate PSU; depends if you can go over budget though. Consequently, CPC just did an article on £500 gaming PCs, which have watercooling. Take a look at it.

    For Athlon 64:

    PSU - 400W 3XS - £12.04
    Optical Drive - LG 16x DVD Rom - £16.91
    Hard Drive - 80gb Hitachi Deskstar 7k250 - £41.71
    Memory - 512MB Scan Elixir (OEM) - £44.34
    Chassis - Cooler Master Centurion CAC-T05 - £39.95
    Water-Cooling Kit - 120mm Cool River - £73.00
    CPU - Socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+
    Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 - £72.84
    Graphics - XFX Geforce 6600 - £78.29

    Total Cost INCL VAT - £478.13

    Now you have an extra £80 to add to this, so upgrading your CPU to 3200 and upgrading your GPU would be a good idea - note however that the XFX 6600 clocks extremely well.

    Also, your system has better RAM than the aforementioned system, so you might want to stick with yours. That case you got looks alright too, so you could save a bit and go with it.

    The motherboard doesn't overclock too well though.
    AMD 64 3500+ | Asus A32 SLi Deluxe | 2 x Corsair 512MB PC4400 Overclockers RAM| 1 x XFX 6800GT | Nexus Vantec Fan Controller | 1 x 74GB Western Digital Raptor )Boot + backup & 2x 200gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (RAID 0) | Plextor 716A Black 16 x16±,x4+ Dual Layer DVD | Tagan 480W | ThermalRight XP-120 with Delta Screamer | 2x120mm YS TECH| Black Akasa Eclipse 62 | L1980U 19" TFT 12ms 500:1 DVI Ultra Slim Black & Silver | Phillips 5.1 Surround Sound| Razer Diamondback Mouse | ExactMat mousemat | Black Cherry Keyboard | WinXP Pro

  4. #4
    Moderator DavidM's Avatar
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    I've a gigabyte myself - nice board... was considering the above myself if I get round to an nf4 system... but by the time i do that, nf5 will probably be out

  5. #5
    Senior Member cptwhite_uk's Avatar
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    • cptwhite_uk's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI B450i Gaming plus Wifi
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 3700X
      • Memory:
      • 16Gb DRR4 Trident Z 3200 C16
      • Storage:
      • Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 1Tb NVME SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • RX 6800 16Gb
      • PSU:
      • Corsair SF600 Gold
      • Case:
      • Ncase M1 v6
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF (2560x1440 144Hz Nano IPS)
      • Internet:
      • Bt 500 Mbps
    Sorry price corrected on the processor - typed them maually ...must have looked at wrong figure

  6. #6
    Ah, Mrs. Peel! mike_w's Avatar
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    Please get a decent PSU. There's no point buying a great PC to risk it all to save a few pounds on a PSU.
    "Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."

  7. #7
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    You can get ANtec 1600 b with 350 Smart power psu (very good quality) for £45 @ebuyer.

  8. #8
    lazy student nvening's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mort-uk
    I've a gigabyte myself - nice board... was considering the above myself if I get round to an nf4 system... but by the time i do that, nf5 will probably be out
    Nforce5 will be pentium btw
    (\__/)
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  9. #9
    Senior Member cptwhite_uk's Avatar
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    • cptwhite_uk's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI B450i Gaming plus Wifi
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 3700X
      • Memory:
      • 16Gb DRR4 Trident Z 3200 C16
      • Storage:
      • Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 1Tb NVME SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • RX 6800 16Gb
      • PSU:
      • Corsair SF600 Gold
      • Case:
      • Ncase M1 v6
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF (2560x1440 144Hz Nano IPS)
      • Internet:
      • Bt 500 Mbps
    Thanks speedy - think I'll switch to an Antec PSU / Case Bundle for an extra £7 - Only 350W but assume that'll be fine. Sicne it's only 1 hdd / 1 rom / single 6600gt

  10. #10
    Blue Army Member spazman's Avatar
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    • spazman's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte DS3
      • CPU:
      • Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.2Ghz
      • Memory:
      • 2GB Corsair PC6400
      • Storage:
      • 2 x 320gb RAID 0 , 250gb IDE , 160gb IDE, 400bg USB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Nvidia 7900GX2
      • PSU:
      • 750watt Enermax
      • Case:
      • Akasa Eclipse
      • Monitor(s):
      • 19" LCD 19" CRT
      • Internet:
      • Be Unlimited
    Another £15 on the hard disk will get you over twice the capacity, and dont say youll never use it!!!!
    NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, GBA, DS, PSone, PS2, PSP, PS3 60gb, XBOX, XBOX 360, Master System, Game Gear, Mega Drive, Saturn, Dreamcast, PC Engine, Neo Geo CD

  11. #11
    Moderator DavidM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nvening
    Nforce5 will be pentium btw
    If you mean the current one... thats nForce 4 for Intel... it looks like they may be keeping the family names the same across the platforms

  12. #12
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    Believe it or not when you are doing desktop work or so you will need less than 100 Watts!!! Furthermore, when u are gaming i will be hugely surprised if ur pc will be using mroe than 200watts. So don't worry abt watts.

    My recomendation:

    Processor:AMD (Winchester) Athlon 64bit 3200

    Motherboard: Asus A8N SLI (want more performance than sli!)

    Memory:2 X Samsung Original 512mb PC3200 DDR400 will overclock quite well with good latency.

    Case: Antec 1650 w/ 250w truepower

    Hard drive: Seagate 120gb Barracuda 7200 - Sata Ncq

    Graphic Card: Evesham 6600GT 128MB

    Optical drive:Samsung DVDROM 16x CDROM 48x IDE Beige £11.92 + VAT


    Total £543 with £7 pounds to spare (treat urself!)

    Hope it helps.
    Last edited by speedy_s; 25-03-2005 at 06:26 PM.

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