Budget Gaming PC

[marksct]

Hi Guys!

I am looking to build a new PC capable of running Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2.

My current PC is at least 6 years old, and I haven't played any games for a while. I have an old AMD Phenom processor and no GPU worth speaking off since my original one went bust, so am thinking to start from scratch with the main items.

I am thinking that I will be able to re-use my current PSU and CPU cooler (Noctua), and of course my hard drives and monitor etc.

So as I see it, I need a new CPU, MB, GPU and RAM, with a case as optional (I would quite like to go with a new mATX silent case like a fractal design nano s or the fractal define design mini)

I have the budget of £400 in mind, if that is possible. So far, I have the following, but have been 'out of the game' for a long time, so would appreciate all input!

In particular I am not sure how to pick a good MB (this one was chosen to be mATX and because of the brand) or whether it would be worth spending an extra £50-80 or so to pick up a better GPU?

CPU: AMD FX-6350 - £125
MB: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 - £50
GPU: 2GB Sapphire Radeon RX460 - £102
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Value Select DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) - £49
(Case: Fractal Design Define Nano S ITX - £56)

Total: £391

As I say, the budget is flexible and I could cut out the case and keep my current one in order to transfer costs to other items it that would help...

Thanks!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

BF1 seems to like more threads,so might be one of the few games that a FX6350 might be better,but the platform is very old,with AM4 coming out in th next six months,I might consider getting a Core i3.

You can get a 4GB RX460 for £111,although the GTX1050 2GB is worth a look too.

You will also need a reasonable PSU. I would probably get a new PSU after 6 years.

Can you list the parts you can re-use please??

[wazzickle]

What case have you got at the moment?

Quick 5 minute build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6300 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor (£131.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI B150M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£68.78 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£41.99 @ Novatech)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Mini Video Card (£144.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £387.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-09 17:46 GMT+0000

I have little to no expertise on GPUs but there seems to be some good talk around the GTX 1050 Ti that's just come out. The i3-6300 is decent but would be absolutely fine with a stock cooler as its TDP is only 51W, so you could potentially sell your current one and spend the dough on a new monitor. Fractal Design all very popular.

Concensus as far as I can tell is that intel are streaks ahead of AMD right now.

[wazzickle]

You will also need a reasonable PSU. I would probably get a new PSU after 6 years.

Good point.

Power Supply: be quiet! PURE POWER 9 400W 80+ Silver Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£51.86 @ CCL Computers)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I think from what I gathered BF1 actually does better with a Core i5 or Core i7(!). Just looking at some forum threads it can really be quite taxing and seems to scale well to more threads in actual gameplay

I would probably try and get an RX470 if possible. There are videos of it running BF1 at pretty decent framerates.

[marksct]

Thanks for the comments.

Yeah it looks like BF1 does favour a quad core or more, but have been reading that an i3 6100 would be ok with a mid level GPU. I don't really want to go for an i5, as it pushes the price up quite a lot!

So how about pairing an i3 6100 (£112) with a GTX 1050 Ti (£150)?

Then with the MB/RAM/PSU suggested above by wazzickle, it comes to £425, and I will keep my current case for the time being.

The RX470 would be another £30, so might be worth considering, but then I don't want to get something that is going to be bottlenecked by the CPU...

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/8Zt97h

[EndlessWaves]

Yeah, if your cooler has a LGA 115# mounting bracket then definitely go for the i3-6100.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks for the comments.

Yeah it looks like BF1 does favour a quad core or more, but have been reading that an i3 6100 would be ok with a mid level GPU. I don't really want to go for an i5, as it pushes the price up quite a lot!

So how about pairing an i3 6100 (£112) with a GTX 1050 Ti (£150)?

Then with the MB/RAM/PSU suggested above by wazzickle, it comes to £425, and I will keep my current case for the time being.

The RX470 would be another £30, so might be worth considering, but then I don't want to get something that is going to be bottlenecked by the CPU...

The GTX1050TI is barely faster than my GTX960 and that can get pushed in newer titles. I would say spend the extra and get the RX470 if you can.

Edit!!

This place has the Core i5 6400 for £160:

http://www.awd-it.co.uk/intel-core-i...QSNhoCBxDw_wcB

Here is the Trustpilot rating:

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.awd-it.co.uk

[marksct]

OK I'll try for the RX470, thanks Cat.

I have checked and my current PSU is a VX corsair 550w.

Looks like it only came with a 3 year Warranty, but is still working fine. Whats the usual life expectancy? Does it definitely need replacing?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

OK I'll try for the RX470, thanks Cat.

I have checked and my current PSU is a VX corsair 550w.

Looks like it only came with a 3 year Warranty, but is still working fine. Whats the usual life expectancy? Does it definitely need replacing?

That was a very good PSU in its day,but six years is quite a while and apparently newer Intel CPUs need certain lower power states which newer PSUs support. TBF,it might probably be fine,but I would probably try and get a new PSU anyway. Keep the old one as a backup.

Also,apparently one site is doing the Core i5 6400 for £160(TP seems a mixture of very good and meh though) if you look at my previous post.

[DanceswithUnix]

Have you checked out the videos on Youtube showing BF1 being played with Phenom cpus?

You can put a new GPU in your existing system, and start saving from there.

Is is a Phenom or a Phenom II that you have??

[marksct]

Have you checked out the videos on Youtube showing BF1 being played with Phenom cpus?

You can put a new GPU in your existing system, and start saving from there.

Is is a Phenom or a Phenom II that you have??

It's a Phenom II X3 720, so not sure it would be capable, although I suppose I could try it first! BF1 is pretty CPU intensive apparently, so have only seen videos of it running on an x4

[scaryjim]

Just a leftfield suggestion, but since you've got a decent air cooler already have you considered going for the FX 6300 instead, and overclocking it? That'd immediately but £30 or so into the budget, which makes the stretch to an RX 470 much more manageable. All FX processors are multiplier unlocked, so overclocking is just a question of changing the multiplier in the BIOS. You'd probably want to invest some of the saving into a slightly better motherboard, but it'd still stretch the budget for other parts.

That said, IMO it's definitely worth buying the new GPU now and seeing how things run on your current CPU. You can always carry the GPU forward to a new build, but if you can stretch your old PC out for another 6 months Zen should be available and will give you a whole new set of questions!

EDIT:

Just spotted this on ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/706361-amd-fx-...-fd8300wmhkbox

FX 8300 - 95W TDP, £114. Might be worth thinking about....

[cptwhite_uk]

When I was building a Budget PC for a friend a few weeks ago I ended up getting the CPU from CEX (2nd hand with 2 year warranty)

Core i5-4570 Quad core (3.2Ghz) @ £110

Similar performance to more modern processors around the £170 mark and still with a decent warranty.

[marksct]

Thanks again for the input. How about the following:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/PYVL4C

This comes out at around £450, inc case, with an RX470 and i3 6100.

I have chosen a slightly cheaper MB and RAM to that suggested above... Do people think this still looks ok?

re intel vs AMD having looked it up I think it's easiest to still with the intel rather than going with out of date AMD and overclocking. Would also feel more comfortable buying new components, as this should last me a while.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The CPU has gone up on Novatech.

I would get these parts:

http://www.ebuyer.com/725318-intel-c...-bx80662i36100
http://www.ebuyer.com/724969-asus-b1...dio-b150m-c-d3
http://www.ebuyer.com/720289-hyperx-...hx424c15fbk2-8

The Skylake core i3 chips are quite bandwidth limited so it is better to run the RAM in dual channel and the motherboard has 4 RAM slots too. Some motherboards allow you to overclock a Core i3 but I am not sure if that Asus one does TBH!!

That MSI RX470 looks OK AFAIK.

I would also get a new PSU if possible:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01C3FFO...ding=UTF8&th=1

The CX-M in its 450W or 550W versions would be fine and is quite a modern design. Alternatively,I would look at one of the Seasonic branded PSUs.

I would probably re-use your current case if possible.

Edit!!

Regarding the previous suggestion of getting a Core i5 from CEX - they have a one to two years warranty on electronics IIRC.