Gaming PC - build or buy
Hi
Been toying with the idea of building a mid-range new gaming PC and trying to choose components just coming towards the bottom of the "L" price curve.
I had thought about just buying something like this:
http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Elixir.html
But I also thought about building something new like I did last time (7 years ago, Core 2 Duo machine - obviously, not a lot of mileage in upgrading this) but when I tot up the costs, it isn't much different from buying something.
Has anyone built something similar recently for less than the 500 quid mark? I'd have to buy a copy of Windows, too, I suppose so that'd be another 70 notes on top.
Thanks
J
Been toying with the idea of building a mid-range new gaming PC and trying to choose components just coming towards the bottom of the "L" price curve.
I had thought about just buying something like this:
http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Elixir.html
But I also thought about building something new like I did last time (7 years ago, Core 2 Duo machine - obviously, not a lot of mileage in upgrading this) but when I tot up the costs, it isn't much different from buying something.
Has anyone built something similar recently for less than the 500 quid mark? I'd have to buy a copy of Windows, too, I suppose so that'd be another 70 notes on top.
Thanks
J
Post edited by JerzyBulovski on
Comments
Like I say, though, even looking on hot deals UK for bundles doesn't get the price significantly down. Or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places for bits (overclockers, scan, dab, ebuyer etc).
Can you not push the boat out a little further? If you are building and can get a more reliable rig through experience then maybe stretch to ?750 or ?800 if you can...?
I'd like to but I'm not really looking for something I can play "the latest titles on." Sounds odd, I know, but I have some specific simulation games I play online and I think the specs of what I've seen around the 500 - 600 quid mark are sufficient for the next iteration of these games.
"Other games" I tend to play on my 360 although I'm thinking of flogging that as it hasn't been turned on for about 12 months...not even for the re-hashed ME3 ending!
The only reason I want to upgrade is that components in this PC are getting noisy (fans wearing out), it's about time I got something that can Handbrake a movie in less than half a day. I've had my money's worth out of it, for sure.
I'd defo flog the 360 to enhance the budget.
Bottom line for me though is - BYO...every time!
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
Yep. In the bang for buck stakes the AMD A10 can't be beat. It gives you a 3.8GHz (and easily over-clocked) quad core with 384 shaders for less than a hundred quid. I just upgraded my HTPC with one, 8GB RAM and a motherboard, the total bill came to around ?160. Even allowing for a new optical drive, case and hard drive, where I made do with hand-me-downs, I'd still probably have had change from ?300.
AMD CPU FM2 A10-5800K 3.8GHz Retail boxed with Heatsink and Fan(S038078 ) ?85.71
Asrock motherboard FM2A75M-ITX socket FM2(S040104) ?57.56
Coolermaster Case Elite 342 black mini tower mATX - NO PSU(S033423) ?22.08
Coolermaster PSU 500W Elite Power with 12cm fan OEM(S035488 ) ?26.47
LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x SATA DVD?RW Internal Drive(S038811) ?11.90 ?11.90
Corsair memory 8GB Vengeance Performance Kit (2x4GB) DDR3 1866MHz CL9 RAM Unbuffered DIMM BLACK(S032912) ?56.44
Seagate 1.0TB hard disk drive Barracuda SATA III 64MB cache 7200rpm(S036558 ) ?42.99
Sub Total ?303.15
Select Delivery OptionNext Day Delivery only 99p Extra
Mainland UK Delivery Shown, please log in for accurate delivery costs.
Total price with delivery excluding VAT ?308.14
VAT @ 20% ?61.63
Total price including VAT and Delivery ?369.77
The best thing about building is that you direct the money you have to be most effective for the particular games you play.
In other words if you need the graphics you can put more into the GPU, If you play lots of multi level games get an SSD, if you need the number crunching go for a better CPU.
I've just had a quick play at Scan and put together a i5, 1Tb HD, 128gig SSD, 8gig Memory, DVD, Case, PSU, motherboard and mid range graphics card for less than ?500, drop the SSD and you can go to a much better GPU if thats what you want.
Possibly but the idea was to do something that could still sort of play games as cheaply as possible
AMD A10 5800K Black Edition CPU - ?98.57
AsRock FM2A55M-DGS Motherboard - ?40.38
Patriot 8GB (2x 4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 RAM - ?45.99
Seagate ST31000524AS 1TB HDD - ?53.40
Samsung 24x SATA DVD Writer - ?13.97
CiT Shade Micro ATX Interior Mesh Case with 500W PSU - ?29.01
Shipping - Free(!)
Total - ?281.32(!!)
The price of RAM seems to have gone up since I upgraded my HTPC, but some of the other components are a lot cheaper. Obviously it'll chug a bit on graphically more demanding fare, and it's far from future proof, but most current games should still be playable if you turn the settings down.
If you want something a bit better, ditch the APU and go for a separate CPU and graphics card. An Intel i5 3570K and the aforementioned AMD 7770 would probably add ?150 or so to the price, and necessitate a change of motherboard, but should be up to the task of the next generation of console ports.
nice one, yes it won't stand up to a proper rig but as you say should be ok compared to a console
So far, I've been avoiding the AMD route even though I know you can get some good bang for buck; I've seen quite a lot of negative comments on Hotdeals when they've come up cheap which has created some doubts. I was interested in going for the I5 3570K so it's good that was mentioned. Just out of interest, what would be a good motherboard for the intel?
I'd better go and do some research again, I think.
On the subject of HTPCs, I was interested in getting a Revo but I'm a sucker for buying old stuff and trying to eke some use out of it. I've still got an Xbox 1 for XBMC, for example(!) What do people think of something like this:
http://www.schtrade.co.uk/prod/lenovo-thinkcentre-m58p-6234-core-2-duo-266ghz-1gb-160gb-grade-b/
...and shoving a very small, cheap SSD (booting) and silent graphics card in it? I have all my stuff stored on a remote NAS. Is this going to be powerful enough to run XBMC with full HD (decoding mkv and MP4) or do I need to spend more? (I did try a Pi...but it didn't cut the mustard)
Thanks!
Definitely! I had specc'ed Win 7 for this build mainly because I know the games I want to play on it have some issues in Windows 8.
mine seems to stream ok although I must admit the gui runs slow on Raspbmc, Openelec seems to be a bit quicker haven't tried xbian yet
I've use AMD kit for ages and not had any problems. In fact I built all our Solid Works CAD stations at work with 6 core Phenoms with AMD Graphics cards and they are awesome and at a fraction of the cost of a 'certified' intel station. In fact they are so good - all our new PC's are AMD based.
Also correct me if i'm wrong but the A10 can use the onboard apu and an AMD graphics card and give you crossfire ( it may be dependant on the motherboard you use).
yep you're right, read somewhere that with a Radeon HD 6670 the Dual Graphics combo is similar to CrossFire
I've used AMD for years too and never had a problem. I've also gone back to their GFX cards after about 6 or 7 years. The 7870 is a beast and MUCH quieter than my old Geforce 260.
Oh I quite agree but he did mention a mid-range gaming PC and I don't think a built in GPU is going to cut the mustard (it's been years since I've used one so they're probably much better now). You could pick up a low-end GPU that'll play the likes of Mass Effect 2. My works machine has a Geforce 520 and that can cope with it. IIRC it cost around ?25 12 months ago.
Yeh after reading your post I read up on the dual graphics combo and by adding a discreet card you can get nice increase with little layout which I hadn't considered until that point, good call :-)
Integrated GPUs have improved a lot in recent years, or at least the AMD ones at any rate. The A10 has 384 shader cores to the 48 that are in a GeForce 520, for instance, so I'd think it a pretty safe bet that it's going to be able to handle the same games with better graphics, and then some.
You'd generally be looking at spending at least ?70 on a graphics card to get something significantly better, although you could slightly offset that against a cheaper CPU like the FX-4100. Either way though, unless you're budgeting at least ?150 towards the graphics and CPU, the A10 is the best option by a street.
Blimey! That is significantly better than the last time I used one! The last integrated GPU I used could just about manage Portal at 1024x768, or it may have been 800x600. And that was with everything turned down to minimum. Presumably the A10 would manage it with ease then?
Yes, it'll perform just fine with older games like that.
The sort of things that it doesn't quite have the juice for are the likes of Crysis 3 and Witcher 2.
That's what I found, too. Played video/streamed music great...GUI was oftne painfully slow (even if I changed it to a low-fi one) and sometimes hung.
Anyone have any comments on buying something like the Lenovo SFF 58p for a HTPC base?
On the subject of graphics cards, I'd definitely buy a dedicated one although I have noticed that a lot of the integrated ones (as is being said) can perform as well as low end dedicated. I was going to budget approx 100-120 quid for one which I think probably gets something reasonable off this list:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
Interesting comments on the CAD workstations - do you have a default build "bill of materials" or is it one you've posted already?
Thanks
I can get you a detailed spec but I built them a year or so ago so pricing and availability will have changed.