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Mazza558
July 18th, 2008, 08:37 PM
Is it viable to build a good gaming desktop (no monitor or peripherals as I already have them) for £300?

By "good", I mean something with specs around this:

- Mid-range (by today's standards) Dual Core AMD/Intel
- Decent motherboard with PCI-E slot
- 1-2GB of RAM
- Mid-to-high end nVidia graphics
- 200GB HDD
- Power supply to accommodate this
- Basic CD/DVD RW drive

I think it's definitely possible, and would easily produce a desktop with better specs than my current gaming desktop, which has:

-AMD 3400+ (single core)
-1GB RAM
-nVidia 7600 GS

Thoughts? Advice? Both are appreciated... :)

scragar
July 18th, 2008, 08:47 PM
let's see:
2.2Ghz dual core processor I got before Xmas was £30, you could proberly get a much better one for around the same price now
Mobo was off ebay, £25 - 2 PCI-E slots, 2PCI slows, 4 slots for ram, v nice.
2GB of ram = £20
graphics, tend to have a lot of choices, the ones I'd recomend are around £200, but they can go as high as $400, or as cheap as £30...
250GB HD = £30 around middle of last year, cheaper still now.
450W PSU = £25
DVD RW = £15
cabels etc = £10


total = ~£160 + Gcard

Mazza558
July 18th, 2008, 10:13 PM
let's see:
2.2Ghz dual core processor I got before Xmas was £30, you could proberly get a much better one for around the same price now
Mobo was off ebay, £25 - 2 PCI-E slots, 2PCI slows, 4 slots for ram, v nice.
2GB of ram = £20
graphics, tend to have a lot of choices, the ones I'd recomend are around £200, but they can go as high as $400, or as cheap as £30...
250GB HD = £30 around middle of last year, cheaper still now.
450W PSU = £25
DVD RW = £15
cabels etc = £10


total = ~£160 + Gcard

Where would that be from? I'm looking at Overclockers.co.uk, which seems to have some good deals - like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-080-OK&groupid=701&catid=339&subcat=&name=AMD%20Athlon%2064%20X2%20Dual%20Core%204800+% 20/%20Foxconn%206150M2MA-KRS2H%20Micro%20ATX%20/%20OCZ%202GB%20(2x1GB)%20PC2-6400C4%20Dual%20Channel%20Platinum%20Kit

scragar
July 18th, 2008, 10:38 PM
I found my prices from http://scan.co.uk but that's local to me, they only have 1 store(horwich near bolton), so it may be hard to get to for you, but their offers can be a fair bit cheaper than most places, and the bundles of the week can really help you get a PC started.

gn2
July 18th, 2008, 11:35 PM
You can get a really excellent gaming machine for under £300

Here you go: http://tinyurl.com/338v3r

miggols99
July 18th, 2008, 11:47 PM
@gn2: How could you even suggest that? Ugh. :-P

@OP: You could have a look at aria.co.uk. Their prices are very good, and delivery is extremely quick :)

wrtpeeps
July 18th, 2008, 11:52 PM
You'll probably want more then 2gb ram.

Spend big on psu, gfx and motherboard. By big, I mean as much as you can afford.

gn2
July 19th, 2008, 01:41 AM
You will struggle to find a better supplier of hardware than Ebuyer.com

Wide range of stock carried, very competitive prices, excellent aftersales and returns service, I would have no hesitation recommending them.

Gigabyte motherboards are excellent, made with the highest quality components.
Corsair XMS RAM is very high quality and lifetime warranty.
Seagate hard drives have the best warranty.
Seasonic or Corsair PSU's are easily the best.
Antec make very good cases.

Joeb454
July 19th, 2008, 02:55 AM
+1 for ebuyer :)

Mazza558
July 19th, 2008, 10:16 AM
Thanks for the advice, it's incredible how cheap some high-quality components are these days.

Canis familiaris
July 19th, 2008, 10:19 AM
You'll probably want more then 2gb ram.

Spend big on psu, gfx and motherboard. By big, I mean as much as you can afford.
+100
People tend to forget about PSU.

Mazza558
July 19th, 2008, 10:20 AM
Another question = AMD or Intel?

I've heard Intel have jumped ahead in performance.

Canis familiaris
July 19th, 2008, 10:27 AM
Another question = AMD or Intel?

I've heard Intel have jumped ahead in performance.

I would suggest Intel. Intel is way ahead of AMD in terms of performance currently.(this is coming from an AMD fanboy, so you realise how much Intel is ahead :()

THough for entry level gaming AMD is pretty good. Coupling this chip with 790G chipset which has very good integrated graphics gives you decent gaming performace. But this is recommended only for casual gaming.

Anything above casual gaming, Intel + nVidia make a fearsome gaming combination.

Mazza558
July 19th, 2008, 10:36 AM
I would suggest Intel. Intel is way ahead of AMD in terms of performance currently.(this is coming from an AMD fanboy, so you realise how much Intel is ahead :()

THough for entry level gaming AMD is pretty good. Coupling this chip with 790G chipset which has very good integrated graphics gives you decent gaming performace. But this is recommended only for casual gaming.

Anything above casual gaming, Intel + nVidia make a fearsome gaming combination.

Thanks for the info. I'm slightly behind the times when it comes to the best Intels - How does the numbering/naming system go? I assume Core 2 Duos are the starting point?

fiddledd
July 19th, 2008, 10:36 AM
I build quite a few PCs, I get my Hardware from Novatech and Overclockers:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/home.html

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/

Never had to send anything back :) Have a look at the Motherboard Bundles if you don't want any incompatibilities. And I would go with Intel Core 2 Duo.

Mazza558
July 19th, 2008, 10:45 AM
Thanks for all your advice so far. What's a good processor speed to match up to the nVidia 8800 series? 2.4ghz core duo?

fiddledd
July 19th, 2008, 10:53 AM
I'm just looking for a Motherboard Bundle and GFX card within you budget, give me a minute and I'll post the links. :)

fiddledd
July 19th, 2008, 10:55 AM
GFX Card http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-88GT5

Mobo bundle http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MBB-P35822

Was just a quick look, I'm sure others will say if these are any good.

wipeout140
July 19th, 2008, 10:59 AM
Would highly recommend them (Novatech) i buy all my parts from them. I even bought my laptop from them. Ubuntu worked out box everything from wireless to graphics card (Compiz Fusion)

Canis familiaris
July 19th, 2008, 11:00 AM
Thanks for the info. I'm slightly behind the times when it comes to the best Intels - How does the numbering/naming system go? I assume Core 2 Duos are the starting point?

Core 2 Duo are the starting point but among them vary very highly in performance.

The E1xxx series eg. E Core 2 based CPU are the latest Celerons, they actually offer pretty decent performance but have low clock speed, very less L2 cache and I dont recommend them to anyone.

The E2xxx series eg. E2160 are known as Pentium Dual Cores. They are actually good performers but not recommended because you can get a better AMD processors at that price point.

The above processors I recommend to no one. AMD Athlon X2s offer much better value for money in this segment.
The fun starts below

The E4xxx series eg. E4300 are very popular in consumer market. They have 2MB L2 cache. They do not offer Chip level virtualization. They are codename Allendale. They are very good processors for Home use, and *more than casual gaming*. They are built by 65nm fabrication process.
But I wont recommend them for mid range gaming because of lower L2 cache size.

The E6xxx series are the Core 2 Duos with 4MB L2 cache (except E6300 and E6400 which had 2MB L2 cache, half of 4MB L2 cache disabled, but they have been phased out). They were codenamed Conroe and were preferred a lot by gamers earlier particularly the higher clocked version. But they are build on 65nm fabrication processes, and since Intel has moved to 45nm, they no longer catch fascination.

The E8xxx are 45nm based Core 2 Duos, codenamed as Wolfdale. They are great performers and higly overclockable. Their higher clocked processors and simply awesome. I would recommend Wolfdale to anyone who wants to build a gaming PC.

There are E7xxx based CPUs too, but I dont know much about them.

Dont' forget about Quad Cores though. Intel Quad Core offer great performance. Currently though faster Dual cores are more recommended for gaming, but this may change in the future.

I would recommend you to look into Q6600(Kentsfield, 65nm farication) and Q9300(Yorkfield, 45nm fabrication) - Excellent processors these.

Mazza558
July 19th, 2008, 11:12 AM
GFX Card http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-88GT5

Mobo bundle http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MBB-P35822

Was just a quick look, I'm sure others will say if these are any good.

That's probably too expensive. I've (as advised) gone for the most reliable PSU + Motherboards according to reviews, and this leaves about £250 left for everything else.

It might be a stretch to go to the 8800 series, so it might have to be 8600 instead.

Here's what I have so far, and will probably buy if no one can find any faults:

Case: Click here (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/115479#)
Power Supply: Click here (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131052/show_product_overview)
Motherboard: Click here (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140061)
HDD: Click here (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/120305)
CD Drive: This one (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147125)
RAM = Two of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/106114)

Canis familiaris
July 19th, 2008, 11:17 AM
When you buy RAM, look at the latency figures along with clock speed and density.
Lower the latency is better.
If possible buy RAM with higher clock.

EDIT: Why an IDE Optical Drive? Buy a SATA based DVD writer. Agreed that there would be no performance advantage but SATA cables are thinner and would not obstruct airflow and they have the same price.

EDIT #2: The hard disk you are purchasing has only 8MB buffer. I would suggest you to purchase a hard disk with 16MB buffer.

gn2
July 19th, 2008, 11:28 AM
You can save some money with an Antec case/PSU bundle.
e.g:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130947
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130948
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130949

The Antec PSU's are good, but not as quiet as Seasonic or Corsair, and the cases are much higher quality than Casecom.
If you intend doing a fair bit of changing parts, then a good case is essential, there's nothing worse than working on a poor quality case and cutting your fingers on sharp edges.

I would suggest an Antec Solo case (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/112659) with the Corsair PSU you picked out.
Long-term it will be well worth the additional expense.

A micro-ATX board is cheaper and will work with the on-board video till you can afford to buy a graphics card, enabling you to do the job a bit at a time and get a better machine in the end.
e.g: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140066

RAM should ideally be bought in matched pair kits rather than single sticks.

Maxtor hard drives are easily the most unreliable of the main brands and I would suggest avoiding them.

bonzodog
July 19th, 2008, 11:33 AM
Also, I would recommend you look at http://komplett.co.uk for parts.

Think carefully about the motherboard chipset, an nForce motherboard would probably be the better option at the moment, rather than an ATi based mobo, as some of them are causing problems with the latest kernels (read 2.6.25 and above).

I reckon an Intel CPU on an nForce motherboard with an Nvidia GPU is your best bet.

Mazza558
July 19th, 2008, 11:54 AM
Also, I would recommend you look at http://komplett.co.uk for parts.

Think carefully about the motherboard chipset, an nForce motherboard would probably be the better option at the moment, rather than an ATi based mobo, as some of them are causing problems with the latest kernels (read 2.6.25 and above).

I reckon an Intel CPU on an nForce motherboard with an Nvidia GPU is your best bet.

I'll probably be using Ubuntu on it until I can get another OEM XP license (for games - switching to dual-boot then), so this is good to know, thanks.