Budget Gaming PC - Build/Buy Options - £800 tops.

wolfeeh · Jun 21, 2012

wolfeeh · Jun 21, 2012

£799.12 in total including VAT and shipping. potentially might need a couple of sata cables but maybe not, they're neither here nor there.

Many thanks to Kryt & Queeg for significant input & searches.

wolfeeh · Jun 21, 2012

I'm actually so keen on this spec I might build one for myself... How well will it play Diablo III, Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft?

caLLous · Jun 21, 2012

I would push for a bigger SSD (128+gb) and more RAM (8gb should be fine but 16gb will be better), especially if you will be installing games and stuff to the SSD (it soon adds up), but if you think that will see you through then go for it. It seems expensive for what it is but I guess once you factor in case\monitor etc it will add a few hundred quids.

wolfeeh · Jun 21, 2012

it isn't possible to up the spec of those on the available budget though

ya forgetting, this isn't an upgrade this is a whole new system, from scratch... no old monitor keyboard mouse windows etc to save money on.

caLLous · Jun 21, 2012

Ah ok go ahead then.

You can always put a bit more RAM in down the line if you need to, and you will just have to be careful with SSD usage (uninstall games or move them to a slower drive when you are done with them etc).

wolfeeh · Jun 21, 2012

hah these are lessons the kid will need to learn for himself

I'm gonna be fine!

caLLous · Jun 21, 2012

Oh yeah, more than adequate for a small person. Is he proper gamer age or just figuring computers out? Lucky sod to be getting a new machine tbh.

wolfeeh · Jun 21, 2012

gonna be 14 on this birthday. he's been playing WoW for three years, but other than that just consoles apart from PC's round his mates' houses. I sincerely doubt he appreciates what he's getting

wolfeeh · Aug 2, 2012

Bump:

I've been a bit under the weather so I haven't updated this for this interested. Since my last post I've spent the last few weeks placing orders for parts and as of this afternoon they have now all arrived (5 separate shipments, 3 companies: Case & PSU from SpecialTech , Windows 7 64bit OEM from Amazon, everything else in 3 shipments from ebuyer.com).

I've never purchased from ebuyer or specialtech so didn't know what to expect in terms of them meeting delivery timescales, what couriers they would use etc (we live in a bizarre parallel street so deliveries very often end up lost). Pleasingly all deliveries have been either by parcelforce, who usually stick exactly to their quoted timescales around here, not a day earlier) or by fedex - who ended up delivering several items next day, despite having chose the free 5 working day delivery option. Impressed. All packages appear undamaged and untampered with, everything bar the monitor and the case arriving in big brown boxes with a vast amount of air bags in the boxes - good stuff - can't stand polystyrene chips. monitor & case arrived in their own retail packaging with no additional outer protection - slightly worrying but no evidence of damage so fingers crossed.

Final component choices have changed slightly due to offers running out on some items, some items being out of stock and some special offers on other items that weren't originally available... so final spec is now:

Coolermaster Elite 430 Black case with windowed side panel & blue LED fan - original choice, Coolermaster 550 W PSU included free for same price as case alone.
Philips Brilliance 21.5" 1080p IPS panel w/ free DVI cable & £50 discount one day only on the day I bought it - replacing similarly specified but non-IPS Asus panel that cost £20 more after discount was applied to the Philips (also no free DVI cable).
Xenta Slimline Black USB Keyboard & Mouse combo - a snip @ £5.
Gigabyte Z77-DS3H ATX mobo - read so many mixed reviews about the previously specced MSI that I didn't fancy chancing it, same price, always been happy with previous Gigabyte boards.
Intel Core i5 3450 - Was going to bump this to a 3570k but then there was a £20 discount on order day on this one so the price differential became too great so I stuck with this, retail kit, stock cooler - replacing with a Corsair H100 at some point.
Kingston 8GB 1600mhz DD3, as specced.
Asus GTX560 Ti 1GB DDR5 DirectCU II - heard nothing but good things about this card, ummed and ahhed over it right until the last second, then on order day the Gainward was out of stock anyway - decision made.
Samsung DVD Writer, black - Cheap, in stock, nuff said - slightly preferred the aesthetics over the sony.
OCZ Agility 3 60GB SATA III SSD including free mounting bracket (needed) - same price as Sandisk SSD - which was out of stock on order day.
Hitachi 500GB SATA III HDD - Seagate 1.5 TB offer had ended and new price was hideous. decided to opt for cheapest drive as I've now found 4 SATA HDD's in my bedroom @ My Mum's House totalling another TB anyway, will possibly install some of them if I feel the need.
Windows 7 OEM... duh.

Tomorrow I commence operation Build-the-fucking-pc

wolfeeh · Aug 5, 2012

Notes from the build
Pro's & Con's of chosen components.
Coolermaster Elite 430 (Black) case is lovely to look at, suitably durable but I had a couple of niggles with it (Considering the price, the niggles wouldn't stop me buying another one necessarily, but I would be wary about another Coolermaster and would consider another brand first now if the case I chose was backed by suitably positive reviews - and they may have been an issue with the case I had, perhaps not indicative of all CM Elite 430's):

PSU pre-mounted - metal bracket above PSU displaced by PSU and not possible to reposition it - fouls insertion of the motherboard - but didn't affect correct motherboard placement once inserted.
Motherboard mounting posts were ever so slightly off position in comparison to the board - 3 screws went in easily and tightened correctly. 2 were a bastard to tighten but got there in the end. 1 screw is not fully tightened but at this point the board is locked down securely and is itself in the correct position so I'm not stressing.
PCI Slots; Slot 1 on the case does not in fact line up with slot 1 on the board - Slot 2 on the case lines up with Slot 1 on the board. I found this out AFTER i'd popped out the blank, now leaving an unsightly (to me) gap above the graphics card - will have to try and find a black PCI blanking plate somewhere to screw in.
Semi-Tool-Free case design - thumbscrews to remove sides, front simply unclips for removing optical bay blanks etc. all good... PCI cards have to be secured with conventionall screws though - why not more thumb screws? Additionally 2 of 3 optical drive bays have latch securing mechanisms, none provided for the third bay, not personally an issue as I was only putting one DVD drive in. 3 of 6 (I think it was 6) 3 1/2 inch bays have tool-less twist lock mechanisms, as above, why not all the bays?
USB/Audio header + power/reset/led headers are very frugal with their cable, the only way I could reach the relevant motherboard sockets was to have the cables go directly through the middle of the case, i.e. not possible to route them around the back of the motherboard etc considering the case has a side window this messes with the appearance.
On the subject of the PSU, considering the price (i.e. free with case) I wasn't expecting a modular PSU, that's fine... but the supplied cables like the case header cables, were a bit on the short side, some I will be able to route neatly around the back of the case, but not all of them. cables are a variety of colours - spoiling the blue/black colour scheme I had going on inside the case. Additionally only the SATA power leads off the PSU are labelled, all others were blank - Could have been a nightmare if I was a noob to PC building.
1 Case fan (140mm) supplied - LED fan with blue tint - reasonably quiet, nice and subtle but striking visual effect - FUCKING CABLE IS SHORT. Conssidering the above, I'm not in a position where I have to assume that ALL Coolermaster cases/fans/PSU's are less than generous with their cables - this is a serious potential consideration for my next build.

As previously state, all of the above were niggles, everything has been worked around to some extent or another, but I mention them for the interests of anyone considering a build in a Coolermaster Elite 430 case.

Intel Core i5 3450: Retail box includes processor and heatsink/fan assembly - seriously, why no goddamn thermal paste? lack of cooling paste aside, the heatsink/fan assembly appeared rugged and durable, was exceptionally easy to install (and remove for that matter), I could detect no noise from the CPU fan in operation when computer under load, with the side of the case off. Thermals appear OK for a stock cooler. Potentially looking at a Corsair H100 down the line which the case appears to accept. On the subject of thermal paste - I made a trip to PC World and grabbed the only thermal paste they had, some silver shit in a syringe by a company called Atrix - crap to apply, no instructions, took ages to get an appropriate coating. cheap but avoid like the plague. I shouldn't have been tight and should have just ordered some Arctic Silver or something when I placed my last ebuyer order.

Gigabyte Z77-DS3H motherboard - durable - took a bit of a battering getting into and out of the case several times. very well built. considering the budget nature I was pleasantly surprised by connectivity - 4 USB2, 2 USB3, 2 SATA 3, 4 SATA2 - took care of all the drives i needed to install + all the peripherals I needed to plug in. component securing mechanisms have a positive and robust feel - basically the whole thing was very pleasant to work with. 2 Black SATA3 leads are included with the motherboard along with a rather bland thin steel / zinc I/O Shield. 3D graphical UEFI/BIOS thing was a pleasure to use and was reasonably intuitive. my ONE issue with the entire board was that once assembled and the power button was pressed for the first time, the system started beeping frantically, fans spun up for 2-3 seconds, then the whole thing would reset and start again - I was having a major panic at this point. switched it off, reached for the motherboard manual for a troubleshooting protocol - and followed it to no avail.... I eventually figured out what the issue was by accident - I caught my fingernail on a latch for the RAM - then realised that that latch was open (it was on an empty DIMM socket) - this was not an issue on my last PC and it's not a big deal now - but I was clueless as to what the problem was and the manual was NO help. 9/10 - I'd recommend this board to anyone looking to make a budget PC build.

OCZ Agility 3 / Hitachi 7200RPM 500GB HDD / Samsung SATA DVD - no problems whatsoever with installs, straightforward with tool-free drive bays - worth noting that the finish of the Samsung DVD drive was absolutely IDENTICAL to the finish on the fascia of the Coolermaster Elite 430 black case - Style +++

Asus Geforce GTX560 Ti 1GB DDR5 DirectCU II- Star of the show

once you remove the cardboard sleeve this card had by far the most elegant and tasteful packaging of any computer component I had ever seen! Posh. You probably know the drill; double slot card design, dual DVI out, twin fans on the card. box contents include DVI > VGA converter + some other converter that had HDMI on one side and I can't remember what on the other + two power splitter cables. Manual was in no way clear what the hell i DO with the splitter cables and I've never had a graphics card before that needed more than AGP bus power. opted for using one of the 6 pin plugs direct off the PSU and attaching one of the splitter leads to a 4 pin molex off the PSU and using one of it's two 6 pin plugs into the other socket on the 560 Ti. It worked, nuff said. Not sure what could potentially have gone bang if I hadn't gotten the plugs right first time. On the plus side the card itself FEELS as solid as a rock, looks suitably cool and menacing (minor consideration, there's a side window and the computer's for a teenager remember!) and most importantly I have not yet heard the GPU fans AT ALL no matter how I thrashed the PC. Image is smooth & Flicker free, no artifacts, flashing, micro-tearing etc in use. Thoroughly recommend this card and will in fact be looking out for an Asus Direct CU version of the forthcoming GTX 660 Ti 2GB for my next build (which is for me).

Xenta Keyboard & Mouse - to be honest I had zero expectations of this keyboard and mouse combo, they were a massive cost-cutting exercise with the full intention of buying decent replacements as soon as funds allow. I was pleasantly surprised that while the keyboard does flex - IF you pick it up hold it in both hands and flex it - if you have it sitting on the desk and just you know, type on it... it's actually perfectly rock solid, has a reasonably pleasant if tiring action (stiff, chiclet-style keys). some keys are the wrong size and/or shape and some are in weird positions. not really an issue for the kid as he's still a hunter-pecker typist atm. I had even lower expectations of the mouse and it turns out that was even more of an unexpected joy - small, but solid and durable feeling, grippy, nice actions, good tracking (at least on the back of a paperback textbook!) oversized scroll wheel with nice smooth ratcheted action. I would actually say that it would be reasonable to pay up to £20-30 for this mouse alone as a travel mouse for a laptop, but long story short, £5 for this keyboard and mouse is a bargain.

Philips Brilliance 21.5", 16:9, 1920 x 1080, IPS monitor. bit of an odd ball. Fantastic panel/picture, excellent colour rendition viewed direct-on, lightweight chassis & stand - easy to move and transport, bargain price... flimsy stand that is very unstable - tap the monitor and it will wobble.
vertical viewing angles are not what I would expect from an IPS monitor, though overall I can't help but be impressed with the performance for the price. I don't think I would have been as happy if I'd had to spend £50 more on it.

So as you can tell from the above there were a couple of minor niggles putting the machine together... nothing that couldn't be overcome. How do I feel now I've built it? relieved. all done in time for the kid's birthday and the big surprise for me personally has been the level of performance you can get for £800 these days. I'm stunned to bits by the stuff the machine will do... using last year's graphics card, budget components etc! I know I've been out of the game for a good few years but I was expecting performance something like slightly better than my £3000 old top of the line 3ghz P4 rig. what I got blew me away. every game we threw at it we put to maximum settings, ultra's extreme's high's whatever was available, every game set to run in 1920x1080, full screen, V Sync disabled. Average frame rates in world of warcraft - 150 ish, same for starcraft 2, dropping to 74 FPS during a mass brawl with over 800 marines marauders and medevacs fighting it out in the middle of a FFA. never skipped a beat.... I was intrigued to find that the kid had counterstrike source on his steam account so i thought i'd give it a go - average 300fps all the time. 64 player servers. aside from starcraft 2 the only really modern game we tried was Diablo 3... for some reason the fps counter constantly displayed zero but again all settings to the max, shadows on, etc etc... and the game was smooth as silk. I'm shocked and awed at the performance this pricepoint brings you and i can only surmise that those who buy top of the range kit, Core i7 3770K, Geforce GTX 680 / 690, SLI, 32+gb of ram etc etc etc have some insane penis size compensation issues, or are using the gear for some specialist high end purpose Or are running 2560 x 1600 or multi monitor setups. I don't think I can actually justify buying anything more for myself and my fiance than what we bought the kid. aside from getting nice keyboard and mouse straight from the off and perhaps looking for a more stable monitor I think this build offers us everything we need at a reasonable price.

Honourable mention? SSD. I'd never realised how vast the difference would be... windows 7 installed on the SSD boot time from pressing the power switch to working windows desktop with no egg timer - <10 seconds. And I thought my macbook was fast @ 39 seconds when new.

Athan · Aug 8, 2012

wolfeeh said:
Intel Core i5 3450: Retail box includes processor and heatsink/fan assembly - seriously, why no goddamn thermal paste? lack of cooling paste aside, the heatsink/fan assembly appeared rugged and durable, was exceptionally easy to install (and remove for that matter), I could detect no noise from the CPU fan in operation when computer under load, with the side of the case off. Thermals appear OK for a stock cooler. Potentially looking at a Corsair H100 down the line which the case appears to accept. On the subject of thermal paste - I made a trip to PC World and grabbed the only thermal paste they had, some silver shit in a syringe by a company called Atrix - crap to apply, no instructions, took ages to get an appropriate coating. cheap but avoid like the plague. I shouldn't have been tight and should have just ordered some Arctic Silver or something when I placed my last ebuyer order.

Are you sure you didn't miss the already applied bonding stuff on the bottom of the HSF? My i5-760 Retail came like that. Just pull off a protective strip then fix it to the already-mounted CPU on the motherboard.

wolfeeh · Aug 8, 2012

There was sadly no already applied bonding stuff on either the processor or the HSF assembly. I looked. And tore the box apart looking for a sachet of stuff and looked in the manual to see if there was any mention of it.

Tilda · Sep 30, 2012

Wolfeeh, you're a legend. Your posts were brilliant.
I've just basically bought what you did.
I'm doing a funky swap, using the case, PSU along with my pc's mobo/ram/cpu/wifi/old gfx to make a pc for gf
Then buying the mobo/cpu/ram you got, and replacing mine to couple with my 560gtx in my case/hdd/cd etc.
Then getting an ssd for each (the samsung one that people recommended in the other thread) for the OS.

Saved me a tonne of time. Cheers!

wolfeeh · Oct 1, 2012

Hah you're perfectly welcome dude. Glad you like

Lamp · Oct 1, 2012

Pff. The Blue Peter Budget PC is a lot simpler

*Lamp is holding a twig, a plastic coffee cup, a battery, a coat hanger, some tinsel, and double-sided sticky tape*

I don't think my PC is going to be any good

(edit: I've managed to DL Apple Maps on it...

)

wolfeeh · Oct 3, 2012

I <3 Lamp.

Budget Gaming PC - Build/Buy Options - £800 tops.

wolfeeh

One of Freddy's beloved

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One of Freddy's beloved

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One of Freddy's beloved

caLLous

I am a FH squatter

wolfeeh

One of Freddy's beloved

caLLous

I am a FH squatter

wolfeeh

One of Freddy's beloved

caLLous

I am a FH squatter

wolfeeh

One of Freddy's beloved

wolfeeh

One of Freddy's beloved

wolfeeh

One of Freddy's beloved

Athan

Resident Freddy

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Tilda

Moderator

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Lamp

Gold Star Holder!!

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