Gaming PC on a Strict Budget

[Salv]

Hi!

Since my current PC is on the brink, I'm looking to purchase a new setup. I'm on a very strict budget of £665 and need to save as much of that as possible while still building something that will run reasonably well for three to four years. This is what I eventually came up with but I'd appreciate any advice or recommendations.

Specifically, I'm considering swapping the 6850 for a 6870 and going for 4GB of Kingston RAM instead. However, I'm not sure if it's worth the money.

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3450 (3.1GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6850 - 2 DVI,HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Quantity
1

Price: £625.00 including VAT and delivery.

I also have a few questions.

Do PC Specialist build absolutely everything? As in, once delivered, I only need to add peripherals and plug the tower & monitor into my extension?

Just to be sure, am I correct in saying that I'm not missing any ports/slots that would allow me to connect my router and speakers?

Thanks.

[vanthus]

The computer will be fully built and there will be ports for your router and speakers.
For gaming I would go for something like this.
Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER QUAD CORE FX-4100 (3.60GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97: AM3+ PLATFORM, DUAL DDR3, SATA 6.0GB/s, USB 3.0
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE AMD CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
£662 inc VAT and Delivery.

[Salv]

The computer will be fully built and there will be ports for your router and speakers.
For gaming I would go for something like this.

Thank you for the quick response. Unfortunately, I have to lower my budget further so it looks like I'll be sticking with the 6870/6850.

Out of interest, is the memory card reader necessary? It's separate from the front 2 USB ports, yes?

[vanthus]

Yes you can deselect the memory card reader,you will still have the front 2 USB ports.What's your budget now?

[Salv]

Had to cut it to £640.

£639 total with the 6870, £625 with the 6850.

[Salv]

Okay I've got just one more question before I order. Would it be better to drop to a 6850 and spend the £19 on a superior CPU cooler? I'm not overclocking but I've read that the i5 3450 can run a little hot and I wouldn't say there was an optimal amount of space for airflow under my desk.

[Salv]

Just a quick bump, would really prefer to know if I'd be better off with the triple copper cooler instead of the 6870 before I place the order!

[vanthus]

Just a quick bump, would really prefer to know if I'd be better off with the triple copper cooler instead of the 6870 before I place the order!

It's difficult to weigh one against the other,the 6870 would improve performance in gaming and the cooler would depend on how hard your going to be pushing the CPU,the standard coolers are pretty good up to a point,so no easy answer really.

[Salv]

It's difficult to weigh one against the other,the 6870 would improve performance in gaming and the cooler would depend on how hard your going to be pushing the CPU,the standard coolers are pretty good up to a point,so no easy answer really.

If it's any help, I'll be playing some of the more demanding games like Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, Witcher 2 and others. Beyond that, I'm not entirely sure what really pushes the CPU and whether that would be enough to warrant opting for the cooler instead.