£500 PC - Basic Gaming

[Cbarker]

Hi all,

Looking to put together first order and am looking for a basic gaming pc. Nothing taxing but mostly strategy games like civ / aoe. Existing pc is 5 years old and on its last legs. Am not desperate for super high settings or playing the most demanding games, I have Xbox for shooters/skyrim etc.

I am not fussed about case Looks / monitors / accessories as it is plumbed in through my tv and have wireless keyboard/mouse.

Looking to spend around 500 but wouldn't go much above this spec as the max cost but wanted the expert opinions as to changes/modifications to it. I am not predicting I'll be replacing parts myself.



Will this do the job? What changes would you suggest?

Major questions were intel/amd to bring down cost?

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-2120 Dual Core (3.30GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-MX: uATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6670 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
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
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL 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
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£5)
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
Quantity
1

Price: £541.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes...pc/C4MKOHj4xz/

Thanks in advance!!

[keynes]

If you are choosing the HD 6670 I'd consider the AMD A8-3850 APU since you can crossfire them.

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE

Processor (CPU)
AMD A8-3850 APU (2.9GHz, 4 Cores) & AMD Radeon™ HD 6550D Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® F1A75-M: FM1 A-SERIES, SATA 6.0GB/s, USB 3.0

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6670 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB 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
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

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
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£5)

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

Quantity
1

Price: £534.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes...no/V7WHhLVcdT/

[Cbarker]

Thanks.

I had read about cross firing - does this effectively happen when you have the components to do so or is this something that actively needs setting up?

Also - saw the 500gb wd drive instead of the 1tb non branded one. That's one thing I couldn't work out from reading other posts was how much hard drive quality affects performance?

is probably plenty but I saw cost difference on the unbranded and thought might as well.

[keynes]

I'd expect PCS to dispatch the system with crossfire enable, you could contact them for an official response. The caviar black is faster than the standard HDD you selected.