First time buy! Budget of £700

So I am looking to buy a PC and I was hoping to get some feedback on my build. I would like it to be able to play most modern games at 60fps at 1080p. My budget is £700 pounds and I was wondering if there are some components that i could change that would lower the price but not affect the performance too much. I have all the necessary peripherals. Here are the specs.

PCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE
AMD A10-6800K Quad Core APU (4.4GHz) & RadeonTM HD 8670D Graphics ASUS® A88XM-PLUS: (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIESTM VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence DPK
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases* Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
ASUS VS239HV 23" Full HD AH-IPS LED DISPLAY
Total Order Price £823.00

Thanks in advance.

the total price indicated at the end is £823 which is higher than £700. It looks unbalanced, the cpu you chosen is not a good choice and will likely bottleneck your gpu

Thanks for the reply, yes the price is £823 pounds but I was hoping that someone who knows more than I do could recommend parts that i could change to make it cheaper that would not affect the performance too much but would lower the price. If that cpu is not good could you recommend a better one? Another question I have is that I have a Windows 7 disk already and im wondering if i will get the upgrade to windows 10 with it? Or do I need to purchase a new operating system key? Because if i don't need to purchase a new windows key then it brings it down to £740 which I can just about afford.

ChrisP said:

Thanks for the reply, yes the price is £823 pounds but I was hoping that someone who knows more than I do could recommend parts that i could change to make it cheaper that would not affect the performance too much but would lower the price. If that cpu is not good could you recommend a better one? Another question I have is that I have a Windows 7 disk already and im wondering if i will get the upgrade to windows 10 with it? Or do I need to purchase a new operating system key? Because if i don't need to purchase a new windows key then it brings it down to £740 which I can just about afford.

Click to expand...

It depends what version of windows 7 it is, did it come with a PC ie an OEM license or did you buy it as a separate license (retail).

If it's an oem version, then the license isn't transferable to a new machine. If it's a retail license I think you can transfer it.

Im pretty sure its a transferrable license, but im mainly wondering whether I can get the windows 10 upgrade?

Basically - for a £700 budget that also includes a monitor, you're not going to get a PC that regularly games at 60fps unless you turn a few settings down. Though if you only play less graphically intensive games then that's true. But yeah, for things like GTA5 and Witcher 3 you'll not be getting 60fps without severely lowering settings.

This is as cheap a 970 gaming build inclusive of a 1080p monitor I could really get. Go much lower and your compromising parts. For £700 max you're looking at a weaker GPU and then even lower fps on intensive games.

However, a 970 on a 1080p machine should get you some very nice fps. Just lower your expectation of constant 60fps on the latest games.

Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-6300 Six Core CPU (3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Case
CORSAIR SPEC-03 COMPACT GAMING CASE - RED LED
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence DPK (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
ASUS VE228TR 21.5" LED DISPLAY, D-Sub, DVI-D (£83)
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 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £776.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/3_mC9hUSSq/

Are you sure a 6 core cpu is better than a 4 core with a higher clock speed? And is it worth downgrading to a gtx 960 or SLI some lower powered graphics cards in order to beef up some of the other components?

The 6300 outdoes the APU for gaming easily.

So ive taken a bit of time to think over and this is my new spec,

Case
SHARKOON BD28 GAMING CASE (Green LED)
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-6300 Six Core CPU (3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, 1 DP - 3D Vision Ready
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
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
DVD Recovery Media
NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
BENQ RL2455HM 24" LED GAMING MONITOR
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

So I changed the case because my keyboard and mouse are both razer so I wanted green
I made it a 1Tb hard drive so I don't run out of space and I changed the monitor to a slightly bigger highly reviewed one.
Any thoughts would be welcome

For a little extra I'd up the HDD to a caviar black as they're better for longevity and speed.

ChrisP said:

So I am looking to buy a PC and I was hoping to get some feedback on my build. I would like it to be able to play most modern games at 60fps at 1080p. My budget is £700 pounds and I was wondering if there are some components that i could change that would lower the price but not affect the performance too much. I have all the necessary peripherals. Here are the specs.

PCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE
AMD A10-6800K Quad Core APU (4.4GHz) & RadeonTM HD 8670D Graphics ASUS® A88XM-PLUS: (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIESTM VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence DPK
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases* Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
ASUS VS239HV 23" Full HD AH-IPS LED DISPLAY
Total Order Price £823.00

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

the cpu you chosen is not a good choice and will likely bottleneck your gpu

Is it better do get a HDD or an SSD? What are the pros and cons and is it worth spending the extra £50 on it? And is 8gb of RAM enough? Or should I upgrade to 16gb?

If I change that it goes to £835 from £750, is it worth it?

ChrisP said:

Is it better do get a HDD or an SSD? What are the pros and cons and is it worth spending the extra £50 on it? And is 8gb of RAM enough? Or should I upgrade to 16gb?

If I change that it goes to £835 from £750, is it worth it?

Click to expand...

SSD is much quicker for OS and certain programs, but it's a hell of a lot more expensive. The usual setup is a smaller SSD (120gb or so) for the OS and programs, then a larger HDD for data storage.

If you're willing to spend the extra, then it's well worth it.

8Gb RAM is plenty, and it's easy to add more yourself in the future when you have the funds should you ever need more.

Ive changed it from a 1Tb HDD to a 1Tb SDD and its now £776 which I can afford, is this good to buy?

ChrisP said:

Ive changed it from a 1Tb HDD to a 1Tb SDD and its now £776 which I can afford, is this good to buy?

Click to expand...

That can't be right, think you mean an SSHD, a 1Tb SSD is about £500 alone.

Oh right... Yeah... I think ill go for the 1Tb SSHD as that seems the best...

rayschlosbon said:

the cpu you chosen is not a good choice and will likely bottleneck your gpu

Click to expand...

I think you should clarify statements like that - probably with additional statements such as 'during CPU intensive games' or other qualifications like those. I'd suspect that for most games although the CPU would be the bottleneck I'd doubt it would cause much of a problem.

Besides, the OP changed the spec before you posted

My PC is finally "In Building"! Im soon excited.