Complete beginner looking to spend around £550 on gaming PC

T

Teuton

Member
I'm 15 and have had the same computer since i first learned how to use one, and i''ve finally decided i want to custom build my own gaming pc. Since i know pretty much nothing about this sort of thing, my friend helped me out by recommending a build which adds up to £531.54, which is around the budget i'm willing to spend. I'm gonna list the components and i'd appreciate it if you guys could suggest any changes and give me some idea of how this machine would run various games.

Case = Coolermaster Elite 330 Case

PSU = Coolermaster eXtreme Power 500W PSU

Processor = Intel Core i5 3450 3.1GHz Socket 1155 6mb Cached Retail Boxed Processor

Motherboard = Asus P8H61-MX USB3 Socket 1155 VGA DVI 8 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard

Memory = G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V

Hard Drive = Hitachi 500GB 2.5" SATA Travelstar Internal Hard Drive - 9.5MM 5400 3GB/S

Graphics Card = Sapphire HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card

Software = Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1

Optical Drive = Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black
 
T

Teuton

Member
I probably won't be playing battlefield anyway, but would there be a way to change things around so that i can run it with decent settings without being too expensive?
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
Teuton said:
I probably won't be playing battlefield anyway, but would there be a way to change things around so that i can run it with decent settings without being too expensive?
Click to expand...

Yes, lowering video settings/resolution.
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
Teuton said:
Cool, but is there any components i should change to make the performance in general better without being too expensive?
Click to expand...

For your budget you could consider an AMD CPU (FX-4170) and that will allow you to spend more on the GPU.
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
For your budget this would handle most games on medium settings & quite a few on high settings.
Case

COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)

AMD BULLDOZER QUAD CORE FX-4100 (3.60GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard

ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s, Windows 8 Ready!)
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

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

STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
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
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: £556.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/_GnMo73vgw/
 
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T

Teuton

Member
rubensolo said:
With your set up? Significant improvement compare to the hd 7770
Click to expand...

Yeah, obviously the cpu you suggested is cheaper and my friend said he would give me his old 500gb hard drive which enabled me a bigger budget for the gpu. Pretty sure this is what i'm gonna go for, will everything work well together do you think? (I've never built a computer before so i'm not too sure how everything is assembled, altough i'm obviously gonna look up some general tutorials)
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
Teuton said:
Yeah, obviously the cpu you suggested is cheaper and my friend said he would give me his old 500gb hard drive which enabled me a bigger budget for the gpu. Pretty sure this is what i'm gonna go for, will everything work well together do you think? (I've never built a computer before so i'm not too sure how everything is assembled, altough i'm obviously gonna look up some general tutorials)
Click to expand...

For your budget the fx 4170 + hd 7850 will give you better gaming performance than the he 7770. The PSU you selected should be fine. Edit: you need a different motherboard.
 
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T

Teuton

Member
rubensolo said:
Different sockets between AMD and Intel processors.
Click to expand...

One more thing (hopefully): on the description of the motherboard it says "Up to 16GB DDR3", and on the graphics card it says DDR5, does this mean they won't work together or something?
 
rickne

rickne

Master Poster
Hey put it this way . I can play Battlefield 3 on high with a single 5870. Works great , looks great. Id say i used 2 cards but xfire doesnt work too great on my lappy.Then again they are 2GB cards
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
Teuton said:
One more thing (hopefully): on the description of the motherboard it says "Up to 16GB DDR3", and on the graphics card it says DDR5, does this mean they won't work together or something?
Click to expand...

The normal RAM (ie that goes on the motherboard) is the DDR3, the graphics card VRAM is GDDR5, which is completely different to the RAM for the motherboard and is only used from the graphics card.
I would not expect the RAM to be the same as the VRAM :)
 
T

Teuton

Member
Rakk said:
The normal RAM (ie that goes on the motherboard) is the DDR3, the graphics card VRAM is GDDR5, which is completely different to the RAM for the motherboard and is only used from the graphics card.
I would not expect the RAM to be the same as the VRAM :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, it appears i still have a hell of a lot to learn :)
 
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