# Gaming PC buying help wanted



## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

Hello everyone, any help or suggestions will be much appreciated, I am open to anything.


- My budget is £250.
- I'm looking for a decent gaming PC to play;
   - old games such as: Call of Duty 2, Rfactor, Battlefield 1942
   - latest games such as: Unreal Tournament 3, Call of Duty 4, GTA IV, Far Cry 2
   - and also future games such as: Modern Warfare 2, Rfactor 2 etc.
- Other things like browsing internet, word processing etc.


I would like good quality graphics, but fairly good quality graphics with smooth frame rates/playing is where I want to aim.


Now I have found a pre-built PC with the following specs:

Processor -   AMD Athlon Dual Core - 2.7GHz
Motherboard - Asrock Micro ATX Motherboard
Memory (Ram) - 2GB DDR II Memory
Hard Disk Drive - 160GB SATA Hard Disk Drive
Graphics Chip - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS
DVD / CD Writer - 48x CD RW / 22x DVD RW
Case - Including 450w 24 pin Power Supply Unit

I have a number of questions about this;
Is this worth £240?
Is the 8800GS included suitable for what I want?
and finally how future proof is the PC? I don't want to be upgrading it in less than a few years.


If I were to build the PC myself, would I get a better deal? I tried roughly working it out and got tempted away by upgrades bringing me past the £300 mark If so, what are the best websites to use in the UK?


I know theres a lot to ask but this is my first time buying a gaming PC and I want to make sure I get it right and don't get ripped off.


Are there any other solutions for £250? (Is this even possible for that price?)
If anything I have said is impossible, please let me know and point me in the right direction/give me the kinda price I would be looking at.

Thank you in advance,
Jay.


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## Kursah (Jul 25, 2009)

Well I would recommend you build your own...but that prebuilt looks "ok". The 8800GS is a good little card, especially if it's the 768MB version. What resolution are you planning on gaming at? As that can have a huge impact on whether or not that system and that video card will keep up in current games and upcoming games tbh. That system should be decent, but at your budget you definately can't expect it to pwn at 1600x1200 or HD resolutions, but you should be ok up to 1440x900/1280x1024 quite easily with 1680x1050 or 1600x1200 by turning some of the eyecandy down or off. Do you plan on going Vista/7 for the use of DX10?

Not sure where you're located, but I'm sure there's a fellow TPU'er that lives in somewhere fairly close and could have a good idea of how to best stretch that budget, which to me seems quite low, but I am not sure of the currency exchange between that and the US dollar so...I could be way off base. I would imagine you'd be happier if you could extend your budget to get some more modern stuff like a newer AMD phenom X2 or Intel Core2 Duo tbh. That, plus 4GB of DDR2 and Vista/7 x64 would be a great way to go imo. You picked a great forum to ask for help, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot and build a very decent rig with the help this forum can provide. Another thing, I don't recommend skimping on the PSU...that could be bad, bad voodoo...better off to spend a bit more on a more quality PSU that will last you longer and be able to take more system upgrades in the future.


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

Well I'm currently running through a 32" HDTV and the max resolution is 1366 x 768, I'm playing games at 1280 x 1024 so not too fussed with high resolution stuff if I need to pay more for it.

I personally hate Vista and I haven't tried 7 yet, don't know much about the benefits of DX10 but I guess to have the future-proof-ness it will be in my interest.

It probably is quite a low budget for a gaming PC, but I haven't got a lot of cash to throw around. I'm sure I can stretch it a bit though 

Yeah, thanks a lot for the quick and helpful reply  I will take all things into consideration.

Jay.


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## TheLaughingMan (Jul 25, 2009)

For future help with currency conversion, try this site:  www.xe.com

For reference for any future helpers it is ~ $411 USD

Decent little pre-built computer, but in short it is NOT worth the price (not here at least).  I am not sure what to suggest because my default shopping locations may not be the same where you are, but there are plenty of TPU in your country, just give them time to show up.

Assuming you are not getting new speakers, monitor, or other peripherals your budget isn't that bad.  From the clock rate listed, I would say the processor is a AMD 7750 Kuma BE.  Not a bad little processor for the price.

Build it yourself:  Keep the board, the processor, and the burner. Get a decent budge box (I recommend the Nzxt Beta).  Go for 4 GB of RAM, and PSU in the 500 to 600 Watt range.  It will provide better power and allow for later expansion.  Make sure the PSU has Active PFC.  The GPU in your price range I would look into an ATI card if the Mobo has 2 PCIe slots (you can get another one later for Crossfire to import performance, especially when the price drops for the next generation of ATI cards).  If it is only 1 slot, still consider ATI, but you can go Nvidia as well.
I would say you are looking for an ATI 4850 or 4870 or Nvidia GTS 250 or GTX 260 for your price range.  All of which are much more powerful than the 8800 GS and will be better in the long run.

If you post your perferred shopping site(s) for your parts and computer gear, I would be glad to see what I can find you in your budge.


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## Kursah (Jul 25, 2009)

Many don't like vista or didn't when it was new, I bought it fresh off the shelf shortly after release day...and I fought it for months. That was 32-bit though...then SP1 came out and a user on here by the name of Solaris17 talked me into trying not only the new SP1 version, but the x64 (since the cd key works for both versions), and I haven't even thought about using XP ever since. SP2 brought some nice improvements to the table also, but I think the best improvement was from the stability of the x64 along with the ability to use all 4GB of ram instead of having 3.2GB in 32-bit due to limitations. 7 is good, and is based on Vista, imo both are damn good, 7 will have the edge with the newer DX11, which is too new to worry about imo..give it 1-2 years then think about getting a graphics card to support it. But imo, Vista x64 Sp2 gets the job done extremely well overall, and makes for one hell of a gaming rig...but it does help to have newer hardware like the newer Althon's and Core2's. So you're on the right track there, I'm hoping someone else can pipe in and find you a better bang for your buck build, and maybe a possibility of overclocking to attain that extra speed without needing to spend more on pricier hardware to get there...though that generally means replacing stock cooling or cranking stock fans up to very loud levels on GPU's and CPU's.

For 1280x1024/1366x768 that 8800GS should perform quite well for gaming purposes, it's a great mid-range card that has decent overclockability and good power stock. But like I said it depends on what you're after, what you can deal with and without, etc. I'd say start researching things now, like different components of that prebuilt, just to get an idea of what they're worth and capable of, then see what their competition is and research that, the best way to learn and find the best deals and be prepared is to do research and take the time to get what you need and get it right the first time, it might take longer to get to the end result, but it's that much sweeter when you know you saved a ton of money by taking up some of your time to make sure you were doing the right thing and getting the right parts for the task at hand.



Wow, $411 US eh? I just built a rig for around $385 over here that would smoke that pre-built...granted all the parts were used except for the RAM...and of course prices are different beyond exchange rates, but to give you an idea of an Intel built, keep in mind the prices are still in USD:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz Dual Core (this was also an ES, but that's not important) - $80 shipped
Cooling: AC Freezer 7 Pro - came with e6850
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-DS3L - $50 shipped w/box and all accessories, rev2, excellent overclocking board, decent onboard sound, great for the price
Video: Asus 9600GT 512MB w/AC S1 + Scythe 120x25mm fan, enzotech ramsinks - $60 shipped
HDD: WD 250GB SATAII - FREE (the guy I did the build for had this from his old rig)
RAM: G.Skill DDRII 1066 2x2GB - $55 shipped
Case: Antec 900 - $70 shipped
DVD: IDE CD/DVD Burner - FREE (again, provided by the guy I did the build for)
PSU: Corsair HX520 Modular PSU - $70 shipped

This build made for a great gaming rig that performs great in Vista, has plenty of oomph, granted it is overclocked, but kept very cool by great case airflow, aftermarket cooling on the CPU and GPU, and was all kept under a $400 US budget. It glides through many DX9 and DX10 games, and if more power is needed a socket 775 quad core or a more powerful PCI-E graphic card can be easily installed without worrying about the PSU failing, or anything overheating...though a quad core would probably require a larger air cooler. Just some food for thought...you should see tons of great builds that will treat you much, much better than that prebuilt.


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## InTeL-iNsIdE (Jul 25, 2009)

CaseCom Matx Case £15.99
OCZ StealthXtreme 400w PSU £34.99
DVD-Rw £13.99
MSI HD 4830 512Mb £61.99
Maxtor 250Gb SataII 8Mb HDD £29.99
2Gb Ebuyer Value DDR2 800Mhz £16.47
Asus P5KPL-AM iG31 Matx Motherboard £33.99
Intel Core2Duo E5200 2.5Ghz Retail Processor £49.01

Subtotal Inc free delievery £256. 

Its comparable to the system you posted in terms of performance, only the hdd is bigger, the 4830 is a bit better than the 8800gs and if that psu came with the case, chances are it sucks. You should be able to get a good 3.2Ghz overclock with that board and the E5200 without any trouble and its all new. All I would reccomend is if you can stretch to another £20 or so, get some better ram and an aftermarket cooler, and you have a very capable gaming rig


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## kurosagi01 (Jul 25, 2009)

buy intel inside rig??? or you haven't got it anymore and thats a nice build


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

Sweet, thanks so much for all of your help so quickly - keep it coming, I need as much information as I can get. I'm certain I can stretch some more cash for reliability/speed/graphics. Absolute max is £300 

Heres some more detailed information on the components of the prebuilt:

Processor -   AMD Athlon Dual Core - 2.7GHz
Interface 	AM2
Clock Speed 	2.7 Ghz (Dual Core)
Bus Speed 	2000 MHz
Manufacturing Process 	65 nm
L1 Cache 	2 x 128KB
L2 Cache 	2 x 512KB

Motherboard - Asrock Micro ATX Motherboard
Chipset 	NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE / nForce 430
Expansion Slots 	1 x PCI Express x16 slot
1 x PCI Express x1 slot
2 x PCI slots
Storage Interfaces 	4 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors
1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices)
1 x Floppy connector
LAN 	Realtek PHY RTL8201EL-GR/RTL8201CL
Speed: 10/100 Ethernet
Supports Wake-On-LAN
Audio 	5.1 CH Windows Vista Premium Level HD Audio (Realtek ALC662 Audio Codec)
Maximum Supported Memory 	8GB DDR II 800 Mhz Memory

Memory (Ram) - 2GB DDR II Memory
Memory Size 	2GB (1 x 2GB)
Memory Type 	DDR II
Memory Speed 	800 MHz

Hard Disk Drive - 160GB SATA Hard Disk Drive
Capacity 	160 GB
Interface 	SATA
Spindle Speed 	7200rpm
Cache Buffer Size 	8MB

Graphics Chip - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS
Chipet 	NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS
Interface 	PCI-Express 2.0
Video Memory 	512MB DDR2
Engine Clock 	450MHz
Memory Clock 	1800MHz
RAMDACs 	700MHz
Max Resolution 	2560 x 1600
Connectors 	VGA
HDMI
DVI-I
Special Features 	* Graphics with CUDA, PhysX
* Full Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 support
* One single-link DVI
* NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology
* NVIDIA Lumenex Engine

DVD / CD Writer - 48x CD RW / 22x DVD RW
DVD R Write 	22X maximum
DVD-R Write 	22X maximum
DVD RW ReWrite 	ReWrite 8X
DVD-RW ReWrite 	ReWrite 6X
DVD Read 	16X maximum
CD-R Write 	Write 48X
CD-RW ReWrite 	32X maximum
CD Read 	48X(7200KB/sec) maximum

Computer Case - Stylish Desktop Case
Form Factor 	Midi Tower Case
Included Power Supply Unit 	450w 24 Pin
Case Colour 	Black / Silver
Front Ports 	2x USB Connectors / Front Audio


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## InTeL-iNsIdE (Jul 25, 2009)

PSU is generic I would be careful, whats the processor model ? and that asrock board is crap, most asrock boards are tbh.



kurosagi01 said:


> buy intel inside rig??? or you haven't got it anymore and thats a nice build



I just sold it on ebay for £220 aswell


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## kurosagi01 (Jul 25, 2009)

for around £300 this is the best build you could go for:


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

Processor model: AMD DUAL CORE ATHLON X2 7750 (5.4 Ghz)

So, best option is to build myself? What is the best website(s) in the UK for components?

What brands should I aim for with the budget, and would a different graphics card be better suited to my purpose than any suggested already?

Thanks again
Jay.


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## InTeL-iNsIdE (Jul 25, 2009)

kurosagi01 said:


> for around £300 this is the best build you could go for:
> [url]http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5427/56588445.jpg[/URL]



Wanna bet ?  i could beat that i reckon


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

I like the way you guys work  see who can find the best rig, closest to £250 first!
A personal thank you from me to the winner


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## kurosagi01 (Jul 25, 2009)

InTeL-iNsIdE said:


> Wanna bet ?  i could beat that i reckon



i doubt it,no cheap dual core intel is even a match for a 3GHZ with a 6mb l2 cache and 4830 thats mega cheap,with 4GB ram,250GB HD 7200 16mb cache,cooler master 330 which is good quality case because its coolermaster and a corsair 400w psu


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

How would this do? (used previous suggestions with some alterations to cut price)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/108273 £12.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/97527 £13.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159393 £29.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148094 £33.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/116357 £16.47
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148715 £49.01
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168766 £74.95
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139865 £26.88

Total price: £269.98
             or $443.61


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## InTeL-iNsIdE (Jul 25, 2009)

kurosagi01 said:


> i doubt it,no cheap dual core intel is even a match for a 3GHZ with a 6mb l2 cache and 4830 thats mega cheap,with 4GB ram,250GB HD 7200 16mb cache,cooler master 330 which is good quality case because its coolermaster and a corsair 400w psu



You doubt i could beat that for £320 ? eh ? I might just have to make you eat those words lol

and thats ok but im not keen on that psu at all. whats your max budget and we'll go from there


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## kurosagi01 (Jul 25, 2009)

InTeL-iNsIdE said:


> You doubt i could beat that for £320 ? eh ? I might just have to make you eat those words lol
> 
> and thats ok but im not keen on that psu at all. whats your max budget and we'll go from there



not with intel build,theres no other intel cpu that is a dual core with 3ghz and 6mb l2 cache


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

Haha, it was nearest to 600W for cheapest. How about this one? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159708 for £32.99

Bringing total to £274.71

Absolute max budget is £300 but at the moment I only have £250 cash, so would like it to be as close to that as humanely possible


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## InTeL-iNsIdE (Jul 25, 2009)

kurosagi01 said:


> not with intel build,theres no other intel cpu that is a dual core with 3ghz and 6mb l2 cache



Who said I was restricted to Intel lol, i just said i could beat it for that price


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## kurosagi01 (Jul 25, 2009)

dude a better brand thats 400w is better than those cheap ones..get the corsair 400w its much better than both of those 600w


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

So it is better to go with a named brand rather than higher wattage? I apologise for my lack of experience - I am slowly learning though


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## kurosagi01 (Jul 25, 2009)

it always has been dude,never go with something that cheap,the psu is the most important part of your PC so its best to get the most reconmend and popular brand out there to be on safe side


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 25, 2009)

Ok, so obviously cheap RAM is fairly decent, but what other components can I cut corners with and get cheap no-brands? Ideally I would go for branded everything, but then the whole point of sticking to a budget would be destroyed


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## Kursah (Jul 25, 2009)

Well you could save money and go used too...but I would definately get new ram imo. I recently snagged a used Corsair HX520 for $70US, so that would be what around 38 for you? That's an amazing PSU for the buck...and would last you many years. I gotta used 9600GT with an aftermarket cooler + fan + ramsinks for $60 shipped...which is cheap for just the card, and it overclocks like a demon, getting up to 8800/9800GT stock performance pretty easily while keeping it below 50C load...I couldn't get it above 48C under furmark. If you look up at my edited post above, I posted a build I did for a friend where he had a $400 US budget, everything but the RAM was used, and that saved us a ton of money, that made a nice rig stock that was very overclockable without issue...the CPU @ 3.6Ghz, stayed nice and cool, the GPU from 650/1625 900 to 790/1950 1050 (with more to go...just not necessary to push any further yet). I don't know what the used forum FS market is for you, but I bet you could snag some really good stuff for cheap...granted there's no warranty, which is a risk, and buying from a seller that doesn't have heat ratings or members that can vouch is a risk too...but the savings and end results when played carefuly can be very much worth it. Plus there's so much good hardware being needlessly replaced because people want the next best thing, odds are you can make out with an amazing gaming rig for pretty cheap that has plenty of upgrade potential down the road and will do just fine for quite a while.


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## TheLaughingMan (Jul 26, 2009)

Metalhead_jay said:


> Ok, so obviously cheap RAM is fairly decent, but what other components can I cut corners with and get cheap no-brands? Ideally I would go for branded everything, but then the whole point of sticking to a budget would be destroyed



I just want to point this out.  Brand is kinda important, but not the most important.  Your Power supply and motherboard are the backbone of your system.  Do not skimp on them.  Don't buy the top brand, but definitely by a good one.  On mobo's a company may make great budget boards, but suck at high end boards (ASRock for one).  So pick a good board will be a chanllenge.  The hardest part of a build is picking the parts because their is so much info. to take in.  Save the money on HDD, RAM, GPU brand name, and case (if need be).

Interesting fact is a lot of these PSU's are built by outsource companies.  My Rosewill is identical to several more expensive PSU's.  A good site to check out for PSU's is www.hardwaresecrets.com.  They are the only people that do detailed reviews of PSU's I know of.

My Spin:


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 26, 2009)

Right.

So which components would be best and/or most reliable to go 'used' with?

Also, could someone please list the brand names I want to be looking at for each component with my budget of £250-300.
(For example, which brand is top for motherboards, mid range for motherboards etc).

I don't know a lot about which brands are good for which parts so that would be extremely helpful.

Thanks again for all of your help,
Jay.


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## Darren (Jul 26, 2009)

Metalhead_jay said:


> Right.
> 
> So which components would be best and/or most reliable to go 'used' with?
> 
> ...



Brand names do not matter much, they tend to only vary in warranty, but standard component warranty is atleast 3 years anyways, the quality is normally the same.

TheLaughingMan spec'd you the best rig, just throw in a budget video card such as the 4830/4850/4870 and you're sorted. You could even remove the 600w OCZ PSU for a slightly cheaper one and put the money towards the Phenom II X3 opposed to the Phenom II X2.

kurosagi01's build is also good too 

Edit:


For £250 you'd be hard pressed to build something massively better than your current rig.

You'd need to up your budget to around £300-350 atleast.

I'd recommend that you sell your current rig on eBay for around £150, the money can be diverted to this new build.

My bad, you haven't bought the rig yet. 

Yes its worth £250, but you can build a better one than it, not massively better but better non the less for the same price. £100 more will get you something much better.


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## Darren (Jul 27, 2009)

playgolf123 said:


> If I were to build the PC myself, would I get a better deal? I tried roughly working it out and got tempted away by upgrades bringing me past the £300 mark If so, what are the best websites to use in the UK?



It is hard for me to advise you without knowing your current specification please fill it out here.

The best websites for components are eBuyer.com and Novatech.co.uk because they offer free delivery on orders over approximately £50.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 27, 2009)

The only advice I can give you Metalhead_jay is do not go cheap on the PSU. It is the most important part of any build. Also as a noob to building rigs I would stay away from used parts. You don't know what to look for and troubleshooting will be difficult.


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 27, 2009)

Thanks for the advice 

I was really just asking to be sure, I am definitely going to buy all new parts.

Jay.


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 27, 2009)

Now, I have come to a conclusion from reading the advice given here, and from researching and experimenting myself - I can't build a rig that can play latest and future games smoothly, and that will last for more than a few years, only spending £250 - £300.
(If anyone begs to differ then please do) 

So, with no budget, how much would I expect to pay for the rig I am aiming for (the one I describe in the first post) - assuming money was not a problem.

Jay.


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## Darren (Jul 27, 2009)

The rigs TheLaughingMan and kurosagi01 sugguested for around £300 would be enough to play today's games and future games at highest for about a 1-2 years. 

An unlimitted budget will not change much, you're looking @ around £500-600 if you want a high end video card e.g. 4890/GTX 275 with a high end processor e.g. Phenom II X4 955. Spending near £1,000 is not wise on a gaming rig, sure the components are better but you loose the good price/performance ratio.

Please fill out your current specification here


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## Darren (Jul 27, 2009)

If you are prepared to spend just just under £550, this is a suitable build which should have you gaming at high settings for a while.


OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Gold Memory £38.06
ASUS M3N78-EM GeForce 8300 Socket AM2+ VGA DVI HDMI 8-channel Audio MATX Motherboard £53.63
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor £146.83
Casecom KB-7720BK Black ATX Midi Tower Case - No PSU £12.99
Arctic Power 700W PSU - With PCI-E, 4x SATA, 20+4, ATX12V, 8pin +12V Connectors - Retail £42.99
Enermax Magma 80mm Fan with Batwing blades £6.49 
Enermax Magma 120mm Fan with Batwing blades £9.19
Samsung EcoGreen F2 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 32MB Cache - £56.99
XFX GTX275 XXX Edition 896MB With FarCry 2 DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card With Free Terminator Salvation Game Download While Stocks Last  £174.45

*Total: £541.62* (free super saver delivery)








If you want you could replace the GTX 275 with the 4850 X2, its slightly faster when it scales properly.
Sapphire HD 4850 X2 1GB GDDR3 £180.20inc vat
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152203


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 27, 2009)

Darren said:


> The rigs TheMailMan78 and kurosagi01 sugguested for around £300 would be enough to play today's games and future games at highest for about a 1-2 years.
> 
> An unlimitted budget will not change much, you're looking @ around £500-600 if you want a high end video card e.g. 4890/GTX 275 with a high end processor e.g. Phenom II X4 955. Spending near £1,000 is not wise on a gaming rig, sure the components are better but you loose the good price/performance ratio.
> 
> Please fill out your current specification here



I didn't suggest any rig. I just said be careful of used parts and get a good PSU.


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## TheLaughingMan (Jul 27, 2009)

Metalhead_jay said:


> So which components would be best and/or most reliable to go 'used' with?



Used parts I would say a used case, GPU, RAM, and Processor should all be fine.  Most people upgrade those when they are still in great condition.  On websites, these parts usually get returned because of compatibility issues and the part is perfectly fine.

Power supplies degrade over time so get that New.  Same for the mobo.  Used HDD I would avoid as well, but you may find some great deals on TPU.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 27, 2009)

TheLaughingMan said:


> Used parts I would say a used case, GPU, RAM, and Processor should all be fine.  Most people upgrade those when they are still in great condition.  On websites, these parts usually get returned because of compatibility issues and the part is perfectly fine.
> 
> Power supplies degrade over time so get that New.  Same for the mobo.  Used HDD I would avoid as well, but you may find some great deals on TPU.



No, no, no and no. Nothing used is ok to buy other than a case. ANYTHING that can be overclocked or requires power to work is not safe to buy used unless you know the person or you know what you are doing.


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## TheLaughingMan (Jul 27, 2009)

If you get something from a store used, the only thing you really lose is a warranty (usually still has a 30 return policy), so I don't see the big deal.  When I said used I meant from someone you know, TPU (everyone here seems to be honest) or from a reputable store.


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## Metalhead_jay (Jul 27, 2009)

Ok I have extended my budget to £300 - £399 and hopefully this will get me what I want.

How is this rig for £370? ($610)

(I don't need a DVD drive because I have a relatively new external one that cost £40, so I can deal with using that rather than get rid to have an internal one)





http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127584

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168453

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161103

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146049

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159073

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132563

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168972

Is there anything that could be improved at no extra cost/anything that should be switched for something else?

Will there be any compatibility issues with any of the components?

Is this worth the price?

And finally will this do the job I have been asking for, and last for a good few years without major updates?

Thanks for everyones help 
Jay.


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## TheLaughingMan (Jul 28, 2009)

I think you are good to go.  It is worth the money and will be more than enough for what you wanted.


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## snyderrich (Jul 28, 2009)

Sorry to use someone elses post, but I too am doing a build and need some thoughts...I have $500 to spend and here's what I've chosen so far........................PSU: Antec EA650......RAM: Kingston 2x2Gb 1066MHz.......CPU:AMD Phenom 2X3 tricore(heard it had good overclocking results)I believe its a black edition 770?......Mobo: ECS Black GF8200A......Video Card: HIS Radeon 4850 1Gb 256Mb Q cooler included(also heard of this card being overclocked with success.........Well fella's what do you think and can I improve this with the same budget? Oh btw...Price total from Newegg.com like $450... Thanx in advance.


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## Darren (Jul 28, 2009)

Metalhead_jay said:


> Ok I have extended my budget to £300 - £399 and hopefully this will get me what I want.
> 
> How is this rig for £370? ($610)
> 
> ...



If your budget is truely £399,  replace the Phenom II X2 with the X3 720 BE and it should still be under budget, there is only £20 between the X2 and X3. The X3 720 BE has just dropped by £30 in a the last 1 day, its silly not to buy it now 

Phenom II X3 £91.73 inc vat
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159071

Secondly, there is no point getting PC6400 (800 MHz), a mere £4 more gets you PC8500 (1066MHz)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149202

Do those two implementations and you should still be within budget. 



Metalhead_jay said:


> And finally will this do the job I have been asking for, and last for a good few years without major updates?



If you do those adjustmants that I mentioned above the rig will last about 1-1.5 years as a gaming rig, you would most probably need to upgrade the 4850 mid to late 2010 with another midrange video card to get another 1-1.5 years out of it gaming wise. The Phenom II X3 should be enough to sustain the entire 3 years, afterwards you'd be looking to drop in a X4 or a future X6.


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## Dreadnought33 (Jul 28, 2009)

snyderrich said:


> Sorry to use someone elses post, but I too am doing a build and need some thoughts...I have $500 to spend and here's what I've chosen so far........................PSU: Antec EA650......RAM: Kingston 2x2Gb 1066MHz.......CPU:AMD Phenom 2X3 tricore(heard it had good overclocking results)I believe its a black edition 770?......Mobo: ECS Black GF8200A......Video Card: HIS Radeon 4850 1Gb 256Mb Q cooler included(also heard of this card being overclocked with success.........Well fella's what do you think and can I improve this with the same budget? Oh btw...Price total from Newegg.com like $450... Thanx in advance.



I would suggest you open a new post so things don't get messy answering questions to two people


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## kurosagi01 (Jul 28, 2009)

don't forget to include a DVD drive  or take one from your old comp if it can read todays disc,this is all you need to play your games:


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