I built a top gaming PC for €400

Reality_Check1

I have all the info in the description. I had originally set out to get a decent entry level PC but I found out with a bit of shopping around and compromise I can get really good performance from it - the purpose of the video is to show Skyrim on Ultra settings which look sweet as even if it only runs at 30fps

tuxy

Yes we know it can be done cheap. How is that a top build?
Why use that ugly case that all the budget ebay systems seem to have when the bitfenix merc is the same price.

Reality_Check1

Top build as in it will play all the latest games at their highest settings. It was more of an educational thing as when newbies come in here a lot of gaming PC's tend to be targeted towards the higher spend levels. I just wanted to show it could be done effectively on an extremely tight budget.

How the case looks is irrelevant as its just personal preference

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Yep, no point being elite. Thats a fine gaming machine for a standard monitor resolution. People getting into this have to realise that you can build a machine 10 times better than a console for around the same price. Case doesn't matter a damn, all that matters is mobo as its the part that hardest to upgrade later, or fit new components into later.

Well done OP.

tuxy

Reality_Check1 wrote: »

Top build as in it will play all the latest games at their highest settings. It was more of an educational thing as when newbies come in here a lot of gaming PC's tend to be targeted towards the higher spend levels.

Have you read this forum? People come here with budgets ranging from €300 - €2500

That this recent one for example
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056913552

It's misleading to say that that system would play far cry 3, Tomb Raider and Crysis 3 at max setting and playable FPS

Also a cheaper build with the same parts with cheaper dilevery can be got from hardwareversand

btkm8unsl0w5r4

tuxy wrote: »

It's misleading to say that that system would play far cry 3, Tomb Raider and Crysis 3 at max setting and playable FPS

Well at 800 x 600 it would assuming 30 fps is playable.

tuxy

Maliyah Rotten Dandelion wrote: »

Yep, no point being elite. Case doesn't matter a damn

There's nothing eletist about spending €33 on a bitfenix merc that has good airflow which will allow you to overclock. Might as well get the best case in the price range.

Maliyah Rotten Dandelion wrote: »

Well at 800 x 600 it would assuming 30 fps is playable.

Yeah, there are plenty of LCD monitors with that native res :P

Reality_Check1

tuxy wrote: »

Have you read this forum? People come here with budgets ranging from €300 - €2500

That this recent one for example
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056913552

It's misleading to say that that system would play far cry 3, Tomb Raider and Crysis 3 at max setting and playable FPS

Also a cheaper build with the same parts with cheaper dilevery can be got from hardwareversand

The vast majority are expensive builds though. You'd be surprised how many people want to switch over from console to PC but price is their main issue. The purpose of the video was just to give a visual representation of what can be done with a modest budget. Its one thing saying Im a going to build a PC for x amount but people want visual results of what it can do

I have crisis 3 at home. I cant remember the settings but I think I was running it pretty high - I'll check later to confirm (definitely wasnt highest though)

In relation to the monitor I run it off a 23' 1080p which seems to be ok for the build

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Suppose there is scaling in PC builds. A 800 euro PC is not twice as powerful as a 400 euro one. The performance improvements get exponentially more expensive. I took a break from PC to consoles for about 5 years and I am amazed that entry level performance is these days.

tuxy

I check this forum often and see a few very low budget gaming builds every week.

I'm watching your "Transitioning from Console to PC Gaming" video right now. So I do see where you are coming from.
How's your mouse aiming coming along?

Reality_Check1

Maliyah Rotten Dandelion wrote: »

Suppose there is scaling in PC builds. A 800 euro PC is not twice as powerful as a 400 euro one. The performance improvements get exponentially more expensive. I took a break from PC to consoles for about 5 years and I am amazed that entry level performance is these days.

Yeah when the lads seen the quality they couldnt believe how cheap it was to put together (they are all console heads to be fair). Im trying to get them to change over instead of shelling out for the next gen consoles later in the year

tuxy wrote: »

I check this forum often and see a few very low budget gaming builds every week.

I'm watching your "Transitioning from Console to PC Gaming" video right now. So I do see where you are coming from.
How's your mouse aiming coming along?

Its getting better. My problem was that I played console competitively so Id have my sensitivity jacked to the max thinking I was a boss. I literally have the mouse on nearly the lowest setting so I can get used to it. Its improving but its a slow process

tuxy

BTW this is a build almost identical to the one you posted

Item|Price
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€33.65
Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3, AMD 760G, mATX|€55.42
AMD FX-4100 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€88.57
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9|€57.66
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€47.79
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€46.34
LG GH24NS bare schwarz|€18.96
Club 3D Radeon HD 7750, 1024MB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 7750, PCI- Express|€86.58
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€453.96

The case is better and the graphics card has ddr5 ram which is much better than the ddr3 that comes on the slightly cheaper model.
It works out cheaper when you consider not all of the parts in your build comes direct from Amazon so you have to play delivery costs to a few different sellers. That said Amazon has some of the best customer service I have ever experienced and payment methods with hardwareversand are limited.

Reality_Check1 wrote: »

Its getting better. My problem was that I played console competitively so Id have my sensitivity jacked to the max thinking I was a boss. I literally have the mouse on nearly the lowest setting so I can get used to it. Its improving but its a slow process

I had the opisite problem and only learnt to aim with a controller 2 years ago.
The aim assist on console games still feels really wrong to me.
A friend of mine recently started pc gaming and complains of getting a pain in his wrist. I remember having that problem for the first 2 weeks when i started gaming on PC 15 years ago.

Gumbi

I get wrist pain from playing Starcraft. That being said, I take the game seriously and play at a reasonably high level. Getting a better mouse helped a lot in this regard.

Reality_Check1

Gumbi wrote: »

I get wrist pain from playing Starcraft. That being said, I take the game seriously and play at a reasonably high level. Getting a better mouse helped a lot in this regard.

Just on this point is it better to have a wired or a wireless mouse or does it even matter? Especially if you were thinking of entering competitive lobbies at some stage?

Tij da feen

Wired just for simplicity. You don't have to bother with recharging the batteries so the mouse won't die on you in the middle of a game. Input lag is pretty much non-existent with them these days but I'll still be sticking with wired for the future.

joetoad

have the 7770 plays every game i played maxed out with AA with decent frame rates over 40fps. Only games that bottle necked it were crysis 3 and far cry 3 but can play very close to max settings with no AA at 40 FPS. I think people under estimate the power of 400 builds.

If you look up the biggest graphic usage hogs on google per game then you know what to turn down. E.g Post FX on far cry 3 is the biggest fecker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-WO7asyqs 7770 bioshock infinite ultra settings

Monotype

I had a bad feeling going into this thread thinking it was an ebay build with a woefully shoddy PSU.

I enjoy keeping my eye on what's best value for budget builds. With the demands of games so low as a result of the console limits, it's very easy to surpass them with low funds. When you factor in the price of the games, it's really worthwhile, especially for the heavy gamer.

Welcome to the world of PC gaming and I hope you enjoy your extended stay.

Squaredude

Had two friends get fleeced buying gaming rigs from ebay.They paid around €700 for a machine that can barely play DayZ at 25fps on low settings.All the parts were cheap as chips except the i7,turns out the onboard graphics were better than the included graphics card.Seeing builds like this will definitely help people get value for their money and shows that pc gaming doesn't have to burn a hole in your pocket.I switched from console gaming to pc gaming back in august and will not be going back.

Gbear

tuxy wrote: »

I had the opisite problem and only learnt to aim with a controller 2 years ago.
The aim assist on console games still feels really wrong to me.
A friend of mine recently started pc gaming and complains of getting a pain in his wrist. I remember having that problem for the first 2 weeks when i started gaming on PC 15 years ago.

I use this to stop my wrists seizing up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbf4mBKq-o

joetoad

Item|Price
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€33.65
Club 3D Radeon HD 7750, 1024MB GDDR3, AMD Radeon HD 7750, PCI- Express|€75.11
Seagate Barracuda 7200 250GB SATA 6GB's|€46.84
4GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€26.24
Super-Flower SF400Atlas 12CM 400W|€24.90
Intel Pentium G860 Box, LGA1155|€56.49
MSI H61M-P31 (G3), Intel H61, mATX|€38.73
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€320.95

BloodBath

joetoad wrote: »

have the 7770 plays every game i played maxed out with AA with decent frame rates over 40fps. Only games that bottle necked it were crysis 3 and far cry 3 but can play very close to max settings with no AA at 40 FPS. I think people under estimate the power of 400 builds.

If you look up the biggest graphic usage hogs on google per game then you know what to turn down. E.g Post FX on far cry 3 is the biggest fecker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-WO7asyqs 7770 bioshock infinite ultra settings

I think you overestimate the performance. As has been pointed out before there is no way you get the frame rates you claim with the settings you claim. Not at 1080p at least. Res makes a big difference. I have a highly overclocked 7970 and 3570k and your description pretty much matches how it performs. You aren't very close to max settings at 1080p with crysis 3 and getting 40 fps. No way in hell.

joetoad

BloodBath wrote: »

I think you overestimate the performance. As has been pointed out before there is no way you get the frame rates you claim with the settings you claim. Not at 1080p at least. Res makes a big difference. I have a highly overclocked 7970 and 3570k and your description pretty much matches how it performs. You aren't very close to max settings at 1080p with crysis 3 and getting 40 fps. No way in hell.

I get min 21 with everything set to ultra and average 31 when the graphics options are set to ultra

I have to set post processing to medium, Shadows to medium,Motion Blur amount to high and then the game runs perfectly at 40FPS. These are the biggest performance hits! Everything else is left to the max settings.

I will actually post a video soon because people don't seem to believe to me!

TerrorFirmer

I had 7770 Crossfire and a 3570K and I couldn't play those games at those settings.

twinsen

joetoad wrote: »

I get min 21 with everything set to ultra and average 31 when the graphics options are set to max

I have to set post processing to medium, Shadows to medium,Motion Blur amount to high and then the game runs perfectly at 40FPS. These are the biggest performance hits! Everything else is left to the max settings.

I will actually post a video soon because people don't seem to believe to me!

there is no way 7770 can run crysis 3 on ultra details with hd resolution.

see the graph for Medium details below

joetoad

I'll post a video later so.

BloodBath

Please do. Show your settings in the video as well. Is it a 2gb model or 1gb? What clocks are you running at?

I have no doubt it's very playable and still looks good with tweaked settings on a 7770 but describing it as close to max settings isn't very accurate.

Reality_Check1

Squaredude wrote: »

Had two friends get fleeced buying gaming rigs from ebay.They paid around €700 for a machine that can barely play DayZ at 25fps on low settings.All the parts were cheap as chips except the i7,turns out the onboard graphics were better than the included graphics card.Seeing builds like this will definitely help people get value for their money and shows that pc gaming doesn't have to burn a hole in your pocket.I switched from console gaming to pc gaming back in august and will not be going back.

Thank you this was exactly the point of the video!

marco_polo

Fair play reality_check1 thats not bad going for €400 in all fairness.

Tij da feen

twinsen wrote: »

there is no way 7770 can run crysis 3 on ultra details with hd resolution.

see the graph for Medium details below

Also that's paired with an i7-3960X so there's is absolutely no way that a 7770 could even hit that framerate while paired with an X4 or whatever.

Reality_Check1

yeah I tried my build on crisis 3 with every setting maxed and it ran at like 2-5 frames per second lol. Runs ok on medium settings though

Reality_Check1

I was just thinking there - is the latest crisis 3 inductive of what games will be like next year or is it just an exception?

NTMK

Reality_Check1 wrote: »

I was just thinking there - is the latest crisis 3 inductive of what games will be like next year or is it just an exception?

not really tbh its a benchmark because its a good looking game and Crytek cant optimize games to save their lives

Crysis 1 still doesnt run brilliantly on modern machines

BloodBath

I think it's a fair benchmark of next gen games to be honest. Expect badly optimised console conversions with graphics and performance similar to crysis 3.

NTMK

BloodBath wrote: »

I think it's a fair benchmark of next gen games to be honest. Expect badly optimised console conversions with graphics and performance similar to crysis 3.

Devs are getting a lot better at optimization. really ****ty ports are becoming less and less of a thing and with consoles and pc's having the same/similar architecture porting optimization should be less of a problem.


Its a good benchmark but i think most next games will run better than crysis for year or two.

UE4 games will be a better mark to judge off

BloodBath

Unreal engines tend to be highly optimised though. I've never had an issue with UE3 games apart from lazy devs not offering enough graphics tweaks so you end up having to manually change the UE3 graphics .ini file yourself. I'd say a lot of next gen games will be using UE4.