Budget Gaming PC (~€400)

G.I. GENERAL

Hi Im building my first pc, on an extremely tight budget.
is this an ok-ish build?

TerrorFirmer

Processor is a poor choice, if 400 is your budget, you've only 300 spent in that listing. Swap the X2 for an FX-4100 and the 6570 for a 7750.

With an X2 and a 6570 you'd be struggling at low settings in most new games.

G.I. GENERAL

the 300 so far was without the OS and shipping is another 18.99
just because my budget is 400, doesnt mean that i can spend 400. thats every penny i've got, plus money from friends and parents..

TerrorFirmer

If you want any sort of a gaming PC, you'll just have to increase the budget. As I said, an X2 and a 6570 will mean you'll be playing new games at lowest settings - hardly worth it. If it comes to it, keep the X2 with a mind to getting a proper processor later but at the very least get a 7750 card, about 30 more expensive than that 6570 but night and day in terms of performance.

G.I. GENERAL

i honestly dont care about graphics. better graphics doesnt mean a better game. but , seeing that i dont have much of a choice how about this http://www.hardwareversand.de/1024+MB/66975/Club+3D+Radeon+HD+7750%2C+1024MB+GDDR3%2C+AMD+Radeon+HD+7750%2C+PCI-+Express.article?pcconfAddUri=/pcconfigurator.jsp%3FpcConfigurator.vga.vga.0%3D66975%3A3007&pcconfBackUri=/pcconfselect.jsp?search.sKey=&pcConfigurator.catid=6&pcConfigurator.maid=0 cheapest one hardwareversand had

TerrorFirmer

No, but when you're buying a new PC, it doesn't make much sense to build one that can barely struggle through new games at low settings and may not even play upcoming games even at low settings. I'd spend an extra five euro and get the GDDR5 version which is a good bit faster and a strong performer in games, about 720p at high settings is the sweet spot for it.

If your budget is only 400 including OS and shipping, you might be better off looking at 2nd hand PC's. You'll get a lot more for your money.

G.I. GENERAL

yeah ill get the ddr5 version. just have to get a cheaper case. second hand isnt an option and it comes to around 450 inc. shipping and win 7. second hand isnt an option. anything is an upgrade from my piece of **** netbook that cant even run spider solliter, let alone battlefield 3. i might just be able to afford it..

Monotype

Well maybe with such a tight budget you can try and build yourself as much of an upgradable system as possible. Get yourself a decent motherboard and PSU. Then maybe search around and try to pick up some second hand items like a CPU or graphics card.

Looking on adverts at the moment, I'm seeing some horribly overpriced rubbish, but if you plan and buy carefully, you could stretch your funds further. There's little that can go wrong with a second hand CPU. It usually either works or it doesn't.

The other alternative is to buy an FM2 system with integrated graphics. Here's one I posted in another thread. Obviously, it's over your budget, but you could cut out a few bits like maybe the RAM could go down to 4GB, but a higher speed is good for these CPUs and RAM that overclocks well is even better. A 7750 would be better, but this would fall between that and the card you picked first. Plus you'd have a few extra CPU cores.
Windows 8 is also cheaper, I suppose the hard drive could be cut down too. Just watch out for the small ones as sometimes they're very old models.

Monotype wrote: »

Item|Price
AMD A10 5800K Black Edition mit AMD Radeon HD 7660D Grafikeinheit, Box, FM2|€114.87
MSI FM2-A75MA-E35, FM2, mATX|€56.76
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€59.20
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit (SB-Version)|€82.94
8GB G.Skill PC3-12800U CL11-11-11-28|€48.72
LiteOn iHAS124-04 schwarz SATA|€16.77
Corsair Builder Serie CX430 V3 Non-Modular 80+ Bronze, 430 Watt|€40.47
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Core 1000 black|€29.71
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€468.43

G.I. GENERAL

buying second hand IS NOT AN OPTION!!!
i had some bad experiences in the past buying second hand pc's.
i have made a few changes to the list given above
saphire 7750 ddr5 suggested by terrorfrimer
and the corsair 430w psu, suggested by monotype.

Monotype

I just meant a few pieces, not an entire build. As I said, a CPU either works or doesn't. Some things can be riskier.


You could get the 500GB Samsung drive for about 60c more. I'd even sacrifice the mouse mat if needs be.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/7200+RPM/61849/Seagate+Spinpoint+HD502HJ+500GB+SATA+II.article
Samsung had a slight advantage last generation, although it would come under Seagate's measly 1 year warranty now as opposed to WD's 2. Heck, even the WD 500GB is less than €2 more if you wanted it.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/7200+RPM/61849/Seagate+Spinpoint+HD502HJ+500GB+SATA+II.article

G.I. GENERAL

i was actually looking at http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsps?aid=58684&agid=682 because its really cheap, just in the mean time (os, maybe about 3 game until i get another hdd) and i might be able to get about another €20 and get an AMD atlhlon II X4 640 (3ghz)

Monotype

It's a laptop hard drive. Still compatible but probably considerably slower.

G.I. GENERAL

a 2.5" hard drive is about €5 cheaper than a 3.5" and i dont really care about the speed.
is this still an alright build?
(i updated the list thig up there^^^)

BloodBath

Changed your build a little and included the faster 3.5" 500gb drive including delivery for around the same price.

A little goes a long way with these budgets. It will be hard to upgrade this without upgrading several parts.

It's a decent entry level gaming pc though.

What resoloution monitor/tv will you be using this with?

Item|Price
AMD Athlon II X4 640 Box AM3|€61.69
MSI 760GM-P21 (FX), Sockel AM3+, mATX, PCIe|€35.94
4GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€26.12
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€47.70
Zalman T2 Mini Tower - schwarz, ohne Netzteil|€18.53
Corsair VS Serie VS350, Non-Modular, 80+|€28.89
LG DH18NS schwarz bare SATA II|€11.79
TP-Link TL-WN781N, 150Mbps, PCIe x1|€9.90
MS Windows 8 64bit (SB-Version) Englisch|€85.50
Club 3D Radeon HD 7750, 1024MB GDDR3, AMD Radeon HD 7750, PCI- Express|€75.11
Revoltec Wired Gaming Mouse W102|€8.33
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€428.49

G.I. GENERAL

yeah ok il get a 500gb hard drive
im using my tv in the mean time (32" 1280x 768.)
and bloodbath, the graphics card you selected says in the sepcs that it requires a 600w psu, you selected a 350W

TerrorFirmer

That PSU is more than enough. You could run a 7750 on a decent 250w psu.

G.I. GENERAL

oh ok, would you reccomend that psu? cause i heard alot of bad things about it

Monotype

The VS350? I have hardly seen anything about it. It's had few detailed reviews.

For an "as is" build, Bloodbath's build is decent. With a motherboard that cheap, it won't support higher level CPUs or any more than the basic overclock, but you could put in another graphics card later. It would most likely need a full overhaul though in a few years with little salvageable, when you want to upgrade.

G.I. GENERAL

and how is my build (in the pic at the start of the thread) compared to bloodbaths

Monotype

Well you've got a lot of similar components now that I see your updated image. I think a good hard drive is worth it though. If that's the most recent Seagate desktop drive, it would nearly be 200% the speed of the Momentus. Unfortunately, HWV don't label their hard drives well. Even if it is the generation before, you'd still have an extra 50% advantage.

You could shave off some money by buying the German windows, downloading and burning an English disc yourself. Instructions in my signature regarding that.

G.I. GENERAL

yeah i may as well buy a better hard drive and il get the english version of windows just to be safe.
so should i go ahead with this build?

BloodBath

If you want better upgradeability it would be about €50 more for a better atx board, psu and atx case which won't add any performance in the short term but would probably be worth it long term.

G.I. GENERAL

well as a short term budget gaming pc, should i go ahead with it?

BloodBath

You're not going do any better for that money anyway I don't think so yeah go ahead. You will get a couple of years out of it anyway.

G.I. GENERAL

k thank!