€650 budget gaming/MS Office build

Keggers2

Hey folks, I'm currently specing up a PC for my brother, it's a budget build with gaming in mind (but also so light word processing and excel type use). Nothing hi-res, just the latest games at respectable settings and resolutions.

I did some sleuthing around the forum before posting to get an idea of the components that are popular at the minute and I'm fairly confident I'm on to something that's pretty decent.

With the Geizhals discount it comes to just shy of 600 euro, 615 with shipping costs. Seeing as I've got a budget of 650, does anyone have any suggestions as to where I could spend the left over 35 quid?

I've got left over hard drives from previous builds, so that's not a concern. I was thinking a CPU cooler to do some over clocking in future.

Also, the Fractal case is in there because for the price the reviews it gets seem very good, but if there's a decent, cheaper alternative I'm all ears!

Item|Price
8GB-Kit Team Group Elite Series, DDR3-1600, CL11|€63.89
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Black Pearl|€82.91
Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6GB/s 6,4CM (2,5") 7mm|€58.94
AMD FX-8320 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€127.95
MSI R9 270 GAMING 2G, AMD Radeon R9 270, 2GB DDR5|€150.33
ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0, AM3+, ATX|€61.67
XFX PRO550W Core Edition Full Wired Power Supply|€50.09
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€614.77

Any and all advice is much appreciated!

BloodBath

If you plan on overclocking that 8320 I'd go with a better board, psu and cpu cooler.

If you don't plan on overclocking I'd change to an i5 4440.

Keggers2

Right, and that'd push the price over budget, so the 4440 looks like the way to go.

Any suggestions on Intel boards in that price range?

Lu Tze

Also are windows and office not included in this budget (ie solely for hardware)?

BloodBath

Well I'd add a 212 evo to either build for €25 so the price is exactly the same for either option. You should be able to overclock to at least 4.5ghz on the 8320 with those parts.

It's not a simple choice. The overclocked 8320 would be significantly faster in programs/games that can fully utilise all the threads. Very few can at the moment but it should improve in future. You would get the same/similar fps in most games. The i5 has the advantage in some, the 8320 in others.

The overclocked 8320 is also going to use 2-3 times the electricity of the i5. It's not gonna be a big increase on bills but does add up over a pc's lifetime.

Another thing with the intel is that you have the option of going for an matx or mitx board and case. There are no good matx or mitx boards for am3. Am3 doesn't support pcie3 which isn't a problem yet but could be in future. There are better upgrade options on socket 1150 as well.

Item|Price
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€27.88
AMD FX-8320 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€127.77
Gigabyte GA-970-UD3P, AMD 970, AM3+, ATX|€72.18
Corsair CX Series Modular CX600M, 600W|€61.37
Total|€289.20

Item|Price
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€27.88
Corsair CX Series Modular CX500M, 500W|€52.80
Intel Core i5-4440 Box, LGA1150|€150.68
ASRock B85 Pro4, Sockel 1150, ATX|€59.45
Total|€290.81

Keggers2

Lu Tze wrote: »

Also are windows and office not included in this budget (ie solely for hardware)?

Oh, we already have copies of them good to go! This a pure hardware purchasing job.

In the whole AMD vs Intel choice, it almost seems like there's an equal number of benefits and downsides to either one.

Am I right in thinking that with the AMD and a bit of over clocking it will be more powerful now but perhaps more limited in the long run?

Also, are matx and mitx just a form factor thing? Or is there advantages to them over the smaller size?

Also, either of the new builds will come in under budget with a cheaper case, do you have any suggestions for a decent one in the 50 euro range?

BloodBath

Yeah there's up's and downs with both. I'd be leaning towards the intel myself. A couple of intel generations ago around sandybridge the FX would be the easier option but now I think there's more pros with the i5.

AMD need to get a newer generation of processor out there.

Matx and mitx are just different form factors yes. The boards have less expansion options but matx is a good size for a single gpu gaming system with good upgrade options.

The cooler master silencio 352 would be a decent matx option if you wanted to go with the intel and matx.

The cooltek antiphon is nice for atx.

Keggers2

Seeing as over clocking isn't a pressing concern (though I might see how much I can bump up that graphics card later), and considering that over all, the benchmarks for the i5 4440 seem to be quite a bit better, I think I'll go down the intel route.

My basket now looks like;

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-4440 Box, LGA1150|€150.68
Corsair CX Series Modular CX500M, 500W|€52.80
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€27.88
ASRock B85 Pro4, Sockel 1150, ATX|€59.45
8GB-Kit Team Group Elite Series, DDR3-1600, CL11|€63.89
Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6GB/s 6,4CM (2,5") 7mm|€58.94
MSI R9 270 GAMING 2G, AMD Radeon R9 270, 2GB DDR5|€150.31
Cooler Master Silencio 352 Matt, ohne Netzteil|€47.92
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€630.86

Actually, I've just noticed that the i4670k is only about 40 quid more than the i4440, I've read great things about it, seeing as I'm still 20 euro under, I'd only be spending a 20 over, would it be worth it?

Going for the unlocked over the locked version would be just to have the possibility of a future overclock there, which would be the reason I was considering the AMD at all, so it's kind of like getting the best of both worlds, even if it is at a marginally higher price.

BloodBath

You would need a z87 board then as well which would push the price up a little more.

Change to the matx version of the board for that case. The normal atx one won't fit in there.

If you want to save money at the cost of noise and cooling you could drop the 212 evo for now.

Keggers2

Having dropped the cooler (to be gotten later in the not so distant future) and with a z87 board and the i4670k.

I think this is looking like a pretty solid machine now, and only 18 quid over budget!

Item|Price
Corsair CX Series Modular CX500M, 500W|€52.80
8GB-Kit Team Group Elite Series, DDR3-1600, CL11|€63.89
Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6GB/s 6,4CM (2,5") 7mm|€58.94
MSI R9 270 GAMING 2G, AMD Radeon R9 270, 2GB DDR5|€150.31
Cooler Master Silencio 352 Matt, ohne Netzteil|€47.92
MSI Z87M-G43, mATX, Sockel 1150|€80.89
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€194.81
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€668.55

BloodBath

Looks good. No HDD though? You're not going to fit a whole lot on a 120gb ssd. You could always add one later as well I guess or go back to the 4440 to fit a 1tb one in.

There will be feck all difference in frame rates between the 4440 and an overclocked 4670k in most games anyway. You will run into gpu limits before the cpu becomes an issue.

Keggers2

Oh we've got hard drives for days here from previous builds!

Ah it's just reassuring to have that overclockability (it's a word now) for future reference!