Cheap front room gaming machine for €400

theboyhurley

I had a fairly decent gaming machine but my graphic designer wife works from home now so has taken over the "office" and my machine, which was sufficient, is affectively a gonner. (i5 2500k, HD 6870 1G, 8GB, 64gb ssd, about 3 years old)

So I'd like to build a small footprint, gaming machine of at least equivalent power.
Where as the old machine needed decent CPU for design work this will hopefully be discreet, small and something for the front room.

Limits:
Monitor will be the TV. 1080p max
Budget absolutely not more than 400, hopefully I can pick up a few second hand parts.
I won't be using it for anything else so I really dont need much cpu.
I have another disk for the games. SSD for the OS.

Here is my thinking so far: (created fom partpicker US so $$ for now, and at least I know the parts are compatible with each other)

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 740 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A78M-ITX+ Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($75.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V200 Series 64GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Logisys 350W Micro ATX Power Supply ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $428.31

I haven't considered kb & mouse as yet. I'm not pushed on fancy ones. My old ones were bog standard.

Recent Games: Far Cry 3, various CoD, dishonoured
Next games to consider: BF4, bioshock infinite, dark souls II

Any comments? It is enough?
For where I sit it should be at least as good as my old system, ideally a bit better?!?

Lu Tze

theboyhurley wrote: »

I had a fairly decent gaming machine but my graphic designer wife works from home now so has taken over the "office" and my machine, which was sufficient, is affectively a gonner. (i5 2500k, HD 6870 1G, 8GB, 64gb ssd, about 3 years old)

So I'd like to build a small footprint, gaming machine of at least equivalent power.
Where as the old machine needed decent CPU for design work this will hopefully be discreet, small and something for the front room.

Limits:
Monitor will be the TV. 1080p max
Budget absolutely now more than 400, hopefully I can pick up a few second hand parts.
I won't be using it for anything else so I really dont need much cpu.
I have another disk for the games. SSD for the OS.

Here is my thinking so far: (created fom partpicker US so $$ for now, and at least I know the parts are compatible with each other)

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 740 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A78M-ITX+ Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($75.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V200 Series 64GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Logisys 350W Micro ATX Power Supply ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $428.31

I haven't considered kb & mouse as yet. I'm not pushed on fancy ones. My old ones were bog standard.

Recent Games: Far Cry 3, various CoD, dishonoured
Next games to consider: BF4, bioshock infinite, dark souls II

Any comments? It is enough?
For where I sit it should be at least as good as my old system, ideally a bit better?!?

Urinate on the office chair and reclaim your Territory! Failing that, your mobo/CPU combo aren't compatible, I don't think there are any am3+ itx motherboards. I would look at a pentium (possibly the overclocked anniversary edition) and a socket 1150 itx motherboard.

Also you are better off getting a decent psu rather than the cheapest available

EDIT: They are compatible, didnt realise there were athlons on the FM2 socket. I would still go with bloodbaths suggestion below though

BloodBath

I'd go for the pentium G3258 and a cheap board like the Asrock H81M-HDS over that AMD combo. Overclock the processor a bit and you will get better performance in most games and have a better upgrade path.

I'd go for a decent 750ti like the MSI gaming as well for the g-card.

I wouldn't go any lower than a Corsair VS450 for the PSU.

.G.

Also if you are going mini-ITX pay close attention to the layout of the board regarding ram, the cpu socket and pci-e slot. It can be very easy to run into trouble with an aftermarket cpu cooler overhanging the ram slots and sometimes the pci-e slot. Found this out the hard way with my recent mini-ITX build! Get low profile ram and stick with the stock cooler at first until you see how things are spaced out on your chosen board.

Serephucus

I'd also shoot for a G3258/750 Ti rig. The graphics card will be fine on a 300W PSU (as that's what my girlfriend's rig is running on at the moment, with a much more power hungry CPU.

I can't spec you up a build right at the minute, but from what I remember:

G3258, H81 mATX, 750 Ti, 256GB SSD, VS350 PSU, cheap case -> €450 with Geizhals.

theboyhurley

Given that there were 3 recommendations for the G3258/750 Ti setup I'll going to take a closer look.

Mi idea in picking a mini ITX was to enable the smallest cases possible.
So I like the cooler master elite 120.
I'd like to keep the case small, plain, not fancy, front room friendly.

TerrorFirmer

Significantly, you've said you want something of at least the same power. Why not just build your wife a cheap 250 euro machine, and take back your old one? If you replace the 6870 with a newer card, it's still a top notch gaming machine - nothing other than the video card needs upgrading.

A G3258 machine is not going to be as fast or as powerful as your old machine, at all (though it's a great performer for the price).

Your old machine is very decent.

.G.

theboyhurley wrote: »

Given that there were 3 recommendations for the G3258/750 Ti setup I'll going to take a closer look.

Mi idea in picking a mini ITX was to enable the smallest cases possible.
So I like the cooler master elite 120.
I'd like to keep the case small, plain, not fancy, front room friendly.

I looked at the 130 for my build but went with a Silverstone Raven RVZ01. Alot more expensive than the 120 and needs an SFX PSU but looks the part in my tv stand.

theboyhurley

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Significantly, you've said you want something of at least the same power. Why not just build your wife a cheap 250 euro machine, and take back your old one? If you replace the 6870 with a newer card, it's still a top notch gaming machine - nothing other than the video card needs upgrading.

A G3258 machine is not going to be as fast or as powerful as your old machine, at all (though it's a great performer for the price).

Your old machine is very decent.

thats why I thought the Athlon X4 740 3.2GHz would be a decent option. There seems to be better bang per buck on the AMD. The intel on the old machine was to allow dual booting for a hackintosh.
Without throwing too much extra cash at it, what's a better option.. ?
Surely my GPU being somewhat better is bigger win ?

TerrorFirmer

theboyhurley wrote: »

thats why I thought the Athlon X4 740 3.2GHz would be a decent option. There seems to be better bang per buck on the AMD. The intel on the old machine was to allow dual booting for a hackintosh.
Without throwing too much extra cash at it, what's a better option.. ?
Surely my GPU being somewhat better is bigger win ?

The 750Ti is faster than the 6870 but not significantly.

The 740K is way slower than your 2500K!

There isn't much of a better option for a 400 euro budget, and again the G3258 and 750Ti is a solid build.

It's just not an upgrade on your last build and in many ways is far inferior!

walshyp

Get your machine back of the missus and build her something like below. The processor on your old machine is still a beast and is a brilliant overclocker.


245,80 €

Corsair VS Serie VS450, Non-Modular, 80+
34,97 €

Intel Pentium G3220 Box, LGA1150
49,10 €

4GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9
34,16 €

ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0, Sockel 1150, mATX
38,84 €

Zalman T1 Plus Mini Tower - schwarz, ohne Netzteil, mATX
22,74 €

Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s
65,99 €

Total 245.80

You then have 150 left over an R9 270 or a R9 280 for your proper gaming PC!

walshyp

Apologies, just seen your wife is a graphic designer so needs a decent PC! Yea the anniversary edition processor and a 750 TI is the best bet for 400.

theboyhurley

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The 750Ti is faster than the 6870 but not significantly.

The 740K is way slower than your 2500K!

There isn't much of a better option for a 400 euro budget, and again the G3258 and 750Ti is a solid build.

It's just not an upgrade on your last build and in many ways is far inferior!

Ok then. Clearly if I get another 2500k then it's just as good as what I had (saw the chip second hand for circa 130 on eBay). But do I need that kinda power for gaming or could I opt for something a but lesser ( again my eye would be on the second hand market), a decent i3 perhaps?
Thanks.

theboyhurley

So I meant to do this before but I forgot until now.
Just following up with the results.

This is what I went with:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For €109.67)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard (Purchased For €58.58)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (Purchased For €21.20)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For €58.73)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (Purchased For €128.78)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case (Purchased For €36.75)
Power Supply: XILENCE Redwing Series, 350W, Rev. 3 ATX Power Supply (Purchased For €21.25)
Total: €434.96

hurlex.blogspot.ie/2014/10/selecting-parts-for-small-form-gaming.html

And the build pics:
hurlex.blogspot.ie/2014/11/construction-time-again.html

I am very happy with it. The boot time is very quick, 10-12 seconds after the bios screen.
I did not bother with a wireless kb and mouse. I have a wired kb and mouse tucked in behind, and a wired xbox controller, which is over 3 meters long for gaming.

./mh