Gaming PC - Budget €700

gooner99

Hi All. Looking for a gaming pc for my son. He's into minecraft and farming simulator. But he also wants to start palying skyrim and the likes on steam. Could you guys recommend a gaming pc for him for €700. Should be fine for building it, as I've installed ram, cards, drives, etc in the past and have installed loads of operating systems. Have win7 and a HD tv/monitor.

1. What is your budget? [€700]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming - minecraft, farming simulator, skyrim , steam games]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [DVD Drive]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [Not sure what resolution his tv/monitor has, I think its HD or maybe hd ready]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [No]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In 1 - 30 days. In time for xmas]

Ninjah Tigah

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/DDR3/169019/ASRock+H97+Pro4%2C+Sockel+1150%2C+ATX.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/2048+MB/104690/ASUS+GTX660-DC2OCPH-2GD5+DirectCU+II+OC+216mm%2C+GeForce+GTX+660%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+2x+DVI%2C+HDMI%2C+DisplayPort.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/7200+RPM/53882/Seagate+Barracuda+7200+1000GB%2C+SATA+6Gb+s.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Solid-State-Disk/169180/Crucial+MX100+SSD+128GB+%282%2C5%2C+7mm%29.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/1600+Low+Voltage/125974/8GB-Kit+Crucial+Ballistix+Sport+Series+DDR3-1600%2C+CL9.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Midi/48895/BitFenix+Shinobi+Midi-Tower+USB+3.0+++black%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Sockel+1150/165422/Intel+Core+i5-4460+in-a-Box.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/400+-+500+Watts/74426/Corsair+CX+Series+Modular+CX500M%2C+500W.article

If you want to maximise the 700 euro budget.

If you want to save some money use www.geizhals.de

How to use: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056907965

Ninjah Tigah

Updated previous post.

gooner99

Thanks very much for the reply.will have a look at that.any other components I need to consider?

RossieMan

you'll have to order soon if you want if for Christmas. Potential problems and all that.

Ninjah Tigah

Yeah, as Rossie said and thanks for mentioning that Rossie, forgot to say that.

Apart from that, there's not really much unless you'd prefer to go for a more aesthetically pleasing case(LED fans and the likes) such as what I suggested in another topic; http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Midi/159414/Zalman+Z11+Plus+HF1+mit+Sichtfenster%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article

gooner99

Yes must sort out the order soon. That case looks cool,but he prefers green to red.he seems happy enough with the black.any suggestions on green:D

Also just noticed that red one is out of stock.

Ninjah Tigah

Well there's this:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Midi/178593/Raidmax+RGH+Viper+GX%2C+schwarz+gr%C3%BCn%2C+ohne+Netzteil%2C+mit+Sichtfenster.article

gooner99

Ninjah Tigah wrote: »

Well there's this:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Midi/178593/Raidmax+RGH+Viper+GX%2C+schwarz+gr%C3%BCn%2C+ohne+Netzteil%2C+mit+Sichtfenster.article

Thanks for the link. was looking at this one.is it up to scratch?

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Midi/73888/Sharkoon+T28+green+%28Window-Kit%29%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article

Ninjah Tigah

Yep, that one looks fine.

gooner99

Excellent.Thanks again for the help with this.I will talk it over tomorrow evening with my nephew.I'll post back again if I have any more questions.

gooner99

Hi.Sorry for coming back again.

He thinks he may raid his piggy bank and get a monitor. Any recommendations?

Also does he need a sound card or is this built in to that spec already?

Ninjah Tigah

No need to apologise at all.

What's his budget for the monitor?

There's an integrated sound card on the motherboard and unless he's using expensive headphones/headset he wont notice much of a difference in the sound by getting a sound card.

gooner99

Ninjah Tigah wrote: »

No need to apologise at all.

What's his budget for the monitor?

There's an integrated sound card on the motherboard and unless he's using expensive headphones/headset he wont notice much of a difference in the sound by getting a sound card.

Cheers,will check his budget when I get home.

I'd imagine the built in sounds card will do. Again I will check and post back. I guess it's always something he can add at a later date.

gooner99

Budget for a monitor is €100 - €150

Ninjah Tigah

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/58+cm+%2823%29+/159513/ASUS+VS239NV.article

http://geizhals.de/asus-vs239nv-90lmf0151t00041c-a1049368.html (for a couple of euro off)

Should be a pretty nice monitor, 60hz, ips, 5ms(grey-to-grey) and 23"

gooner99

Thanks for the monitor recommendation. What would you recommend if he went 21.5 inch?

Would he get a good one for the €100 or close to it?

Ninjah Tigah

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/56+cm+%2822%29+/150356/LG+22M45D-B.article would do the job nicely.

gooner99

Thanks for that.Just need to get him to decide on a case and monitor now and we're ready to order.hopefully Tomorrow evening!

gooner99

Just placed the order there. the basket started at just over €800, but with discounts I got it down to €769.90 (the only discount I couldn't find was for the motherboard). Then when it came to checkout it asked for vouchers, so I did a quick search and got a €10 one for spending over €500 (there is one for €20 available if you spend over €1000). Deduct this €10 , then add in the €12 shipping and final total was €771.89.

One thing I did notice is that the mother board and graphics card are showing as available for delivery from 14th. Any idea if this means that they are currently out of stock. Should I be worried?

Great to get something off the price.:D

Thanks again for all your help, it is much appreciated.

Now for the fun part, putting it all together. Any good videos on the net?

Ninjah Tigah

Ah no, I wouldn't worry too much about it not being in stock currently and you're most welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roFb3TNePIg - If I don't stop posting links from Linus I'll start being classed as a linus fan lol.

The build starts at: 8:22 on the video.

Edit:
http://lifehacker.com/5828747/how-to-build-a-computer-from-scratch-the-complete-guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_56kyib-Ls

gooner99

Thanks for the link. Will have a look later.

I had purchased win7 pro upgrade from software4students. I have the 32bit burned to DVD, but don't have the 64bit. I have the links to download but the download has expired since 24/1/14. Would I be right in saying that 64bit would be pretty much essential on this build?

Ninjah Tigah

gooner99 wrote: »

Thanks for the link. Will have a look later.

I had purchased win7 pro upgrade from software4students. I have the 32bit burned to DVD, but don't have the 64bit. I have the links to download but the download has expired since 24/1/14. Would I be right in saying that 64bit would be pretty much essential on this build?

Well you wont be able to take advantage of the 8gb without the 64bit, only 4gb.

gooner99

Ninjah Tigah wrote: »

Well you wont be able to take advantage of the 8gb without the 64bit, only 4gb.

Yes as I thought.Sounds like I need to buy a copy now.Where is best to get a legit copy on the cheap?

Ninjah Tigah

gooner99 wrote: »

Yes as I thought.Sounds like I need to buy a copy now.Where is best to get a legit copy on the cheap?

Well if you were willing to try Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/comments/2iyp57/h_windows_7_8_81_windows_server_office_visio/

Instructions all below the prices and go for the x64 version (64 bit)

Completely legit btw.

gooner99

Had the day off so finally got around to building the pc. Took a while to do as it was my first build. But in the end all seemed to go well. I followed the newegg video from youtube, which was very helpful.I have a few things to sort out.

1. The power supply only came with 2 sata 3 cables, so was only able to connect up the dvd drive and ssd. I'll need to pick up another one to connect the second hard drive.

2. I installed the drivers from the cds that came with the mother board and graphics card. But I still seem to have a pci device shown as not installed. So will need to figure out what that may be. At the minute I'm puzzled.

2. No DVI cable with the monitor. There was a dvi to vga adaptor so used that with the supplied vga cable. Need to pick up a dvi cable.


Thanks again for the help with this.

Ninjah Tigah

gooner99 wrote: »

Had the day off so finally got around to building the pc. Took a while to do as it was my first build. But in the end all seemed to go well. I followed the newegg video from youtube, which was very helpful.I have a few things to sort out.

1. The power supply only came with 2 sata 3 cables, so was only able to connect up the dvd drive and ssd. I'll need to pick up another one to connect the second hard drive.

2. I installed the drivers from the cds that came with the mother board and graphics card. But I still seem to have a pci device shown as not installed. So will need to figure out what that may be. At the minute I'm puzzled.

2. No DVI cable with the monitor. There was a dvi to vga adaptor so used that with the supplied vga cable. Need to pick up a dvi cable.


Thanks again for the help with this.

I'd completely delete the graphics card drivers that came on the disk and download the drivers from the website and install them instead, more up-to-date.

As for it showing as not installed, in the device manager does it show two devices or just the one?

gooner99

Ninjah Tigah wrote: »

I'd completely delete the graphics card drivers that came on the disk and download the drivers from the website and install them instead, more up-to-date.

As for it showing as not installed, in the device manager does it show two devices or just the one?

I must take a look at the device manager again to see if there are two. I had to pack up what I was doing when the young lad got home from school. Will take a look and post up an image of what I have for devices.

After I installed the graphics card from the disk and rebooted it advised me that there were new updates for it and I let it go ahead and update. I think it is probably up to date now, but will check and post a screen shot to be sure.

gooner99

Just want to check something. There were 3 case fans, but only 2 case fan sockets on the mother board.

I connected one of the front fans and the back fan to the connections on the mother board. The sockets on the mother board were 4 pin, but the connections were 3 pin. Did I do the right thing?

I connected the other front fan to the power supply, correct?

Cheers

gooner99

Checked the graphics driver and I have the latest. Installed all the latest drivers for the mother board and now have all devices installed. So happy days.

Is there much difference in using a VGA cable with a DVI adapter as opposed to a proper DVI cable?

mayordenis

gooner99 wrote: »

Is there much difference in using a VGA cable with a DVI adapter as opposed to a proper DVI cable?

I can't say for sure if there's a difference there probably is, but I've been using them for years without any issue whatsoever, in fact I'm not sure if I've ever used a normal DVI cable seems to always be a adapter getting involved.