Under €500 PC upgrade/build

B4nt3rB0t

Hi everyone I’m a student and I work part time so I don't have much to be spending on buying parts but I hope someone here could help me with it, as I am completely new to PC building!

Also hopefully I will want to upgrade the PC in the future.

1. What is your budget?
{<€500}

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
{Gaming and general use}

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

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
{yes I have a two year old Inspiron 660s desktop with standard specs except for 2gb extra ram also an older computer with a large case I could use, and maybe more salvageable parts}

5. Do you need a monitor?
{No}

5a. If yes, what size do you need.
[]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future?
{I'm using a tv screen, so I can use HDMI or VGA, I'll have to check the resolution}

6. Do you need any of these peripherals?
{no}

7. Are you willing to try overclocking?
{perhaps, but I would need assistance and advice on it!}

8. How can you pay?
{PayPal or MasterCard}

9. When are you purchasing?
{in the next few months}

10. If you need help building it, where are you based?

Digital Solitude

Will you be looking to play 2015's AAA games? E.g. Arma 3, Battlefield 4

B4nt3rB0t

No, maybe Elder scrolls online, borderlands 2, Modded minecraft, Space engineers

Digital Solitude

Item|Price
Intel Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition Box, 1150|€€ 67
MSI H81M-P33 mATX, LGA 1150|€€ 41
Antec One, ATX, no power supply|€€ 43
8GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9|€€ 59
Thermaltake 630W Berlin|€€ 51
ASUS GTX750TiOC-2GD5 GeForce GTX 750Ti, 2GB GDDR5|€€ 145
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb / s|€€ 53
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€475

€495 with a copy of windows from Reddit.

PSU leaves loads of room for expansion.
Overclock the CPU to about 4Ghz and you shouldn't have an issue unless you want spanking new games, as some don't launch as the card is dual core.
Motherboard has 2 ram slots, but 8gb should be enough for the next few years of gaming anyways. You can always use 8gb sticks if you need more.
Graphics card is the best for the price range. You could try sourcing a second hand GTX 670 either, it's a much better card, but will be needed second hand to stay inside the budget.

As for upgrades, you can get a good selection of Intel core cpus, e.g. the i5 4460, i5 4690 or i7 4790 will all work in this motherboard.
Graphics cards are pretty much universal now. You won't be able to get a second card for SLI, but a 670 will last you for a good while if you decide to get one. The 750Ti is still a good card anyways.

You won't need an aftermarket cooler unless you put massive overclocks onto your card, but you likely won't need to even reach 4.0gHz.

this is the first guide I used to overclock a cpu, Serephucus also has one floating around this forum. It's pretty straightforward to be honest

Digital Solitude

Thats a full new build, can you list the full specs of your other desktop? It might preform okay for the job. Google brings up differing info.

If you can install CPU Z and take a screenshot of the CPU, Mainboard and Memory tabs, that'd be enough to go on.

B4nt3rB0t

First of all thank you so much!!

now for the irritating questions! :P

My current processor is the pentium G2020, is there a big difference between the two?
Would putting a PC together from scratch be a problem for someone with very little experience?
What kind of tools would i need, if any?
Do you recommend getting a new case or would one that i have lying around do fine?

(sorry im new!)

Thanks again, Im sure i'll have more more questions!

Digital Solitude

Quick google tells me the G2020 is not good for gaming, whereas the G3258 is the best low budget Intel chip available, so I would think you're better upgrading.

It's not difficult at all, there's literally 7 parts to a PC, you screw everything into place and plug a wire into the socket that will only work with one cable, so it's pretty foolproof. There's tutorials all over youtube if you wanted to check them out. A regular philips screwdriver and possibly a flashlight are all the tools needed.

Depends on the one you have lying around, not all cases are made equal, especially if you want to overclock

B4nt3rB0t

Ok thanks man and thats good then i have those screenshots, how am i meant to send them?

Digital Solitude

No bother, ask away with the questions

TerrorFirmer

No point upgrading to a new machine, the one you have is perfectly fine, swap the G2020 for a 2nd hand i3-2x or i3-3x line for about 60 euro, throw in a GTX750, for about 180 in total you'll have a perfectly fine gaming machine for those games and newer ones as well if you decide to play them.

Digital Solitude

I've heard stories about Dells PSUs Terror, would you atleast recommend upgrading it?

B4nt3rB0t

Thanks Terror, the only thing is that the Inspirons case is very small, and i dont know if it would hold a graphics card!

Digital Solitude

The ASUS 750Ti is 21.8cm long, Measure the space you have in the case to find out if you can't get the model for it.
That PC you emailed me has a worse CPU than what you've already got and graphics card is worse that the 750Ti, so I wouldn't recommend it

TerrorFirmer

It needs to be a low profile card, as I just noticed you have a 660S - that's the half size model yes?

I don't know what sort of space it has inside, but sometimes those SFF PC's don't have enough room for a card to physically fit into the case.

For example, I had an Acer SFF, and I couldn't fit any card other than a very low end one inside, as the gap between the pci-express lane and the case was too small and no decent heatsink could fit into it. The only way to make it fit was to cut out a rectangle from the case to allow the heatsink from the GTX750 room to fit. This option isn't actually that big as deal, as you can replace the hole you cut out with a raised grill and paint it black to match the rest of the case.

This picture will give you an idea of what I mean - see the tiny clearance between the video card and the case? The mesh area is the area you'd have to cut away to fit a card like a GTX750.

B4nt3rB0t

What i might do is get a new case, processor and graphics card? Either a new pentium like you said digital or a used i3? and then for the graphics card maybe a 670 or a 750? Thoughts?