Gaming PC as close to €300 as possible.

quainy

So, a friend of mine came to me and said that he wanted to start playing some mmorpgs on PC. He played Destiny and it really gave him a taste but he reckons he'd prefer some of the more hardcore PC ones, such as WoW and GW2. So, he is looking for a PC that can run them on Low-Medium, along with other common titles like LoL on Low - Medium etc.

I know how to put everything together so I can help him in that regard if he needs it but I have no idea about pricing, so I was wondering if anyone can post a build that I could show him later.

1. What is your budget? €300 (€400 max inc. delivery)

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Playing popular MMORPGs and MOBAs at Low-Medium quality.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes - I can sort this on Reddit, included in the budget though.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? No - He's using a 720p TV.

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [N/A

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 720p - Not in the near future anyway.

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

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Happy to if required.

8. How can you pay? Credit Card or Paypal preferably.

9. When are you purchasing? By the end of the month.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? I have him covered if he needs help.

MarkAnthony

At work but I think an AMD APU based system and windows 10 insider program for a free OS.

Do you have an old HDD kicking around you can use?

quainy

I think I have a 500GB Seagate Barracuda somewhere, not completely sure though.

I was thinking the A6 7400k with a cheap mobo and RAM.

7400k comes with Radeon R5 graphics and that should do him okay, I reckon.

Digital Solitude

i3 4160 €120
H81M board €50
Case €25
GTX570 €80
8gb RAM €40
300w PSU €30
Total €345

€30 for delivery from mindfactory and €20 for Reddit.

Really can't go tighter, but it'll wipe the floor with an APU build. The 570 will be second hand if he's cool with that

quainy

Digital Solitude wrote: »

i3 4160 €120
H81M board €50
Case €25
GTX570 €80
8gb RAM €40
300w PSU €30
Total €345

Yeah, that'll work, and I just found the HDD, turns out it was a 1TB HDD, if I had known before now it would be in my machine! That's an awesome build, I'm just about to go meet him for a pint, I'd say he'll be delighted with this.

TerrorFirmer

GTX750 is old and power hungry, look for a second hand GTX750 for very similar performance but far lower power requirements - and it's a much newer card as well. A 2nd hand HD7850 would also be about E80. Look for 2GB models.

Digital Solitude

GTX750 it is, I always have it in my head that the 570 is faster than the 750

TerrorFirmer

The GTX570 is a little faster than a GTX750, but it's far more power hungry, far bulkier too, and naturally it's going to be a much older card you get, as well. I'd just prefer a 750 personally for those reasons, the 570 needs dual 6-pin connectors (some a 6 and 8 pin), the 750 none at all.

A GTX750Ti is the best option overall but they don't go for E80 second hand, more like 100-110. A HD7850 is a good middle ground too, faster than a GTX750 but doesn't need as much power as the 570, generally a smaller card as well.

EternalHope

Digital Solitude wrote: »

i3 4160 €120
H81M board €50
Case €25
GTX570 €80
8gb RAM €40
300w PSU €30
Total €345

€30 for delivery from mindfactory and €20 for Reddit.

Really can't go tighter, but it'll wipe the floor with an APU build. The 570 will be second hand if he's cool with that

where is the 8gb ram for 40? what CL is it?

Sorry op for butting in

jamescd

EternalHope wrote: »

where is the 8gb ram for 40? what CL is it?

Sorry op for butting in

HyperX FURY Series 8GB DDR3 1866MHz CL10 - £30.48/€42

Digital Solitude

EternalHope wrote: »

where is the 8gb ram for 40? what CL is it?

Sorry op for butting in

Most 1600mhz RAM is at €40.

I don't know much about RAM except how to price it, Crucial Ballistix Sport is €36 for 8gb and I believe it's CL9

MarkAnthony

Makes naff all difference on intel systems anyway.

With the build above the question has to be asked. Why buy a console?

Flabbergasted a decent PC can come in under 400 notes.

Digital Solitude

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Makes naff all difference on intel systems anyway.

With the build above the question has to be asked. Why buy a console?

Flabbergasted a decent PC can come in under 400 notes.

Don't start...

imitation

For those games and that budget I would forgo the graphics card altogether and slum it with the intel graphics, they are sufficent for those games, and the likes of wow and lol are often more cpu dependant than gpu. Size the psu and components so that you can drop in an i5 and decent gpu later and have a decent gaming machine. If you go down the amd apu route I think it will always be lackluster.

MarkAnthony

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Don't start...

LOL - it wasn't the intention to spark the old debate, plenty of people love console gaming but plenty are 'forced' into it because of lower prices. I really didn't think you could get a PC for console money and actually you possibly can't given the likes of a HDD is missing and you're going down the second hand route. That said we're very close and I suspect with Pascal et el coming out we'll see some nice basic GPUs worth it at the lower price points.

Of course Sony and MS might simply lower prices next year but given it's good to see PC gaming seeing a resurgence.

Also consoles suck :P

MarkAnthony

imitation wrote: »

For those games and that budget I would forgo the graphics card altogether and slum it with the intel graphics, they are sufficent for those games, and the likes of wow and lol are often more cpu dependant than gpu. Size the psu and components so that you can drop in an i5 and decent gpu later and have a decent gaming machine. If you go down the amd apu route I think it will always be lackluster.

I probably wouldn't bother going with the i5 but the above is a pretty sound plan. With a new GPU generation on the horizon there could be a few bargains on adverts GPU wise.

For gaming what about the pentium quad-cores? Are they OEM, sh!te or some combination?

quainy

I mean I totally know what you're saying, and I reckon the integrated HD graphics in the i3 would do him on those Blizzard games, I'm just thinking, if we were to consider future improvements, how can I future proof the mobo, are Pascal etc going to be PCI-E or will they make a new PCI slot as has been romoured, to encourage a new tech generation altogether; especially with the introduction of the new socket for Skylake.

TerrorFirmer

MarkAnthony wrote: »

I probably wouldn't bother going with the i5 but the above is a pretty sound plan. With a new GPU generation on the horizon there could be a few bargains on adverts GPU wise.

For gaming what about the pentium quad-cores? Are they OEM, sh!te or some combination?

They're brutal, just about enough for casual usage, gaming is totally out of the question on them.

imitation

quainy wrote: »

I mean I totally know what you're saying, and I reckon the integrated HD graphics in the i3 would do him on those Blizzard games, I'm just thinking, if we were to consider future improvements, how can I future proof the mobo, are Pascal etc going to be 1155 socket or do you reckon that they will create a new socket to fit the likes of the newer GPU, to encourage a new tech generation altogether.

I don't think its really possible to future proof a 300 quid PC that much, it looks like it should be possible to fit skylake into that budget, but to be honest CPU's aren't what they used to be, a mate recently shoved a GTX 960 into his 5 year old I5 2500k rig recently and happily making his way through the Witcher 3 on high settings, as far as I can see it will stay the same for the next 5 years. It would probably be worth a lot more to him to have a decent SLI mobo, case and PSU that he can spend 200 quid on and make into a solid 1080p rig.

I'm also a bit dubious about those 20 quid Windows licenses from reddit, having to pay full whack for windows a year later could be a nasty surprise.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Ignore, posted in error.

Digital Solitude

Your PC is fine Xavier. Test your RAM using MemTest86+, or try with a new HDD if possible.

Starting a new thread is handy too

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Your PC is fine Xavier. Test your RAM using MemTest86+, or try with a new HDD if possible.

Starting a new thread is handy too

I have no idea what happened. I had two tabs opened, one for a new post and another for this thread. Sorry about that :P

Will edit my original post to remove it I just started a new thread :P

Lu Tze

Nicole Petite Wreck wrote: »

Ignore, posted in error.

Have you done a clean install of windows to rule out a software issue?

MarkAnthony

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

They're brutal, just about enough for casual usage, gaming is totally out of the question on them.

Really? How so, I'm talking with a discrete GPU here.

TerrorFirmer

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Really? How so, I'm talking with a discrete GPU here.

Performance is just too low. Grand for browsing facebook and youtube, but anything intensive and they pretty rapidly grind to a halt. Don't get me wrong, they'd be grand for something like Minecraft with a discrete GPU, and even some titles that are majorly GPU intensive (say, Dirt Rally) they'd probably get by despite being a bottleneck, but anything that requires CPU grunt, they fall flat. But, to be fair, gaming was never, ever their intended use. They're basically quad core atom processors.

TheDoc

imitation wrote: »

For those games and that budget I would forgo the graphics card altogether and slum it with the intel graphics, they are sufficent for those games, and the likes of wow and lol are often more cpu dependant than gpu. Size the psu and components so that you can drop in an i5 and decent gpu later and have a decent gaming machine. If you go down the amd apu route I think it will always be lackluster.

I'd probably advise caution against this.

I've seen WoW playing on integrated graphics..you literally wouldn't bother.

You'd definitely spec a €300 machine that will play WoW fine at medium settings. I still love the look of the game at Ultra, but even at medium its totally fine.

But when you get into large city environments, raids, dungeons and even certain zones for leveling, using an integrated gpu is going to hurt imo.

OP mentions GW2, which is much more graphically intensive then wow. And if he decides to try around a few of the latest buzz MMO's they would all need a dedicated GPU imo or you'd be just diluting and wrecking the experience.

TheDoc

For variety, the below is from reddit and titled the Next Gen crusher, its kept maintained and reviewed monthly. I've put some friends and family onto this build who wanted to gently dip into PC gaming, without dropping €1k+

I know specifically the later builds for this spec were able to run Wow at medium settings and a relatively smooth FPS at 1080p, nevermind 720p.

*The build is always spec'd by dollars and using American suppliers, but you can mostly find them from European supplier or UK for similar prices

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: *Mushkin ECO2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card ($154.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Rosewill REDBONE ATX Mid Tower Case ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($28.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $456.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-08 12:37 EST-0500

Like that don't mind recommending it as the previous builds have been fine for those I've recommended to. I also built myself the HTPC build they supplied(checked by the same builders) and that was an incredible investment.

Anyway just for variety, the more knowledgeable guys here can maybe pick it apart or make some changes, and it might even be pretty much similar to what Digital recommeneded

imitation

TheDoc wrote: »

I'd probably advise caution against this.

I've seen WoW playing on integrated graphics..you literally wouldn't bother.

You'd definitely spec a €300 machine that will play WoW fine at medium settings. I still love the look of the game at Ultra, but even at medium its totally fine.

But when you get into large city environments, raids, dungeons and even certain zones for leveling, using an integrated gpu is going to hurt imo.

OP mentions GW2, which is much more graphically intensive then wow. And if he decides to try around a few of the latest buzz MMO's they would all need a dedicated GPU imo or you'd be just diluting and wrecking the experience.

I agree really, integrated graphics are going to chug, if you want to raid you need a semi decent gpu, even a 750 would go a long way, but even that is 50% of the budget. The reality is that 300 euro buys you very little if you are buying brand new. I think going for a decent cpu only is a good approach if 300 quid is the absolute limit. You wont be raiding hardcore and some games like GW2 will be very unenjoyable. But on the flipside leveling will be very playable in wow and so will league of legends. Its very easy then just to grab a 60 quid gpu off ebay to bump up performance and eventually graduate to a proper gpu and at no point will you have to bin the cpu (unless you go to 970 levels i guess).

quainy

Well, what I was thinking is that he wants to "try" these titles, meaning that he kinds of wants to know what they're like. I've been interpreting it in the sense that he could always upgrade in the future if he wants to commit to them, but that is how I was interpreting what he was telling me. He's still a bit on the fence at the moment, he discovered SMITE on XBO and reckons he will commit to that for the moment, we'll have to see what way he goes with this.