BUILDING A GAMING PC, FULL SETUP :)

Danosully

Hey, i'm new to building computers and i've been looking up as much as possible for the last few weeks but i still find myself lost, any suggestions would help. THANKS

1. What is your budget? €700 (Give or take)

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming (Battlefield 1, Battlegrounds....)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes (unless there are other options)

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

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need? not too sure? suggestions?

6. Do you need any peripherals? Yes (Mouse, keyboard, headphones)

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? no (unless advised otherwise)

8. How can you pay? Card/Cash

9. When are you purchasing? As soon as possible

Any help would be appreciated, Thanks

Joshua J

If it was my €700 I wouldn't buy new and build I'd buy 2nd hand. I would buy this and buy an RX 580 gpu and a 1080p monitor should leave some change left over for a basic keyboard and mouse and you'd be set for a few years gaming.

Xenoronin

Not very upgradable though, and some tech in a sandy bridge build is severely lacking (SATA 3 mainly). I'd rather go with an AMD Ryzen 1500 build and have a decent upgrade path over the next 4 years. Depends on if they want more power now though. In that case, a second hand machine is probably a better option for the budget.

Joshua J

Xenoronin wrote: »

Not very upgradable though, and some tech in a sandy bridge build is severely lacking (SATA 3 mainly). I'd rather go with an AMD Ryzen 1500 build and have a decent upgrade path over the next 4 years. Depends on if they want more power now though. In that case, a second hand machine is probably a better option for the budget.

I agree 100% was purely budget dependent. Hard to see a new build Ryzen 1500 monitor et al for €700 but I could be wrong.

Xenoronin

Joshua J wrote: »

I agree 100% was purely budget dependent. Hard to see a new build Ryzen 1500 monitor et al for €700 but I could be wrong.

Missed that the monitor is required. The intel G4560 is a strong alternative build though! Should allow enough room in the budget for a decent 1080p monitor.

Samuel T. Cogley

Intel Pentium G4560 €57.48
(Fantastic CPU for gaming see a great video here)

RX570 (Which is a refresh of the 470 similar video) €213.83

Case Zalman Z9 Neo (Great Video of the silly amount of options) €62.59
(I suggest watching the video and coming back to the thread on what you fancy.)

Motherboard - Asus H110M-D €58.48
(Bit of a random pick here - just a good brand and cheap - can support Kabylake from bios 2002)

Memory 8GB €40.89
(Went with this as it's on special - keep an eye out for something around this. It's just a single stick there is some merit with this as it allow upgrading but really it doesn't matter much)

Boot SSD €53.67

Storage HDD €49.90

PSU (EVGA) €54.34

24" 1080p Monitor €121.99
(Just went with Amazon choice here - there are probably better options but 1080 24" is a good level to be at IMO).

Windows - Just download

Total 731.17

A bit over budget and does not include shipping or the increased VAT (4% IIRC) but you can do a few things: (i) Buy from a cheaper supplier like mind factory or (ii) Drop the SSD or (iii) go with something like the GTX1050ti.

Overclocking - the case I included has loads of fans and you should always 'tune' your GPU but really it won't make much difference and I'd leave the CPU alone personally.

K.O.Kiki

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor (€56.85)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€71.00)
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (€57.50)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€83.94)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB OC Edition Video Card (€143.20)
Case: Zalman - Z1 Neo ATX Mid Tower Case (€45.00)
Power Supply: EVGA - 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€48.01)
Monitor: AOC - G2260VWQ6 21.5" 1920x1080 75Hz Monitor (€132.20)
Other: Cougar Deathfire mechanical keyboard + mouse (€39.84)
Total: €677.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-24 12:35 CEST+0200

Buy the case & monitor on AmazonDE
And the rest on Mindfactory.

Should total up €708

Sorry couldn't include a set of headphones at that budget as well.

Billy86

I like K.O.Kiki's build, just a few suggestions for budget peripherals to help against the budget.

These are very good and extremely comfortable headphones/mic at a good cost - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HCRH9KM/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (they say £70 down to £15, but they've said that for months whenever I've looked at them, also got them for about £16). Got them back around November and they're doing great.

If you're using a gamepad for the gaming, you can get a decent mouse/keyboard combo for £10-15 or so on Amazon also if just for 'standard PC' usage.

Also for you or anyone looking for decent, low cost gamepads I've been testing this out the last few days and it is surprisingly good (though the downside is it uses AA batteries, not a recharge system) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KVBL4U2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I think it's about £30 on Amazon that activates free delivery to Ireland - also pay in GBP and not EUR as they add a good 4-5c to to the exchange rate, typically. Nothing major, but there's no point paying a few percent extra for no reason.


***EDIT:
A slight variation on the case in K.O.Kiki's build but a different Zalman Z1 is on sale at 33% off on Amazon UK which would also save a few Euro on the Amazon DE delivery cost (prob €5-10) at £35.50 / €41.12 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/ZALMAN-Midi-M-ATX-Tower-Computer/dp/B00HES0JAM/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1495630915&sr=1-2&keywords=zalman+z1 . Another option for a smaller case at a low cost is £23/ €26.50 (+ €3.95 for Parcel Motel from that site), I got it last week and it's a pretty decent little set up for the cost. Nothing fancy but fairly decent - https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/avp-hyperion-ev33b-cube-mini-tower-case/avp-ev33b.html

The same monitor is also going for £99.50 on two UK sites (€115), if there are exorbitant delivery costs to Ireland or they just don't deliver here you can use Parcel Motel for €3.95. Used them twice in the last month and they're excellent; PCWorld UK also has it at about £102. Combined with the case these should get you under budget, maybe with money for the headphones left over.

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Monitors+&+TVs/22+inch/22%22+AOC++G2260VWQ6+1920x1080+TN+FREESYNC+1ms+Gaming+Widescreen+LED+Monitor+-+Black/Red?productId=65561
http://www.ebuyer.com/720608-aoc-g2260vwq6-21-5-lcd-full-hd-monitor-g2260vwq6
https://www.pcworldbusiness.co.uk/catalogue/item/P231089P?awc=2371_1495631102_d963cbd7ca0a23cb69fab80caa06c4be&utm_source=PCPartPicker&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Affiliate

Danosully

Wow, some great feedback. Thanks very much.
i'm going to start searching into all the info i've received and try piece something together in the next day or two.
I'll get back to you all with my choices for some additional feedback

Grahamer666

Yea, K.O. Kiki's build should see you right. Let everyone know how you get on.

Samuel T. Cogley

A couple of points on KO's build which is good but:

Mindfactory are fine but the service is nothing write home about. I don't really see the need for a B250 Motherboard, it's also very light on storage for games. I'd try and save on the motherboard and try and squeeze in a HD for games/files.

The 1050ti is also fine, but again if you can stretch a bit further the RX570 is a better bet IMO.

Incidentally another area you can save a little on is the PSU if you can find EVGA's 430w unit that was doing the rounds which was excellent value.

Also if you're going with KO's monitor which seems a good find 1ms and 75Hz - definitely spring for the RX570 as the monitor supports Freesync which needs an AMD card.

Edit: it does have intakes.

TerrorFirmer

The G4560 is a good budget CPU but it has it's limits and a game like Battlefield 1 online is really going to show it's weaknesses. BF1 can chug even on i5's when the going gets rough online, on a G4560 it's not going to be a great experience online with a fair few hiccups and FPS spikes.

I'd be inclined to say stick with the 1050Ti for now, that can easily be upgraded down the line, but processor upgrades are more of a hassle for inexperienced users and a strong CPU + mid range card is far preferable over a weaker CPU + performance card.

Instead do whatever you can get fit a Ryzen build in, it's by far the best option for someone looking to play BF1 and games like it.

For 90% of games the G4560 is perfectly good but I'd say given that you're into games like BF1 it's best to pony up now for a Ryzen setup. Drop whatever you have to.

Raise your budget - or simply pick up a half decent 2nd hand graphics card (GTx770 for €100 on adverts) and monitor (can get 1080p 22" for €50-60 on adverts) to free up €120-150 to invest in Ryzen over the G4560.

A Ryzen 5 setup should be able to hold a pretty stable 60fps in BF1 online, but the G4560 will drop to 30-40fps when things are really rough online which isn't ideal.

Samuel T. Cogley

A massive advantage to the Ryzen platform is is brand spanking new, and if you bang in a R5 1400 now then wait until the last gen of Ryzen that will be on the AM4 platform you'll have got two CPUs out of the platform which is almost never worth it on Intel.

Edit Platform starts at about €200 do not huge money over KO's build (€130 odd). €70 could probably be found by going with a budget case and going secondhand on the monitor. You could drop the SSD if all you're doing is gaming, it's not that much of an issue when you actually in games. It does seem a bit like going back to the tape drive on the C64 though when you've been used to the blisteringly fast Amiga 3.5" floppy! :pac:

Paul's build from last month. Bit over budget but gives you some idea.

He has some live streams if you want to see how to build.

Billy86

Full disclosure: Haven't played BF1 so I'm just going off youtube videos, but it seems to hold up quite well on a G4560/1050 TI combo.

A B250 motherboard would be needed for the G4560 though wouldn't it? Unless the OP knows someone with a Skylake CPU chip to run the BIOS update on a H110.

The 430W EVGA on Amazon UK is ?38.50 (€44.50) so not much of a saving but could help shave the pennies back for the peripherals like headphones and a gamepad (if needed). A 470 would be nice too but might push the budget out too much for the OP - best price I could find on PCPP was ?164 on Amazon UK (€189).

K.O.Kiki's build includes the CPU, mobo and RAM for €185, as best I know with Ryzen you really need to go to at least 2666 on the RAM to get proper performance so that (currently 2400mhz) would also need an upgrade. So take that off and the build is €523, then for the Ryzen build add the 1400 (€167), motherboard (€74) and RAM (€65) and they come to €306, making the total cost €829 before headphones on a €700 budget (and another €45-50 for a 470 GPU). Factoring in the low cost case I suggested, the 430W PSU and assuming the OP is going with a gamepad and so only needs a €15 keyboard/mouse combo that would put the cost at roughly €769 on a 1050 TI, or back to about €820-830 on an RX 470.

Personally I don't think the cost to performance value is really there jumping from a G4560 to a Ryzen 1400. At €25 more again (so €795ish on a 1050 TI, €850ish on a 470) a 1500X would be a far better investment, but again that is highly, highly dependent on what the OP wants to do with their money.

TLDR: I would say KOKiki's build works best, maybe with one of the lower cost cases, the Amazon UK (lower cost) version of the monitor and maybe the lower cost PSU. If they are happy to go a good €100-150 over their initial budget, a 1500X with possibly a 470 GPU could see significantly improved results, but I don't think a 1400 represents value in the market right now at around €100/2.5 times the cost of the G4560.

Samuel T. Cogley

Billy86 wrote: »

A B250 motherboard would be needed for the G4560 though wouldn't it? Unless the OP knows someone with a Skylake CPU chip to run the BIOS update on a H110.

But we're all lovely! (and I assumed they has the update already but perhaps best not to make that assumption)

Samuel T. Cogley

Asus B350M-A €73.51

Ryzen 5 1400 with Cooler €158.95

8GB DDR4 3000 €70.85

LC-Power Case (Horrible but uber cheap) €16.94

Sandisk 240GB SSD €81.94

EVGA 430W PSU 37.85

Zotac 1050ti 4GB €136.52

Monitor from above €132

Total c.€710

I'm using the logic that you have an old HDD and some fans kicking about. I have used those LC power cases before, they're cheap as chips but they do the job, although really I'd go for something in the €30 range.

TerrorFirmer

That a video of BF1 team deathmatch, not 64 player conquest. One of the video's above has some gameplay in 64p conquest on Amiens map with the same combination, and even with very little going on the screen it's hitting low 40's framerate.

You can just imagine what happens when all hell breaks loose and you have 20-30 players on screen at once, tanks, explosions, planes, buildings getting blown up, etc.

BF1 is a really, really CPU gruelling game (online, I mean, but who buys BF1 for single player!) a G4560 really just doesn't cut it unless you're OK with the framerate hitting as low as 30-35fps.

There are quite a lot of videos of the G4560 on Youtube but tons and tons of them are really misleading - people playing Team Deathmatch and Operations, when 90% of people play Conquest mode, which is the Battlefield staple since the first game.

This video gives a true representation - watch the framerate, hits as low as 30fps when it's really hectic (starts at 2:28).

I have run BF1 on literally about 20-25 different processors, including the G4560 but also i3, i5, i7 (all generations), FX-6 and FX-9.

For me, the minimum for BF1 64p online should be an i5 or Ryzen 5 (ideally Ryzen) unless you're absolutely strapped for cash, or if buying 2nd hand even 2nd gen i7 knocks the game out of the park.

Samuel T. Cogley

Was that meant to be in German Terror?

TerrorFirmer

Yeah, just skip the intro and go to the actual gameplay at 2:28 - gives a much more accurate picture of the G4560 on 64 player conquest with a lot going on.

K.O.Kiki

That's informative and all, but none of you have given OP a FULL PC setup...

Samuel T. Cogley

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

That's informative and all, but none of you have given OP a FULL PC setup...

To be fair he's said around €700 and you and Billy gave him some ideas on peripherals.

TerrorFirmer

Well here is what I'd do personally. (These are just quick examples)

Ryzen 5 1500X
MSI B350M Pro Motherboard
Aerocool Integrator 500W PSU
Corsair 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz
Cooler Master Devastator Keyboard/Mouse set
Sandisk 240GB SSD
CIT Hero Case

Comes to about €580 on Amazon UK.

Buy 2nd hand 1080p monitor on Adverts for about €60 and get an R9 280X 3GB for €105 from CEX (comes with 2 year warranty, so as good as a new card).

Total cost about €740 and you'd be banging out BF1 online on 64 player maps on 1080p high settings at a fairly reliable 60fps.

You can bring it down to around 700 even by going for the Ryzen 1400 instead of 1500X.

Billy86

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

CIT Hero Case

There we are! I've been looking to find a dirt, dirt cheap case for the longest time to help people keep under budget on low cost builds, cheers!

Nice build by the way.

Any chance we can hit a bit of consensus since we might have overloaded the OP a bit at this point (I remember how overwhelming learning about GPUs, CPUs, mobos etc was last year knowing how much I would be investing in them and worrying about messing up - and that was with a pretty flexible budget), even say a €700 build vs an €800ish build to give options? As best I can see yours is winning out, but I only got interested in components etc a year ago so really would know very little about a card like the 280X.

RossieMan

I wouldn't like to see battlegrounds on kikis build pc to be honest, wouldn't be a nice experience at the moment.

Up your budget, you'll need the best course you can afford, it's worth it in the long run

Billy86

Think I might have it, mostly copying TerrorFirmer's build...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£169.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£71.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Tactical 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£59.75 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Corsair - Force LE 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£71.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Mini Video Card (£122.99 @ Amazon UK)
PSU: Aerocool Integrator 500W 12cm Power Supply Unit - Black (£33.16 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard/mouse: TeckNet Gryphon LED Illuminated Programmable Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Set, Water-Resistant Design, UK layout (£22.49 @ Amazon UK)
Headset: Aizbo 3.5mm Stereo Gaming Headset LED Over-Ear Headphone USB Headset with Mic for PC Computer Laptop (Red) (£14.99)
Case: CiT Hero MATX Computer Case - Black (£21.28 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Ads.ie €60 monitor (£52.00)
Total: £640.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-25 12:53 BST+0100

£640.62 = €739.72, all delivery etc covered bar the monitor. Not quite €700 but pretty close and I think it has all the bells & whistles!

Potential upgrades:
1. GPU - can go up to an RX470 for about an additional €50 but would need to be bought with the initial build. If you decide to up the budget to €800 or so for one upgrade, this should be it. Another €35 or so to go up to a Ryzen 1600 CPU would be another good investment, again though only if OP is happy to stretch out the budget enough to do so.
2. Storage - can add a HDD down the line to give a bit of extra space for games etc, 1TB can typically be got for a little under €50
3. RAM (if ever needed) for about €70ish to add another 8GB 2666mhz.

OP, if you plan on using a gamepad you can get the one I suggested earlier in the thread along with a budget mouse/keyboard for around the same price as the gaming mouse/keyboard in this build... in that instance it might even be better to use a TV, get the RX470 GPU card, and put a few Euro a week away for the second hand monitor. If you're using the keyboard/mouse for gaming though it might be best to just get the monitor as I could see that being a pain in the arse to play on the TV with.

I would also suggest putting €5-10 a week away to get the HDD, you should have the money for one right around the time your SSD is filling up. Makes it more convenient than having to uninstall/re-download games when you feel like playing back over them on a whim. For reasons around setting up the PC etc though, definitely get the SSD first and save for the HDD - not vice-versa.

Alpha8

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Aerocool Integrator 500W PSU

Please get a better PSU

Billy86

EVGA 430w 80+ white is only £5 (€5.70) more - https://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-100-W1-0430-K3-Budget-Power-Supply/dp/B01M9EX1AD/ref=sr_1_75?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1495721489&sr=1-75&keywords=psu

TerrorFirmer

Alpha8 wrote: »

Please get a better PSU

It's cheap but functional. I've never had any issues with them and I've used a lot of the 5 and 600w models.

Review here of the 600w model.

Technically the unit is unremarkable. Load regulation is decent and it didn’t shut down during our Cross load tests. When we pushed it beyond its 600 watt rating the protection circuitry kicked in, which is very reassuring – especially when dealing with a budget power supply equipped with lower cost components. Positively, it could deliver a 600 watt load for a long time, so the company are not mislabeling the unit.

Analysing technical data on a review page will highlight any noticeable shortcomings however we built a gaming system using a 4670k processor with an overclocked R9 290 graphics card and stressed the Integrator 600 for 96 consecutive hours with Furmark and Prime. The system was rock stable.

Now we aren’t recommending you rush out and budget only £30 on a power supply as the foundation for new high end gaming system, but our results are an indication that the Integrator 600 will be capable in the mid to low end enthusiast gaming sector.

Danosully

Wow, once again thanks for all the info, there's lots here for me to look into.
i've been told on more then one occasion to try and increase my budget to make a worth wild build that will also be possible to upgrade in the future, taking that into consideration i plan on waiting another few weeks to try and gather some money.
(Hopefully up to 800 euro soon)

Also i've no plan on getting a gamepad, just a mouse and keyboard.

i'll try and find a second hand monitor also to save some cash and i'll look in the cex shop to see if they have any second hand graphics cards worth getting.

Once again thanks for the help