Gaming PC

[Jamez Gamer]

I was thinking of getting prebuilt. My budget is £350-£400 for a tower, a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. I''m not willing to go over budget. It must have Windows 7 installed on it. It should be able to run all games with at least minimum settings. I live in England and I need something to replace my dying laptop. Some help would be appreciated.

[AlwaysFSX]

Yay, a challenge.

[AlwaysFSX]

Absolute bare minimum really...

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DVKO
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DVKO/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DVKO/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 740 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£49.26 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI A88XM-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£37.82 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£28.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£43.10 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 1GB Video Card  (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (£33.15 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£35.76 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Hannspree HE225DPB 21.5" Monitor  (£90.47 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard  (£18.00 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business Wired Optical Mouse  (£9.89 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £430.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-04 22:54 BST+0100)

[Faceman]

I want to build a gaming PC. I only have £350 and live in England. I need to be able to run all games preferably at 1080p 60 fps at minimum or medium settings. I need peripherals. A minimum price monitor, keyboard and mouse. I don't need an operating system. It has to be able to play all video games and browse the internet even at absolute minimum settings. I will only go over budget marginally if it is completely and utterly impossible to build a gaming PC that can run all games at minimum settings for medium tier graphical video games. The graphics don't have to be as good as the PlayStation 4 or anything. I just need it to run Microsoft Office and want to play games on it, on minimum to medium settings. I don't need Microsoft Office. If I can't build a PC at a cost of £400 that will run video games then I will scrap the idea altogether. I have no idea at all how much it's supposed to cost because I haven't been playing on a gaming PC since 1998 on Quake and DOOM. So I'm not sure what the benchmarks are for building a gaming PC. I don't need a gaming PC, because I have consoles, but I would like to have one. Can anyone help, or is this impossible for this price?? If it's impossible, I'll just get an office PC instead.

 

If I left anything out, sorry. It's the first time. I'm getting it prebuilt, by the way. Although I might be able to get it prebuilt without further cost so I won't factor that into my costs. 

 

I don't know of anything like this, so some help would be nice although I'm not sure what to do.

 

Thanks.

[Jamez Gamer]

Absolute bare minimum really...

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DVKO

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DVKO/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DVKO/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 740 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£49.26 @ Amazon UK)

Motherboard: MSI A88XM-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£37.82 @ Amazon UK)

Memory: Kingston Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£28.00 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£43.10 @ Amazon UK)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 1GB Video Card  (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (£33.15 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£35.76 @ Amazon UK)

Monitor: Hannspree HE225DPB 21.5" Monitor  (£90.47 @ Amazon UK)

Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard  (£18.00 @ Amazon UK)

Mouse: Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business Wired Optical Mouse  (£9.89 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £430.44

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-04 22:54 BST+0100)

 

Oh, I think that's okay I guess. £350 is my budget at the minute. Getting another £130 within 2 months might be difficult for me, though, at the minute. I suppose I could consider it. I'm not exactly sure my laptop will last 2 months though cos it keeps turning off on me. I'll see if somebody else has any other suggestions, however I'll take it into consideration. I'm just nervous about my laptop dying on me in the meantime is all... But I shall consider it. I'll see what other people say if anyone else suggests anything first, though. But thanks for the contribution.

[Anthony10]

Just get a... dare I say.. xbox one or ps4. Your budget is just WAYYY too low if you want a 1080p monitor and peripherals. You will be at 250 euros easily after that. Just not gonna happen...

[Faceman]

I want to build a gaming PC. I only have £350 and live in England. I need to be able to run all games preferably at 1080p 60 fps at minimum or medium settings. I need peripherals. A minimum price monitor, keyboard and mouse. I don't need an operating system. It has to be able to play all video games and browse the internet even at absolute minimum settings. I will only go over budget marginally if it is completely and utterly impossible to build a gaming PC that can run all games at minimum settings for medium tier graphical video games. The graphics don't have to be as good as the PlayStation 4 or anything. I just need it to run Microsoft Office and want to play games on it, on minimum to medium settings. I don't need Microsoft Office. If I can't build a PC at a cost of £400 that will run video games then I will scrap the idea altogether. I have no idea at all how much it's supposed to cost because I haven't been playing on a gaming PC since 1998 on Quake and DOOM. So I'm not sure what the benchmarks are for building a gaming PC. I don't need a gaming PC, because I have consoles, but I would like to have one. Can anyone help, or is this impossible for this price?? If it's impossible, I'll just get an office PC instead.

 

If I left anything out, sorry. It's the first time. I'm getting it prebuilt, by the way. Although I might be able to get it prebuilt without further cost so I won't factor that into my costs. 

 

I don't know of anything like this, so some help would be nice although I'm not sure what to do.

 

Thanks.

 

Oh, by the way. The reason why my budget is so low it's touching the floor is because I can't save up for a better PC because my laptop is slowly dying on me so I can't wait until I have more money. Anything over £400 means waiting longer and I'm not sure how much longer my laptop's gonna last. I would fix the laptop but there's no point if I'm getting a desktop. Plus, I don't have an income or anything so it's really hard to get any more money. £400 is already going to take me a month to save up for so it's hard for me to go over that. I also don't mind if it's a terrible PC that can't run better games very well, it's okay for me. 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWgO

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWgO/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWgO/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£95.99 @ Aria PC)

Motherboard: MSI A88XM-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£37.82 @ Amazon UK)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£55.08 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£33.59 @ Aria PC)

Case: Xigmatek Aeos MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£24.72 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£35.76 @ Amazon UK)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive  (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)

Monitor: Hannspree HE225DPB 21.5" Monitor  (£84.55 @ Ebuyer)

Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM6150 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  (£9.35 @ Scan.co.uk)

Total: £387.64

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-04 23:07 BST+0100)

 

Ok, so this is an APU system.  Basically it means that the CPU is also the GPU.  You will be able to get some decent performance from this.  It is also possible to upgrade in the future if you would like to.  So it gives you quite a bit of freedom.

The keyboard comes with a mouse, so it has everything you need.

 

Here is a product description of the AMD A10-6800k

 

Things that you could upgrade to in the future:

An SSD, this will give you super fast boot times,

a AMD GPU.  If you feel like the graphics you are getting aren't good enough, you could buy a GPU and get a little more performance.

[Faceman]

Just get a... dare I say.. xbox one or ps4. Your budget is just WAYYY too low if you want a 1080p monitor and peripherals. You will be at 250 euros easily after that. Just not gonna happen...

Again, you have no idea what you're talking about.  He already has consoles, and I just created a system for him under budget.

[Jamez Gamer]

Just get a... dare I say.. xbox one or ps4. Your budget is just WAYYY too low if you want a 1080p monitor and peripherals. You will be at 250 euros easily after that. Just not gonna happen...

 

I guess it doesn't matter if I can't play first person shooters because I already have an Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Wii U and Xbox One. I just wanted to play some games I can't get on console, such as Roller Coaster Tycoon 1, Quake 1, DOOM, Stanley Parable, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 even, and... I can't remember now. If I could play some other games on minimum such as Black Ops II then okay, but if not, it's not of paramount importance or anything. The reason why I need to get a desktop is because my laptop needs replacing and I figured I might as well get one that can play video games but I didn't get as much money as I was hoping. If not I'll just get an office PC. It's no big deal.

[Anthony10]

Again, you have no idea what you're talking about.  He already has consoles, and I just created a system for him under budget.

Pretty sure 380 euros is over budget. Using a cheap mouse and keyboard won't be fun for him. TN monitor.. ew.... Goodluck playing games on an A10 6800k....

.

"Again, you have no idea what you are talking about."

In your own words.

[Anthony10]

I guess it doesn't matter if I can't play first person shooters because I already have an Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Wii U and Xbox One. I just wanted to play some games I can't get on console, such as Roller Coaster Tycoon 1, Quake 1, DOOM, Stanley Parable, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 even, and... I can't remember now. If I could play some other games on minimum such as Black Ops II then okay, but if not, it's not of paramount importance or anything. The reason why I need to get a desktop is because my laptop needs replacing and I figured I might as well get one that can play video games but I didn't get as much money as I was hoping. If not I'll just get an office PC. It's no big deal.

Honestly you'll get really really bad FPS playing games on that budget, and it's worth saving up to get a better computer. 

[Faceman]

Pretty sure 380 euros is over budget. Using a cheap mouse and keyboard won't be fun for him. TN monitor.. ew.... Goodluck playing games on an A10 6800k....

.

"Again, you have no idea what you are talking about."

In your own words.

 

Pretty sure 380 euros is over budget. Using a cheap mouse and keyboard won't be fun for him. TN monitor.. ew.... Goodluck playing games on an A10 6800k....

.

"Again, you have no idea what you are talking about."

In your own words.

"If I can't build a PC at a cost of £400 that will run video games then I will scrap the idea altogether."

 

He needs a computer because his laptop is about to die, and if you read, which you clearly didnt because you are recommending consoles for him, he cannot save more than 400 pounds.

 

With his budget, he isnt going to be able to afford an IPS monitor or good keyboard mouse.  He needs something that works.  The performance of this APU is quite good, educate yourself.

[Jamez Gamer]

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWgO

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWgO/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWgO/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£95.99 @ Aria PC)

Motherboard: MSI A88XM-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£37.82 @ Amazon UK)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£55.08 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£33.59 @ Aria PC)

Case: Xigmatek Aeos MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£24.72 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£35.76 @ Amazon UK)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive  (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)

Monitor: Hannspree HE225DPB 21.5" Monitor  (£84.55 @ Ebuyer)

Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM6150 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  (£9.35 @ Scan.co.uk)

Total: £387.64

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-04 23:07 BST+0100)

 

Ok, so this is an APU system.  Basically it means that the CPU is also the GPU.  You will be able to get some decent performance from this.  It is also possible to upgrade in the future if you would like to.  So it gives you quite a bit of freedom.

The keyboard comes with a mouse, so it has everything you need.

 

Here is a product description of the AMD A10-6800k

 

Things that you could upgrade to in the future:

An SSD, this will give you super fast boot times,

a AMD GPU.  If you feel like the graphics you are getting aren't good enough, you could buy a GPU and get a little more performance.

I will upgrade in the... far future. I'll get a better keyboard and mouse first, then I'll upgrade the insides although it could be years before I upgrade the tower. This might do for now. I'll have a look at it. As long as it can run most or all games at medium or minimum settings, no matter how poorly, it's perfect. I'll just consult my peers and see what they say but this looks perfect to me, for me.

 

Also, can you tell me what the types of results you get? Like, I don't know, how frames per second and resolution, at what settings for "such and such" a game? I would just like to know for... curiosity? Reference? Er... inquisitiveness? What type of performance I'm getting? I know it's low but I would like a... reference to... understand the purchases? Yes, let's go with that.

[Anthony10]

"If I can't build a PC at a cost of £400 that will run video games then I will scrap the idea altogether."

 

He needs a computer because his laptop is about to die, and if you read, which you clearly didnt because you are recommending consoles for him, he cannot save more than 400 pounds.

 

With his budget, he isnt going to be able to afford an IPS monitor or good keyboard mouse.  He needs something that works.  The performance of this APU is quite good, educate yourself.

He should scrap the idea.

You just start arguments when you disagree with my opinions and ideas. I'm ending the argument here.

[mansoor_]

under a certain budget, you get less bang for your buck. 

imo that goldilocks zone is £600~800

more reliable parts, greater fps per pound, upgradable etc 

[Faceman]

I made one change, I forgot that APUs benefit more from higher frequency RAM, so here is an updated build:

The lowest frequency I would go is 2133Mhz, and 9-9-9-24, or 2400Mhz and 10-10-10-27.  From PcP, it looks like the 2400Mhz, 10-10-10-27 will be less expensive.  For 400lb, this is a very competent machine that can play modern games as is, while also giving you the freedom to upgrade in the future.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWLh
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWLh/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DWLh/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£95.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI A88XM-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£37.82 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  (£63.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£33.59 @ Aria PC)
Case: Xigmatek Aeos MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£24.72 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£35.76 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive  (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)
Monitor: Hannspree HE225DPB 21.5" Monitor  (£84.55 @ Ebuyer)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM6150 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  (£9.35 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £396.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-04 23:21 BST+0100)

[Jamez Gamer]

Pretty sure 380 euros is over budget. Using a cheap mouse and keyboard won't be fun for him. TN monitor.. ew.... Goodluck playing games on an A10 6800k....

.

"Again, you have no idea what you are talking about."

In your own words.

 

It's British Sterling, not European Union euros. We're in the European Union but we don't use their euro because the British pound is currently worth marginally more than the euro. I don't know if you're one of the so called elitists or whatever, but I only have money for a bottom tier gaming rig at the minute. I'll play competitive games and multiplatform games on the Xbox One. I'll play the PC exclusives on the PC. If they're only single player, strategy or turn based games, I'm sure that responsiveness doesn't matter as much. If it's bad graphics and frame rates you're referring to then it's a given.

[Faceman]

Check out these benchmarks of the AMD APUs, they are quite impressive considering how little you have to pay.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-6700-a10-6800k-richland-review,3528.html

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/amd_a10-6800k_richland_overclocked_review/1

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_a10_6800k_review_apu,1.html

 

 

Are just a few, but as you can see, you will get very playable performance from an APU.

[Faceman]

It's British Sterling, not European Union euros. We're in the European Union but we don't use their euro because the British pound is currently worth marginally more than the euro. I don't know if you're one of the so called elitists or whatever, but I only have money for a bottom tier gaming rig at the minute. I'll play competitive games and multiplatform games on the Xbox One. I'll play the PC exclusives on the PC. If they're only single player, strategy or turn based games, I'm sure that responsiveness doesn't matter as much. If it's bad graphics and frame rates you're referring to then it's a given.

@Anthony10

 

I start arguments with you because you are wrong a lot of the time.  Even the OP is calling you out for being wrong on multiple things.

Please, educate yourself.

[Jamez Gamer]

under a certain budget, you get less bang for your buck. 

imo that goldilocks zone is £600~800

more reliable parts, greater fps per pound, upgradable etc 

I'm not looking for efficiency or quality. It's primarily an office and internet browsing PC... That can also play a few games. If I didn't already have an eighth generation console, then at this cost, I'd buy that. But there's PC exclusives I'm missing out on. I can't wait until I have £600 I need the PC now for work.

[mansoor_]

I'm not looking for efficiency or quality. It's primarily an office and internet browsing PC... That can also play a few games. If I didn't already have an eighth generation console, then at this cost, I'd buy that. But there's PC exclusives I'm missing out on. I can't wait until I have £600 I need the PC now for work.

have you considered any all in ones, or ready made systems.

they may be more competitive at this price point. 

[Jamez Gamer]

have you considered any all in ones, or ready made systems.

they may be more competitive at this price point. 

I am getting prebuilt, without extra cost. I know a guy who can build PCs. I'm not sure if he'll build it for free or not. Maybe as a favour? So I figured might as well ask him for a specific build. I don't know where you get ready made gaming PCs from a store. I don't know if I can get those online, but probably not. If I was to get one then I would have to know what's in it and how well it performs. I guess it's an option, though. I am clueless about this. I know people always say make your own PC, or get someone to do it for you. But maybe those are medium to high end builds? Dunno... I guess I can consider more than one option...

[Faceman]

I am getting prebuilt, without extra cost. I know a guy who can build PCs. I'm not sure if he'll build it for free or not. Maybe as a favour? So I figured might as well ask him for a specific build. I don't know where you get ready made gaming PCs from a store. I don't know if I can get those online, but probably not. If I was to get one then I would have to know what's in it and how well it performs. I guess it's an option, though. I am clueless about this. I know people always say make your own PC, or get someone to do it for you. But maybe those are medium to high end builds? Dunno... I guess I can consider more than one option...

     If you can find a pre-built system that you could show us to comment on, or have a friend that can recommend a quality prebuilt.  But for the most part, pre-built isn't your best option.  They generally overlook certain aspects, or overcharge on certain parts, or omit parts altogether.  Could you link us a website that you use to shop for PC parts and maybe we could do some searching.  I think for your budget, an APU will be your best bet.  Check out those reviews I posted, you will be able to get very playable framerates on some popular games.  Especially the games that you listed that you want to play.  I also want to recommend a few more fun games that aren't too graphically demanding:

League of Legends and Hearthstone, these are two very fun games that are free!  The aren't too graphically appealing, but the games themselves are so fun!

Civilization V, one of my personal favorites, a super good strategy game that I have spent countless hours on, even though the game is relatively old.  Can be bought for 5-10 pounds.

[Silver Knight]

I am getting prebuilt, without extra cost. I know a guy who can build PCs. I'm not sure if he'll build it for free or not. Maybe as a favour? So I figured might as well ask him for a specific build. I don't know where you get ready made gaming PCs from a store. I don't know if I can get those online, but probably not. If I was to get one then I would have to know what's in it and how well it performs. I guess it's an option, though. I am clueless about this. I know people always say make your own PC, or get someone to do it for you. But maybe those are medium to high end builds? Dunno... I guess I can consider more than one option...

Why don't you try finding some second hand parts that're universal (like keyboard,mouse, case...). I've never bought them, but i use a laptop with an external monitor and dedicated keyboard and mouse, and usually when i want to upgrade to something with more extra keys (they're lifesavers!!!) i sell the old ones or give them to my father, or someone else in the family  

 

Why don't you try that

[Jamez Gamer]

Why don't you try finding some second hand parts that're universal (like keyboard,mouse, case...). I've never bought them, but i use a laptop with an external monitor and dedicated keyboard and mouse, and usually when i want to upgrade to something with more extra keys (they're lifesavers!!!) i sell the old ones or give them to my father, or someone else in the family  

 

Why don't you try that

I don't know where you would get second hand or at what cost.