Let's Build a Budget Gaming PC! >:)

[NuttyAvocado]

Hey guys! So, my friend's on the market for a new gaming PC and has asked me for help. He's only got £450 for a budget and I was hoping you nice folk could help me put together a part list for him. I've had some great experiences with this community before, and hopefully you guys can make sure we get the best bang for the buck!

 

I know one of the main questions people will ask, will most likely be "What's it going to be used for?". Unfortunately, my friend's been a little vague in this regard and so I don't have a whole lot to say. With that said, from the little that he has said, it would seem this machine's main intention would be gaming.

 

As for the games that'll be played, it should vary quite a lot in intensiveness from TF2, CS GO and GMOD to Borderlands 2, BF3 and BO2. 

 

 

Thanks in advance for all the help. 

[Fatelinha]

Have you checked Austin Evans? If not, go check his website, he was some budget builds, starting at 300$   http://austinnotduncan.com/category/builds/ Good Luck

[ForsakenLive]

Hi

 

I threw in a partlist that is decently balanced, upgradable and good enough for both games and intensive applications.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Wy7fVn
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Wy7fVn/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£140.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£39.45 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£56.83 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card  (£119.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (£28.64 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£35.09 @ Aria PC)
Total: £455.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 20:13 BST+0100

 

You can do a couple of changes here and there if you want, on the sub £30, there are cases like the Bitfenix Neos (ATX), Cooler Master N200 (mATX), and a couple other more that are good.

The i5 can be switched out for something like a i3 4340, it's a 2 core CPU with hyper-threading and still competes in every single game, the i5 is more handy outside of games, workstation use.

If you want a little more juice in games from the money you saved by going with the i3 for your friend, the MSI GTX 760 is well priced and more powerful.

If you already enjoy a 1150 CPU (haswell), you can pick a CPU from the refresh line up for the build, and use your CPU in the H81 motherboard to update the bios and make it compatible with these CPUs(fairly easy process), like the i3 4150 or the i5 4460, that will outperform the CPUs I suggested earlier on a cheaper price.

If those £5 extra bucks on the build are impossible (come on, just look for coins in your house), just get cheaper ram or mobo, but don't skimp on the PSU.

[Manny Calavera]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£128.34 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£63.12 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card  (£119.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman ZM-T4 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (£15.32 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£35.09 @ Aria PC)
Total: £446.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-30 20:25 BST+0100