Gaming on a Budget

[Example]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3aKq9

 

The link above is to my £600 AMD budget gaming build. I am looking for the best gaming performance possible for the budget with option to upgrade individual components later like adding an SSD or upgrading the CPU or adding RAM etc. I am using a combo from Linus' budget video card shopping video

 

So what do you think?, Any improvements you would make that are still under my limit?

 

 

[Freaky_spider]

Get this for 20£ more

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r9270gaming2g

[acidydragon]

I would upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8.

The issues that everyone cries about, aren't there anymore, and it makes general things faster.

 

I need to keep trying to drop this price... But this is a nicer Video Card, Windows 8, an IPS panel, and a nice Motherboard.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£58.00 @ Ebuyer) 

Motherboard:  Gigabyte GA-F2A88X-D3H ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£54.99 @ Ebuyer) 

Memory:  Kingston Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£59.82 @ CCL Computers) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£35.99 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card:  MSI Radeon R9 270 2GB Video Card  (£131.64 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Case:  NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£38.65 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Power Supply:  XFX 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£20.00 @ Maplin Electronics) 

Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£74.67 @ Ebuyer) 

Monitor:  LG 24EA53V-P 23.8" Monitor  (£139.41 @ Dabs) 

Wireless Network Adapter:  Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  (£15.50 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £628.67

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

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-16 11:50 GMT+0000)

[Grave]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3aKq9

 

The link above is to my £600 AMD budget gaming build. I am looking for the best gaming performance possible for the budget with option to upgrade individual components later like adding an SSD or upgrading the CPU or adding RAM etc. I am using a combo from Linus' budget video card shopping video

 

So what do you think?, Any improvements you would make that are still under my limit?

Since it includes a decent monitor or OS and the wifi adapter, I don't think you could get much better for that price. The 260X isn't much slower than the 750ti and the non-reference 260X's are cheaper than any non-reference 750ti, so much that it doesn't make sense spending about 10-20% more on the GPU to me, depending on the cards you're looking at and the current pricing.

Generally speaking, your build has some upgrade paths. More RAM, but you probably won't need it as soon as you'd need a GPU/etc or it'd be more beneficial to switch to a different socket. Probably can't upgrade the CPU seeing as any future CPUs/actually considerable APUs would be on the FM2+ socket. You can add more storage, fans, CPU cooler, eventually overclock, put in a better card, up to a 770 or R9 280X I think without having any bottlenecking from your CPU (assuming overclocked)..

Yeah, I think you've got what you're looking for right there.

Edit: Something to note would be Windows 7 and SSDs. As long as you are capable of reinstalling your OS to use the SSD as your primary drive for OS + main files/programs/games, you should be fine. Otherwise, I'd lean in favor of Win 8.1 if you can get it for like £2 more or something negligible. There are ways to make it feel/look like Windows 7 but it uses less system memory (I believe) and has built-in antivirus as well as a better Windows Update system to it. Windows 7 is fine if you want it, anyway. Just a little forewarning that they have a different terms of service or w/e with OEM versions than with Windows 8/8.1 OEM.

[Example]

 

I would upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8.

The issues that everyone cries about, aren't there anymore, and it makes general things faster.

 

I need to keep trying to drop this price... But this is a nicer Video Card, Windows 8, an IPS panel, and a nice Motherboard.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£58.00 @ Ebuyer) 

Motherboard:  Gigabyte GA-F2A88X-D3H ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£54.99 @ Ebuyer) 

Memory:  Kingston Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£59.82 @ CCL Computers) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£35.99 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card:  MSI Radeon R9 270 2GB Video Card  (£131.64 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Case:  NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£38.65 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Power Supply:  XFX 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£20.00 @ Maplin Electronics) 

Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£74.67 @ Ebuyer) 

Monitor:  LG 24EA53V-P 23.8" Monitor  (£139.41 @ Dabs) 

Wireless Network Adapter:  Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  (£15.50 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £628.67

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

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-16 11:50 GMT+0000)

 

Love it

 

Since it includes a decent monitor or OS and the wifi adapter, I don't think you could get much better for that price. The 260X isn't much slower than the 750ti and the non-reference 260X's are cheaper than any non-reference 750ti, so much that it doesn't make sense spending about 10-20% more on the GPU to me, depending on the cards you're looking at and the current pricing.

Generally speaking, your build has some upgrade paths. More RAM, but you probably won't need it as soon as you'd need a GPU/etc or it'd be more beneficial to switch to a different socket. Probably can't upgrade the CPU seeing as any future CPUs/actually considerable APUs would be on the FM2+ socket. You can add more storage, fans, CPU cooler, eventually overclock, put in a better card, up to a 770 or R9 280X I think without having any bottlenecking from your CPU (assuming overclocked)..

Yeah, I think you've got what you're looking for right there.

Edit: Something to note would be Windows 7 and SSDs. As long as you are capable of reinstalling your OS to use the SSD as your primary drive for OS + main files/programs/games, you should be fine. Otherwise, I'd lean in favor of Win 8.1 if you can get it for like £2 more or something negligible. There are ways to make it feel/look like Windows 7 but it uses less system memory (I believe) and has built-in antivirus as well as a better Windows Update system to it. Windows 7 is fine if you want it, anyway. Just a little forewarning that they have a different terms of service or w/e with OEM versions than with Windows 8/8.1 OEM.

So if I went with Acid's build, a CPU/APU upgrade is possible down the line?

[acidydragon]

Love it

 

So if I went with Acid's build, a CPU/APU upgrade is possible down the line?

Yes!

[Example]

Power Supply:  XFX 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£20.00 @ Maplin Electronics) 

 

 

That power supply doesn't exist/cannot be bought

[acidydragon]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1450sx2b9

Same PSU, but the proper listing for it... Costs more though

 

Alternatively, you could get

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100w10430kr

[Grave]

Love it

 

So if I went with Acid's build, a CPU/APU upgrade is possible down the line?

Entirely speculative but based on recent releases of info and new products, I'd say there's a strong possibility of a CPU (not APU) coming out on FM2+ based on Kaveri cores or the "Excavator" cores. Whatever it is, I'm guessing it'd be 6-core Athlons, which does mean an upgrade on FM2+ potentially.

The 760k works on FM2+, so yeah. Even if you don't need FM2+ or that expensive of a motherboard right now, it can ensure good quality and be a "just in case" type of thing. Like I said, entirely speculative, but I have a good feeling that a decent CPU is coming for FM2+ that doesn't have graphics cores like the newest A10 Kaveri processors, meaning a cheaper price and possibly probably faster anyway.

Edit: Didn't realize someone responded to you already but there really isn't much to upgrade to right now. The Kaveri's CPU cores are faster than the 760k's but damned if you're not overpaying by like $60-$70 because of the graphics cores included..

[Example]

Awesome, thanks guys