Budget build for a Console Convert

[OrdinaryBiscuit]

Hey Guys,

 

I have been trying to convert a friend of mine to PC gaming he loves PC games and is genuinely interested but the issue he has is that the only system he has is a dual core laptop running at 1.8Ghz which of course struggles to play games even at 720p.

My friend unfortunately isn't always keen to spend money and hasn't given me a budget so to speak so I'm looking for options available at low prices capable of 720p/1080p gaming along with recording since he has a youtube channel preferably 60fps at 720p and maybe 1080p at lower settings 30 FPS is acceptable though for both.

 

Leave your suggestions below when I say budget try and go as cheap as possible without it being total garbage he is only coming from the 360 not next gen.

 

Thanks for your time

 

-Biscuit 

[Swndlr]

What do you think?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£48.64 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z97 PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£99.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£39.99 @ Dabs)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£39.60 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card  (£164.38 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£57.98 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£57.12 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £608.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 04:13 BST+0100

[OrdinaryBiscuit]

What do you think?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£48.64 @ Amazon UK)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£24.98 @ Novatech)

Motherboard: Asus Z97 PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£99.99 @ Amazon UK)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£39.99 @ Dabs)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£75.54 @ Aria PC)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£39.60 @ CCL Computers)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card  (£164.38 @ Amazon UK)

Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£57.98 @ Aria PC)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£57.12 @ Scan.co.uk)

Total: £608.22

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 04:13 BST+0100

Looks like a good PC but my friend is the worst when it comes to budget but If I made some adjustments that pentium could work for the core of a build. what are yout thoughts on the 750ti?

[Swndlr]

Looks like a good PC but my friend is the worst when it comes to budget but If I made some adjustments that pentium could work for the core of a build. what are yout thoughts on the 750ti?

Not really worth it anymore IMO, what budget is he aiming for exactly, I will try to make tweaks to best fit it

[OrdinaryBiscuit]

Not really worth it anymore IMO, what budget is he aiming for exactly, I will try to make tweaks to best fit it

Again as I said he hasn't provided a particular budget But I'm thinking from £250 to £400 would sway him since thats around the price of the next gen consoles which he has also considered. he doesn't need anything like an ssd just a basic system that will play games without the luxuries

[Virtual01]

It sounds like he should just stick to consoles. He is going to get console level performance out of a rig that cheap anyway. Unless he is planning to buy a boatload of PC exclusives, I don't see the point.

[OrdinaryBiscuit]

It sounds like he should just stick to consoles. He is going to get console level performance out of a rig that cheap anyway. Unless he is planning to buy a boatload of PC exclusives, I don't see the point.

That's the idea though the main reason he is considering PC is because of the exclusives and sales and he is apparently sick of paying £40 a year for membership plus he wants to do youtube videos which would cost a boatload more to get equipment for the consoles to make video from. Plus even though he may only get console level performance now a PC is upgradable and can be used for other tasks. he told me that the flexibility of the PC platform is what keeps swaying him over. 

[leelaa14]

Again as I said he hasn't provided a particular budget But I'm thinking from £250 to £400 would sway him since thats around the price of the next gen consoles which he has also considered. he doesn't need anything like an ssd just a basic system that will play games without the luxuries

This is a build I have for my friend who is moving to pc.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£154.98 @ Scan.co.uk)

Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£30.20 @ Ebuyer)

Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£40.64 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£37.40 @ Amazon UK)

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card  (£141.17 @ Dabs)

Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  (£33.35 @ Scan.co.uk)

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£47.99 @ Aria PC)

Total: £485.73

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 05:28 BST+0100

[OrdinaryBiscuit]

This is a build I have for my friend who is moving to pc.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£154.98 @ Scan.co.uk)

Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£30.20 @ Ebuyer)

Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£40.64 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£37.40 @ Amazon UK)

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card  (£141.17 @ Dabs)

Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  (£33.35 @ Scan.co.uk)

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£47.99 @ Aria PC)

Total: £485.73

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 05:28 BST+0100

That's a good build may change from the 270x to a 270 since the 270 can be made to perform similarly and its a bit cheaper I'll put it by him see if he likes it thanks

[Altaren]

What would you guys think about something like this?http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/sLRtYJ

On mobile so cant be arsed to copy paste every component sorry

[OrdinaryBiscuit]

What would you guys think about something like this?http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/sLRtYJ

On mobile so cant be arsed to copy paste every component sorry

Pretty good would try for 8gb of ram but very good thanks

[Altaren]

Pretty good would try for 8gb of ram but very good thanks

Honestly i dont know you should look at benches and depending on the games an i3 and a 960 might be better. Also if its a tight budget 4gb would be alright. I monitor my system a lot and very rarely do i see afterburner report more than 4gb of max ram used. Besides you can always throw in an extra stick on the next pay check.

[Doughnutnator]

Hey man! From all the recommendations:

- If you're on a tight budget, change G3258 to an i3, it's better or to a low end locked i5

- The R9 280 is god damn old, but it's usually cheaper than the 960, and it's better.

EDIT: Even with i3/G3258-750Ti you're getting better performance than actual consoles. Keep in mind that not all games run at Native 1080p (900p for example), most of them at low settings. At 900p the 750Ti can run pretty much anything. And at 1080p you're good at low-medium with decent almost-60 FPS.

It's a beautiful time to be PC Gamer, especially for those who are coming from consoles. 1080p is becoming more "meh", with new GPU's aiming at 1440 and 4K. So every time new GPU's come out, the ones that are perfect for 1080p are becoming cheaper and better.