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Best desktop system you can buy/build on a budget of £350 or $500?

AstroBenny
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I'm trying to get my friend hooked up with a semi-decent gaming machine for £350 or less. He'll be playing games like CS, GTA at 1080P medium-ish settings with a 60Hz monitor.

What options has he got? He doesn't mind going second hand for all the components except case and HDD (obviously)

A decent mouse and keyboard will need to be included in this budget but he already owns a semi-decent monitor.

He'll also need Windows. What would you recommend?
Cheers.

Location: UK

 

I don't like 2D games...I just couldn't get into them.. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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That's really such a small budget

For a full system, I couldn't include a keyboard, mouse, or windows:

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/bF4Rpg 

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£58.63 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 V2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£38.49 @ Ebuyer) 
Memory: Team Elite 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£30.77 @ More Computers) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£37.98 @ Novatech) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card  (£124.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Rosewill SRM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (£25.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£40.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £356.85

You might be able to pick up a 560ti for super cheap on a used site and 50+ there but it's still a small budget,

[CPU: 4.7ghz I5 6600k] [MB: Asus Z170 Pro G] [RAM: G.Skill 2400 16GB(2x8)]

[GPU: MSI Twin Frozr GTX 970] [PSU: XFX Pro 850W] [Cooler: Hyper 212 Evo]
[Storage: 500GB WD HDD / 128GB SanDisk SSD ] [Case: DeepCool Tessaract]

[Keyboard: AZIO MGK1] [Mouse: Logitech G303] [Monitor: 2 x Acer 23" 1080p IPS]

 

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A68M-DG3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($44.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($30.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.98 @ OutletPC) 
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($83.89 @ OutletPC) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $386.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 12:10 EDT-0400

 

 

You could probably get Windows cheaper from G2A, /r/softwareswap, or Ebay. You can get a GTX 760 from Ebay for about 90-100 USD. Cases are a personal choice so I picked one that would be in the price range.

[Out-of-date] Want to learn how to make your own custom Windows 10 image?

 

Desktop: AMD R9 3900X | ASUS ROG Strix X570-F | Radeon RX 5700 XT | EVGA GTX 1080 SC | 32GB Trident Z Neo 3600MHz | 1TB 970 EVO | 256GB 840 EVO | 960GB Corsair Force LE | EVGA G2 850W | Phanteks P400S

Laptop: Intel M-5Y10c | Intel HD Graphics | 8GB RAM | 250GB Micron SSD | Asus UX305FA

Server 01: Intel Xeon D 1541 | ASRock Rack D1541D4I-2L2T | 32GB Hynix ECC DDR4 | 4x8TB Western Digital HDDs | 32TB Raw 16TB Usable

Server 02: Intel i7 7700K | Gigabye Z170N Gaming5 | 16GB Trident Z 3200MHz

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42 minutes ago, AstroBenny said:

 

860K + 370 the 950 is a bit faster but 20 more, although with DX12 the 370 catches up to it

If you can get like a 280/380 used or even a cheap 7950/70 that'd be pretty solid as well

If you have a bit more money your best bet would be skipping the 950 and getting a 380 4GB, about 150 for it, it outclasses even the 960

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-100384nt4goc2l
 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/64Bsbv
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/64Bsbv/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£58.63 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-DS2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  (£42.98 @ Novatech)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£23.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 370 2GB PCS+ Video Card  (£107.64 @ More Computers)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case  (£24.99 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£42.61 @ More Computers)
Total: £340.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 17:11 BST+0100

I edit my posts a lot, Twitter is @LordStreetguru just don't ask PC questions there mostly...
 

Spoiler

 

What is your budget/country for your new PC?

 

what monitor resolution/refresh rate?

 

What games or other software do you need to run?

 

 

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33 minutes ago, AstroBenny said:

I'm trying to get my friend hooked up with a semi-decent gaming machine for £350 or less. He'll be playing games like CS, GTA at 1080P medium-ish settings with a 60Hz monitor.

What options has he got? He doesn't mind going second hand for all the components except case and HDD (obviously)

A decent mouse and keyboard will need to be included in this budget but he already owns a semi-decent monitor.

He'll also need Windows. What would you recommend?
Cheers.

Location: UK

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/d7Gsbv

 

comes with a good 1ms 1920*1080 monitor

 

 

 

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LGA 775 motherboard:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=162051750524

Core 2 Quad:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=351723539291

8GB DDR2:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=301727849893

CPU Cooler:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=361461474939

ATX Case:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=282021657832

750W Power Supply:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=201496950252

R9 280:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=182116517618

PCI-E Riser Card:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=252056595474

USB Mouse:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=222094433236

USB Keyboard:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=201569308273

Windows 7:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=322090203077

DVD Drive:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=361545250367

HardDrive:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/hitachi-internal-hard-drive-hds721010kla330

Athlon X2 for only 27.31$   Best part lists at different price points   Windows 1.01 running natively on an Eee PC

My rig:

Spoiler

Celeronator (new main rig)

CPU: Intel Celeron (duh) N2840 2.16GHz Dual Core

RAM: 4GB DDR3 1333MHz

HDD: Seagate 500GB

GPU: Intel HD Graphics 3000 Series

Spoiler

Frankenhertz (ex main rig)

CPU: Intel Atom N2600 1.6GHz Dual Core

RAM: 1GB DDR3-800

HDD: HGST 320GB

GPU: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3600

 

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Pretty good build for 350 pounds, 18 pounds overbudget but I'm pretty sure he'll be able to spare 18 pounds more:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£97.26 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£44.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (£25.98 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£46.79 @ Novatech)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  (£83.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: BitFenix Nova ATX Mid Tower Case  (£26.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£42.61 @ More Computers)
Total: £368.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 20:54 BST+0100

 

If he can't spare 18 more pounds, go with this:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£88.92 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£37.19 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£23.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£46.79 @ Novatech)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  (£83.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: BitFenix Nova ATX Mid Tower Case  (£23.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£42.61 @ More Computers)
Total: £347.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 21:01 BST+0100

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