Budget Gaming Build!

[eth_jones]

My wife has a laptop that she paid £350 for a couple of years back. She generally plays the SIMS on there, but it just can't cope with all the processing it needs to do. I have wanted to build a pc for a while now, so I said: "If I can build a PC that you can play the SIMS on for £300, will you sell your laptop?" She said yes. So this is my build!

 

Case: A recycled HP G2 MT Business PC case from my office  - FREE

MoBo: Asus H81M-C - NEW                                                         - £38.99 (Amazon)

CPU: Intel Core i5 4690K - USED                                                 - £100 (eBay)

RAM: Hyper X Fury 16GB - NEW                                                  - £50 (Schpock)

GPU: GTX 1050 - USED                                                               - £86 (eBay)

CPU Cooler: Intel stock cooler - USED                                         - FREE (came with CPU)

PSU: Cheap brand PSU - NEW                                                    - £15 (Schpock)

HDD: WD Blue 1TB - USED                                                         - £25 (Schpock)

SSD: Kingston 120gb - NEW                                                        - £28 (Amazon)

 

I spent £6 on thermal ompund from PC world, and another £4 on some front panel adaptors as the HP front panel connectors don't go into any other Motherboards. Overall, this entire build came to around £350.

 

She still hasn't sold her laptop.

 

This was my first ever build, and I learnt a lot. Firstly, 8gb of ram would have been fine and could've saved me £25.

Secondly, I should have not have bought a 4690k CPU, because my motherboard doesn't even support overclocking. I could've saved another £40 by buying a normal 4690. In fact, I could have even gotten away with buying an even cheaper CPU altogether, because at the moment my GPU is stopping me from getting the most out of the CPU anyway.

Thirdly, I should not have bought a cheap unbranded PSU. It works fine, but every time I turn the system on, I just wonder if the PSU is getting ready to destroy the whole rig.

And lastly, the case I have is quite compact and not very good for airflow. Maybe even a really flimsy case for £20 with room for a couple of case fans would have been better.

 

All this being said, I tend to play Fortnite and Tomb Raider quite a bit and even on Epic settings I can achieve 80 fps. Tomb Raider is really smooth too.

 

I'm posting this just for inspiration for anyone who wants to build their first PC without investing too much money. Personally, it is a good build for me. But I definitely plan on upgrading the case, cooler, GPU and Mobo one step at a time. But for my first build on a very low budget, this PC is great for gaming and I feel that it out performs my PS4. It's been a great gateway into the world of PC gaming and I can't wait to keep moving forward.

[AdroG23]

Even with the limitations and hiccups you comment, i think it's a nice rig for the money.
You could pump it up with little effort if you're so inclined.
The mobo could be sold and recover some cash there and with a little investment get an overclockable one

The gpu can be a little difficult, but there is always a groom for a bride... and then maybe a 1050 ti? or a 1060 could last longer in time

You could leave the psu for powering up led strips and fans and get a new reputable-brand one

If tinkering is your cup of tea, you could mod the case to make more space for airflow

 

Still, if it runs Tomb Rider smoothly, then mission accomplished!

 

[eth_jones]

44 minutes ago, AdroG23 said:

The mobo could be sold and recover some cash there and with a little investment get an overclockable one

Exactly what I was thinking! I think though if I wanna overclock I should sort out my case/cooling first because it's really just no good hahaha

 

There's not really a lot I can do with the current case (it currently just has one case fan space that I will fill tonight) and I think my mobo might only support one case fan anyway, will have to double check. 

46 minutes ago, AdroG23 said:

a 1060 could last longer in time

So I looked at how much a 1060 is last week and there isn't that much difference in price to a 1050 anymore, so selling the 1050 and upgrading is a real probability.

 

What was your first build like? I wish I had more money to throw at mine but I made a fair few mistakes and so I'm glad it was on a cheaper system, or I could've ended up wasting more money!

[AdroG23]

39 minutes ago, eth_jones said:

Exactly what I was thinking! I think though if I wanna overclock I should sort out my case/cooling first because it's really just no good hahaha

 

There's not really a lot I can do with the current case (it currently just has one case fan space that I will fill tonight) and I think my mobo might only support one case fan anyway, will have to double check. 

So I looked at how much a 1060 is last week and there isn't that much difference in price to a 1050 anymore, so selling the 1050 and upgrading is a real probability.

 

What was your first build like? I wish I had more money to throw at mine but I made a fair few mistakes and so I'm glad it was on a cheaper system, or I could've ended up wasting more money!

MY very VERY first build included a Celeron CPU 2 gb ram ddr2 1600 that was RAD AF at the time and brutal 128-256 gb of generic hdd  with a (maybe?) chinese generic PSU.
Then i had a Phenom II x4 (but can't even remember what the heck it had on it)
My first semi-serious build had an FX-8320 (or 8350, can't remember) a SAPPHIRE HD6950 (Ati at that time) gskill Ripjaws 2400Hz and 500gb hdd wd green (i think)

This one was with me for something like 5-6 years and then i changed the GPU to a MSI R9 390

 

And my actual baby is a Ryzen 5 1600 on an ASUS Prime x370 Pro, with 8gb Corsair Vengeance 3200Hz (soon to be 16 gb Vengeance pro rgb) With a Crucial MX500 240gb (nvme ssd coming soon) and 2x WD Blue 1tb and a lovely ASUS STRIX Gtx 1080.

The case is a NZXT S340 but in a matter of days (god willingly) will change it for a Corsair 570x

And if god doesn't will it, then maybe i make my own case and to hell with it all

Also planing to add a custom water loop

 

 

BTW, if the case doesn't have a side window you could cut a couple of 120x120 holes, put some mesh and grid and add a couple of fans there. 
If you can get some transparent ones and stick an rgb strip inside the case using the spare PSU it can look really nice
Maybe 3-4 fans rotated so that it looks like a rhomboid? 

 

Something like this (use your imagination)

 

 

[eth_jones]

@AdroG23 Sorry for slow reply man. I can't wait to have a build like yours! It might take years, but slowly and surely I will upgrade and work my way up

 

I like your idea about the fans. I'm having a look at some cases at the moment in the hopes of upgrading so eventually I can get a bigger CPU cooler (Hyper EVO 212 hopefully) and an ATX mobo with more RAM slots. If for whatever reason I can't find one I like right now I will use your idea and 'tinker'

[AdroG23]

Glad i could be of service!!

 

I did one rig, that came out nice in which i used a slim case, cut out a "hole" in the side and through it came out a montruous cpu air cooler.

The case was set on the side and it looked like the hood of a car with a supercharger.

It also had 3 front fans pushing air in and one on the back and one on each "side" (top & bottom actually) pulling out and since the hot part of the cpu cooler was out of the case it run super cool

 

If you end up doing the tinkering, upload some pics once you're done!!!

All the best and good luck!!!