£400-ish gaming build

P

panta

Weaksauce
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Apr 21, 2009
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Site: http://www.ebuyer.com/ (but can source parts not found here from other sites)

I want to get a really nice case for this build. I have been looking at some from Lian Li, and so far I've come up with this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-174-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=187 Suggestions?

Modular PSU preferred.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc Light gaming, mainly web browsing
2) What's your budget? around £400
3) Where do you live? U.K
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific. The case and everything inside
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model. None
6) Will you be overclocking? Yes
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? Have 1024 x 768
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc. Nothing special
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit? Yes, x64
 
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You going to want to up your budget a little... Spending 1/4 your "gaming" budget on a case is not going to fair well.
Please answer the questions on the sticky as well.
 
The budget isn't fixed. I just want to get an idea of what parts are recommended in this sort of price range.
 
£47 - AMD Athlon X2 240
£53 - ASUS M4A78LT-M LE AMD 760G Socket AM3
£85 - Kingston 2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
£85 - ASUS HD 5670 1GB PCI-E Video Card
£38 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
£13 - Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
£42 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
---
Total: £363 plus tax and shipping.

Choose your own case.
 
panta said:
I would appreciate it if you could link me to a 250 or 4870 that is cheaper than 4850!

Also I was looking at this.. http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=41953 What do you think?
Click to expand...

Well, this is in my city:

http://sudbury.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-computer-accessories-Radeon-HD-4870-W0QQAdIdZ184873847

And I just bought 2 GTS 250s with Zalman HF1000 heat sinks a week ago, $200 for both.

Look around where you live, you'll find stuff cheap.

***

I'm not sure where you are, but I did a quick search just as an example. Here's a guy with a 4870 for sale in Wembley, still cheaper than that 5670 you linked to.

http://www.gumtree.com/london/42/56116842.html

And a GTX 260 just posted yesterday:

http://www.gumtree.com/london/39/57129439.html
 
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panta said:
I would appreciate it if you could link me to a 250 or 4870 that is cheaper than 4850!

Also I was looking at this.. http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=41953 What do you think?
Click to expand...

The mobo Danny Bui picked destroys this. You certainly don't want to cheap out on a mobo. If you do, you will almost always be extremely limited by the BIOS, even if you're not into overclocking.

I built a cheap gaming machine last summer using a cheap ASUS mobo and the machine performed phenomenally. I was a bit taken aback as it surpassed my expectations.
 
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Well, how does it destroy it? Since the MSI board costs nearly half as much.

Just realised it's a clearance deal, an 'open box' sort of thing. hmm

Thanks
 
panta said:
Well, how does it destroy it? Since the MSI board costs nearly half as much.

Just realised it's a clearance deal, an 'open box' sort of thing. hmm

Thanks
Click to expand...

ASUS has:
slightly better RAID options (as far as I can tell)
DVI + VGA connectors/Integrated ATI Radeon 3000
Well known model sold by several retailers with lots of reviews.
It looks cooler! :D

I can't find any info about the on board video of the MSI, nor can I find it sold anywhere other than that place you posted (ok, maybe on or 2 other places). It has what looks like a VGA port but there is no info on MSI's site about it at all. Dubious, indeed.

However, the MSI does have all solid caps and both have very recent BIOS updates.

My personal experience with MSI boards hasn't been that great, and I've had expensive enthusiast boards. ASUS on the other hand I've had and used several with zero issues.
 
I've heard good things about both of those drives, just not sure if one is better.
 
panta said:
Also I was looking at this.. http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=41953 What do you think?
Click to expand...

panta said:
Well, how does it destroy it? Since the MSI board costs nearly half as much.
Click to expand...

Nighted said:
The mobo Danny Bui picked destroys this. You certainly don't want to cheap out on a mobo. If you do, you will almost always be extremely limited by the BIOS, even if you're not into overclocking.
Click to expand...

Well if you're not put off by the fact that it's a clearance deal and possible a used/return mobo, it's pretty much a tossup between the two. The MSI is based off the AMD 770 chipset which means that it does not have onboard video whatsoever. RAID options are the same since both mobos use the same SB710 Southbridge. So pretty much: flip a coin. If you go with the Asus, you get onboard video. If you go with the MSI, you save a bit of money. I would rank Asus higher than MSI in the mobo division but I'd still buy a MSI mobo.

Same goes for the hard drives: flip a coin or go with the one whose company you trust more.
 
panta said:
Thanks.

Can I get your opinion on the case? I know it's a personal thing, but can I get your views about that particular Lian Li and LL's in general? I've never owned one, but I they seem to have high build quality, which is what I'm after.

Another thing - is this: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176043 worth the ~£15 extra over the 240 ? Or maybe the X4?: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176579
Click to expand...

Lian Li cases are of pretty good quality. However, the Lian Li Lancool cases are of lesser quality than traditional Lian Li cases. in fact, from what I've heard, a Lancool isn't that much better than some Coolermaster cases. So keep an eye out on that.

Well if you're playing Bad Company 2 or any other game that takes heavy advantage of multiple core CPUs (SC2, Crysis, FC2, Assassin's Creed 2, L4D2, Batman AA, etc,), then the extra cash for the X3 or X4 CPUs would be worth it. Web browsing won't see any difference between those CPUs.
 
I'd stay away from open box if you can afford to do so. That PC-8NB looks nice.
 
Too bad you live in the UK. I have a brand new PC-8 still in the box, never opened. It's the original design with the all aluminum front bezel (top and bottom trim isn't plastic) and the I/O panel cover at the bottom. I even contact Lian Li and got the anti-vibration hardware for it as for some reason Lian Li left them off of that particular model. I even have an extra optical bezel for it.
 
too bad :(

Does the PC-8NB that I linked have plastic trim then?

Also, what's the deal with the 890 AM3 boards? Would there be any point getting one of those? SATA 6GB/s? USB 3?
 
panta said:
too bad :(

Does the PC-8NB that I linked have plastic trim then?

Also, what's the deal with the 890 AM3 boards? Would there be any point getting one of those? SATA 6GB/s? USB 3?
Click to expand...

Yeah, they all do. But the plastic looks a lot cleaner. I think Lian Li wanted aluminum there but it was hard to make it look super clean, I dunno.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it. Lian Li has beautiful build quality either way.

Here is the one I opened (I bought 3 at the time).

img0552cr1024x768.jpg

img0564cr1024x768.jpg

img0566cr1024x768.jpg

img0575cr1024x768.jpg
 
panta said:
There are four I'm considering, all £60:

https://www.pricelover.com/product/...X_VGA_SND_GLN_HT5200_DDR2/90-MIB920-G0EAY00Z/

https://www.pricelover.com/product/...0_ATX_RAID_Gigabit_Ethernet_LAN/GA_MA770-UD3/

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1866&maincat_no=1

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=M3A785GMH/128M

None of these stand out?
Click to expand...

The Gigabyte and Asus motherboards that you linked to only support DDR2 memory. The MSI and ASRock motherboards in your links use DDR3 memory.
 
One final question before I buy all this..

Is Kingston better than Corsair and Crucial for RAM?
 
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