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budget gaming pc

hello, i want to build a budget gaming PC for Β£300-Β£500, what suggestions do people have parts wise, thank you
Original post by kenu3020
hello, i want to build a budget gaming PC for Β£300-Β£500, what suggestions do people have parts wise, thank you


Depends what you want it to do.

Most expensive things at the moment are Ram and graphics cards.

Ram could be Β£85-95 for 8gb.
Graphics card could be second hand or Β£160 for a GTX 1050ti

You might be able to build a budget machine with a Ryzen 2400g chip, which is a cpu and graphics combined. Β£135.
The alternative is a core i5 8400 for Β£142 and then graphics on top.



I suggest you look at some builds on pc partpicker. and we can comment.



https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/
Original post by kenu3020
hello, i want to build a budget gaming PC for Β£300-Β£500, what suggestions do people have parts wise, thank you


You shouldn't buy a PC at this time. Nvidia are rumoured to drop their new line of GPUs. The current Pascal has been out for over 18 months, so pretty dated. RAM prices have been sky-high, may stabilise. But GPU PRICES ARE CRAZY. Being on a budget, I'd make the most out of it and wait. Normally generational leaps will have the old tiers in the generation go to the lower gen for the new generation. So 960 has been 770 perf, 1050 ti has been 960 perf. 1060>970 etc.
Reply 4
Original post by kenu3020
hello, i want to build a budget gaming PC for Β£300-Β£500, what suggestions do people have parts wise, thank you


Wouldn't recommend splurging on a PC right now as nvidia geforce now is coming out soon. If you dont know what it is look it up.
Maybe delve in to the second hand market, if you do your research you can pick up a very capable PC that will run most games well.
I built a PC a few years ago to be able to play games on maximum settings in 1920 x 1080 HD for some time. It cost Β£350 overall. (Though I already had a monitor, keyboard etc.).

I had a big list of parts and what to get, but it's a few years out of date and prices might be a bit different, so I'll just give general advice on everything.

If you're completely new to it, you're in for a stressful time. People say it's simply like a jigsaw puzzle, which it kinda is, but this comment comes from people who build PCs all the time. Everything is simple with practice and when you know the pitfalls.

For me, I started with a *****y pre-built computer as a kid. In time I had cleaned it, replaced the CPU cooler, added RAM etc. so I gradually gained experience and learned what's going on in there. Going in cold, it might be fine, but there's nothing worse than spending all that time eagerly awaiting all the parts, building it, then pressing the power button and nothing happening. You'll have to undo everything and rebuild it, and maybe it still won't start. You'd have to test all the parts, despite having no backups to test with. Then what?

So if you know someone who is good with the technical side of computers, get their help in building. Or probably there's a local computer shop that will put it together for you for a fee when you've bought the parts.

There's loads of guides online on putting together a computer, but my advice is to use 2 or 3. Also keep in mind these are written by guys who do this all the time, so they leave out the little details that first-timers worry about (or don't even know about).

Places I used

forums.bit-tech.net - Has a marketplace to buy/sell parts, forums for help, and has a guide or two. It's full of meganerds so there's plenty of geeky posturing and strange behaviour, but they go to great lengths to be helpful, even though it's to stroke their own ego. One guy travelled to my house to try and find out a problem, another did the same and gave me a 64GB USB drive and Windows just because.

Scan.co.uk
Novatech
Ebuyer
Ebay
Amazon
Overclockers
etc.

Parts
The best piece of advice is to buy pre-owned. The only things I wouldn't buy pre-owned are hard drive (who knows what the previous owner had on there?), PSU (the part that can protect and destroy your entire PC) and CPU cooler (since when I bought one they were so cheap anyway).

Chances are if you're buying quality parts, particularly from Bit Tech, they're as good as new and been treated well, may even have never been used. These guys are replacing parts every year just to be on the bleeding edge. There's no warranty, but the prices are so cheap and failure rate so low that it doesn't matter.

That's another key thing: quality. Just because it's old or new doesn't mean it's no good or the best. The very best can last up to a decade. There are people (like myself) still using 2500Ks, which were released in 2011 and still playing AAA games on Ultra settings.

CPU/processor: Other than a fast one, you'll want one that will overclock, which means you 'speed it up' more and make it more powerful than its default setting. Overclocking can be finicky (which some people enjoy), or as simple as clicking a button, it depends on the motherboard.

When I was buying, it was the Intel ones ending with a K that could be overclocked. So a 2500, you were stuck with. A 2500K could be made even more powerful.

Cost me Β£85.

CPU cooler: Processors need a cooler (fan) to stop them frying. The unanimous choice when I was buying was the Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212. It's a bit trickier to put on than the good old days, but you only have to do it once. (Additionally you'll want thermal paste to put it on and TIM cleaner if you ever want to wipe it off and put fresh paste on.)

Cost Β£20.

Motherboard: Also linked to the processor, because each motherboard only fits certain types of processors, so the 2500K for example will only be fit on boards made to fit for it. The type of board isn't too major a deal, the better ones might make a CPU easier to overclock. I would recommend one that has a display that gives you a status on your computer. If your PC doesn't start, or ever has other issues, you'll know right away looking at the code on the display, rather than going through weeks of expensive trial and error (and tears).

Β£45

GPU/Video card: A good rough guide to see what's better than what is http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

I luckily got one very cheap (Β£120 for a GTX 780).

OS/Windows: Anything older than Windows 7 is out of date now. There are lots of different versions (Home, Pro, Business etc.) so get the right one for gaming. Generally you want a 64-bit one that lets you have enough RAM. Windows 7 is still going strong, Windows 10 hasn't gone down well so far.

If you're lucky, you'll know someone who has a spare Windows key to give you. Techies have loads.

RAM: 16GB is now needed. I had trouble with Mass Effect Andromeda, but I once added more RAM it was fine.

It doesn't really matter what RAM you get. It's just a stick of RAM. They have different values, but for most people it makes no difference.

You're also advised not to mix different sticks of RAM. Others say it's fine, as long as the voltage is the same. So it's up to you.

Case: The thing to look for in a case is size, where you can put fans (and how big the size they fit), the drive bays it has (for hard drives, CD drives etc.), the sockets it has for monitors and such (e.g. for HDMI cables, DVI cables).

I simply got a highly-rated big one from Scan for Β£30.

Hard drive/HDD/SSD: 1TB should be enough unless you have 20 multiplayer games installed at the same time and way too much porn.

People recommend buying an SSD drive as a 'boot drive' as it has faster boot times and increases load times in some games a bit, but it's a luxury and it's up to you if a few seconds saved each time is worth the price. At first at least, your computer will only take 10 seconds to boot in Windows 8.1 and about 40 in Windows 7 using a regular HDD.

When I was buying, Seagate had a bad reputation. I got a 1TB Toshiba HDD (from Scan) for less than Β£40.

Also wise to keep important things backed up on a USB stick regularly. Most hard drives will either fail in the first few months or last for years.

PSU (Power Supply Unit): The thing that powers your computer and should stop the whole thing dying (or setting fire) at the slightest electrical surge. This is so important to get right.

You can look for a tier list (like I used http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html) and aim for the top two categories.

Power is also important, and will depend on your parts particularly your graphics card, though 750W was enough for me.

A 'modular' PSU is also better as you can take out cables you're not using to make the PC tidier (and cooler).

I got a 750W Seasonic EVO 80 from Scan for Β£80. The possibly less reliable ones can be had for about Β£50, and pre-owned will be cheaper, but the extra price for a new, good PSU will be excellent value.

A good PSU sacrifices itself to save the other computer parts; a bad PSU takes the whole thing down with it in (sometimes literal) flames, leaving you with no computer.

Optical drive: You may not even need this, as even older games are available digitially.

But if you have a collection of DVDs you want to watch or old physical games, get one. Make sure it's DVD, not CD. A DVD-R just reads discs, but a DVD-RW lets you burn onto discs (though why would you need to do that in 2018?)

If you have a Blu-Ray movie collection, a more expensive Blu-Ray drive is an alternate option.

Also consider writing and reading speeds.

Sound card: These days, far as I know, these are no longer necessary for the average person, as the motherboard's on-board sound will usually be as good.

Keyboard and mouse: Even charity shops might have these coming out their buttholes.

A mouse is down to preference and hand size. There's so much choice and it's hard to know what's good without trying it out yourself.

I bought one for Β£10. It's Havit and has a button that changes sensitivity, so (combined with Control Panel) you can get the feel just right for you.

Speakers: Such a pain in the arse because again you need to listen to them to know if they're any good. A Β£10 pair can be great, a Β£50 can be tinny or annoying.

I still use the ones I bought from Argos 15 years ago (though had to buy new ones). They were Β£10, but they have the bass and incredible quality that more professional speakers don't.

They're a bit rare, but you'll find them on Ebay. Look up 'Labtec LCS-1060' and 'Labtec spin'.

Monitor: Do you want regular 1920 x 1080 HD, 4K Ultra Super Duper HD? The more HD you want, the more power you need. For monitors, assuming you just want good old HD, just make sure the one you have is 'Full HD' and not 'HD Ready'. Also make sure it has the sockets for the cables you need (HDMI really).

A good place is those local Facebook groups with people selling stuff. I got a Β£1000 highly rated 42-inch Full HD TV for Β£100 from a local guy, for example.

Though that was for my consoles, because you have to consider size. Bigger isn't so much better, it depends how far you're seated from the screen. There'll be charts somewhere showing the ratio. The monitor I use for my PC is 24 inches, but I'm sitting at a desk so any bigger and it would be uncomfortable - I'd have 2 heads moving: my in-game 'head' and my real life one looking around the screen.

If you're feeling frisky, you can combine 2 or 3 monitors side to side for a bigger screen (or a cockpit feel), but I've never liked the look of that.

Chair: Only advice I have is that it might seem a crime spending Β£100, Β£200 on a chair, but the crap ones are small, hurt your butt etc. I bought one for Β£100 and after a few weeks I've had to put a thick blanket on the seat as it's hard now. Yet some Β£100 or Β£200 one from Argos before that lasted a decade and never lost its cushionyness.

Controller: If you prefer a controller for some games, just use your Xbox or Playstation one. You'll need something called SCP for a PS3 or PS4 controller.

Once built, when your computer boots, you'll want to stress test your graphics card (with something like MSI Kombustor) and your CPU (with Intel Burn Test, and also whenever you overclock). As for anti-viruses and firewalls, the default Microsoft ones I heard are good enough now, while I use Avast on my PC for an anti-virus. Also download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and scan your computer every so often for Malware.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by yasb123
Wouldn't recommend splurging on a PC right now as nvidia geforce now is coming out soon. If you dont know what it is look it up.


do you actually know what your talking about or are you trying to sound clever?
Reply 8
Original post by Centurion_Sam
do you actually know what your talking about or are you trying to sound clever?


yes just look it up
If you don't want to spend money (and your budget is quite small here), look for a second hand gaming PC instead since you'll be able to get more for your money and your main trade off will be a shorter battery life (of which they are worse things).

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