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Budget Gaming Rig Help

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Hey guys, my friend is looking for a budget gaming rig and is willing to spend max £620. She doesn't need a monitor, mouse, Windows or speakers.

This is what I've thought of so far:

Corsair Carbide 300R
Intel Core i5 3570K
MSI Z77A-G41
4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600
1GB MSI GTX 650 Ti
1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003
Corsair CX600
Keyboard
DVD Drive
£629

or

Corsair Carbide 300R
AMD FX 8350 Black Edition
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3
4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600
1GB XFX Radeon HD7850 Core Edition.
1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003
Corsair CX600
Keyboard
DVD Drive
£598

From what I've read on the net everyone seems to think the Core i5 is a little better in performance but for the price difference with the AMD I could throw in the HD7850 which is much better than the GTX650 Ti.

Any thoughts on this?
 
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stinger608

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go with the i5 and z77 motherboard. Will be much better performance for a gaming rig.
 
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I would save abit more and get atleast a 660.
 
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The GTX660 is way over budget. I'm now looking at the Core i5-3470/XFX HD7850 or the FX8350/XFX HD7850.
 
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If she not going to overclock the second one if fine. If you cant afford it then o well. They are fairy close until you overclock the Intel then its bye bye. Bump it to 8 Gb ram though
 
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Copied over from GN just in case:

The RAM could be those Heatsinkless Samsung RAM modules that have been discussed much on TPU.
For gaming, a CPU like an i5 should be plenty. Maybe an A6 could be enough as well (heck, my E8400 still is not dissapointing me TBH, albeit it does not need to drive a flagship GFX card).
A mobo of 80-120 Euro should do the trick, and oh please just get a Xigmatek Asgard case, those are cheap and pretty well-built.

Edit: I am starting to doubt about the Samsung modules being cheaper.
 
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on either of those builds couldn't you trim a few costs and get the 7950 and oc? would benefit the gaming. my budget build plays all games maxed out smoothly.

and what res is the monitor?

this can be altered a lot:

Corsair Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX Case £49.99
Corsair 600W Builder Series CX Series CX 80+ Bronze ATX Power Supply £50.38
XFX AMD Radeon 7950 HD 800MHz 3GB PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI £215.98
Seagate 1TB Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s 64MB 7200RPM Hard Drive £52.99
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 XMS3 Performance Desktop Memory Kit £43.99
AMD FX8-8320 Black Edition Vishera 8 Core AM3+ 3.5GHz 16MB 125W £131.98
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 DDR3 ATX £70.68

total £618
 
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on either of those builds couldn't you trim a few costs and get the 7950 and oc? would benefit the gaming. my budget build plays all games maxed out smoothly.

and what res is the monitor?

this can be altered a lot:

Corsair Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX Case £49.99
Corsair 600W Builder Series CX Series CX 80+ Bronze ATX Power Supply £50.38
XFX AMD Radeon 7950 HD 800MHz 3GB PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI £215.98
Seagate 1TB Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s 64MB 7200RPM Hard Drive £52.99
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 XMS3 Performance Desktop Memory Kit £43.99
AMD FX8-8320 Black Edition Vishera 8 Core AM3+ 3.5GHz 16MB 125W £131.98
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 DDR3 ATX £70.68

total £618

That build comes up as £627 for me and doesn't include a keyboard or DVD drive, I went for a 550W XFX but it's still too much so I brought it down to a 7870 and it's £620 including shipping which is right on target. The monitor is 1080p.
 
D

Deleted member 67555

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I have an I5-3570...you can see my spec over there <----
I see zero difference in gaming using the 6950 I have with an AMD quad core at 3.7ghz versus the I5 3570...zip zero zilch none at all...It does give me higher synthetic scores tho and I think most people confuse that with real world performance...I'm sure I'll get flamed for that but that's ok

Basically for gaming the GPU matters way more than the cpu....wayyyyyyyyyyy more...if you can get a cheaper cpu and a faster GPU I would...PCs are wayyuyy beyond games specially when 99.6% of all games available are ports from game systems that are about as powerful as a $250 laptop.
 
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I got the prices from dabs.com and forgot about the keyboard/dvd drive lol! you could find a cheaper mobo/cpu. i don't know what others think but i would try get the 7950 if you browse enough deals. i was going to buy the 7870 after my 7770, but was told to skip straight to the 7950, that's why im suggesting it.

I have an I5-3570...you can see my spec over there <----
I see zero difference in gaming using the 6950 I have with an AMD quad core at 3.7ghz versus the I5 3570...zip zero zilch none at all...It does give me higher synthetic scores tho and I think most people confuse that with real world performance...I'm sure I'll get flamed for that but that's ok

would you agree that less cpu and more graphics power?
 
D

Deleted member 67555

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I got the prices from dabs.com and forgot about the keyboard/dvd drive lol! you could find a cheaper mobo/cpu. i don't know what others think but i would try get the 7950 if you browse enough deals. i was going to buy the 7870 after my 7770, but was told to skip straight to the 7950, that's why im suggesting it.



would you agree that less cpu and more graphics power?

Absolutely 100% YES
 
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im running an fx4100 oc 4.4 and plays all games high to ultra (i know at 1440*900) but even when i had 1080p it was still smashing it fairly easy! however, crisis 3 and farcry3 have my cpu maxing out and gpu less so. (hence the oc)

and the xfx psu's are good choices for the money.
 
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The only thing I'm concerned about is the Core i5-3470 is the better processor but with that I'd only be getting the 7850, with the FX-8320 I'd be getting the 7870. I'm just wondering does the better Intel compliment the 7850 and does the 7870 make up for the AMD? My friend is on a laptop so I'm sure the 7850 will decimate it even with the laptop running at 720p, I'm not sure if it can even max Battlefield 3.
 
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im just looking at reviews and benchmarks (7850 vs 7870) and theres little difference between them.
 
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Deleted member 67555

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the 8350 (or the 8320) and the 7870 is the way to go for gaming....and other multi-threaded apps
Don't get me wrong the 3470 is a good cpu but thr 8350 does have a few more advantages and with a better gpu its better for gaming.
 
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Now I just need to see if my friend will push for the Carbide 300R for the better cooling. The 200R on Scan only comes with the plain side panel, not with the 2 optional fan mounts :confused:
 
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damn i wouldn't be pushing for the case.....push for the card lol
 
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Go with the AMD FX-8350 and get the upgraded GPU. The Intel Core i5 3570K is only marginally better at single threated applications and most of the games you will be playing with not show any difference between the two. Save your money, get the better GPU.

And the 200R does come with option slots for fans on the side.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018

And I recommend getting 8 GB of RAM for a smoother gaming experience. Some of the more intensive games like BF3 will eat a lot of memory on larger maps.
 
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I've been reading around a little on the motherboard and I can't seem to find anything about the Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 supporting the FX8320, the 970 chipset doesn't sound very good for the FX8320 either. The 7850 can be easily overclocked to the speeds of the 7870 would not be better to get the 7850 and a 990X board?

EDIT: Nevermind, I was looking at the GA-970A-DS3, not the UD3. The extra cost brings it back down to the 7850 though lol.
 
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Ah, Dabs is cheaper than Scan. Saves about £20, thanks for that d1nky! My friend is looking to lower the budget a little so the 7870 is out of the question now but the money saved can be put towards the UD3, Carbide 300R and a better 7850. Then once it's built it's just a matter of adding some decent fans and a Hyper 212 Evo. If only this build was for me :laugh:
 
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Deleted member 67555

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I'm fairly sure AMD is about to drop prices on some of their cpus
 
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Hey guys, my friend is looking for a budget gaming rig and is willing to spend max £620. She doesn't need a monitor, mouse, Windows or speakers.

This is what I've thought of so far:

Corsair Carbide 300R
Intel Core i5 3570K
MSI Z77A-G41
4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600
1GB MSI GTX 650 Ti
1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003
Corsair CX600
Keyboard
DVD Drive
£629

or

Corsair Carbide 300R
AMD FX 8350 Black Edition
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3
4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600
1GB XFX Radeon HD7850 Core Edition.
1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003
Corsair CX600
Keyboard
DVD Drive
£598

From what I've read on the net everyone seems to think the Core i5 is a little better in performance but for the price difference with the AMD I could throw in the HD7850 which is much better than the GTX650 Ti.

Any thoughts on this?

4GB has become the minimum to run a modern operating system and game on. Increasingly today's games are using just under or just over 4GB of physical memory. 8GB should be the absolute minimum for a new build.

To answer your question, the second build (£598) is better for gaming because the ATI 7850 is a fair bit faster than the GTX 650Ti, enough so to warrant the AMD build over the Intel build.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_650_Ti_Amp_Edition/28.html
 
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