£300 Gaming PC

[metal orient]

Pretty good, 2 changes (one necessary the other suggested)

Change your RAM to a dual channel (i.e. 4 or 8GB) set, triple channel RAM isn't supported.
http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucial-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ballistix-sport-memory-kit-cl10-1-5v-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00

Don't get that SSD, it's very far behind the latest generation of SSD's performance wise and not so far price wise. Wait and save up, your HDD's will be fine. i'd spend it on an ex display ASUS 560 Ti,
http://www.ebuyer.com/271108-exdisplay-asus-gtx-560ti-directcu-ii-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-mini-hdm-ebr1-engtx560-ti-dcii-2di-1gd5

which will get you a total of £317.50


If you want to save get the 6870, there's not a massive difference between the 560ti and it. Your call.

 

[boomboxuk]

Thanks for that

So as it stands:

CPU: Intel G860 3.0GHZ
RAM: Crucial 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3
MB: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3 Intel 61
GPU: XFX HD 6870 1GB GDDR5

Total: £288.75

Not too shabby and should do what im after

Now just to throw the cat amongst the pidgeons, should i go for a HD 6850 and spend the diff £40/50 on a decent longer lasting PSU? like i say ive got a G7 680W Extreme but i dont wanna frazzle the whole thing...or leave as is ...

 

[boomboxuk]

CPU: Intel G860 3.0GHZ
RAM: Crucial 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3
MB: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3 Intel 61
GPU: PowerColor HD 6870 1GB GDDR5
PSU: CIT 650w Gold

£303.60

 

[JuanB]

The motherboard you chose does not support 1600Mhz RAM unless overclocked... You would have to get 1333 MHz RAM, like this one. You also don't need another PSU as the one you have is more than enough for this system.
here is what i recommend, this will give you a better and more future-proof system

Intel G860 3.0GHZ - £72.75
Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600MHz - £32.99
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 - £77.99
XFX HD 6870 900MHz 1GB - £129.96

Total: £313.69

 

[metal orient]

The motherboard you chose does not support 1600Mhz RAM unless overclocked... You would have to get 1333 MHz RAM

True there is no official support, however they would work, probably downclocked to 1333MHz. For some weird reason the 1600 RAM is cheaper than the 1333 RAM so you may as well stick to it. You won't notice the performance difference.

Now just to throw the cat amongst the pidgeons, should i go for a HD 6850 and spend the diff £40/50 on a decent longer lasting PSU? like i say ive got a G7 680W Extreme but i dont wanna frazzle the whole thing...or leave as is ...

Well i have been thinking that maybe you should as the PSU could have been a factor in frying your GPU. However the CIT is no better, for your system a 550W PSU will be more than enough, could go to 450W if you like.

My suggestions would be:

XFX 450W £42
http://www.ebuyer.com/264381-xfx-450w-core-edition-pro-psu-p1-450s-u2b9

BeQuiet 530W Pure Power £45
http://www.ebuyer.com/190751-be-quiet-530w-pure-power-psu-bn106

The absolute cheapest PSU ebuyer offers that i might buy is
Corsair CX430 £34
http://www.ebuyer.com/271798-corsair-430w-v2-cx-series-psu-cmpsu-430cxv2uk

CPU: Intel G860 3.0GHZ
RAM: Crucial 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3
MB: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3 Intel 61
GPU: Sapphire HD 6850 1GB GDDR5
PSU: XFX Core 450W

£305.61

 

[AMD fanboy]

man buy config from my first post on this topic

this would be similiar compare between x4 651 and G860:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=404


only in mine config memory work on 1600MHz, unlike intel's 1333MHz

 

[boomboxuk]

Right this is it the 2 final revisions, & i think it should possibly be listed as one of the best budget builds ever...

So much scrimping etc, but its all in there..

CPU: Intel G850 2.9GHZ £65.09 (the 100mhz diff is really not noticeable/ - £7)
RAM: Crucial 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3 £29.00
MB: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3 Intel 61 £54.23
GPU: PowerColor HD 6870 1GB £121.48
PSU: BeQuiet 530w £44.95

Total: £314.75

Or:

CPU: Intel G860 3.0GHZ £72.75
RAM: Crucial 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3 £29.00
MB: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3 Intel 61 £54.23
GPU: Sapphire HD 6850 1GB £107.94
PSU: XFX Core 450W £41.68

Total: £305.60

Thats it! either of those will do
Cant thank you enough for your help, but i honestly think thats a pretty decent build for that cash.

So cast your votes if you please!! which one ??

 

[AMD fanboy]

both have H61 mATX mobo that supports mem up to only 1333MHz

don't buy that crap

 

[boomboxuk]

both have H61 mATX mobo that supports mem up to 1333MHz

don't buy that crap

lol

I know man but the budget is really tight and the intel MB's really arent as good value as the AMD equiv..

 

[AMD fanboy]

lol

I know man but the budget is really tight and the intel MB's really arent as good value as the AMD equiv..

so why don't you go with AMD rig?

 

[metal orient]

Because nice extras aren't worth as much as performance and price

 

[AMD fanboy]

what performance and price?

this one:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=404

and this are benchmarks of both rigs working with same 1600 or 1866MHz memory,
not AMD on 1600MHz vs intel on 1333MHz

 

[metal orient]

Of the 2 option 1 seems like the better deal as it has a 6870 and the 100 Mhz won't really be missed.

what performance and price?

this one:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=404

I'm not sure what you're trying to show here, it shows the pentium in the lead for all the games (performance), and is cheaper £65 to the A8 3850 £96 (price). Also uses less power....

 

[AMD fanboy]

Of the 2 option 1 seems like the better deal as it has a 6870 and the 100 Mhz won't really be missed.

what performance and price?

this one:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=404

I'm not sure what you're trying to show here, it shows the pentium in the lead for all the games (performance), and is cheaper £65 to the A8 3850 £96 (price). Also uses less power....

x4 651 is A8 3850 without IGPU and on 3GHz
G850 and A8 3850 are on 2.9 GHz and G860 is on 3GHz

but this game benchies says ***, with 6870 both CPU will work "same" and AMD with 6870 will performe better than 860 and 6850

and AMD have 4 cores and G860 2 so you can see to the future, i hope you can
and you can clock AMD cpu

 

[metal orient]

Can't say I'm aware of any bias, had a quick look round and it seems that people think Anandtech is biased for AMD.....
Either way i have to question why you'd use a review from a site you don't trust.

Which shows the same thing.

Seeing as we're only really interested in game performance (unless the OP has other requirements) it makes sense to look at game benchmarks where the pentium leads. and is cheaper. and is more efficient.

 

[AMD fanboy]

i have edite my previous post

that gaming benchmarks aren't realiable

you can see fps here with IGPU for SC2 and it's funny comparing them with results of discrete GPU:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4524/the-sandy-bridge-pentium-review-pentium-g850-g840-g620-g620t-tested/4


and this FPS with discrete GPU are with 1866MHz memory on both configs

 

[JuanB]

Gaming benchmarks are not very reliable but they are what most of us base our purchases upon. As much as i love AMD, Boombox Uk's Intel build has better quality.

@BoomBoxUk - very nice build, i would go with the HD 6870. Better performance and the 530 PSU might come in handy if you decide to upgrade

 

[metal orient]

Apologies BoomboxUK, we're from the internet.

But page 4 shows the IGP, we won't be using the IGP. We'd be using a discrete 6850 or 6870.

In terms of the future FM1 is now redundant as trinity is not compatible. LGA 1155 can always use far more powerful CPU's.

 

[boomboxuk]

No worries
Always somewhere along the line whenever ive read Toms hardware it seems to end up like this

Right the cost has gone up a little as the PowerColor HD6870 was an exdisplay with only a 90 day warranty so ive ditched that

So that was gonna be £120.28
Instead ive added the XFX HD 6870 for £132.77, so another £12quid on top of that build cost.

So in total £326.02

Its just amazing how much value it seems i can squeeze out of these G8 Intels, im almost considering dropping to the G840 just to save another £7 because when looking at the wealth of info youve given me it really shows minimal difference in gaming fps...

So what do you reckon, just get this damn thing once an for all as it stands? (at least this thread can be closed then or drop to the G840... this really is the last question..lol

 

[mattatcomputer]

No worries
Always somewhere along the line whenever ive read Toms hardware it seems to end up like this

Right the cost has gone up a little as the PowerColor HD6870 was an exdisplay with only a 90 day warranty so ive ditched that

So that was gonna be £120.28
Instead ive added the XFX HD 6870 for £132.77, so another £12quid on top of that build cost.

So in total £326.02

Its just amazing how much value it seems i can squeeze out of these G8 Intels, im almost considering dropping to the G840 just to save another £7 because when looking at the wealth of info youve given me it really shows minimal difference in gaming fps...

So what do you reckon, just get this damn thing once an for all as it stands? (at least this thread can be closed then or drop to the G840... this really is the last question..lol

Hey there, I am also planning to build a cheap gaming computer with a Pentinum G8. This is what I found:

For pure gaming experience there is not a significant difference between the Pentinum G8 processors as shown here:

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4524/40747.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4524/40757.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4524/40751.png

As displayed , there is little spread between power. Whether you want to sacrifice 20 odd quid for a small FPS improvement is the question.

 

[boomboxuk]

Hey there, I am also planning to build a cheap gaming computer with a Pentinum G8. This is what I found:

For pure gaming experience there is not a significant difference between the Pentinum G8 processors as shown here:

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4524/40747.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4524/40757.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4524/40751.png

As displayed , there is little spread between power. Whether you want to sacrifice 20 odd quid for a small FPS improvement is the question.

Thanks for that man

It truely is amazing, this whole little building exercise has been really good, its opened my eyes to how 'budget' AMD are meant to be when you look at stuff like this.

For £50 i can get a processor that does the job in game, sure theres no frills but it does its basics a lot better than the AMD equiv.

Yeah so all in all im sold on this little G840 (wish i'd have listened to Metal Orient right at the beginning

The complete build:

CPU: Intel G840 2.8Ghz
MB: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3 Intel 61
RAM: Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600mhz
GPU: XFX HD 6870 1GB
PSU: BeQuiet 530w

Total: £317.67 so more or less %5 over budget, but hell for that its an absolute bargain

Good luck with your own build man! hope this little thread helps a bit...

 

[mattatcomputer]

Thanks for that man

It truely is amazing, this whole little building exercise has been really good, its opened my eyes to how 'budget' AMD are meant to be when you look at stuff like this.

For £50 i can get a processor that does the job in game, sure theres no frills but it does its basics a lot better than the AMD equiv.

Yeah so all in all im sold on this little G840 (wish i'd have listened to Metal Orient right at the beginning

The complete build:

CPU: Intel G840 2.8Ghz
MB: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3 Intel 61
RAM: Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600mhz
GPU: XFX HD 6870 1GB
PSU: BeQuiet 530w

Total: £317.67 so more or less %5 over budget, but hell for that its an absolute bargain

Good luck with your own build man! hope this little thread helps a bit...

Good luck to you too mate

Looks like a solid build!

However, I would like to say in defence of the AMD cards the integrated graphics are usually far superior to Intel's equivalent as shown by this:

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/intel/sandybridge/pentium/vsg850-10x7.jpg
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/intel/sandybridge/pentium/vsg850-12x10.jpg
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/intel/sandybridge/pentium/vsg850-16x10.jpg

This seems to go some way in explaining the relative performance/price shortcomings in the AMD sector compared to Intel. However, If going for a separate GPU ( like you are) then Intel seems to be the way to go.

 

[AMD fanboy]

here's another review:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentium-g850-g840-g620_4.html#sect0

conclusion:
"in some cases Athlon II X3 can offer better performance than Pentium G850/G840/G620, when a game uses multi-threading efficiently enough."


for new games X4 will be better choice

and another links where 4core amd wins in BC2 with 20fps and loses in Arma2 for 4fps:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/10/31/the-best-100-processor/12
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/10/31/the-best-100-processor/13

 

[JuanB]

i don't think the processor really matters at this point, just make sure you get a motherboard with the socket 1155 so you always have the choice to upgrade to an even better processor

 

[boomboxuk]

here's another review:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentium-g850-g840-g620_4.html#sect0

conclusion:
"in some cases Athlon II X3 can offer better performance than Pentium G850/G840/G620, when a game uses multi-threading efficiently enough."


for new games X4 will be better choice

Look im not saying this is the all singing all dancing G840! You got to remember im coming from an AMD build myself so to switch over to Intel has proved very interesting.

Of course long term when games are fully developed to use 4/6/8 cores than this CPU will start to fade, but right now at this minute from what ive recently read & listened to it will do the job for my budget build admirably.

Also as time passes the current i3/i5's will drop in price a little an i could get one of those, meanwhile you would have to buy an up to date & more expensive AMD just to match it.

Not arguing with you, just stating that with the budget i had then Intel was the only way forward, no £50 AMD chip would have given me the same end build.