Best gaming pc for under £300

[i dont want a username]

i need help deciding what i want in my pc. i will build it myself but i need the best for my budget which after the monitor, os and peripherals are bought is somewhere under £300, maby about $300. i wish my system to be future proof, have an ati graphics card and a wireless pci e card. i will use it for playing indie games and some of the latest games which i dont get on xbox such as sanctum and possibly skyrim. i wish to purchase all of the parts from one supplier, probably Aria pc or Scan and i would prefer to purchase them soon because i think that the prices are going up. instead of having to buy a new pc in the future i will want to upgrade the one i build and therefore need a quality power supply.

thanks in advance.

sorry, i just realised that i have phrased the title badly. it should be 'what is the best pc for under £300?'. i also forgot the question mark.

 

[geekapproved]

Computer parts always go down, not up. They only go up when the part is no longer made and they are hard to get.

So you need a case, power supply, motherboard, cpu, ram, hdd, dvd-rw, and a wireless pci-e card for $300? Good luck.

 

[i dont want a username]

Computer parts always go down, not up. They only go up when the part is no longer made and they are hard to get.

i know but they are deffinately going up by at least a few pounds.
has vat raised and i havent heard about it yet?

 

[leandrodafontoura]

PS3 or Wii + Xbox 360

 

[i dont want a username]

PS3 or Wii + Xbox 360

if i wanted a ps3 i would get one.
i already have a wii and it is rubbish so i dont use it.
i have an xbox 360 and i use it, but i also want a pc for certain other reasons.

 

[AfirAwesome]

To be perfectly honest, it's pretty hard to build a completely functional computer for $300 (I'm american, and $300 is more than 300 pounds, I think...)
A $300 computer would be fine for running the internet, and Microsoft Work/powerpoint, but playing skyrim? Even on the lowest settings possible, I doubt it will even run period. Sorry. A few indie games might be able to run, though...

 

[i dont want a username]

how many watts would this take up:
intel core i3 2100
vtx radeon 6770
4gb corsair 1333mhz xms3
samsung 7,200rpm 500gb hdd
22x dvd reader and rewriter
pci wireless network card

may change some parts,
thanks.

 

[i dont want a username]

To be perfectly honest, it's pretty hard to build a completely functional computer for $300 (I'm american, and $300 is more than 300 pounds, I think...)
A $300 computer would be fine for running the internet, and Microsoft Work/powerpoint, but playing skyrim? Even on the lowest settings possible, I doubt it will even run period. Sorry. A few indie games might be able to run, though...

no, your mixed up. there are more than one dollars in a pound, so whith the same amount of pounds you can buy more. therefore, a pound is worth more than a dollar. it is actually about 470 dollars, i just checked.

 

[i dont want a username]

i just checked and for £300 i could easily run skyrim on low settings. its minimum is aparently the 8800gt.

 

[jmsellars1]

If you could find another £40 or so you could get something pretty decent.

i3-2100
4GB Mushkin Essentials
250GB WD Blue
MSI H61M-P23
HD 6770
Fractal Design Core 1000
Corsair CX-430
LiteOn DVD Burner

On www.aria.co.uk that comes to around £314, then you just need your wireless card.

 

[i dont want a username]

Thanks for that.
I can actually get that with a larger hard drive, larger psu and a larger case with more room for about £370 with postage.
Looks like il just have to save up.

 

[i dont want a username]

i have looked at the motherboards and amd seem to be better for the price, and i hear that for the price amd is better in their budget range. would an amd quad core processor for about £90 like a 955 be able to run good graphics cards? wold this or a tri or dual core for much less be better for my budget, also considering that the motherboards are cheaper?

thanks in advance.

 

[jmsellars1]

Without overclocking that I3 would mostly outperform the 955 in games, not having to overclock means you could get a cheap mobo too.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Without getting into the Intel/Amd firefight,
a 955 on an am3+ plate is the Amd option of choice until BD gets here, I wouldn't go less than one of the triplecores for a gaming set up though, X3 450's are pretty cheap on scan and ebuyer atm but the 955 is a better choice,
Moto

 

[i dont want a username]

Without getting into the Intel/Amd firefight,
a 955 on an am3+ plate is the Amd option of choice until BD gets here, I wouldn't go less than one of the triplecores for a gaming set up though, X3 450's are pretty cheap on scan and ebuyer atm but the 955 is a better choice,
Moto

Well an am3+ motherboard costs less than a h61 and has more features but is that worth getting an and for the same price as an intel i3 2100? I really don't know. My friend says that and are the best in tests but the Internet says different so I think he might be confused. I just want to know what's best for my budget.

 

[jmsellars1]

To be honest the I3 isn't that much better in games, the and would actually beat it with a moderate overclocking. There's not a huge difference. I'd say go amd if you like to overclock/raid and upgrade often, otherwise I'd go Intel. Try to leave enough in the budget to get at least an hd6770/hd5770/gts 450 though.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

At the price range you have set out its an Amd for best value, I specified an Am3 Mobo because that lets you upgrade more easily, the 955 as stated will beat the I3 with a small Oc, if you were building Intel, at the moment its a 2400/2500 build and your budget wont stretch that far
Moto

 

[Motopsychojdn]

At the price range you have set out its an Amd for best value, I specified an Am3+ Mobo because that lets you upgrade more easily, the 955 as stated will beat the I3 with a small Oc, if you were building Intel, at the moment its a 2400/2500 build and your budget wont stretch that far
Moto

 

[i dont want a username]

thanks.
it actually costs ten to fifteen pounds less for a much better motherboards with more pci slots for wireless cards and things.

this isnt really important but i just had an idea. if i put two pci wireless lan cards in, then would this double the internet connection, intefere with each other or count as two different connections annd not work together, or do nothing.
anyway, thats an extra £20, and i bet it wouldnt work.

thanks again.

 

[ps3hacker12]

what i would reccommend:

i3-2100: (£89+free pandP)
http://www.dabs.com/products/intel-core-i3-2100-3-10ghz-lga1155-3mb-79Q3.html?q=i3-2100

Biostar H61MU3 mobo (i have a H67MU3 and its fantastic! and again £50 with free PandP):
http://www.ebuyer.com/259265-biostar-h61mu3-h61-socket-1155-6-channel-hd-audio-matx-motherboard-h61mu3


Patriot Memory Viper II Sector 5 Series 4GB ram (on offer from £50 to £22!!):
http://www.dabs.com/products/patriot-memory-viper-ii-sector-5-series-4gb--2x2gb--ddr3-1333mhz-cl7-dimm-240-pin-79GJ.html?refs=468490000-50830000

a Coolermaster Elite 342 case: (Only £22!)
http://www.ebuyer.com/260704-exdisplay-coolermaster-elite-342-black-micro-atx-case-no-psu-ebr2-rc342kkn1gp

altogether thats 186.16

having two PCI wireless cards will not help in anyway btw!

i'd go with an i3-2100 for your needs, an i3-2100 can beat a phenom 955 while using HALF THE POWER and giving out MUCH LESS heat than the phenom:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=289

and if you wanted you could add a gtx 550 Ti:
KFA2 GeForce GTX 550 Ti:
http://www.dabs.com/products/kfa2-geforce-gtx-550-ti-900mhz-1gb-pci-express-hdmi--standard--7DQK.html?q=gtx%20550%20Ti

which would bring total costs to £270.17 (including postage and packaging).

i havent included a copy of windows 7 64bit because i assumed you don't need it, but if you do thats another £77.

[EDIT]:
i don't know why i didnt include a PSU but the corsair CX430 would be a great choice (+£34):
http://www.ebuyer.com/271798-corsair-430w-v2-cx-series-psu-cmpsu-430cxv2uk

which brings total costs to £304.17 (including all PandP charges).

the gtx550 Ti is better than the 6770, the 550Ti has similar performance to a 6790.

 

[i dont want a username]

ok, so it seems these are the options i have:

amd phenom ii x4 965 or intel i3 2100:
the amd has 2 more cores and is clocked higher as well as more l2 and l3 cache so should be better but aparrently the i3 is actually better in gaming tests.
is the amd phenom better overall, because my computer wont only be for gaming?

motherboards:
intel motherboard will cost about £10 more and has much less features as well as a chipset which i have heard has problems with sata.

ati radeon hd 6770 or nvidia gtx550ti:
the 550ti costs £10 from a manufacturer i have never heard of or £25 more from one i have heard of and has much less stream processors.
do stream processors make a difference?

power supply:
£55 for a be quiet 80+ gold reaching over 90% efficiency or a crosair 430w or something else for £40-£50.
would 430w be enough?

thanks in advance.

 

[i dont want a username]

how does this sound for £570 with pandp?


430W Corsair Builder Series 430CX V2 Power Supply

VTX ATI Radeon HD 6770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail

LG 22x DVD-RW SATA Black Optical ReWriter Drive

BitFenix Merc Alpha Black Midi Tower Chassis

Arctic Cooling F12 Quiet Case Fan 120mm

Seagate 500GB 3.5" ST500DM002 Barracuda SATA III 6Gb/s Hard Drive - HDD 7200RPM

4GB Mushkin Silverline #996768 (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz 9-9-9-24

MSI H61M-E33 Intel H61 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard

TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter [TL-WN951N]

HDMI Cable, Version 1.4, 1 metre

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit SP1, Operating System, Single, - OEM

22" ASUS VH228H Widescreen LED Monitor

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Looks solid man, and you can always throw in a 2500k if/when budget allows,
although the Cx500w may be a better option for that upgrade window
Moto

 

[ps3hacker12]

i would definetely go for an i3-2100 over a phenom 955, simply because it uses half the power, gives out less heat, for better performance.