I haven't been into gaming for years but I got a 3D printer and setup linux on an old laptop. I noticed it came with Steam and a lot of older games were really cheap. So that sparked on idea. I couldn't justify a modern gaming PC for a £1000 plus but could I build a cheaper system for a budget of £200, using secondhand bits from ebay?
The answer is yes, you can. A cheap socket 1150 board for £35, old Pentium G3258 for a tenner, tenner for a £500GB hard driver and a tenner for 4GB of ram. I treated myself to a £90 RX580 4GB (I know, a bit too much but couldn't resist). Bought a case for £30 with a 500W PSU. Installed linux, bought the Witcher trilogy off steam and run it on ultra. To my amazement it worked perfectly.
Till the PSU died and it went out in style. Lightening storm, bangs, smoke, the works. Now naively I assumed that the 500W PSU the case came with ( CTI Pemtium Model:500U), would be upto the job. Its rated output was more than enough.
I was wrong, the unit was garbage, in fact judging by the way it failed I would call it borderline dangerous and would not want to fit a computer with such a PSU.
Replaced with a Corsair 550CV (yes I know another cheapie but I haven't got a large budget). Fortunately my build started up, the CTI had at least sacrificed itself to save the other components. Even with the cheap Corsair the quality difference was night and day. Braided cables and just had the feel of better quality.
So moral here is, yes you can build a cheap gaming rig for £200 to play last generation games but you really shouldn't. Realistically the minimum you should spend on a PSU is £50 and that is the bare minimum. I got lucky, no fire, no destroyed computer.
My advice is if you have a CTI PSU, take it out of your case and throw it in the bin. It isn't worth the risk.
The answer is yes, you can. A cheap socket 1150 board for £35, old Pentium G3258 for a tenner, tenner for a £500GB hard driver and a tenner for 4GB of ram. I treated myself to a £90 RX580 4GB (I know, a bit too much but couldn't resist). Bought a case for £30 with a 500W PSU. Installed linux, bought the Witcher trilogy off steam and run it on ultra. To my amazement it worked perfectly.
Till the PSU died and it went out in style. Lightening storm, bangs, smoke, the works. Now naively I assumed that the 500W PSU the case came with ( CTI Pemtium Model:500U), would be upto the job. Its rated output was more than enough.
I was wrong, the unit was garbage, in fact judging by the way it failed I would call it borderline dangerous and would not want to fit a computer with such a PSU.
Replaced with a Corsair 550CV (yes I know another cheapie but I haven't got a large budget). Fortunately my build started up, the CTI had at least sacrificed itself to save the other components. Even with the cheap Corsair the quality difference was night and day. Braided cables and just had the feel of better quality.
So moral here is, yes you can build a cheap gaming rig for £200 to play last generation games but you really shouldn't. Realistically the minimum you should spend on a PSU is £50 and that is the bare minimum. I got lucky, no fire, no destroyed computer.
My advice is if you have a CTI PSU, take it out of your case and throw it in the bin. It isn't worth the risk.
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