First PC, Budget Gaming rig

[CorrodedTemplar]

Hi all, i'm new here. I'm also new to desktops, having been a laptop user for over a decade i'm fed up of overheating issues, lack of graphical power and inability to easily mod/upgrade.

So after a recent small income i've decided to put together a small gaming rig, nothing too flash, to treat myself with. A rig that I can upgrade in the future when I have more funds flying around.

Currently i'm trying to stick to a budget of £360 (low, I know), but with my current setup I think its decently upgradeable in the future. If i'm right the motherboard will accept and I5 later in life, and I can easily double up the RAM to 8gb.
First upgrade will probably be the PSU to a Modular one, but this one should do the job nicely for now.

So here's what i've put together so far;

CPU: Intel Pentium G840 2.8GHz Dual-Core Processor £44.83
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H61MA-D3V Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard £38.61
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory £19.16
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive £44:16
Graphics Card: Arianet Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card £79.99
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS70 OEM DVD/CD Writer £12.00
Case: Arianet Hydra Midi Tower £22.49
PSU: 650W CiT Black Edition Series Power Supply £22.49
Extra Cooling: 2x EZcool silent 120mm Blue LED fans (14.9dba) £9

= £291.73 + £7.89 postage and packaging. + VAT (20%) = TOTAL £359.55

I already have a 22" Packard Bell monitor, a wireless keyboard and mouse and an untouched Windows 7 Home Premium disk so that cuts my price down drastically.

I chose the Pentium G840 as in gaming tests it has performed really well, almost being on par with the 3.0ghz I3 processor, and the Radeon 6850 is a very powerful little card for its price.

 

[PP Mguire]

I know you are trying to keep a lower budget, but I highly recommend getting a name brand PSU. You don't want to cheap out and wind up with dead parts later that you can't replace.

Build looks fine, but if you want to upgrade and OC later on I would suggest getting at least a P67a board. The H chipset doesn't allow for overclocking. If you are absolutely certain you wont OC, then just ignore that.

 

[jasonalwaysready]

you probably don't need the extra fans, maybe one more for the side vent? that saved money and a bit more and you should get this psu:

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com...500CX+V2+80PLUS+Power+Supply+?productId=42489

don't cheap out on the psu.

that hard drive is 'green'. it has a slow speed at 5400 rpm and will shutdown when it is not in use. good for power consumption savings, not so good for performance. cant really recommend it for something you will game with.

 

[CorrodedTemplar]

you probably don't need the extra fans, maybe one more for the side vent? that saved money and a bit more and you should get this psu:

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com...500CX+V2+80PLUS+Power+Supply+?productId=42489

don't cheap out on the psu.

that hard drive is 'green'. it has a slow speed at 5400 rpm and will shutdown when it is not in use. good for power consumption savings, not so good for performance. cant really recommend it for something you will game with.

This might be a double post, not sure what happened to my other post. I think its the hangover in compliance with the "admin must approve your message" thing screwing with my mind.

Anyway, stretching my budget an extra tenner (cutting into wifey's present now hahaha) I can change the above into the following;

PSU: 530W Hiper PSU PC Power Supply HPU-4M530-V2 Crossfire X (I read good things about Hiper psus, will this one do the job for my pc?)

HDD: 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 3.5" SATA III

Thanks for the help folks. 2 days and countin until money goes through

 

[PP Mguire]

This might be a double post, not sure what happened to my other post. I think its the hangover in compliance with the "admin must approve your message" thing screwing with my mind.

Anyway, stretching my budget an extra tenner (cutting into wifey's present now hahaha) I can change the above into the following;

PSU: 530W Hiper PSU PC Power Supply HPU-4M530-V2 Crossfire X (I read good things about Hiper psus, will this one do the job for my pc?)

HDD: 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 3.5" SATA III

Thanks for the help folks. 2 days and countin until money goes through

I think 530w is cutting it close. Hiper is good, but a few power surges (outage or brown) will take one out. I had a 750w Hiper and after 2 surges it was dead. My TT PSU is still going after like 20+ lol.

 

[CorrodedTemplar]

I think 530w is cutting it close. Hiper is good, but a few power surges (outage or brown) will take one out. I had a 750w Hiper and after 2 surges it was dead. My TT PSU is still going after like 20+ lol.

I used a thermalsomethingoranother website to figure out how much wattage my pc should be using.

It told me at 90% load my PC should be using around 386w (with 4x cooling fans and 4x usb powered devices)

So with this in mind I've checked out a 80+ OCZ 500w psu, which is basically guaranteed to give 440w. Should be fine right?

Also my pc's always get run through a surge protector, but obviously that doesn't protect from unexpected power cuts shutting down the machine.

 

[PP Mguire]

Eh, those websites are all junk. It's kinda like that "can my pc play Crysis" website.

My server is an Athlon X2 6000+ and used to have a 465 in it with 6 drives in it. All that was straining a 550w PSU. Due to your different setup it wont take as much power but going with such a low amount of PSU wont leave any room for upgrades later.

 

[CorrodedTemplar]

Oh yeah I knew i'd need to upgrade the PSU, but that was going to be the first thing I do.

Right now we're saving to move house amongst other things, but my laptop is so dead it has to be dealt with now, hence the strict budget.
As soon as we're moved I'll be putting cash away to get a 700+w modular.