gaming pc for 400 quid?

[D_Mike]

I saw this article

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/the-uk,review-1474.h...

about putting together a gaming pc for 400 pounds! unfortunately its somewhat out of date now.

I thought it was an interesting idea and also (totally coincidentally) fancy a new pc. but I have no idea about hardware. So I was interested in PHers ideas for budget gaming PCs for arund 400 quid! What would you guys get?

[Mr_Yogi]

If you don't need a monitor then I think you could get something pretty good for £400.

[D_Mike]

yeah, I just need the box

[Mr_Yogi]

Something like:

Core2Duo E4300
2Gb DDR2 PC5300
i965/ i975 or iP35 based Motherboard
320Gb HD
ATI 1950Pro (or Maybe 1950XT)/ 8600GTS video card
Chassis with 400W+ PSU

Should be doable for about £400 if you shop around, keep an eye on Scan's Today Only page.

[ajg31]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v677/ajg30/Scree...

Something i recommended to a friend in the same situation

Edited by ajg31 on Thursday 20th September 23:08

Edited by ajg31 on Thursday 20th September 23:09

[DucatiGary]

just buy at a reputable store or hope to go you dont need to return anything to overclockers.

may as well bin it if you do.

[Altrezia]

I must have been lucky with Overclockers - returned 3 things, and all three were effortless and no hassle to get replaced.

Oh well

[ajg31]

same here, found overeclockers the best retailer over the last 3 years i have had. never an issue with returns and there have been many! same cannot be said for some other competitors. shame this is not a name and shame forum. Not implying he should use overclockers to purchase, just a shopping list i made for a friend that had all the components under one roof at a competetive price.

[Silverbullet767]

www.xbox.com

There you go, about £250

What???

[mackie1]

ajg31 said:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v677/ajg30/Scree...

Something i recommended to a friend in the same situation

Not bad

You won't be playing the very latest games on full everything but that a very respectable machine. I'm looking at a grand for a Q6600/2gb/8800GTS/1TB system.

[ajg31]

Depends on the monitor used, if you only have a 19" monitor i think most games could be maxed. I find it amazing that such a pc can be bought for so little that would be very respecable. When funds allow add a gtx and a faster chip (1333fsb one as its ready for it) and off you go.

[Skittle]

Recently put this together, seems to play all games fine at the moment

£43 e2140 (overclocked to 2.8ghz)
£72 Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R
£62 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)
£80 ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
£43 250 Gb Western Digital WD2500AAKS Caviar SE16, SATA300,

£300

Then pick a monitor and case and PSU in your price range.

I can then "up" the processor and graphics card at a later date if I need to. The e2140 overclocked easy, plenty of guides about, took about 10 mins to understand as I had never overclocked before.

[_Deano]

Skittle said:

Recently put this together, seems to play all games fine at the moment

£43 e2140 (overclocked to 2.8ghz)
£72 Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R
£62 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)
£80 ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
£43 250 Gb Western Digital WD2500AAKS Caviar SE16, SATA300,

£300

Then pick a monitor and case and PSU in your price range.

I can then "up" the processor and graphics card at a later date if I need to. The e2140 overclocked easy, plenty of guides about, took about 10 mins to understand as I had never overclocked before.

The E2140 are bloody brilliant chips that can really be pushed (providing that you have a good motherboard)
Read a recent review on one of the mags and they ploped the CPU into a Asus motherboard. Pushed the FSB to 1500 and the chip was running around 3GHz, close to 60c!!! Bargin if you don't need the extra cache

[Skittle]

_Deano said:

Skittle said:

Recently put this together, seems to play all games fine at the moment

£43 e2140 (overclocked to 2.8ghz)
£72 Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R
£62 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)
£80 ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
£43 250 Gb Western Digital WD2500AAKS Caviar SE16, SATA300,

£300

Then pick a monitor and case and PSU in your price range.

I can then "up" the processor and graphics card at a later date if I need to. The e2140 overclocked easy, plenty of guides about, took about 10 mins to understand as I had never overclocked before.

The E2140 are bloody brilliant chips that can really be pushed (providing that you have a good motherboard)
Read a recent review on one of the mags and they ploped the CPU into a Asus motherboard. Pushed the FSB to 1500 and the chip was running around 3GHz, close to 60c!!! Bargin if you don't need the extra cache

Got mine in an Antec 900 with the AC pro on top of it, it runs at 20C idle and 25c on full load at the moment. If I knew more about what I was doing I would be tempted to push it further but its fine for now. Ran a 3d benchmark that came out at about 6800 - whatever that means

Edited by Skittle on Monday 24th September 13:39