Mid-range Gaming PC Build UK - £400-£500 ($640-$800)

Hardware Build a PC
1

Hey guys,

This is my first PC build, I'm a big fan of the videos and all the help you all give here on the forums so I thought where better to ask than here. Trying to get my head around a lot of new terminology so bear with me if I ask a few dumb questions!

First of all, I'm from the UK, so I think a lot of these discounts and combo deals don't apply to me. I've done a lot of my searching for components through http://www.scan.co.uk/ because I've shopped there before and I have a friend that could perhaps get things at trade prices. For the purposes of all the prices below I'll include VAT.

My budget is around £400-£500 ($640-$800) although I would prefer to be at the lower end if anything. I'll be running a single 1920x1080 monitor. At the moment I play a few games like WoW and also flight simulator, but I'd like to be able to play Skyrim etc with at least medium-high settings.

First question:

I have a 750W PSU (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/750w-cit-black-edition-120mm-silent-fan-atx-v22-3-psu) that I've scavenged from my old computer that I bought 2-3 years ago. That computer ended its days by what I thought may have been a GPU problem (it turned on but I had to run it using the integrated graphics) however I'm not sure - I could save some money by using the same PSU but is there a way to safely test it before putting it in this build? I know its not a well-known make, I think it might be the website's own brand.

 

Here is my prospective parts list so far, based on Intel/NVIDIA (just because I know a bit more about them!) :

Total = £473.28-£485.28 ($758-$777) depending on the GPU.

More questions! :

2) Is the i5-3570K necessary or should I get an i5-2500K for £10 cheaper?

3) Seems a little cheap for a CPU Cooler. I'll be getting the retail version of the CPU which comes with a fan, but I'll be looking to overclock so I'm guessing I definitely need a bigger CPU fan?

4) Which GPU would you recommend? I won't need to run crazy games on ultra ultra settings, but I'm unsure between the NVIDIA 650 Ti, 560Ti, and the Radeon 7850 because of the budget.

5) What are the main specs to look for once the overall type of GPU has been chosen? i.e. between brands, clock speed etc. I'm assuming I will be ok with 1GB.

6) Is it possible to scavenge a HDD from an old computer? If so, I might go for an SSD.

7) Does the parts list overall look compatible? Any way to trim down the price? Are certain parts way overpriced and could I do better?

 

Any answers, comments and suggestions are much appreciated!

P.S. - GBP to USD exchange rate is 1.6 at the moment ;)

 

Thanks.

2

Wouldn't you know... just seen the uploaded UK Mid-range video! Considering the FX 4300 or 6300 now, and also scavenging a HDD from my old comp, should bring the price down by about £100. Thoughts?

3

Well, I don't know how much this exactly is in pounds but it's hitting the $800 roof, pretty baller build

4

Nice, seems like some much higher quality parts

The games that I play are generally CPU-intensive; would I be right in generally ranking: 7870 >> 7850 = 560Ti > 650Ti > 7770?

I'm deciding which GPU to get but I don't want to blow my budget. Seems to me like the FX 6300 + 650Ti are more sensibly matched in a budget build when it comes to equal(ish) spend on both, and that way I would minimise my spend but still get decent performance. Or, I could upgrade the CPU to a 2500K/3570K, or the GPU to a 7850/560Ti/7870, (but not both because that would put me over).

Which upgrade would bring the biggest performance increase for the money, or should I save my money and go for the FX 6300 and 650Ti?

5

Here, this build is optimized for the UK.

http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/mxEb

Keeps you under the £500 mark and will give you the best performance for its cost. You can get a solid OC out of that CPU (4.6-4.8GHz) and that GPU will mop the floor with the 650ti.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/680?vs=549

Ands its less than  £20 more expensive. 

 

 

6

Thanks, looks like I'll be sticking with the 6300 for my CPU. As for the CPU cooler, the case says it supports up to 160mm CPU cooler, I know from a friends that this one is huge, 159mm from the specs. Is that cutting it a bit fine? 

Also, the benchmarks are for the 2Gb 7850 vs 1Gb 650Ti. No doubt the 7850 is still better, but is it by the same margin if you reduce to 1Gb?

Thanks for the comments!

7

To be honest with you, I would stick with an i5 as my processor and either a gtx560ti or HD 7870 for my graphics card. The performance you will get from that combination will be superior to that of an AMD directed build. I wouldnt cheap out now and go with a worse cpu just for the sake of 100 blips, I done that for my current build and chose an i3 over an i5 and now I'm looking to upgrade my i3 to an i5 :/ putting me 200 + euros out of pocket. Spend the money now and don't worry about it again for a good while.

You will probably spend 100 pounds on the likes of drink and Mc Donalds anyway :D 

Thats my 2 cents good luck man!