Best Budget gaming Rig

[Blebbz]

The ultimate £700 gaming rig... what would yours be?

as a guide... Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, SLI motherboard for future upgradeability :rolleyes:

it's what mine will be lol

[Spawn-Inc]

no such thing as a budget gaming rig, if it doesn't have the 10- 5 stuff i say it ain't for todays gaming. :)

i would like to do this but i only look at parts i want and its gonna cost more than 700, sorry :(

[Blebbz]

haha, well as good as you can get

[Spawn-Inc]

ok well here is i guess what i would build without going SLI, i will accept a non sli budget gaming rig but you can't build sli on a budget under 1k USD.

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128064)

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262)
LG Electronics H62NK SATA
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136120)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115003)

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034)
EVGA 320-P2-N815-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130038)

Sub Total $1,059.94
rebates (20 on video card and 40 on ram)
Grand Total $999.94 (701 EUR)


EDIT: i just noticed that you stated pounds not Euro so i went by Eruo's thats an extra 500 so then you can do sli on that i would say, so ignore what i said first.

[Ironcat]

Switch out your PSU to a Coolermaster 650. It's only 90 bucks.
The system you describe is not SLI so you don't need the extra power, especially if you're running a Core2Duo, they are more power efficient anyway.

Take 50 out of your extra cash and spend it to up your processor to a 6850.
LINK (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115028)

Put the other in your pocket and your system now comes in nicely under budget.

[Spawn-Inc]

ya thats true, i forgot i wasn't getting a 8800 GTX/ultra, or sli. i have only researched parts i am interested in for my build and i haven't really set a budget so its going to run 3k or more if i go water cooling.

[luciusad2004]

How do you define budget gaming rig? Does it have to run games and run them on high settings, or does it simply have to run them, even if on lower settings. I think you could build a machine for a $1000 dollars or less that could RUN games. Im not saying your going to be running them at ultra high resolutions with superb framerates, but i think you could build an "affordable gaming rig"

Then again, i don't really know whats necessary to run games. Maybe later i will see what i can find on newegg. Dont have the time at the moment.

[Spawn-Inc]

i thinkit should be able to handle HL1 on highest settings and HL2 on medium all around at a res of 1024x786. mine so far can handle that with a bit of lag on big seens in hl2. it might go up once i get more ram but not sure.

[Quakken]

Heck, my ghetto two year old Gig of ram, x800pro, AMD3500+ can handle HL2 on medium settings. I would say that you should shoot for being able to run crysis on low-medium.

[XcOM]

i was going to say (As above)
my system is listed in my sig (All barr the OS which is now windows 2000 & Ubuntu Linux)

and in 2k, i can run HL2 on medium settings @ 1024x768 with no problem, adverage about 50FPs, on high i get about 20-30fps

[Ap1thy]

Core2Duo E6750
2GB DDR 800
Nvidia 650 SLI-Chipset motherboard
2*7600 GT's with 256mb ram in SLI
Western Digital 200gb hard disk
Coolermaster 500w extreme power
good aluminum case (maybe a NZXT hush or smth)
Arctic Cooling Freezer cpu cooler

[Spawn-Inc]

Heck, my ghetto two year old Gig of ram, x800pro, AMD3500+ can handle HL2 on medium settings. I would say that you should shoot for being able to run crysis on low-medium.

so why the hell can't mine :(:(:( it can but it gets choppy in large areas with a lot going on.

[crenn]

Recommendation, don't bother with SLI, most of the time, it's more hassle than what it's worth.

[Spawn-Inc]

Recommendation, don't bother with SLI, most of the time, it's more hassle than what it's worth.

but if you must go with 2 cards go sli vs crossfire. i have heard lots of stories of it not working out and being full of hassles.

[Helix666]

Funnily enough, I'd already worked out how much a decent rig would cost me.
This is the cheapest higher end one, and I'm not sure how well it would play demanding games, but anyway:

CPU: AMD Athlon64 5000+ Black Edition 2.6GHz (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=691236)
Mobo: Abit AN-M2 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=622461)
RAM: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2-800 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=585722)
HDD: 250Gb HGST Deskstar SATA (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=226863)
ODD: Optiarc DVD+/-RW (DL) SATA (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=540215)
GFX: 256MB XFX 7950GT (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=547341)
PSU: Tagan TG-380 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=138557)
WC: Alphacool Universal kit. (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=403498)
OS: XP Professional SP2 OEM. (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=487054)

Grand Total (Including VAT)? : £633.38 :banana:

I realise that It'd probably be better to build the WC loop myself, but in the interests of simplicity...

EDIT: actually, I don't think this is SLI compatible, but ah well...