need a gaming pc...

  • Thread starter Thread starter hazellnut134
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joehazell
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hazellnut134
Hey gtplanet,
I've noticed that many people in my school are wanting to are have made the transition from console gaming to PC gaming.

I'm thinking about getting one, but, being 14, I'm on a pretty tight budget. I'm selling a bunch of stuff for around £280 to cex soon. I get £30 a month pocket money, but I need 2 months to save for GT6. So, after those months I will have £280.

I'm looking for a PC that can run games like Battlefield 3, skyrim and possibly Planet side 2 on console quality graphics and frame rate or above. It needs to be less than £400 including the OS.

Also, if I was to build the PC itself, would it require soldering? Me and my dad are pretty useless at that.
 
Also, if I was to build the PC itself, would it require soldering? Me and my dad are pretty useless at that.

No! It's all standard parts. As long as the tower is a quality one you will not have many problems making a PC.
 
Just a starter question, do you need everything? Everything as in keyboard, mouse, tower, monitor, etc? Are you planning on running it through your TV? Is it 1080P? What kind of connections, HDMI for example? A TV vs. a monitor presents it's own set of circumstances, but it all plays a roll in getting into PC Gaming.

:cheers:
 
GPU is not so great in that one, hardly better than the one in consoles I think. (It's better than a Nvidia 7800, which many consider to be equal to the PS3 GPU) It will not run modern games on anything above the lowest settings, and some you won't even be able to run at all. (Crysis 2 to name one, since the only graphical settings on that game are "High, Highest, and Ultra.")

Anyways, about the one you listed, it comes with no operating system. Unless you plan on using Ubuntu/Linux, Windows 8 is about £90. (Windows 7 is around 40-60£ depending on which edition)

That'll bring your total costs up to about £430 with Windows 8, £370-90 with Windows 7. If you're really trying to stay below £400, go with Win7 for the OS. That is, again, if you plan on using Windows.

Also, do you want to build a PC or buy a pre-made PC? Building it yourself is generally cheaper.

 
Pako
Just a starter question, do you need everything? Everything as in keyboard, mouse, tower, monitor, etc? Are you planning on running it through your TV? Is it 1080P? What kind of connections, HDMI for example? A TV vs. a monitor presents it's own set of circumstances, but it all plays a roll in getting into PC Gaming.

:cheers:

I have a keyboard and mouse, and can probably source some speakers. I would like to run it through a monitor, and I need a tower unless I get a premade PC.
 
Eks
GPU is not so great in that one, hardly better than the one in consoles I think. (It's better than a Nvidia 7800, which many consider to be equal to the PS3 GPU) It will not run modern games on anything above the lowest settings, and some you won't even be able to run at all. (Crysis 2 to name one, since the only graphical settings on that game are "High, Highest, and Ultra.")

Anyways, about the one you listed, it comes with no operating system. Unless you plan on using Ubuntu/Linux, Windows 8 is about £90. (Windows 7 is around 40-60£ depending on which edition)

That'll bring your total costs up to about £430 with Windows 8, £370-90 with Windows 7. If you're really trying to stay below £400, go with Win7 for the OS. That is, again, if you plan on using Windows.

Also, do you want to build a PC or buy a pre-made PC? Building it yourself is generally cheaper.

I'll probably go for building one myself as I now know how simple it actually is. The main problem is that I have no idea which parts to get as I don't know how good they are
 
Is the monitor part of your budget? Getting into PC Gaming is an expensive proposition when you are no gear to throw at it. A high quality monitor alone can blow your budget but can last you many computer generations. I consider monitors to be long term investments as far as computers go.
 
Pako
Is the monitor part of your budget?

No, I'll deal with that later. Finding a decent monitor shouldn't be too much of a problem, and I don't mind sticking with a bad one until I have enough funds, if I can get one off someone else.

I guess I could use my laptop as the monitor.
 
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No, I'll deal with that later. Finding a decent monitor shouldn't be too much of a problem, and I don't mind sticking with a bad one until I have enough funds, if I can get one off someone else.

I guess I could use my laptop as the monitor.

Fair enough, but no...you probably can't use your laptop as the computers monitor unless your laptop has a HDMI or VGA/DVI input (not output).

You could also use your HD TV if you have one in the house. This shouldn't be an issue as long as it's a new TV. Should have all the required connections to make it happen. Again, HDMI/DVI/VGA input variants on the TV to make it happen.
 
Pako
Fair enough, but no...you probably can't use your laptop as the computers monitor unless your laptop has a HDMI or VGA/DVI input (not output).

You could also use your HD TV if you have one in the house. This shouldn't be an issue as long as it's a new TV. Should have all the required connections to make it happen. Again, HDMI/DVI/VGA input variants on the TV to make it happen.

I could try that.

My friend bought this:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/deskt...sktop+PCs+/+Refurbished+PCs~19597940#longDesc

He told me he can run skyrim on ultra. Also, he can run planetside 2 on medium with some lag. He can play payday 2 beta Max settings 60fps, don't know that game though.
 
I could try that.

My friend bought this:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/deskt...sktop+PCs+/+Refurbished+PCs~19597940#longDesc

He told me he can run skyrim on ultra. Also, he can run planetside 2 on medium with some lag. He can play payday 2 beta Max settings 60fps, don't know that game though.

That might do it today, but you might want to check out like ibuypower.com or some UK equivalent company and have one built to suit. There is a single PCI Express 16x slot if you wanted to upgrade the graphics down the road. The graphics are better in this HP, but I believe they are still integrated, not dedicated graphics. Not really a bad thing as they have made some amazing advancements in integrated graphics from say, 4 years ago. This would be a good start with limited updatability, but never the less, you can still upgrade the graphics in say 2 years to keep up with current games coming out.
 
Pako
That might do it today, but you might want to check out like ibuypower.com or some UK equivalent company and have one built to suit. There is a single PCI Express 16x slot if you wanted to upgrade the graphics down the road. The graphics are better in this HP, but I believe they are still integrated, not dedicated graphics. Not really a bad thing as they have made some amazing advancements in integrated graphics from say, 4 years ago. This would be a good start with limited updatability, but never the less, you can still upgrade the graphics in say 2 years to keep up with current games coming out.

If I bought some parts similar or slightly better than the HP's, would it be cheaper? If I did, what would be some good parts to buy?
 
Pako
It's a good start. :)

Thanks for the help! I'm using overclockers.co.uk to find parts, things seem to be more expensive in the UK. If anyone can find a good combo of parts there please tell me, I have no idea what power supply, motherboard etc I would need to use with each part.
 
This would be a good start but saying it blows your budget is a bit of an understatement. You weren't kidding at prices being higher over yonder. :nervous:

Edit: One of these might do he trick. Just stick with an i5 processor and if you're not sure about the video card, it can always be left out and added for Christmas/birthday. ;)
 
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Hi there, hazellnut134.

Here is a budget DIY setup without an operating system, it should be around £400 with an operating system if you can find a copy for £40-50.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys. So will these setups run bf3 and similar games on medium to high graphics?
 
My advice to you would be patient and save up some more money, you will need about 500 to 600 pounds for a half decent PC. Use your birthday/Christmas money etc to help fund it, with PC gaming you need to have a half decent system as games are rarely optimised and you will find yourself trying get the game to run rather than actually playing it. Your not missing much on PC at the moment and you have misses the steam summer sale so in my opinion there is no rush, save up some more money.
 
My advice to you would be patient and save up some more money, you will need about 500 to 600 pounds for a half decent PC.

+1

It would be absolutely stupid to buy a PC for like 400 Pounds, which can maybe play BF3 on 1080p (because in the end, that will be the case) and then upgrade each part. By the time you've bought your last upgrade, your first upgrade will already be too slow/too old.

The best, and also cheapest solution, would be to save as much money as possible, and buy a very decent PC that will play every title on almost full details.

Oh, and another advice. NEVER let yourself get fooled by eBay Auctions saying "SUPER FAST" "MOST AWESOME PC EVAR YOLOSWAG2013", because the price to performance ratio on these PC's are rubbish, the PC you've posted, is rubbish. The CPU is half decent, but that's about it.
Also buy your parts seperately, you'll save a good amount of money, and building a PC really isn't hard. It's like Lego for grown men.
 
I'm not looking for some super amazing PC that can play everything on Max settings, I want one which will play most modern games at medium to high settings on a playable frame rate. As long as its an improvement on consoles. Then I would begin to upgrade from then, but think very carefully about which parts I get. It needs to be better than my friend's at least (which I posted a link to earlier), so I can be sure it will run nearly anything well.

As my birthday is exactly two months after Christmas that may be the time I will buy one, or I may get parts for Christmas and my birthday along with some money. It's possible I will get more money for Christmas as I could survive on gt6 for ages, and I wouldn't want much stuff at all.

By the way, could I run simraceway and Iracing with a cheap gaming PC?
 
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I'm not looking for some super amazing PC that can play everything on Max settings.

But that would be the senseable way. To get a PC for medium to high settings at decent frames for Battlefield 3, you still need a pretty beefy machine.

Here's a very good build.



This is a very good base build, from where you can see what you can chop off. The 3570k (or the 2500k) are probably the minimum I would really recommend right now, especially to be futureproof, it's a great base. Get some decent 1600MHz RAM, ditch the SSD (although prices have dropped INSANELY!) and maybe downgrade the PSU a little and you save yourself some good money.
 
hennessey86
http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/viewCart.asp this a pretty good system and its as cheap as your going to get I think. So aim for that price when ur saving

Nothing in the cart...

Anyway my dads going to help me when I've saved enough money. That video looks good, he seems to know what he's doing. If anyone has any more suggestions keep them coming and I'll look back through everything properly in a few months. I'll still have a look at everything, but I won't do much more research for now.
 
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Nothing in the cart...

Anyway my dads going to help me when I've saved enough money. That video looks good, he seems to know what he's doing. If anyone has any more suggestions keep them coming and I'll look back through everything properly in a few months. I'll still have a look at everything, but I won't do much more research for now.

ahh ok well go to Dinopc.com and you can configure your PC, click on gaming PC's, then click on the cheapest one and go for the cheaper CPU and GPU and you should get it close to the price you want. I got my PC from there, they are very good and you get a 3 year warranty
 
My friend is selling me a complete custom PC for £40. It has vista (eww), but would this be a good way to save money? It isn't that old, and it has 3 fans in it. I don't know its specs yet, as it has a virus which we need to remove with a rescue disc.
 

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