New budget build after kids trashed my PC

BlueRubber

Novice Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2015
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
2
Location
UK
Hi

my children have managed to short out my motherboard, CPU, graphics card and RAM.... probably not their fault they were plugging some peripherals in and it turned off. I spent some time fruitlessly fiddling with it and finally dropped it into a shop for a diagnosis and was told the above components had all blown.

I didn't ask about the PSU .. it is quite new and i am hoping it is still ok ... I hope the hard drives are ok as well (not checked yet) ... currently reduced to using my son's now he is asleep and stopped playing Minecraft.

Christmas is here and I don't have much spare cash so this will need to be a realtively budget build but I would like to be back up and running ASAP.

I can get a better Graphics card later when I can afford it.

I generally use the PC ofr web / office and Steam - my days of hard core gaming are somewhere behind me, but I like to keep my hand in .... it would be nice to play Fallout 4.

I was thinking of the following

Current PSU (Assuming it still works): Corsair 750W RM750 RM Series

CPU: Intel i5 4609k £172.23

Motherboard: mod 1150 asus z97-A ATX £115

RAM: Vengeance 8 gb RAM £34.98

SSD: Samsung EVO 850 250Gb £60

I am not sure what Graphics card to buy .. I am a bit out of the loop but am looking around £120 - £150

It looks like AMD are possibly better at this price point?

I was thinking that an R7 370 4 GB card might be good - something like
MSI AMD R7 370 gaming Graphics card (4 GB, OC, PCI-E, 3.0, GDDR5, DVI-I, HDMI: £134 I would also like a new case - around £50 ish. I curently have Next Lexa which has seen a number of PC rebuilds over the years and probably needs pensioning off now.

I would be grateful for your advice on this build plus on a good graphics card and Case

Cheers

Blue
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't call any system with an i5 a budget build, an overclocking system with high end motherboard even less so.

I would spend the extra £25 on a R9 380 4GB personally. It's well worth it for the adaptive sync support even if you're not planning a new monitor right now, plus the extra performance etc. Unless you game on a TV or other sort of screen that's unlikely to support it.

What are you after in a case? I take it you want something pretty large given your choice of ATX motherboard?
 
Hi Endless waves - thanks for the speedy response ... good points .. I do hope / plan to overclock but will need a different cpu cooler etc before I can think about that ... plus more RAm etc..

I suppose I am trying to get the main components right with a view to upgrading other bits when I can afford to.

I always previously went for the bling factor with cases - nice case, led lit RAM, led lit fans / internal lights etc. but I suppose I (sensibly) now want something affordable, with good air flow and cable routing options so I can at least make the build look tidy ..... even if it's not blingtastic.

Thanks for the advice on the graphics card - will have a Google - do you recommend a particulat card?

Thanks and best wishes

Blue
 
Hi guys

has anyone got any more feedback for me? Cases / cards?

I am looking at graphics cards but would be grateful for a specific recommendation.

Thanks

Blue
 
How about a non overclocking CPU like..........

i5 6600 £155 or i5 6400 £129
Z170 ASRock mobo £78
8GB DDR4 2666 RAM £45
 
Depends how much you want to spend.

R.E. Cases. I've just taken delivery of a Fractal Design Define R5 (for my sons rebuild and upgrade). It's so good - I'm thinking of getting one for myself and my case is pretty damn good (Corsair Obsidian 650D). Scan are doing them for £79.99 and as a member you get free DPD delivery.

R.E. GPUs if you can go to £250 Ebuyer are doing a Gigabyte GTX970 for £250.98. As has been said by many before it's probably the best bang for buck card on the market.

If you're limited to you're £160ish budget, then the R9 380 4GB or GTX960 mentioned is a good compromise.
 
Sorry about the delay in replying .. lots of work and also limited PC access currently!

I'm grateful for everyone's comments and advice - thank you for taking the time to reply.

So far I have bought:

CPU: Intel i5 4609k £172.23

Motherboard: mod 1150 asus z97-A ATX £115

RAM: Vengeance 8 gb RAM £34.98

SSD: Samsung EVO 850 250Gb £60

I am on a limited budget so will get a GPU around £150 .... lots of ideas .. thank you.

Have read conflicting information about benefits of 2Gb versus 4 GB memory of GPUs. Some GTX 960s with 4GB memory are about the same price as those with 2GB. Not sure whether i should go for a GTX 960 4Gb, R7-370 or the R9 380 4GB... any more feedback would be welcome - like evryone I am balancing cost aginst performance.

In respect of the case - Scan are no longer selling the Obsidian case, but Amazon have the Fractal Design Define R4 @ £76. I am also looking at the nzxt H440 @ £90 ... although ideally I would spend @£50... but not seen any midi ATX cases I like at that price point... so far. Usually I like windowed cases but this one will have its right hand side up against a wall and there are, apparently, very few case with a window on the left hand side.

Essentially I want something that will allow an easy, tidy build, possibility of different cooling options and isn't too loud.


best wishes

BR
 
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
The Fractal Design Define R5 - is - in my opinion - the best Mid Tower case available today. It was a joy to build with and I've built 9 rigs in the last 4 years (all different cases - including rebuilds).
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£175.30 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£115.69 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£33.48 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£55.71 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.82 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card (£178.98 @ Dabs)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.98 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£58.26 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £732.20
You can get a cheaper case if you want, if the PSU still works then you can use it instead of the one I listed. The R9 390 is what I recommend if you have more money.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom