Thoughts on this gaming pc

[joeblgs]

Hi all

My son is looking for a cheap gaming PC. I would really appreciate your thoughts on this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-PC-Customiser-Graphics-A78M-E35/dp/B00U2T1WTM?tag=av0c-21

Our current PC is http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c01706778

running Win 7.

He did upgrade it with a Sapphire HD 7700 graphics card.

He plays games like Arma 3 (which he says is quite 'choppy' on low settings on our current PC).

Thanks in advance

 

[joeblgs]

Sorry the link to the pc isn't showing the one he wants to buy. Its the right page but you have to click on the first thumbnail to the left of the pc shown. Its the Bitfenix Neos 8GB ram No OS £251.99.

Thanks

 

[joeblgs]

Lol, its the first thumbnail to the right of the pc shown. Here are the specs:
AMD A4 5300 Dual Core 3.4Ghz
AMD HD7480D Graphics
8GB Ram
1TB HDD, DVD RW
MSI A78M-E35 Motherboard
300Mbps PCI WiFi Card
No Operating System

 

[aslird]

It cannot be described as a gaming PC, unfortunately. Further down the page is this quote - "you can play all of the latest games on low to medium settings with a 720p resolution when running Windows 7 or 8

That means it performs worse than a PS3 or Xbox360.

If that is your maximum budget, and you want to purely game, then get a PS4 or Xbone for £300.

Take a look at this link - Spec me a gaming PC... (Updated 08/11/2015) It has various builds at various prices, although you really want to be spending £500+ on a gaming PC (more if a company builds it for you).

 

[jamiehard1989]

thats not much better than the pc you have now

how much you looking to spend, do you need everything apart from windows

 

[joeblgs]

Thanks for replying.
He already has an Xbox one but he does play a few games on the pc. His budget is £250-300. I already have plenty of HDDs, a 120gb SSD, the Sapphire graphics card I've mentioned and I forgot to add that I also replaced the PSU on our current pc to a Corsair CX500 but we would need a copy of Windows 7 which I've seen quite cheap on Amazon.
I have spoken to him about us having a go at building something but we wouldn't know where to start when choosing the parts we need and not sure his budget would cover it.

He's not looking to play all the latest games on the highest settings just play the games he has got without too much trouble and the odd new one, my son said that the game Arma 3 is the main one that struggles.

 

[jamiehard1989]

ok so all is needed is a cpu, motherboard, ram, case and windows 7

 

[jamiehard1989]

this would be fine
AMD A8-7650K, BitFenix Neos Black - System Build - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

all you need to use is your psu and cpu has a build in gpu and get a copy of windows

 

[joeblgs]

Yeah pretty much. I wouldn't say I'm totally confident in building one. I've practically done most of it in one way or another over the last few years. Replace a hdd here, a PSU there. And I've swapped over the motherboards and cpu on a couple of old pc's. But to build one from scratch could be a challenge, lol.

 

[jamiehard1989]

or this

Intel Pentium G3258, BitFenix Neos Black - System Build - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

same again just need psu and windows

for building a pc just have a look at youtube or people build logs as most will show step by step

 

[moonbeam120]

Look in the classifieds. You might pick up a i5/i7 Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPU, mobo and RAM for under £200. Still very capable systems. Leaves enough to buy Windows and maybe even a better GPU.

 

[joeblgs]

Thanks jamie that's great. We could also use the Sapphire HD 7700 in those or would the on board graphics be OK?

 

[jamiehard1989]

im not sure whats better the onboard or the 7700 and does your son only play arma 3 if so i would be getting the intel build

 

[joeblgs]

At the moment he doesn't play anything intensive as he knows it'll probably struggle (as Arma 3 does a bit) but looking at a 'gaming' pc he'd like to maybe play the odd new one but not necessarily on high settings. He's not around atm to ask unfortunately.

moonbeam, thanks for that, I'll take a look there but I'm not to clued up on cpus and mobos etc so wouldn't know what to look for when it comes to it I'm afraid

 

[Foster]

I would go with what moonbeam said.

 

[jamiehard1989]

arma 3 likes stronger cores and AMD cannot do that plus the game is a bad port so can i only use 2 cores i think it is

 

[joeblgs]

I have a few ideas here to think about. Thanks all for your help... I appreciate it.

 

[joeblgs]

Me again, my son has decided to go for the Intel package that you posted jamie. I have a couple of questions...he's thinking of upgrading to the Asrock Z97 Pro4 (instead of the H97) for overclocking purposes (in case he decides he wants to in the future) there's not much difference in price. Any reason we shouldn't use that mobo, in terms of compatibilty.

Also, when building a pc is there anything else I need to get in terms of cables (I have all my cables in my current machine to use) but are there cables from the case to the mobo that i need to get or does all that usually come with a new case and how about cpu paste or any other 'bits and bobs'?

Thanks again

 

[jamiehard1989]

that board is fine and i was not sure if he was going to overclock, im just in the middle of playing bf4 so will reply in a bit

 

[joeblgs]

He wasn't going to overclock but after researching the options you gave, everywhere was talking about overclocking the G3258 so he decided to get the other mobo so he has that option.
Will be ordering the parts soon and quite looking forward to putting it together. May well be back here during it, lol.

 

[joeblgs]

Sorry, another question. I've ordered all the parts except the memory. Apparently the G3258 only supports 1333mhz ram and the HyperX Fury you mentioned is 1866mhz.. Should I get the 1333mhz version of the same brand do you think?
Thanks

 

[moonbeam120]

Sorry, another question. I've ordered all the parts except the memory. Apparently the G3258 only supports 1333mhz ram and the HyperX Fury you mentioned is 1866mhz.. Should I get the 1333mhz version of the same brand do you think?
Thanks

Unless it's significantly cheaper (it won't be) then no. Your motherboard will clock the RAM at 1333 Mhz.

You will have the added advantage that if he upgrades to an i3/i5/i7 he'll be able to take advantage of the higher frequency the 1866 RAM is capable of. So a bit of a no brainer really.

 

[sykotik]

He wasn't going to overclock but after researching the options you gave, everywhere was talking about overclocking the G3258 so he decided to get the other mobo so he has that option.
Will be ordering the parts soon and quite looking forward to putting it together. May well be back here during it, lol.

i have that g3258, in my htpc which is OC to 4.2mhz , on a msi z97 gaming arc and 1600mhz corsair vengeance ram with a evga gtx 950 ssc and all work perfectly fine.

 

[joeblgs]

That was quick... Superb, thanks moonbeam!

 

[joeblgs]

OK, I have all the hardware (apart from the SSD and PSU I'm using from my current PC) and I'm still waiting on the new Win 7.
I don't have enough time atm to strip my current PC and build the new one. I have a couple of hours this evening I thought I'd give myself a head start and install the new motherboard with CPU, cooler and the RAM in the new case...I then won't have time to finish it for 4 days minimum.
This sounds like a silly question but is it alright to leave it sitting around for a few days like this or should I wait until I have the time and do it all in one hit. I'm thinking is it OK for the CPU cooler to be sitting on the new CPU with the thermal paste for this long without any power? Does the paste need some heat to 'set' so to speak?

Thanks