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£500 Gaming machine

Superhudd

Superhudd

Simon Davies
Is it possible?

Having bought my machine some 3+ years ago and spent around 1200 on it I was wondering whether I could build the same today with the same spec but a lot less money.

Below is the spec I bought. So the challenge getting the same or better for 500. I guess the best way of getting equivalent is by using sites that benchmark rate everything. Please chime in if you think there is a much cheaper product available that is better that I list as a possible replacement.


CASE: CoolerMaster Elite 310 Mid Tower Gaming Case with see-thru side panel

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 930 2.80GHz 8 MB cache LGA1366 ***Overclockable XXX***

CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE (BLACK COLOR)

CD2: LG BH10LS30 10X Internal Blu-Ray Disc Rewriter & HD DVD-ROM Drive

FAN: Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System For Intel LGA1366(Extreme Cooling
Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)***Overclockable XXX***

HDD: 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache Hard Drive (Single Hard Drive)

MOTHERBOARD: Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel
DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA, GbLAN, USB2.0, IEEE1394a, &7.1Audio
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

MEMORY: 6GB (3x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Triple Channel Memory (Corsair Value

NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD

OS: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

POWERSUPPLY: 700 Watts Power Supplies (SLI / CrossFire Ready Quad Rail Power

USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX470 1280MB 16X PCI Express
 
Lets start with the most important part.. the graphics card.

According to this site, its given the NVIDIA GeForce GTX470 a benchmark score of 3,541

Looking at the same page I would like to go a good 500 - 1000pts better.

This takes us to a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 at a benchmark score of 4115

Current card is # 30

New card is # 19

Price of GTX 660 = £170 I would like to replace like for like but you just cannot buy the 470 anywhere. And it seems if the older cards are still about they seem to retain there value. Can see this being a stuggle. The good news is that even after three years the 470 card is basically holding it own still.

EDIT PRICE CHANGE

£153

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EVGA-NVID...-0-HDMI-/310720282219?clk_rvr_id=527642493999
 
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Boonie said:
You will not get near the original for £500 mate.
Click to expand...

I think you are probably right, I think the problem is that stores don't keep old stock that gets cheaper.

There is instances I have found online like the below link for around £600 on Amazon, with the Graphics card that I have replaced which makes me wonder if it can be done. Lets see how that CPU on that machine stands up against my CPU

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007I7H1IM/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers#productDetails


So looking at the two CPUs

New - AMD FX-6300 - Benchmark score of 6400 - rank 141

OLD - Intel i7 930 2.80GHz - Benchmark score of 5182 - rank 200

Interesting that difference. I am aiming for a better benchmark of 500-1000 each time and that chip is over that.

On a quick search the new chip rolls in at £85

Interesting because when I bought the original chip the price was if I remember rightly £250!
 
Last item to check tonight.

The Hard drive.

OLD - SAMSUNG HD103SJ - Benchmark score of 629 - rank 1199! - Standalone price £58 It resides in the High Mid Range Drives

AMAZON DESKTOP - SEAGATE ST2000DM001 - Benchmark score of 1134 - rank 695 - Standalone price £65

So benchmark fits the 500-1000 criteria, but the price is around the same, but you get a lot more bang for your buck. Everything screams at me that the new Amazon SEAGATE HD is better.
 
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Price so far, three important components done, next I'll look at the Motherboard and RAM

£153---NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
£85----AMD FX-6300
£65----SEAGATE ST2000DM001

____

£335
 
Just out of interest (because I'm nosey), is this just a theoretical exercise Hudd, or you actually looking to spend the money?
 
Seedy Ron said:
Just out of interest (because I'm nosey), is this just a theoretical exercise Hudd, or you actually looking to spend the money?
Click to expand...

My Nephew wants a desktop, and longterm I want to show him how to build one. I guess this is the first throws of doing so. Basically understanding that you really don't need to over pay. I don't see gaming on PCs getting that much more than it is right now over the next two years, well especially for software it won't like photoshop. My Nephew is only 9 and IMO it would be good to get him into softwares at an early age. Gaming is secondary really. I would like to think that we can upgrade when its needed later down the line.

These three videos are really great for building, IMO the best series on Youtube I have seen.

[video=youtube;lPIXAtNGGCw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw&feature=share&list=PL1D956F192DA16022[/video]
[video=youtube_share;d_56kyib-Ls]http://youtu.be/d_56kyib-Ls[/video]
[video=youtube_share;RxaVBsXEiok]http://youtu.be/RxaVBsXEiok[/video]
 
I like the idea of building my own machine, but never had the nads/gumption to do it yet. I'd always tend towards using a firm like Chillblast or, from beyond the grave, Evesham (what a mistake-a to make-a that was).

I'll have a watch of the vids though, might inspire me.
 
I hate it went people dismiss AMD just because they're cheaper. The AMD chips are great value for money and perform admirably. Sure they don't beat the current i7's but when you're looking for a budget system you can't go wrong. Plus they're so easy to OC with minimal risk you often surpass the next couple of models up of the one you buy.

This is a pretty useful website I use for upgrading my PC. It lists the cheapest prices for each component

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

Also have a read of this:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,review-32781.html
 
[video=youtube;LuzWUCXp5Ro]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuzWUCXp5Ro[/video]

Another fantastic video to watch. Probably better because he gets the camera right in there when doing the Front case cables.
 
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As gaming is secondary then dropping the cpu to 2500k (poss the best anyways for a gaming rig) and the gpu to a lower version means that you would get sub 500 quite easy really.

Obviously not the "same" spec but for the needs then more than suitable.
 
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