t’s no longer necessary to constantly upgrade your PC if you want to play the latest games. Modern PC games rarely push the bounds of modern technology (the last such game being Crysis: Warhead) and thus older PCs now remain viable gaming platforms.
Nonetheless, there comes a time when you want to upgrade or replace your gaming PC in its entirety. And this is when you go looking for new parts and start assembling a new gaming system…
In this quarterly feature I highlight a reasonably priced gaming PC to give you a helping hand in this process. If you’re not quite convinced of your hardware knowledge, want a quick look at what’s reasonable in today’s market or just want to assemble a working and capable gaming PC, then this is where you want to be.
There have been a lot of changes in the hardware market since the last time I wrote an article like this. Hardware prices have skyrocketed during the last few months and building a quality gaming system on a budget is no longer as easy as it once was.
That is what this guide is for of course, so I’ve tried to assemble a reasonably priced system that can run any modern game well and will continue to so for the foreseeable future. It’s not the least expensive gaming system out there, but it will provide you with the most value for your money. Lower end hardware is available, but invariably performs significantly worse while shaving off a few dozen euro of the price at most.
Also keep these tips in mind while exploring this quarter’s budget gaming PC:
- Take a look at your current system for things that can be salvaged. You’ll probably be able to use the computer case, DVD burner, harddisk drives and possibly even the power supply. This can save you a lot of money.
- No accessories are included. You’ll need to purchase a monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, speakers & operating system separately.
- This article presumes that you will do home assembly, but most computer shops offer pre-assembly for a minimal fee (usually 40-70 euro).
- You can save on shipping costs by ordering everything from a single webshop.
- See this article for an assortment of tips on hardware selection and home assembly.
Q2 2010 Budget Gaming System
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 81,- EUR Processor AMD Phenom II X4 955 130,- EUR Graphics Card Sapphire Radeon HD5850 241,- EUR Memory (RAM)
Kingston ValueRAM DDR3 4GB KVR1333D3N9K2/4G 97,- EUR Hard Disk Drive Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 53,- EUR DVD-Writer Sony AD-7240S 18,- EUR Power Supply OCZ Fatal1ty 550Watt 70,- EUR Computer Case
Antec Three Hundred 47,- EUR Total 737,- EUR
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3
A good AM3 motherboard with plenty of SATA connectors and DDR3 support. It also supports USB 3.0 and SATA-600, which should be ideal for new SATA hard disk drives and USB devices.
Note that it does not support Crossfire and SLI, so you can only have a single video card mounted on this motherboard!
Processor
AMD Phenom II X4 955
A high performance quad core processor at much lower price point than Intel’s Core i5 and i7 series.
Modern games are all performance locked by graphics cards at higher detail levels (which is what we’re going for), so there is no point to purchasing a more expensive CPU. Even the most powerful Core i7 CPU does not gain a single FPS over this budget processor in games like Crysis, Far Cry 2 or Dawn of War 2.
The only viable reason for upgrading from this CPU would be if you’re interested in doing a lot of video rendering and heavy duty number crunching (e.g.: BOINC).
Graphics Card
Sapphire Radeon HD5850
A very powerful graphics card that can handle any modern game with ease. It also features DirectX11 support so with this card you’re set for the foreseeable future.
This was the most difficult component to select, because there really are no reasonable budget cards with DirectX 11 support. Nvidia has no budget cards worth mentioning and the HD5830 comes in at 30-40 euro less, but also heavily underperforms (10-25% performance difference).
If you’re truly strapped for cash then you might opt for a HD4870. This older generation still performs quite reasonably, coming in at roughly 60-65% of what the HD5850 has to offer. But more importantly, you’ll save 100 euro.
Memory (RAM)
Kingston ValueRAM DDR3 4GB KVR1333D3N9K2/4G
A vital component of a modern computer, but even more so than the CPU this is a very overvalued aspect of a gaming PC.
There is absolutely no discernible performance difference (in gaming) between these budget modules and the most expensive DDR3 memory modules, so I opted for these.
Don’t let anyone talk you into purchasing high performance RAM modules, it’s never worth it.
Hard Disk Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB
An extremely high performance hard disk drive that even gives Western Digital’s Raptor’s a run for their money. It’s also very stable and does not produce a lot of noise. I use a 1TB version myself and it’s still the best value for money in hard disk land.
There really is very little to save here, but you might opt for more storage space. There are 640GB and 1TB variants of this hard disk drive which come in at similarly low prices.
DVD-Writer
Sony AD-7240S
There’s not a lot to say here. Any cheap DVD writer from a reputable brand will do.
Power Supply
OCZ Fatal1ty 550Watt
A very high performance power supply with sufficient juice to run this system comfortably.
If you intend to add in a lot of additional hard disk drives or attach numerous external devices (e.g.: Philips amBX) then you’ll want to purchase a ModXStream 600 Watt instead.
Computer Case
Antec Three Hundred
The Antec Three Hundred computer case is cheap, has good airflow and leaves plenty of room for additional drives. Few budget cases are quite this good, but this is hardly the most important component of your gaming PC. Any case will do really, provided that it has sufficient space for an ATX motherboard and HD5850 graphics card.
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I picked out a bunch of computer parts and did lots of research on each part comparing benchmarks and whatnot, when I found this. Now if I get this system I could save about $400+ but I can’t really figure out if I should. I just want to have a powerful computer to play games. I’m not real interested in overclocking or anything. Here’s my original pick.
Case:Cooler Master HAF 922
Motherboard:Asus P6TSE LGA1366/ Intel X58
CPU:Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz
Ram:6GB G.Skill Ripjaws
Graphics card:XFX Radeon HD 5850 1GB
Cooling:Titan Fenrir Universal CPU Cooler
PSU:Corsair 750HX (Modular)
It seems I got caught up in thinking bigger numbers meant better performance.
In most cases bigger numbers do result in better performance. However, if you’re simply interested in gaming, then bigger numbers aren’t always of import.
In this case, you might want to reconsider the processor/motherboard combination that you’ve selected. Almost every game’s framerate is determined solely by the video card these days. That is to say if you’re running them in high detail, which I’m sure is your intention. In most games an expensive Core i7 930 won’t outperform the cheap Phenom II X4 955 processor at all.
On top of that, none of the games the Core i7 outperforms a Phenom in (Dawn of War 2 for example) are especially demanding. You will not see any performance gain in games like Bad Company 2, Crysis, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033 or World in Conflict. As a result, you’re better off getting something a little less expensive – a Core i5 or AMD Phenom – and using the rest of the money for a better video card, actual games, or a solid state hard disk.
Do note that it’s an entirely different ball game if you’re into software/game development or video rendering, in that case a Core i7 would be a much better choice.
Okay, a Solid State Hard Disk as your system disk doesn’t do much for in-game performance. It does immensely speed up booting of windows, loading of games and loading of new levels and game assets. Still, SSDs are very expensive, so it’s probably best left for a future upgrade. They’re dropping in price steadily, so in a few years SSDs may come in at acceptable rates.
Some other things you may want to look into are the RAM modules and cooling. You don’t need a special cooling fan if you’re not into overclocking. Stock coolers, especially for Intel processors, work fine – even for moderate overclocking.
As for the memory modules: 6GB is a great idea, but G Skill may not be. It’s a premium brand so you may want to look into Corsair or Kingston modules instead. It will save you some money at no performance, quality or stability loss whatsoever.
Well I decided to just go with the budget setup in this topic. I figured I don’t need the extra processing power if it’s not gonna help me in game. Although I am going to be doing a little bit of game developing such as map making/compiling but I don’t mind it not being as fast as it can ever be. But I do have a few more questions.
Should I get the saphire 5850 or the xfx 5850? The xfx costs a good bit less and I don’t really have a preference for either one.
Will the stock coolers be fine? I was going to get the Titan Fenrir cooler for the AMD processor. I may or may not oc it but it just depends how I feel.
And the reason I chose the G Skill because it costs the same as the kingston but I was told it was better.
There is no difference between the Sapphire and XFX versions of the HD5850. As for the brands themselves, both XFX and Sapphire are reputable brands, so if you can save money by buying a XFX then go for it!
The AMD processor needs to stay under 62 degrees Celcius, which the stock cooler is capable of at default clock values. It also allows for mild overclocking, but I highly doubt the insane 3.8GHz and 3.9GHz figures that some have claimed with default cooling. You’d need a separate cooler for that. I’ve also heard tell that it may be a rather noisy stock cooler, so if you’d like something a little quieter then the Titan Fenrir would probably be a good idea as well.
As for memory, if prices are equal then go for G Skill. They use slightly better quality components and I’ve heard their service is excellent (not that you’re likely to need it). The whole latency and clock business doesn’t matter much for gaming at all. I’ll cover that in an article today, because I’ve found something interesting over at Tom’s Hardware.
That sounds great. I actually saved about $30 by getting the xfx card instead. Here’s my shopping list now.
Case:Cooler Master HAF 922 ($99.98)
Mobo:GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 ($139.99)
CPU:AMD Phenom II X4 955 ($159.99)
RAM:G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB ($108.99)
Graphics:XFX Radeon HD 5850 1GB ($299.99)
HDD:Western Digital Caviar Black 500gb ($63.10)
PSU:OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ($84.99)
Total:$957
Adding the titan cooler will just be an extra $50.