Hardware & Technical PC on a budget advice thread

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Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
Ok, I like many of us can't afford to throw money at a top end gaming rig.
(The joys of being a fulltime single dad. :rolleyes:)

I thought it might be useful as ED is nearing Alpha for those who need to upgrade componants to be helped out by the forum members.

Currently I've got the following:

Antec 300 Case
Dual Core 2.7ghz
5gb ddr2
Nvidia 9800gt
400w psu (I think)
1tb Hdd

To be fair it's done pretty well and it's still been just about able to run most things but it's getting a bit creaky now.

I'll need to upgrade the Motherboard/CPU/Memory and Graphics Card.

I think the case and psu will be alright for now.

So any suggestions on what would be good componants to use to upgrade? And of course any bargins out there?


Feel free to add your systems etc.. :D
 

Darren Grey

Darren Grey
Ooh, I've been thinking the same! I've got:

Intel Q6600 (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache
4GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 RAM
Radeon 4850 512MB GDDR3

Obviously the graphics card is a big weak point. But can I get away with just upgrading it? I'm aware my CPU/RAM aren't great either. But a change in processor means a whole motherboard/RAM update, which means I may as well be buying a whole new computer. In comparison just buying a new graphics card is fairly cheap. Any advice from the more technically minded?

T.j, if you're beefing up your graphics card you'll definitely need a better PSU. And I reckon your dual core ain't too up to scratch either :-/
 

Geraldine

Geraldine
I would definitely recommend one of the Intel "i series" CPUs, i5 or if you can i7. At present I have an Quad Core AMD Bulldozer CPU and it has thrown up a few problems in the past with some games. I hope ED wont be among them. :S

Also I had used Nvidia cards for years, but again (with this present AMD system) I made the switch over to the ATI HD series. Again I've hit problems with certain games I never had before on my old Intel/Nvidia based XP machine.

I am sure I will be ok, but if I was building a machine now, Intel/Nvidia (with windows 64 bit 7 or 8) would be my choice. As for components, well your budget will set that. Basically try and get the best stuff you can. SSD drives can make a big difference too in making the most of your setup. I don't have one of those yet and my present standard SATA hard drives are a real bottleneck.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
Lol so it looks as if the only think I'll be keeping is the case. :D

I'm not 100% sure on the PSU I'll have to check.

So a min requirement on processor and M/board looks to be a i5.

I've had Nvidia for a while as I also had issues with ATI so I'll probably stick with Nvidia.
 

Nagual

Nagual
For roughly 350 quid.. it's not too bad at all. I'd aim for more RAM if possible though. The Graphics card is good enough for most things I'd think. Not had an AMD for a while now, can't say how well they run. Intel are better but you pay a lot more for them, however that doesn't mean that AMD are bad, most definitely not. Many reviews / mags etc often look down on AMD systems, however I've read a few well thought out reviews of AMD systems, and they say they work well. The CPU there is comparable to a i5, sort of.. :)
 

Geraldine

Geraldine
Intel bundles might be the way to go, as in, mobo CPU & Graphics card. This time last year they had loads! :S Everything else you can pick up later. I am guessing your working around the £400 mark. Keep hunting ;)

And yes AMDs are fine, but if I had the choice again I'd stick with Intel.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
This is the kind of info I/we need. :D

and yep thats the kind of budget the kids piggyba....I'm working on. :rolleyes:
Anything else?
 

Aewarin Jameson

Aewarin Jameson
T.j said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?catid=&prodid=FS-344-OE
Click to expand...


Stock video card (GT620) will not cut it sorry.

GT640* upwards ... more is better.



*Disclaimer: Michael said GT285 or better. On that website I linked before it scored 1253 points. The GT640 scored 1283 so that's probably the absolute minimum however I offer no guarantee. He did say that with more oomph the game looks much better so it all depends on the kind of experience you want.
 
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Slawkenbergius

Slawkenbergius
That graphics card looks really poor. When looking at Nvidia cards, the most important digit is the second one. So even Michael's 285 is likely to be much better than a 620. The 285 was probably a decent card in its day. The 620 has never been.
 

Rogehans

Rogehans
If I were to upgrade I would go AMD *more bang for your buck*
You can pick up a cheap FX CPU for peanuts and they are fine for games I have one never let me down
pick up a good asus mobo make sure its sata 3!
corsair vengence memory
and spend as much money on the GPU you can afford a HD 7850 2GB or nvidia 660ti should run ED in 1920X1080 fine with all the eye candy!
+ an SSD 6MB+ Sata 3 if you can.. then your good to go
Cheers n beers
Roger
 
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Calico Jack

C
Another gamer on a budget here.

www.hotukdeals.com is a good place to look for cheap graphics cards and components. There are a lot of GT 650 ti, GTX 660, GTX 670 or HD 7790, HD 7870 or HD 7950 deals on there that would suit a build for Elite Dangerous.

What do people think about something like this?

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/xfx...a-138-73-inc-delivery-1681968?page=2#comments

I currently have 2x 460 768mb in sli (that I bought of ebay) and think I will probably have to chop them in for a GPU with 2gb of memory...
 

Rogehans

Rogehans
Calico Jack said:
Another gamer on a budget here.

www.hotukdeals.com is a good place to look for cheap graphics cards and components. There are a lot of GT 650 ti, GTX 660, GTX 670 or HD 7790, HD 7870 or HD 7950 deals on there that would suit a build for Elite Dangerous.

What do people think about something like this?

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/xfx...a-138-73-inc-delivery-1681968?page=2#comments

I currently have 2x 460 768mb in sli (that I bought of ebay) and think I will probably have to chop them in for a GPU with 2gb of memory...
Click to expand...

Thats a good card you cant go wrong 7870 tahiti edition should chew up ED in max settings
 
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