My friend has been looking for a new gaming rig recently as his system is getting on a little. He is primarily an MMO player and is looking to play Gw2 and The Secret World, along with older titles. His current rig has an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 paired with a Nvidea GeForce GT130 1.5GB and a resolution of 1900x1200. He wants the older rig to stay intact so it can be passed on so there is nothing that can be salvaged, he doesn't need or a monitor or such like only a basic system. He gave me a budget of around £600 to work with so I came up with this: http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/9444074432044b3ab5f03c19638d3712 Any advice on what I have suggested? Will there be a notable difference over his current system?
I'll answer the last question first. Yes it'll knock the pants off what he's got now. The build, itself, is fine, given the budget, but I would seriously try to get him to stretch to a better mobo. It is a real budget board. It's not so much lack of features, but general quality, and it's reputedly c**p for overclocking (on that subject, I see you've not included aftermarket CPU cooler), but as he's having a "K" CPU, he might want to later. An extra £30, or so, could get something so much better.
Agree with the above it seems a shame to not try and get a slightly better motherboard with the other components you have chosen - also a CPU cooler. One thing I do note is that the GPU is on pre-order. As of a nor you can get the same GPU (albeight made by Sapphire) for the same cost now at Novatech. Just a thou if you are keen to order spoon.
Thanks for the feedback. I explained to him about using the reference cooler just now and upgrading a little down the line, were trying to keep the initial outlay as close to target as possible so he is happy to go down that route. Ill do some further investigation into the mother board and see if I can come up with something. I picked it because it was the one recommended in CustomPC's mid-price gaming pc set up, rather than what I have read. @Hoochy - I noticed that, I only kept it on so that I could show him what the total cost would be altogether, thanks ! Im not sure if there are any areas I can cut back further, is the best bet for a motherboard just to shell out a little more money for something with more headroom?
There's not a lot of scope to save on components, themselves. You could, possibly, save a bit on RAM, but it's hardly worth it. If you are buying the components, you qualify for free Scan delivery. If you feel confident in your abilities, you could leave out the insurance, but then sods law.... You could, of course, save a couple of quid, by shopping around, but then you would lose the Scan insurance. Can't really suggest much else, except that you can get a much better mobo, for around £100. Gigabyte are probably your best option, possibly Asrock. Stick with Z77, if you can.
