Build Advice Introducing the sub £310 PC that can play games!

This is system and video memory however, just curious what impact a single 4GB or possibly two 2GB modules would have on gaming with the AMD APU.

 

I think faster RAM would make a greater difference than going from 4-8GB in this case, but it would need testing

 

I thought the A10 was 6-series

 

Google search says otherwise

 

Its VLIW4 based but marketed as part of the 7 series.

384 Stream processors at 800+ Mhz IIRC.

Nit picking but a PS3 can be had for under £200 (500GB SLIM).

 

Fair enough, I guess its not relevant really but everyone here would have a formidable steam library (would costs me thousands to replace with PS games)

 

But the PS3 only has a 3.2GHz CPU, 256MB RAM and a 550MHz GPU with 256MB VRAM.

 

Slashed the cost even further with the below alternative build...

£34.28 Fractal Design Core 1000 Series Micro ATX Case - Black Pearl (Amazon.co.uk)
£52.00 Be Quiet Pure Power L8 430W Modular PSU (ebuyer.com)
£91.96 AMD A10 5800K Black Edition 3.8GHz Socket FM2 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor (ebuyer.com)
£37.60 MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Motherboard (scan.co.uk)
£26.50 Crucial Ballistix BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU 8GB (4GB x2) DDR3 Memory Kit (Amazon.co.uk)
£29.10 Samsung HN-M250MBB 250GB 2.5" 8MB CACHE 5400RPM HARD DRIVE (scan.co.uk)

Brings the total down to £271.44! At that price could sneak in an Antec One case or perhaps an SSD!

 

It's amazing what you can get for c.£300 - PS3what?

 

And still plays games at reasonable settings at 720p, much like what this build is aiming for. It is also much smaller, and probably more power efficient and quieter.

 

But also unable to do many of the things easily acheiveable with a PC

 

I agree, but purely for gaming, (also good for tv, music etc) a ps3 does win when on a small budget <£300

 

What is the world coming to??? lol

 

Purely for gaming a ps3 sucks for me, fps on a controller is aids and besides CoH 2 is out soon

 

Cost of games is a factor too. Although could be avoided if you don't buy anything < 1 year old.

 

Sense

(Btw I don't actually own a console, I just think a 'gaming pc' for less than say £300 isn't worth all the compromises that are made.)

 

You can lower the cost of the case even further if you order to collect from Maplin and apply the £3 discount voucher code "AWINDIS4"

http://www.maplin.co.uk/fractal-design-core-1000-micro-atx-case-black--626644

 

Excellent find!

So that takes it down to £31.99 and they even deliver at this price so that's eligible for inclusion in the build. At this price I just nipped out and picked up a Fractal Core 1000 for myself from Maplins! I have to say the build quality actually surprised me, it's much better than I had been led to believe from reading reviews. Lots of neat features to boot; one that struck me was the fact the front panel can be detached with the I/O still hard wired to the case. So you really only detach the front with the 120mm fan and not the entire ensemble of wires! Small detail but it makes all the difference.

 

Tinkering a little more and now it has a Windows 8 Operating System for under £300!

£24.99 Windows 8 Operating System Download and Key (microsoftstore.com/UK/Windows_8)
£31.99 Fractal Design Core 1000 Series Micro ATX Case - Black Pearl (maplins.co.uk) (using voucher code AWINDIS4)
£49.98 OCZ Technology PSU, ModXStream Pro, 500W (dabs.com)
£91.96 AMD A10 5800K Black Edition 3.8GHz Socket FM2 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor (ebuyer.com)
£37.60 MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Motherboard (scan.co.uk)
£26.99 Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (novatech.co.uk)
£29.10 Samsung HN-M250MBB 250GB 2.5" 8MB CACHE 5400RPM HARD DRIVE (scan.co.uk)

 

I'm really interested in building something like this for a HTPC / gaming rig; so nice work

But I'd like to have a mini ITX board.

Does anyone know if there is an FM2 Mini ITX Board?