Budget Gaming Rig

Pada said:
I have a Core i7 860, 4GB RAM and a HD 5670 and I can't even play CoD4 with decent framerates at high quality. I have to play the game at low quality @ 1024x768 to get more than 60fps.
I've bought a GTX 460 768MB for like R2200 a couple of months ago and that allowed me to play CoD4 at maximum detail on 1680x1050 on a Pentium 4 3GHz, although the framerate wasn't that hot.
Now my gaming PC has 2x GTX 460's :D

From my experience, I can tell you that it is DEFINITELY worth it to spend more on a decent graphics card. The same goes for people spending R10k+ on a gaming rig. Like you often see that people spend R10k on a PC, and then simply spending R1k-R2k more, you would actually double your framerate!
I would really advise you to get AT LEAST an AMD HD 6850 or save till you can afford it.

The CPU that Ancalagon suggested is pretty useless when it comes to gaming, seeing that it has no Level 3 cache. Also, it's not necessary to spend R1200 on a motherboard that has USB3, when you can get one without USB3 for much less.
I've had a motherboard with USB3 since the beginning of this year and I've never ever used it.
Click to expand...

My CPU doesnt have level 3 cache - its an Athlon 2 X4 630. Yet it runs StarCraft II, Supreme Commander, BioShock 2, Fallout 3, Crysis, etc etc.

Yes, L3 cache helps. Its about a 20% help. The problem is it comes with close to a 100% price premium. nearly 100% extra CPU cost for 20% performance gain? No thanks.

The USB3 mobo is only because it was good as far brand, price, chipset and upgradability (4 ram slots, full size ATX) go. I didnt choose it specifically because of USB3.

And you miss the point - the OP does not have R10k, or R12k, to spend on a PC. It would be nice if he did, in case I would recommend an i7 and a 6870, but he doesnt.
 
OK, so what about :

AMD Athlon II X2 3.0 Ghz - R621
ASUS M4A785-M AMD 785G Motherboard - R877
Gigabyte Case - R250
Power Supply - R314
Seagate 500GB - R370
HD5450 1GB - R618
2GB RAM - R511
DVD Writer - R156
Windows 7 Home Premium - R960

TOTAL R4677

Got most of the prices from Sybaritic, and this is actually within my budget.
 
I still say second hand off carbonite/gumtree/BoB or you should just go the console route..
 
If you can push your budget a bit, I would look at a better PSU and graphics card (at least a 5550). But if thats all you can afford, then thats all you can afford.
 
OK, from Wootware :

AMD Athlon II X2 3.1 Ghz - R684
Asus AM3/2+ nforce 630a - R547
Coolermaster - R355
Corsair PSU - R478
Seagate 500GB - R399
Samsung 22X - R192
2GB RAM - R425
Radeon HD5550 512MB - R794
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit - R981

TOTAL R4 855

Also, if I may ask, what would be better between a HD5550 512MB and a HD5450 1GB. Specifically about the graphics memory. Is the 5550 still better to get?
 
Thanks Ancalagon. Seems I was a bit off about the difference between the AMD CPU's with & without L3 cache when it comes to gaming.

In most games, you will barely notice the difference between the dual & quad core CPU's, but with some you will notice a massive difference in framerate.
See http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/121?vs=143 (AMD Athlon X2 255 vs Intel Core i3 530) <-- This webpage allow you to compare basically any CPU vs another CPU. Unfortunately they have a very limited amount of games they compare!

Snoopimaru: I would rather not go for that rig that you posted from Sybaritic. eg. the gfx card is utterly useless and the RAM is very expensive! The one you posted from Wootware is OK, but you're really pushing it to get a "gaming" PC with Windows 7 for under R5k! Anything below the HD 5670, you might as well just go for onboard graphics and not play games at all!

Scout for complete PC's on classifieds like Carbonite/Gumtree.
 
Last edited:
Here's a decent article on the cards.

According to this, which has more detail on what the 5550 actually is, compared to the 5570 and 5450, it has about 5 times the shader processors.

Remember, graphics card performance is determined by the actual chip itself (the GPU) and its memory. In the case of the 5550 512MB, the lower amount of memory wont matter because the chip is so much faster. So, the 5550 is worth it.
 
OK, for now I'll drop the Windows 7 and just continue with my XP until I can get W7.

So then I can get :
AMD Athlon II Dual Core 260 3.2 Ghz - R671
ASUS M4N75TD Motherboard - R810
Radeon HD5670 1GB - R1050
Coolermaster RC370 - R326
Corsair 400W - R429
Seagate 500GB - R348
4GB RAM - R655
Samsung 22X - R156

TOTAL - R4 445 (prices from Rebeltech)

This will be my last attempt at getting a PC within budget, and even then, the next item I have to buy is Windows, then a LCD.

I feel good about this one :)
 
This is the rig that I would recommend, but it seems like the shipping costs would bite you in the ass here... compared to the free shipping from Prophecy.co.za when you order items worth more than R1500.

The cheapest place that I've seen for motherboards and CPU's arehttp://pcint.co.za/components.php :
Asus P7H55-MLX (socket 1156) motherboard @ R774
Intel Core i3-540 @ R894
2GB DDRIII-1333 Kingston @ R318
500GB-7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA II (Seagate) @ R340
DVD Writer 22/12x DL SATA @ R147
subtotal: R2,473 (incl VAT, excl shipping)

From http://www.wootware.co.za/:
CoolerMaster RC-310-BKN1, Elite 310, Black with Blue Highlight, No PSU @ R 340.00
Corsair CX430, Eps12V, ATX 12V V2.3 - 430W (12V : 336W) @ R 476.00
Microsoft DSP Windows 7 Home Basic - 64bit @ R 754.00
VTX3D Radeon HD6850 1GB PCI-E Graphics Card @ R 1,649.00
subtotal: R3,219 (incl VAT, excl shipping) * Shipping = R 171.00 (FedEx insured)
Total: R5,692 (incl VAT, excl shipping) / R4,938 (incl VAT, excl shipping & Windows)

That PC that you suggested from Rebeltech is OK, but I'm really not that fond of the CPU and GPU, but then again, you would really struggle to do better than that given your budget.
Btw: how much does RebelTech ask for shipping?

If you have a retail copy of WinXP, then you should be able to install it on your new PC, but just take note that you will only be able to access 3.25GB of RAM and not the full 4GB + it is limited to DirectX9.

What games do you want to play and what kind of framerates do you want?
 
Well, I'm not a performance junkie, so if I have to tune down the settings a bit and not have to wait an hour for loading time I'm happy as can be. I don't really watch framerates, as long as it's fluid and not too choppy.

I'm looking at Call of Duties, Fallout 3, Starcraft 2 etc.

This really looks to be the best I'll be able to do. I'll check out Rebeltech's shipping costs and post them. I can live with the limited RAM till I get W7.
 
Motherboard dependent, I prefer Pada's rig over Snoopimaru's, except for Win7 Home Basic which is just not worth buying. You can always add extra RAM later.
 
Ancalagon, what are you using in Windows 7 that Home Basic 64bit doesn't have?

Snoopimaru, you can still use your IDE DVD writer with that motherboard that you chose, so it shouldn't be necessary to get a new SATA DVD writer.
Since you're only playing DX9/10 games, you would get about 30% better framerate using the Nvidia GTS250 which goes for the same price as the HD 5670. eg. Innovision Nvidia GTS250 1GB GDDR3 256bit @ R1009.
See http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/HD_5670_1_GB/30.html for the benchmarks.

If the shipping costs are more than R200 at Rebeltech, then you might even get it cheaper from Prophecy Shop, due to their free shipping on stuff costing more than R1500. Prophecy Shop only takes EFT unfortunately.
 
Hmmm, apologies I didnt realize there was that little of a difference. Must have been thinking of Starter edition. I use Aero obviously, but I dont know if thats worth the difference in price.

EDIT: Wait, its 32 bit only. That makes it useless for me. And in fact for the OP if he wants to ever use more than 3.2 GB of RAM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions
 
Thanks guys, I think I can make an informed choice now.

Shipping at Rebeltech is R55, which is fine with me. I'll take a look at those benchmarks, thanks Pada.
 
The GTS250's framerate is definitely higher than the HD 5670's framerate, but then you're sacrificing a DirectX 11 card for a DirectX 10 one.
 
Pada said:
The GTS250's framerate is definitely higher than the HD 5670's framerate, but then you're sacrificing a DirectX 11 card for a DirectX 10 one.
Click to expand...

Yea but who wants to play dx 11 at low FPS? You just want a card to pump out FPS when you are limited. Honestly unless you stand still and look around you cannot see the difference to me.
 
If I were you, I would look into buying secondhand for www.carbonite.co.za. Almost all my stuff are bought there and never had a problem.

Alternatively, you can get something like this:

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor - R885.00
Asus M4N68T nForce 630a Motherboard - R666.00
Kingston DDR3-1333 2GB Memory Module - R317.00 x2
Club 3D CGAX-68524 Radeon HD6850 - R1938.00
Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.1 - R370.00
Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus RS-500-PCAR Power Supply - 500W - R493.00
Gigabyte Luxo X142 Chassis - R250.00
LG DVD-RW Combo - R162.00

Total: R5173

For R400 extra you can get a Phenom x4. You could also save on the ram, as I usually find 2gb sufficient for games. Shipping is usually about R150 extra to a mail box.

Prices gotten from Sybaritic.
 
Last edited:
+1 CoenraadJ, one of the better builds in this thread. Rather get a proper vga card, you can upsize your cpu at a later date if needed and its much cheaper than buying a new vga card :)
2bg ram is ok if gaming below 1680x1050, above that 4gb+ is a must especially on win7 64.
 
With the following rig (from Wootware) you might be lucky enough to unlock the X2 555 BE into a X4 945 !
Please note that I've left out the DVD Writer, because you can use your IDE DVD-writer with this motherboard. This motherboard that I've selected is really awesome: it's got 4 RAM slots, USB3 + SATA3 and allows unlocking of CPU cores (if you're lucky ofc).
VTX3D Radeon HD6850 1GB PCI-E Graphics Card @ R 1,649.00
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB 3.5" SATA2 Internal Drive @ R 396.00
Kingston ValueRam 2GB DDR3-1333 Desktop Memory @ R 338.00
GIGABYTE ODIN 470W 24-Pin Power Supply @ R 385.00
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 3.2GHz AM3/2+ 80W Dual-Core @ R 950.00
MSI 880GMA-E45 AM3 AMD 880G+SB850 M-ATX Integrated Desktop Motherboard @ R 969.00
Subtotal = R 4,687.00
Shipping (insured) = R 248.00 * This is a percentage of the Subtotal price!
Grand Total = R4,935.00​

If you really want to save a few bucks more, drop the SATA HDD and use your current hard drive!

I would actually rate the rig above as a decent gaming rig, unlike most of the stuff that we've previously posted :D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X