Been looking at PC builds, £700 budget, can't make a decision... help please?

[BadgerHazza]

Hey everyone,

I was recommended to this website by a couple of friends who have used it in the past. I've had a look at options for a gaming PC but I'm not sure what exactly would be best to include on a build in my budget of £700. I'm not looking to be able to play every game on maximum settings at 60FPS etc, just something that will be able to play most games nicely for a few years to come. So, I've come here looking for help, plus a few questions:

1. CPU - I've been looking at the i5 series, is there much difference between 2400 and 2500/2500k?
2. Motherboard - I don't know a lot about motherboards, just that they hold all the parts together really. Will I need an expensive one for gaming?
3. Graphics Card - Purely from a gaming standpoint, which is better: nVidia or Radeon?

Some details to note: I don't need a monitor as I have a decent one already. I have antivirus software already, so no need for that. Also, no need for peripherals except for some loudspeakers, cheap ones will do me fine to keep everything in-budget!

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

 

[Corfate]

It'll be hard to get a good intel rig in for £700 with an i5. I'll spec up both, and post them here for you.

Intel:


Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2400 Quad Core (3.10GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 550 Ti - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £680.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/

The GPU in that really isn't good, but it's all i could put in to keep a budget of £700.

AMD:


Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER QUAD CORE FX-4170 (4.20GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A78L-M/USB3: M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £703.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/

The AMD has a much better GPU than the Intel spec. Need to remember, the GPU is more important than the CPU for gaming

 

[BadgerHazza]

That second build looks a lot better - I take it AMD is much better for gaming that Intel?

 

[Corfate]

That second build looks a lot better - I take it AMD is much better for gaming that Intel?

The other way round actually Intel CPU's are better for gaming, but carry the price tag to show. An AMD system will play games absolutely fine though

 

[BadgerHazza]

I see, so an i5 with 560ti would be better than AMD and 560ti? Obviously out of budget, but just wondering

 

[Corfate]

I see, so an i5 with 560ti would be better than AMD and 560ti? Obviously out of budget, but just wondering

Correct

Amd is more bang for your buck, so to speak

 

[vanthus]

I dont think you would notice much difference if any with an AMD CPU as far as gaming goes,
I have an AMD so thats just my opinion.I would go with Corfates second spec,
just add speakers and dont bother with the antivirus trial as you already have software.