Thetownend.com

Hello TEF geeks,

I'm trying to spec up a new machine. I've been reading about the Intel G3258 chip which seems to have superb performance and overclocking capabilities for such a cheap option. When paired up with something like a GTX 750 TI the results look quite good.

For a barebones system this looks very well priced:

PCPartPicker part list (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/RNjft6) / Price breakdown by merchant (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/RNjft6/by_merchant/)

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646g3258)  (£51.99 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-h81mp33)  (£33.72 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-kvr16n118)  (£47.30 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp43757kr)  (£119.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx500m)  (£46.95 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £299.95

Anything I might've missed or not considered?

The cost of getting someone to put it together?

Hard drives
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=asc_df_B00461G3MS10337406?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B00461G3MS

The case
http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Components/cat/Computer-Cases/subcat/Mid-Tower-ATX-Cases

Fans
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/components-upgrades/cases-cooling/case-fans-coolers/324_3087_30168_xx_xx/xx-criteria.html

I can do that myself.

An OS?

I should've said that I've got a case that I can re-purpose and spare drives and fans. Ultimately I'll want to put an SSD in there, but just want to get it up and running first.

That's what I did. I got 2 500GB HDs meaning to get SSDs at some point. Yet to do that.

Some of us aren't you 4D.

I think the only drawbacks with the G3258 over something like an i7 are the fact it's not quad core and doesn't have hyperthreading - but then again the fact it's so easily overclockable and the price point (OH THE PRICE POINT) kind of make up for it.

For a Budget Rig Samdy that setup looks pretty nice.

I have absolutely no idea  what anyone is on about.

How is that different to usual?

For the type of games I play, most don't necessarily need the multi-core or multi-threaded ability. Ok I dabble in a bit of Photoshop from time to time but nothing that's heavy on the CPU.

Reviews suggest this board & CPU combo can get to 4.3Ghz quite easily, although that will largely depend on whether I get lucky with binning.

To be honest, I bought my gaming rig just for DayZ. :P I was playing that from end of work to midnight every night for a good 6 months...

These are the parts I got for my new rig. It's quick.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D7SDTCI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009O7YUF6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00J8E9316?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E3W19MO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009RMP44O?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

What GPU are you running?

I already had a GTX650ti

I couldn't cope with a quad core. Just bought a 6 core (with hyper threading) PC and it takes a 2nd CPU that I'll add some time soon for a total of 24 cores. 24Gb ram currently, which I'll up to 48Gb and then probably 72Gb.

It's a Dell T5500. Not sure if it's any good for gaming, cost about £380 second hand.

If you're doing high end video editing I can understand it, but otherwise - why?!

To run my home lab - I've got about a dozen virtualised Windows servers and desktops at present and I need to add some more.

I'm surprised by how compact and quiet the T5500 is. Though the minimal internal storage is a bit of a pain.

Meth?

I've been wanting a pc i can play games on for a while now but have absolutely no idea what to look for or how to build one myself to reduce the cost.

Any help?

Lifehacker nearly always helps. Tons of forums dedicated to this kind of thing too.

http://lifehacker.com/5151369/the-first-timers-guide-to-building-a-computer-from-scratch

Another question from me: I'm not all that up to date with AMD vs Nvidia when it comes to GPUs. What's going to get me the best performance for my money at around the £100-£150 mark?

What language are you all speaking?

C#

I've been looking out for the same sort of thing myself. Apparently nvidia not well served at that price range so i've been looking at the amd 280.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-251-MS

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAPPHIRE-AMD-Graphics-Card-DDR5/dp/B00IRTXPBM



 

Cheers. The R9 280 was on my list, at the moment it's a toss up between that and the GTX750 TI.

Just go on UKhot deals and find one that's half price or something.

You should consider the resolution you're going to need, especially when reading reviews and benchmarks

Found one for you Samdy

http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/sop/4923172151.html (http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/sop/4923172151.html)

Get an R9 280 its the best value HD gaming card for under £150.

http://www.ebuyer.com/630502-sapphire-r9-280-dual-x-3gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-11230-00-20g

I recently built the wife a low spec gaming machine with the G3258 and an R9 270, it runs every game maxed out at full HD.

The PSU you chose can easily cope with it as it wont drain more than 350w when gaming. maybe if you can stretch to it get a z97 motherboard and overclock the G3258 as the H81 chipset has no overclocking available (as far as I know).

The only other point is get a pai or 4gb memory sticks not a single one sso you can run much faster dual memory.

The ATI cards are currently much better value than the Nvidia for budget, even the 260X and 270X can run quickly at HD.

Otherwise go for it.

Cheers JJ. Glad to hear the G3258 is as good as the reviews suggest.

Even better when overclocked Sam (combined with a slightly better cooler), but make sure the board supports overclocking as I am 99% certain the H81 chipset doeasn't. A budget Z97 or an updated bios Z87 is a better option.

Even better when overclocked Sam (combined with a slightly better cooler than the standard Intel one), but make sure the board supports overclocking as I am 99% certain the H81 chipset doeasn't. A budget Z97 or an updated bios Z87 is a better option.

I know that Intel didn't intend for the H81 chipsets to be overclockable, but from what I've read it's very much possible to do.

The MSI board I'm looking at even suggests it as a standard feature: http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/H81MP33.html

Quite a good review of the G3258 on Toms Hardware too which compares performance with AMD, i3 and i5: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/pentium-g3258-overclocking-performance,review-32974.html

If it is possible then go for it, MSI dont make bad boards at all. Must admit I was totally unaware of the H81 being made overclockable with the bios update.

Go for a good aftermarket cooler though as the G3258 does get quite hot when overclocked over 4.5ghz (the wifes is clocked at 4.8ghz) for hers I use a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 4 which cost £22 and keeps it under 70 degrees maxed (the intel wouldn't clock past 4.2 with the standard cooler).

Great chips if you get one that can be overclocked, it is still a lottery with good and bad chips, I have made 3 systems with that chip and 2 were great up to 4.8ghz and one wouldnt overclock even 0.1ghz on any board at any voltage. Hope you get a good one.

Oh and also don't use the auto overclock on the MSI board as it sets the voltage to 1.4v to 1.45v which will not be cooled successfully by any cooler unless its watercooling.

It sets the volts massively high so go into the bios and manually change it, I know this is a standard MSI thing as I use an MSI Gaming 5 board with my 4790k and I managed to get my volts down to 1.25 for a stable 4.8ghz with watercooling maxes out at just 60 degrees rather than nearly 90 at 1.45v.

I'm a fan of the Arctic Freezer range which look very similar to that Cooler Master heatsink.

Cheers for the tip about the auto overclock. I'm aware you can adjust the clock speed and voltage manually, so I'll do that instead. 

I've got boxes arriving in the post all the time, so looks like I'll finally be able to get this lot together at the weekend :)

Just waiting on the GPU and I'm good to go.

I have this morning just built a very similar spec PC for the sister in law.

MSI H81, G3258 overclocked to 4.8 (after a bios update), cheap 500w PSU, cheap case, 8gb 1600 ram and an r7 260X with a 120gb SSD and that came to a total of £289. Good time to buy PC parts, very reasonable indeed.

All in I managed to get the H81 motherboard, G3258, GPU (Sapphire R9 280), 4GB RAM and a new 24" monitor for £330. I discovered that an old PSU I had was 550w so didn't need to get a new one :)

The 280 is a cracking GPU for the money, another 4gb ram would have been worth the cost as 8gb is about the prime amount for the Haswell, any more and its wasted, 4gb is the lowest you can get away with though and still fine for a cheap gaming pc.

I'm going to keep upgrading as time goes on, so more RAM is already in the plan anyway. And a new case. And an SSD. Oh and maybe a mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse. Then maybe another monitor. I should really stop now.

Turns out the R9 280 I ordered wasn't in stock and I couldn't be arsed to wait ages, so I've cancelled my order and found an R9 285 for less than a tenner more. Result.

I know this means nothing to anyone other than probably JJ, but this thing overclocks brilliantly. I've taken it up to 3.8Ghz on the stock cooler and so far after 20 minutes of Prime95 it's barely nudging over 55ºc.

Thats good the 285 is a nice little upgrade from the 280, keep an eye on the watts it uses though as it is known to use a lot of power anf gives out a lot of heat so keep the case well vented.

The standard cooler can cope with a 4ghz OC with ease (I know the wifes did until I got her an EVO 212) with a slightly better cooler like the EVO (£25) it easily gets to 4.8ghz which is absolutely brilliant @ 1.25v.

Have a little read here on a few of the settings and play, if you over volt or overclock too much the bios will happily not boot and you wont damage the chip.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/intel_pentium_g3258_oc_guide/3.htm