Pages: 1 2 [3]   Go Down
Print
Author Topic: New budget gaming machine  (Read 13421 times)
Peter Venkman
We don't need no stinking badges.

Offline Offline

Posts: 58868


Back Off Man, I知 A Scientist.



« Reply #30 on: Friday, March 20, 2015, 13:30:26 »

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.
Logged

Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
Samdy Gray
Dirty sneaky traitor weasel

Offline Offline

Posts: 27137





Ignore
« Reply #31 on: Friday, March 20, 2015, 15:33:26 »

Cheers JJ. Glad to hear the G3258 is as good as the reviews suggest.
Logged
Peter Venkman
We don't need no stinking badges.

Offline Offline

Posts: 58868


Back Off Man, I知 A Scientist.



« Reply #32 on: Friday, March 20, 2015, 15:50:16 »

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.
Logged

Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
Peter Venkman
We don't need no stinking badges.

Offline Offline

Posts: 58868


Back Off Man, I知 A Scientist.



« Reply #33 on: Friday, March 20, 2015, 15:52:24 »


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.
Logged

Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
Samdy Gray
Dirty sneaky traitor weasel

Offline Offline

Posts: 27137





Ignore
« Reply #34 on: Friday, March 20, 2015, 16:12:51 »

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
Logged
Peter Venkman
We don't need no stinking badges.

Offline Offline

Posts: 58868


Back Off Man, I知 A Scientist.



« Reply #35 on: Friday, March 20, 2015, 16:30:19 »

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.
Logged

Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
Peter Venkman
We don't need no stinking badges.

Offline Offline

Posts: 58868


Back Off Man, I知 A Scientist.



« Reply #36 on: Friday, March 20, 2015, 16:35:46 »

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.
Logged

Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
Samdy Gray
Dirty sneaky traitor weasel

Offline Offline

Posts: 27137





Ignore
« Reply #37 on: Friday, March 20, 2015, 16:46:54 »

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. 
Logged
Samdy Gray
Dirty sneaky traitor weasel

Offline Offline

Posts: 27137





Ignore
« Reply #38 on: Monday, April 20, 2015, 11:22:49 »

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 Smiley

Just waiting on the GPU and I'm good to go.
Logged
Peter Venkman
We don't need no stinking badges.

Offline Offline

Posts: 58868


Back Off Man, I知 A Scientist.



« Reply #39 on: Monday, April 20, 2015, 11:42:14 »

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.
Logged

Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
Samdy Gray
Dirty sneaky traitor weasel

Offline Offline

Posts: 27137





Ignore
« Reply #40 on: Monday, April 20, 2015, 16:00:36 »

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 Smiley
Logged
Peter Venkman
We don't need no stinking badges.

Offline Offline

Posts: 58868


Back Off Man, I知 A Scientist.



« Reply #41 on: Monday, April 20, 2015, 16:03:02 »

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.
Logged

Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
Samdy Gray
Dirty sneaky traitor weasel

Offline Offline

Posts: 27137





Ignore
« Reply #42 on: Monday, April 20, 2015, 16:51:52 »

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.
Logged
Samdy Gray
Dirty sneaky traitor weasel

Offline Offline

Posts: 27137





Ignore
« Reply #43 on: Wednesday, April 22, 2015, 19:25:54 »

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 55コc.
Logged
Peter Venkman
We don't need no stinking badges.

Offline Offline

Posts: 58868


Back Off Man, I知 A Scientist.



« Reply #44 on: Thursday, April 23, 2015, 07:15:01 »

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
Logged

Only a fool does not know when to hold his tongue.
Pages: 1 2 [3]   Go Up
Print
Jump to: