BF2 Capable pc for £380 :O

[nickweb31]

Ok, my friend wants a complete pc for £380 max which can play bf2 :O. I told him he was mad but no no, he wouldn't listen or change his price. Anyhoo he wants a gig of ram for it so this may be difficult... Can be intel or amd and he needs everything except OS, moniter keyboard and mouse...Anyone want a go?
Cheers

Btw it is £380 and thats UK pounds, parts pref from www.overclockers.co.uk if you wouldnt be to kind

[freakitchen]

Asus K8N4-E nForce4 4X (Socket 754) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-125-AS) £52

AMD Sempron 64 3000+ 1.8GHz (Socket 754) CPU - Retail (CP-137-AM) £58

Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT400C3) (MY-061-CS) £55

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 NCQ 160GB ST3160812AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-050-SE) £53

Leadtek WinFast PCX6600GT-TDH GeForce PCX6600 GT 128MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-LT) £88

Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN) £61

Liteon SHM-165P6S-09C 16x DVD±RW/RAM (Black) - OEM (CD-048-LO) £30

Total: £397

Ok, it;s a bit over £380, but not by much. Shipping will add a few pounds too, but it's the best I can do.

Couldn't work socket 939 into the budget, nor could I manage a faster graphics card, but the motherboard is nForce 4, and has PCI-Express, and you also have 1GB of RAM. The 400w power supply in the Antec case is good, and should power the build fine.

The parts are all from www.overclockers.co.uk, but the website doesn't allow linking to specific items, so you'll have to find them yourself

FK

[nickweb31]

Cheers, I may make a few little changes to shed the pounds, he doesnt need that big a hard drive so heres the new list:

Asus K8N4-E nForce4 4X (Socket 754) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-125-AS)£52

AMD Sempron 64 3000+ 1.8GHz (Socket 754) CPU - Retail (CP-137-AM) £58

OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK) £50

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 80GB 6V080E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-095-MD) £36

XFX GeForce PCX6600 Extreme Edition 512MB DDR2 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT43-PYDL3) (GX-063-XF) £93

Arctic Cooling T2 Silentium Silent Midi Tower Case - 450W Seasonic Silent PSU (CA-001-AR) £58

Samsung SH-W162C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) (CD-068-SA) £24

Total: £371, shaved abit and put in a better graphics card, plus it will be about £10 postage so take it up to his budget.

Hows that look?

[freakitchen]

Obviously cutting costs is a priority, but I'm unsure about using unbranded memory. Overclockers are a decent company, but there's no telling what brand their OcUK products actually are. I'd say ditching the Corsair isn't worth the £5 saving on the RAM.

Hard Drive is fine if less storage is needed.

Not sure about the case & PSU combo. Seasonic make decent power supplies, but I looked at the full specs of the case, and it's particularly vague about the power supply specs. It's only a £3 saving from the Antec, which definitely has a quality power supply installed.

I'd also stear clear of Samsung optical drives, I've had bad experiences with them. If the Lite-on I chose is too expensive, then I'd go LG from Overclockers.

Ok, so those suggestions push the cost back up again, but only by £10. I'd encourage your friend to stay out of the pub this week, and find that extra tenner

FK

[786ARS]

woah, that is good value for money. I never thought that would be even possible to make a comp for that much money.

[Marke522]

Does your friend need a DVD Burner? Just get a DVD ROM drive and shave a few more that way. Maybe even a DVD ROM / CDRW Combo?

[MakeYourslf2012]

Are you sure you can't find a board with a 939 socket? 754 is pretty much a dead end - you won't really be able to upgrade when the time comes.

I would only go with it if your friend knows he won't be able to upgrade in the future, otherwise - it would be better to save for another month or so to come up with some money for a 939 socket board.

[freakitchen]

Are you sure you can't find a board with a 939 socket? 754 is pretty much a dead end - you won't really be able to upgrade when the time comes.

The problem I had fitting 939 in when speccing out the system was not the price of the motherboard (the A8N5X was only a few £ more expensive), but the price of the processor. The Cheapest 939 Athlon is £100, fifty quid more than the Sempron 64 3000+, which would take things well over budget.

...Atlhough i fully agree that having more cash to play with would be a great help in creating a system truly Battlefield2 ready. Adding £50 to the budget would allow for an Athlon 3000+, and Asus A8N5X Motherboard (skt 939) which would improve gaming performance and upgradability.

FK

[nickweb31]

Thanks for all the help guys, and hes a real cheep skate on money, so it cant go up. I think ill go for the Corsair ram, probably the safer option, and go for the LG-dvd burner, he wants one...Regarding the case Ive used it before on the current pc im sitting on, and works a treat. The power supply is a decent quality one aparantly by reading about 5 reviews on it plus you cant here it at all.

Regarding the video card i can get the 7600GT 256MB for the same price, which is better out of the two?

Thanks again for all your help

And, most importantly, will it be able to run bf2?

[Staren]

It meets min secs. It will play. Now, will it play well? That's another question. My laptop will play the BF2 demo well enough for it to be playable, but he won't be playing on high res. It will look alright, but not spectacular.

[freakitchen]

The answer's halfway between yes and no. Staren has it right, it will play, but it won't max out on the graphics by any means. BF2 is a demanding game, and really requires 2GB of RAM and a high end video card to play well.

Looking at it a different way, though, that's a good system for a low budget. It all depends on your friends expectations of it, as to whether he'll be pleased or not.

FK

[nickweb31]

Well, he decided to screw me and go for an xbox 360...oh dear oh dear...thanks for your help anyway guys...

[Marke522]

Cool, saves you a lot of work.

[SpectreT6]

Easy, I bult my PC for $650 to play BF2 only, and i can run it on medium to high graphics. There is many way to build a PC for 380 Pounds. thats 680 USD

For 650 he can get a

Nice case of his choice under 50 dollars
Gigibite Nividia Motherboard PRO
One XFX 6600GT Graphics Card
AMD 3000 2000FSB
1 GB of PQI TURBO RAM
160 HD shopping for these is easy, prices VARY
Farly desent powersupply 500 W or higher for BF2
if he wants to spend extra he should get a second card. That would be the Ultimate BF2 gaming experience
http://bf2s.com/player/SpectreT6/

[nickweb31]

Btw, its much cheeper to buy stuff from US than UK...juut letting you know

[786ARS]

yea, i tried that with newegg once, and it was a logistical nightmare to get the parts to the uk, and i hd to wait for my dad to go on buisiness trips to get it, by which time the prices had already dropped, so lesson learnt, and allthough more expensive, as there are no logistical probs, i go overclockers.co.uk