Hey, Im gonna build my first gaming PC soon and Im working on a budget of no more than £600. I've done a bit of research and Im still not sure if what I have is any good. Im aiming at something that's kind of ok atm but that I can upgrade in the long run. So far I have this:

I think this is better and cheaper by £50 than the GTX560.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=gtx+460&hl=en&biw=1920&bih=1099&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13267132007838004149&sa=X&ei=CybFULbaBMPW0QXB64CwAw&ved=0CGIQ8wIwAA

Seems pretty ok. One thing I would say is that if you are looking for upgrade-ability you might want to get a different motherboard. The one you have now doesn't support SLI. But its fine if you only plan on replacing the graphics card rather than running two at once.

In a perfect world I would say get a Core i5 K series, that way you could overclock, but if its a budget thing thats understandable. With the processor you have now, you won't be able to do any meaningful overclocking, so a CPU cooler shouldn't really be needed.

My advice would be to keep seeking advice, not just from me, but also from everyone. A gaming PC is a big investment and you don't want to screw it up.

You could probably check out http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-gaming-do-it-yourself-computer,3364.html and make adjustments as you see fit.

@haffy said:

I think this is better and cheaper by £50 than the GTX560.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=gtx+460&hl=en&biw=1920&bih=1099&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13267132007838004149&sa=X&ei=CybFULbaBMPW0QXB64CwAw&ved=0CGIQ8wIwAA

I would disagree with this, the 560ti-448 is a great card and is much better than the 460 based on the benchmarks I have seen.

@Bishna said:

In a perfect world I would say get a Core i5 K series, that way you could overclock, but if its a budget thing thats understandable. With the processor you have now, you won't be able to do any meaningful overclocking, so a CPU cooler shouldn't really be needed.

Shit, I left that cooler in from when I was considering the i5, ha. The i5 is on the table, but only if i can find the extra cash from somewhere. We'll see.

Could you recommend another motherboard?

Thanks for the input.

You're gonna get banned for that username, duder. May want to change it.

Change my what now?

Looks all right. I really think you should see if you could wait and get an i5, but an i3 would probably still be OK. Just not fantastic.

However, you need a slightly better power supply. I suggest this one, or at least one like it.

@haffy said:

I think this is better and cheaper by £50 than the GTX560.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=gtx+460&hl=en&biw=1920&bih=1099&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13267132007838004149&sa=X&ei=CybFULbaBMPW0QXB64CwAw&ved=0CGIQ8wIwAA

This guy is nuts. Stick with the card you've got picked out, it's still a good card.

@MariachiMacabre said:

You're gonna get banned for that username, duder. May want to change it.

What's wrong with his username?

@MariachiMacabre said:

You're gonna get banned for that username, duder. May want to change it.

whos gonna get banned?

@MariachiMacabre said:

@Bourbon_Warrior @believer258 his username was "planetfucksquad". He's since changed it so it's all good.

Pfft, I see no proof of this ;)

Seriously though, good looking out. I wouldn't wanna get banned over a dumb username.

@believer258 said:

Looks all right. I really think you should see if you could wait and get an i5, but an i3 would probably still be OK. Just not fantastic.

However, you need a slightly better power supply. I suggest this one, or at least one like it.

I'll look into that, thanks.

When my Christmas bonus comes through I'll see if the i5 becomes an option. Just to clarify though, going with the i3 isn't gonna gimp my PC at all is it? Like would it have a bad effect on the GPU?

@planetfunksquad said:

@MariachiMacabre said:

@Bourbon_Warrior @believer258 his username was "planetfucksquad". He's since changed it so it's all good.

Pfft, I see no proof of this ;)

Seriously though, good looking out. I wouldn't wanna get banned over a dumb username.

@believer258 said:

Looks all right. I really think you should see if you could wait and get an i5, but an i3 would probably still be OK. Just not fantastic.

However, you need a slightly better power supply. I suggest this one, or at least one like it.

I'll look into that, thanks.

When my Christmas bonus comes through I'll see if the i5 becomes an option. Just to clarify though, going with the i3 isn't gonna gimp my PC at all is it? Like would it have a bad effect on the GPU?

You would be able to play games decently on the processor you've picked out. However, a good i5 would be miles better and would better complement your graphics card, and would hold up better over time. If you think you could wait and get an i5, it would definitely be worth it.

@planetfunksquad said:

I'll look into that, thanks.

When my Christmas bonus comes through I'll see if the i5 becomes an option. Just to clarify though, going with the i3 isn't gonna gimp my PC at all is it? Like would it have a bad effect on the GPU?

Im not quite sure myself I have 1 5850 and a Phenom II X4 965 and I'm not sure if the processor is holding me back if I upgrade to a 7950...

@MariachiMacabre said:

@Bourbon_Warrior @believer258 his username was "planetfucksquad". He's since changed it so it's all good.

You can't have swear words as your username on GB? Wow, I don't think I remember such a rule.

@planetfunksquad: I'd save on the blu-ray drive and get a better processor I think. Do you really make a point of playing blu-ray discs with your computer?

@Snail: I was thinking it'd be nice to have. My PC will be set up across the room from my TV, so I could run an HDMI cable from it and ditch my blu ray player. In the interest of shaving off some of the cost to put toward the i5 though, I can definitely just go for a normal dvd drive. It's not much of a price difference but every little helps, right?

@planetfunksquad said:

@Snail: I was thinking it'd be nice to have. My PC will be set up across the room from my TV, so I could run an HDMI cable from it and ditch my blu ray player. In the interest of shaving off some of the cost to put toward the i5 though, I can definitely just go for a normal dvd drive. It's not much of a price difference but every little helps, right?

That drive you have up there is just about 55£. This one on newegg is 20$, that's about 12£. As you probably know all too well, hardware here in Europe tends to be frustratingly more expensive than in the US, but you're still likely to find a price similar to that for something like an optical drive and be completely well off.

With 40 more quid (that's what you call it right?) in your pocket you can get yourself a fairly more decent processor. This one, for instance, costs about 50£ more than the one you're considering for your set up. I don't think it's overclockable, so that kinda sucks, but neither is the one you have up there for all I know, so you'd still be better off by saving 40£ on a drive and investing 50£ in this CPU.

Of all the core components that make up a computer, the CPU is among the ones with the most leverage power on a machine's overall performance. Better cheap out on a disc drive than on that, especially when you already have a blu-ray player.