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Another budget build help thread...

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June 23, 2013 12:54:38 AM

As the title states, here's another one! I could be a little different, I hope.

This will be my first PC build and basically it will be my console replacer. I think I am a little different in terms of expectations so here it goes:

I will be using my Samsung 50" 720p(plasma TV) as a monitor, so I don't mind lower resolutions.
I want to be running BF4, DayZ, and ARMA 3 smoothly, maybe 35+ FPS.
High/Medium settings are fine with me.
I really dig the bitfenix prodigy case so base the parts off of that please.
I would love to run a low gig SSD for my OS.
I hope to hover around the $400-$600 range.

So basically I am covered as far as a monitor, optical drive, mouse and keyboard, OS, and regular HDD storage.


Please no fanboy stuff here, just a no-nonsense "this will get it done" approach is what I'm looking for.

Thanks so much in advance!

More about : budget build thread

June 23, 2013 1:08:30 AM

As someone with an almost indescribably deep hatred of mini-ITX, I don't suppose I could convince you to use a standard ATX case and motherboard? The Corsair 300R is cheaper than the Prodigy right now, and is an excellent case.

However, I believe strongly in suggesting the best possible option for the OP's requirements and planned use, so if you cannot be swayed from the Prodigy, I will shout curses to the skies and suggest this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($85.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.89 @ Amazon)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $611.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-23 04:04 EDT-0400)

Edit: Please pardon the melodrama, it's been a dull day.
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June 23, 2013 1:24:36 AM

Jack Revenant said:
As someone with an almost indescribably deep hatred of mini-ITX, I don't suppose I could convince you to use a standard ATX case and motherboard? The Corsair 300R is cheaper than the Prodigy right now, and is an excellent case.

However, I believe strongly in suggesting the best possible option for the OP's requirements and planned use, so if you cannot be swayed from the Prodigy, I will shout curses to the skies and suggest this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($85.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.89 @ Amazon)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $611.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-23 04:04 EDT-0400)

Edit: Please pardon the melodrama, it's been a dull day.




It's all good man, my deal with the mini-itx is as I said, I will be replacing my console with this. The case will be sitting under my TV in the living room and I'd like it to look as nice as possible. although, if I'm losing out in some important way I'd like to know.
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June 23, 2013 1:26:39 AM

William Preston said:
Jack Revenant said:
As someone with an almost indescribably deep hatred of mini-ITX, I don't suppose I could convince you to use a standard ATX case and motherboard? The Corsair 300R is cheaper than the Prodigy right now, and is an excellent case.

However, I believe strongly in suggesting the best possible option for the OP's requirements and planned use, so if you cannot be swayed from the Prodigy, I will shout curses to the skies and suggest this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($85.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.89 @ Amazon)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $611.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-23 04:04 EDT-0400)

Edit: Please pardon the melodrama, it's been a dull day.




It's all good man, my deal with the mini-itx is as I said, I will be replacing my console with this. The case will be sitting under my TV in the living room and I'd like it to look as nice as possible. although, if I'm losing out in some important way I'd like to know.


Well, size costs, to a degree. I'd estimate you're losing a tier of GPU quality in exchange for being in the Prodigy. In a Source 210 or 300R, I'd probably be able to fit a 7870 XT, potentially even a 7950. If it's in any way a deciding factor, both of said GPUs presently come bundled with four games, with a totaled value of $160 or so.
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June 23, 2013 1:41:03 AM

Jack Revenant said:
William Preston said:
Jack Revenant said:
As someone with an almost indescribably deep hatred of mini-ITX, I don't suppose I could convince you to use a standard ATX case and motherboard? The Corsair 300R is cheaper than the Prodigy right now, and is an excellent case.

However, I believe strongly in suggesting the best possible option for the OP's requirements and planned use, so if you cannot be swayed from the Prodigy, I will shout curses to the skies and suggest this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($85.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.89 @ Amazon)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $611.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-23 04:04 EDT-0400)

Edit: Please pardon the melodrama, it's been a dull day.




It's all good man, my deal with the mini-itx is as I said, I will be replacing my console with this. The case will be sitting under my TV in the living room and I'd like it to look as nice as possible. although, if I'm losing out in some important way I'd like to know.


Well, size costs, to a degree. I'd estimate you're losing a tier of GPU quality in exchange for being in the Prodigy. In a Source 210 or 300R, I'd probably be able to fit a 7870 XT, potentially even a 7950. If it's in any way a deciding factor, both of said GPUs presently come bundled with four games, with a totaled value of $160 or so.


from everything I've seen, you can fit any dual slot GPU in the prodigy case. You have to remove the upper hard drive case, but that's not an issue for the setup I'm looking for.
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June 23, 2013 1:43:15 AM

Jack Revenant said:
William Preston said:
Jack Revenant said:
As someone with an almost indescribably deep hatred of mini-ITX, I don't suppose I could convince you to use a standard ATX case and motherboard? The Corsair 300R is cheaper than the Prodigy right now, and is an excellent case.

However, I believe strongly in suggesting the best possible option for the OP's requirements and planned use, so if you cannot be swayed from the Prodigy, I will shout curses to the skies and suggest this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($85.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.89 @ Amazon)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $611.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-23 04:04 EDT-0400)

Edit: Please pardon the melodrama, it's been a dull day.




It's all good man, my deal with the mini-itx is as I said, I will be replacing my console with this. The case will be sitting under my TV in the living room and I'd like it to look as nice as possible. although, if I'm losing out in some important way I'd like to know.


Well, size costs, to a degree. I'd estimate you're losing a tier of GPU quality in exchange for being in the Prodigy. In a Source 210 or 300R, I'd probably be able to fit a 7870 XT, potentially even a 7950. If it's in any way a deciding factor, both of said GPUs presently come bundled with four games, with a totaled value of $160 or so.


his resolution is only 720p he does not need a hd 7950 even a gtx 650 ti boost will be more than enough but u might as well get hd 7870 for some future proofing
i will not recommend getting a dual core cpu as games are beginning to use more than 2 cores and ur cpu will become a bottleneck soon so fx 6300 will be a better choice
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June 23, 2013 1:48:54 AM

William Preston said:
Jack Revenant said:

Well, size costs, to a degree. I'd estimate you're losing a tier of GPU quality in exchange for being in the Prodigy. In a Source 210 or 300R, I'd probably be able to fit a 7870 XT, potentially even a 7950. If it's in any way a deciding factor, both of said GPUs presently come bundled with four games, with a totaled value of $160 or so.


from everything I've seen, you can fit any dual slot GPU in the prodigy case. You have to remove the upper hard drive case, but that's not an issue for the setup I'm looking for.


No, I mean price literally costs. The Prodigy is more expensive than any of the other cases I would normally use for a build in this range, and a number of options I tend to use to economize on parts are only viable in an ATX case.
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June 23, 2013 1:52:50 AM

l89 said:


his resolution is only 720p he does not need a hd 7950 even a gtx 650 ti boost will be more than enough but u might as well get hd 7870 for some future proofing
i will not recommend getting a dual core cpu as games are beginning to use more than 2 cores and ur cpu will become a bottleneck soon so fx 6300 will be a better choice


I can see where you're coming from, but why pass up more power? Additionally, it would extend the period he could go without upgrading.

If you can find an AM3+ mini-ITX motherboard, you're a better man than I. That was one of the issues I was referencing, actually.
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June 23, 2013 1:55:27 AM

I like a lot how prodigy looks.

SSD take bigger. 128GB or maybe larger 256GB.
Anyway. Fractal Node 304 is nice case too. Quiet and easy to build. Only thing you are missing is Optical drive place. But where do need one anyway? Look also new mATX case. For CPU take cheap 4 core CPU 1155 or new 1150 (what you find cheaper) For ATX case id take Fractal R4 because it is quiet and near TV it good to be quiet.
Here is my suggestion. PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/19kaa
For video card wait next week and then take new GTX 760.
Bit tight budget but that is what I think is good buy for now.
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June 23, 2013 2:00:23 AM

AxlFone said:
I like a lot how prodigy looks.

SSD take bigger. 128GB or maybe larger 256GB.
Anyway. Fractal Node 304 is nice case too. Quiet and easy to build. Only thing you are missing is Optical drive place. But where do need one anyway? Look also new mATX case. For CPU take cheap 4 core CPU 1155 or new 1150 (what you find cheaper) For ATX case id take Fractal R4 because it is quiet and near TV it good to be quiet.
Here is my suggestion. PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/19kaa
For video card wait next week and then take new GTX 760.
Bit tight budget but that is what I think is good buy for now.


I don't think that you could fit a 760 into the build you have there while still staying around the $600 mark, unless it has a negative price tag, no offense meant.
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June 23, 2013 2:12:38 AM

William Preston said:
so how does this look: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/19kfI how much cheaper are we talking with a ATX?


Well, to take that specific build as an example: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/19klg
That is, moderately, but you'll note that I bumped some of the components up a bit. I didn't say that you were taking a huge loss, but with a few snips in the right place one could fit a better GPU (such as the aforementioned 7870 XT) in there. That said, you can make a perfectly viable build in the Prodigy, so it's down to what's worth what to you.
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June 23, 2013 2:15:13 AM

hmm, I've got some thinking to do. Thanks to everyone for the quick responses!
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June 23, 2013 2:27:51 AM

Jack Revenant said:
l89 said:


his resolution is only 720p he does not need a hd 7950 even a gtx 650 ti boost will be more than enough but u might as well get hd 7870 for some future proofing
i will not recommend getting a dual core cpu as games are beginning to use more than 2 cores and ur cpu will become a bottleneck soon so fx 6300 will be a better choice


I can see where you're coming from, but why pass up more power? Additionally, it would extend the period he could go without upgrading.

If you can find an AM3+ mini-ITX motherboard, you're a better man than I. That was one of the issues I was referencing, actually.


there are no mini itx boards for am3+
i recommended fx 6300 only if he changes his case to Source 210 or 300R
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June 23, 2013 2:45:57 AM

William Preston said:
hmm, I've got some thinking to do. Thanks to everyone for the quick responses!


Our pleasure. Take your time and consider all your options, it's nigh-always the best thing to do before making a decision, particularly one with a sizable investment attached.

l89 said:
Jack Revenant said:
l89 said:


his resolution is only 720p he does not need a hd 7950 even a gtx 650 ti boost will be more than enough but u might as well get hd 7870 for some future proofing
i will not recommend getting a dual core cpu as games are beginning to use more than 2 cores and ur cpu will become a bottleneck soon so fx 6300 will be a better choice


I can see where you're coming from, but why pass up more power? Additionally, it would extend the period he could go without upgrading.

If you can find an AM3+ mini-ITX motherboard, you're a better man than I. That was one of the issues I was referencing, actually.


there are no mini itx boards for am3+
i recommended fx 6300 only if he changes his case to Source 210 or 300R


We are in absolute agreement in this regard.
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June 23, 2013 9:35:12 AM

l89 said:
if i5 is in ur budget than i3 is out of the question as games are beginning to use more than 2 cores although u do not need
i5-3570k as u will not be able to overclock ur cpu with a b75 mobo so replace ur cpu with
i5-3350p-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

and with the money saved get hd 7870 it is a good card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



I feel like I'm really starting to get somewhere.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/holt_preston/saved/1Pb8
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June 23, 2013 10:22:21 AM

This is obviously over my original budget, but I feel like it will really be worth it. Please, if you have any more suggestions that would give me better performance but keep the same price range, let me know.

Yes, I am dead set on the bitfenix prodigy.
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June 23, 2013 8:14:02 PM

William Preston said:
l89 said:
if i5 is in ur budget than i3 is out of the question as games are beginning to use more than 2 cores although u do not need
i5-3570k as u will not be able to overclock ur cpu with a b75 mobo so replace ur cpu with
i5-3350p-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

and with the money saved get hd 7870 it is a good card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



I feel like I'm really starting to get somewhere.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/holt_preston/saved/1Pb8


this is a balanced and good build go for it
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June 23, 2013 8:24:53 PM

l89 said:
William Preston said:
l89 said:
if i5 is in ur budget than i3 is out of the question as games are beginning to use more than 2 cores although u do not need
i5-3570k as u will not be able to overclock ur cpu with a b75 mobo so replace ur cpu with
i5-3350p-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

and with the money saved get hd 7870 it is a good card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



I feel like I'm really starting to get somewhere.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/holt_preston/saved/1Pb8


this is a balanced and good build go for it


I'd generally like to see a 7870 XT for that budget, but the only one nearby in price would be the PowerColor one, which runs very hot. Not so good for mini-ITX, I think.

Build looks good to me. Only thing I'd change is the RAM to 1600mhz instead of 1333mhz, and the PSU to the XFX I recommended (the Core Edition 550w) if budget allows.
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Best solution

June 23, 2013 8:40:55 PM

Jack Revenant said:
l89 said:
William Preston said:
l89 said:
if i5 is in ur budget than i3 is out of the question as games are beginning to use more than 2 cores although u do not need
i5-3570k as u will not be able to overclock ur cpu with a b75 mobo so replace ur cpu with
i5-3350p-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

and with the money saved get hd 7870 it is a good card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



I feel like I'm really starting to get somewhere.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/holt_preston/saved/1Pb8


this is a balanced and good build go for it


I'd generally like to see a 7870 XT for that budget, but the only one nearby in price would be the PowerColor one, which runs very hot. Not so good for mini-ITX, I think.

Build looks good to me. Only thing I'd change is the RAM to 1600mhz instead of 1333mhz, and the PSU to the XFX I recommended (the Core Edition 550w) if budget allows.


yes 1600 mhz ram will be better but cx 500 can easily handle hd 7870 and is a good product
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June 26, 2013 4:36:55 AM

l89 said:
[

yes 1600 mhz ram will be better but cx 500 can easily handle hd 7870 and is a good product


It will definitely handle it, but the XFX has better overall quality, particularly given the small price difference. That said, Corsair is a recommended brand for a reason, and the CX500 shouldn't cause problems.

William Preston said:
thanks guys! this is my final I think: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/holt_preston/saved/1Pb8
only change is to 1600 RAM.
once again, thanks for the massive help!


Our pleasure! Good luck and happy gaming!
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