First Gaming Rig on a budget.

Phil619

Honorable
Jul 21, 2013
4
0
10,510
Greetings! I am about to embark on the process of getting my first gaming system with a budget of $550 and the following list contains the parts I have selected for the rig. I would like to know if the parts would work together, if the price is fine and finally if it would allow me play current games such as Battlefield 3 and Skyrim in mid settings with average fps. I will use an APU to save on the discrete video card . Any help is appreciated.

Motherboard: GBT F2A75M-D3H AMD F2 4 DIMM VGA/DVI-D/HDMI / RAID

Processor: AMD A6-5400K / 3.6 Ghz / 2 core / 65W / Radeon HD7450D

Operating System Disc: Windows 7 Home Pemium 64-Bit SP1 OEM

Memory: 4 GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 - 1333 Mhz SDRAM DIMM

Boot Drive: SG 500GB / SATA / 7200 RPM

Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon HD 7-Series Graphics (VGA / DVI-D or HDMI)

Audio: Realtek ALC887 8-Channel High Definition Audio

Case Power Supply: MATX Tower/ SPI 300W Power Supply

With the current parts the total sum is $524, In addition I would like to know other options to customize this rig better.

For the other options I have available, I have heard that greater memory is need in APUS to enhance performance, would it be worth it to spend 49$ more to get a
memory of 8GB (2 X 4 GB) DDR3 - 1333Mhz SDRAM?

I am also considering better processors:

AMD A8-5600K / 3.6 Ghz / 4 core / 100W / Radeon HD7560D for $41 more

AMD A10-5800K / 3.8 Ghz / 4 core / 100W / Radeon HD7660D for $67 more

If I get either of the processors above do I need to more than 400 w? If so I would need:
MATX Tower/ SS-400et 400W Power Supply which would add $33 to of the processors above. Is the worth justified to enhance performance?

Thanks in advance,
Phil

 

Edward Gelernt

Honorable
Mar 23, 2013
148
0
10,710
Unfortunately, this just doesn't work as a gaming build. You NEED a discrete video card for gaming, especially when playing relatively intensive games like Battlefield 3 and Skyrim. If you run these on medium settings, you will wind up with TERRIBLE performance.

I'd recommend ditching the audio card. If you can stretch your budget, do so. You have to pick up a dedicated graphics card, or you just won't be able to play games on it. It's the hard truth.
 

Phil619

Honorable
Jul 21, 2013
4
0
10,510


Thanks for your input, Edward. I choose these parts as I can not buy online( do not have a credit card) and do not live in the US. I choose an APU because it is the cheaper option where I live. Regarding the processor, do I really need a dedicated video card to run games on these specs? At this point even running current games in low with a steady FPS would be enough for me.

Edit: I got the audio card for free just threw it in but is not part of the total cost.
 

Edward Gelernt

Honorable
Mar 23, 2013
148
0
10,710
If you're willing to run at low settings with moderate FPS, an APU might do a good enough job. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly familiar with AMD, but are there APUs with better graphics? My suspicion is that, since integrated GPUs are not as powerful as dedicated GPUs, it's hard to really go overkill on an iGPU for playing relatively intensive games.
 

Latest posts