Best Budget PC

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CoCtech

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Aug 13, 2013
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I am planning on building a new PC this year. My current one is 3 years old and I'm not getting the performance I want anymore. Here is a general run down of the specs etc.

Location: Florida, United States of America
OS: yes
Peripherals: A monitor
Overclocking: yes but nothing extreme
Budget: anywhere from $800 to $1000
Preference (amd or intel etc.): none
Usage: I would i like to play my games at high settings or higher. Also I will be using this for school, so plenty of room for that.
 
Solution
RedJaron
Ok, let's start with something like this:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($177.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek GAIA SD1283 56.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($21.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Newegg)...
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RedJaron

RedJaron

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Sep 20, 2011
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What kind of school work? We talking just writing papers, Internet research, and email? Or are we talking compiling code, rendering 3D models, and transcoding video? If the former, you can get by with a very reasonable system. If the latter, you'll want a beefier system with some specialized parts. Also if you're a student, a laptop may suit you better to carry it around campus.

Second, what kind of monitor are you looking for? What size and resolution? I'm partial to 16x10 aspect ratios, but those are usually much more expensive than 16x9 displays. Also, higher resolution displays will benefit from stronger graphics cards for gaming ( though apart from the most difficult titles, 1080 gaming can be done on a sub $200 card pretty well. )

And that leads me to ask what games you're playing. Are we talking Sim City, WoW, and LoL? Or are you talking Crysis, BF3, and Tomb Raider?
 
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CoCtech

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Aug 13, 2013
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For starters, I will mainly be doing writing papers, email, research and stuff like that. Maybe a little modeling due to an computer course. For the the monitor, a 16:9 display is fine. Also I will be playing games like, BF 3 Crysis , and Tomb Raider as mentioned. Sorry for not being that clear earlier.
 
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RedJaron

RedJaron

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Sep 20, 2011
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Ok, let's start with something like this:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($177.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek GAIA SD1283 56.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($21.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.49 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Acer G246HLAbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1008.37

First, no, this CPU won't overclock. Personally, I don't think that's a bad thing. You'll still have a full quad-core running 3GHz and this will be more than adequate for gaming and light modeling for years to come. The add-on CPU cooler offers quieter cooling than the stock fan, but can be tossed. If you really must have OCing, you either need to swap to an AMD chip, or spend more on an i5 K-series. I know this is an OCing mboard, but I picked it more for the SLI/XFire capabilities ( it's hard to find a H77, B75, or Z75 board with two PCIe 3.0 slots. ) And yes, the PSU can handle two higher-end cards no problem ( note the sales price on this goes up on Thursday. ) The 7950 has no problem with games at 1080p, you get a nice SSD for quick system response and fast application loading. The case of course is up to your own personal tastes.
 
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Solution
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CoCtech

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Aug 13, 2013
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If I were to switch to amd for overclocking which processor would you recommend?
 
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RedJaron

RedJaron

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Sep 20, 2011
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At this price range, the FX-6300 would be the choice. However, I don't recommend AMD chips much right now. They run hotter and on more power than Intel chips and can't do as much per clock cycle. Most applications right now simply don't take advantage of multiple cores, so an Intel with its better efficiency usually wins. You can OC an AMD to catch an Intel in single threaded workloads. In well-threaded apps, the AMD will sometimes pull away from Intel. In restricted budgets, like say under $750, the AMD can be a smart choice when your other option is a dual-core Intel. But once you can afford an i5, there are very few reasons to stay with an AMD. The money you'll save on a 6300 over a 3350P will have to go toward better cooling, so the savings aren't as much as you may think.

In the end, yes you could OC a 6300 to beat the 3350P in some ways, but it will be much hotter and use more power to do it. Actual gaming experience difference will be negligible.
 
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Dark Lord of Tech

Dark Lord of Tech

Retired Moderator
Aug 18, 2009
128,614
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4th Generation Haswell Build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.98 @ Outlet PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Kingston Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ TigerDirect)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($254.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Zalman Z12 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: AOC e2351F 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($117.47 @ TigerDirect)
Total: $1022.34
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-10 21:57 EDT-0400)
 
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RedJaron

RedJaron

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Sep 20, 2011
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Unless he has a Microcenter nearby, that's likely to come in ~$60 over budget for him.
 
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