Help With Cheapest Gaming Computer Build?

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cusconillow

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Alright. So I'm a broke college kid who wants to play this generation of popular video games for as cheap as possible. I want to build the cheapest gaming computer I possibly can while still being able to play games like skyrim, CoD black ops 2, watch HD movies and the such. This would be the first computer I'd be building. I've upgraded my current desktop here and there but I think it's time for me to scrap it and start anew. I don't know a ton about computers but I know plenty to build a good one (assuming I had the money) and understand why certain parts are better than others if explained to me.
Basically all I need right now is a parts list for cheap parts that I can build a computer out of from the ground up. What do you all suggest?
 
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The Witcher 2 honestly hits both the CPU and GPU pretty hard. Despite being several years old it's still very nice looking, but it was never that well optimized.

The first build I listed (GTX 750 + Athlon X4) can support a new video card at any time. However, it will not support a better CPU right now. That's because AMD has said...
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charanjit1998

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3420 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.43 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GT 640 1GB Video Card ($98.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cougar MG100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $398.36
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-12 03:34 EDT-0400)

If u want it even cheaper, downgrade to 1x4gb ram. I suggested u (2x4) 8 gb ram bcoz dual channel ram is an advantage in gaming.

 
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How much can you spend?

Until I hear back, this is a reasonable option. Pretty similar in performance to a PS4 or Xbox One.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.74 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A55M-VG3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.44 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 1GB Video Card ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cougar MG100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $538.10
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-12 03:22 EDT-0400)


This is the cheapest I could really recommend with a good conscience. It would run older and less graphically impressive games fine and would handle lowish settings in the heaviest games.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($60.58 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($51.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Western Digital AV-GP 320GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($37.26 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 250 1GB Video Card ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar MG100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $435.15
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-12 03:32 EDT-0400)

Obviously you can cut $100 off of each of those prices if you don't need Windows.
And you could cut out the optical drive if you don't intend to buy any games on disk.
 
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That doesn't include Windows in the price... Are you expecting him to pull it out of thin air?
 
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cusconillow

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Rationale, with your reccomended parts list, what do you consider "heavier games?" I just want to get an idea of what the performance of this PC would be.

Also, I have the opportunity to buy a Enermax EG615P - V (E) power supply for $15. Would that be a good alternative to the one you listed?
 
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The R7 250 + G3220 will handle games like Dark Souls II, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, Dragon Age Origins, Skyrim, CS GO, Dishonored, Mass Effect 3, etc. Plus most decently optimized console ports from the PS3/360. That's assuming at least high settings 30+ fps, several I listed should get ultra 40+. It's very playable for a budget build.

However, the R7 250 + G3220 will fall hard on games like The Witcher 2, Battlefield 4, Crysis 3, Metro 2033, Metro LL, etc. You'd have to run at low settings to get decent framerates, and perhaps decrease the resolution. There can literally be a 500% performance difference from some new games compared to other new games.

A GTX 750 is quite similar in performance to the Xbox One GPU, so I'd imagine when Xbox One and PS4 games start hitting more it'd still hold up pretty well at high-ish settings, but the R7 250 would need to be replaced at some point in the next couple years if you want to keep up.

If you have a specific game in mind you're worried about, you can Google it. For example, you could go to youtube and search for "R7 250 Planetside 2" or whatever game you're looking for. If you can't find any people testing that video card in the game you're looking for, try "HD 7750 name of game", as the R7 250 and HD 7750 are very similar in performance, just the R7 250 is a bit more efficient and the GDDR5 versions are a bit faster.

About the power supply... Ehm... I have heard that Enermax is supposed to be pretty good for PSU's, but I'm not sure. It has 36A on the 12v rail, which is a respectable amount, and it has 5 stars on Newegg so it's probably fine.
 
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cusconillow

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With the R7 250, is the lower performance on games like the witches two dependent upon the CPU or the graphics card? Or both?
And is the motherboard capable of a CPU and graphics card upgrade? All I know about MBs is that there are integrated CPUs and different socket types. Does this motherboard have a socket type that is capable of housing a better CPU if I choose to put one in it later in its life?
 
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The Witcher 2 honestly hits both the CPU and GPU pretty hard. Despite being several years old it's still very nice looking, but it was never that well optimized.

The first build I listed (GTX 750 + Athlon X4) can support a new video card at any time. However, it will not support a better CPU right now. That's because AMD has said they plan to continue supporting the FM2+ socket, so they will release better CPUs for that socket in the future, but right now that's the best CPU available for the socket. It's considered a low-cost socket and doesn't have really high-end CPUs available (at least not yet).

The second build (R7 250 + G3220) can support a new video card and CPU at any time, but both are weaker at the present moment. The motherboard for the CPU uses the LGA 1150 socket, which is Intel's best mid-high range socket and will support anything up to the i5-4690, which is their strongest i5 at the moment, and arguably the best non-overclocked gaming CPU.
For the video card, it will support any new video card as it has a PCI-E x16 slot. It's a 2.0 slot, not a 3.0 slot, but that makes very little difference and will not noticeably hold back any video card. However, the power supply is rather weak to put anything with a higher power requirement than a GTX 760 on it. If you were going with the second build and wanted to eventually upgrade it into a very high end gaming PC (IE, GTX 770 and i5-4670) you'd need a different PSU.

If you want to focus on the ability to easily upgrade later for less efficiency now, then I'd recommend the second build with a better power supply. I chose a weaker PSU to begin with because it'd still handle some upgrades and you were looking for the 'cheapest' gaming pc.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($60.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($51.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Western Digital AV-GP 320GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($37.26 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 250 1GB Video Card ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar MG100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($57.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $458.56
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-13 00:19 EDT-0400)

 
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Yep, that Enermax PSU also appears to be 550w and is very well reviewed, so it should be fine. Here's a review of it, they claim it's reliable and good for high-end systems.
http://compreviews.about.com/library/weekly/aafpr-EnerEG651PVE.htm
 
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