Finished build proposal for upgrade low end gaming

Xavier Wells

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Jun 29, 2013
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This box is going to be hopefully able to game on like medium settings. It's just an upgrade for lga775 board/pentium 4/onboard graphics in the same case as before, the stock case. I really can't go past $200 so hopefully this'll work out. Just for your knowledge I'm making sure I have an upgrade path. Well, here it is, with the old stuff I have marked as purchased,
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($77.67 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Seagate EE25.2 Series 40GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 240 2GB Video Card ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: CoolMax 300W ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Case Fan: Apevia CF4S-BK 25.6 CFM 80mm Fan (Purchased For $0.00)
Other: Compaq Presario SR1151NX case (Purchased)
Total: $197.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 

Samsamproducts

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Jan 8, 2014
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Looks pretty good. I would put out an extra $10 for this though http://pcpartpicker.com/part/powercolor-video-card-axr7260x1gbd5dhoc it will give a TREMENDOUS performance boost over an r7 240. An r7 240 won't be able to play many games even on low settings. Also the g3220 is a locked processor, so you can't overclock it. You could save some money by going with an h81 board. If you do want to overclock you need the pentium g3258.
 

Xavier Wells

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Jun 29, 2013
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Sorry! I meant to reply not pick a solution! But anyway, I have no plans to.
 

jaraldo

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lol, no worries, I've seen that happen lots on here :lol:

Well, since you have no plans to overclock and have been ok with the integrated graphics on your old CPU, I would suggest that you "hang tough" in the meantime with the 3220 graphics and get a new powersupply.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb9
This one is on sale for today for $25 after rebate and it will be so much better than the one you have now. You are really limited by that Coolmax because it's bad quality and I'm not sure you could get more than a 7770 for it ever; you would need to upgrade it some day.

Before I continue, what games will you be trying to play?
 

Xavier Wells

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Jun 29, 2013
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mainly fallout/skyrim/sims3/age of empires/command and conquer and other stuff that I might find. Also, I have been meaning to upgrade that power supply, and I think you've given me the swift kick in the butt I needed :D lol
 

jaraldo

Honorable
Well, I've played my fair share of AoE and know it's fine with integrated graphics, though it does need 4gb to play multiplayer smoothly. (not sure why)

I would really recommend the power supply upgrade regardless. That one will last you 3-6 years on average I'm willing to bet! So you can reuse it in future builds.

For the time being though, you may actually be satisfied with the integrated graphcis on the 3220 as they are much better than your old pentium 4's graphics.

All the games you listed don't really take much and I'd rather have a PSU that I can have for 6 years, than a GPU that won't ever be able to play more than old 2000-2010 games with. :p

If you wanted a graphics card later, the 750ti's are onsale usually for $100-110 and they can play many newer games at high settings. (some ultra even)
The best part is that they can be reused in old computers! If you ever wanted to upgrade later and have friends/family with computers that have a bad PSU in them, the 750ti is perfect as it only use 75w at peak and doesn't use an extra power connectors.
 

Xavier Wells

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Jun 29, 2013
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I think you're right. Maybe I should just tough it and get this. Is this board decent? I know Biostar usually has a bad rep, all the reviews for this one says otherwise though.:
[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r9tDkL) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r9tDkL/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646g3220) | $59.98 @ SuperBiiz
**Motherboard** | [Biostar Hi-Fi B85S3+ Ver. 6.x Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/biostar-motherboard-hifib85s3ver6x) | $64.00 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-kvr13n9s8k28) | Purchased For $0.00
**Storage** | [Seagate EE25.2 Series 40GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st940817sm) | Purchased For $0.00
**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wdbaax3200encnrsn) | Purchased For $0.00
**Power Supply** | [Antec 450W ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-vp450) | $37.97 @ Amazon
**Case Fan** | [Apevia CF4S-BK 25.6 CFM 80mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/apevia-case-fan-cf4sbk) | Purchased For $0.00
**Other**| Compaq Presario SR1151NX case| Purchased
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $161.95

P.S.: Thanks for not just telling me no at the pentium. :) It's actually an o.k. proc (For budget) these days, people just don't know it. It actually is pretty good for single threaded tasks.
 

jaraldo

Honorable
Just so you know, when you hit the "Export/Markup" button, change the settings from Markdown to BBCode. This will make your build look like this instead.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Biostar Hi-Fi B85S3+ Ver. 6.x Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.00 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Seagate EE25.2 Series 40GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Apevia CF4S-BK 25.6 CFM 80mm Fan (Purchased For $0.00)
Other: Compaq Presario SR1151NX case (Purchased)
Total: $149.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

So to me the most important thing is the PSU as it's "generic" in the sense that you can reuse it with any build you do. I have the vp450 in a budget computer and by all means it's great. But when a 550w is on for $10 less than it and a much better quality one at that, I have to strongly recommend it instead ;)

Both motherboards you chose so far are actually pretty good from what I've seen. As long as the have all the features you want, then it's a good board.

I was going to recommend the G3258 for resale value, as it's going to be a very popular CPU for awhile, but since you may need a bios update with your either motherboard, I think it's best to keep things simple and keep the 3220.