Budget Gaming PC Help

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stride

Reputable
Jul 9, 2014
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I need help picking parts for my $500-$550 gaming pc. Any suggestions are appreciated.

This is what I have come up with so far.

-AMD FX-6300 6-Core Processor Black Edition
-Gigabyte AM3+AMD DDR3 13933000 760G
Micro ATX
-Sapphire 100366-2L Radeon R7 260X
-8GB Crucial Ballistic RAM (1-stick)
-Western Digital Black 1TB
-Corsair 430w PSU
-Case ???
PS: I already have OS, Screen, and Mouse

Thanks In advance
 
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damric

damric

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Sep 17, 2010
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Ok mate, here you go:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.88 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.91 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 260X 1GB Video Card ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Xion XON-560 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $537.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

The case is pretty nice. uATX but excellent cable management and cooling. I can drop the CPU down to an i3 and add an SSD if you want, and it will still be faster than the FX-6300.
 
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S

stride

Reputable
Jul 9, 2014
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4,510


Ok thank you, do you think going down to the i3 is worth adding a ssd or is it something I could add in the future?
 
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damric

damric

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Sep 17, 2010
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Either choice is a good choice :)

 
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Solution
damric

damric

Illustrious
Sep 17, 2010
8,017
72
37,990
Just in case you decide plan B. Hyper Threading seems to help i3 a lot, really narrows the gap to the i5.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.88 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.91 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 260X 1GB Video Card ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Xion XON-560 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $537.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
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AgentTran

AgentTran

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Jan 21, 2014
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For $550 the i5 4460 isn't worth it, because you should invest in a cheaper CPU for more GPU power. The performance in games will go up majorly.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($49.89 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.88 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB Dual-X Video Card ($157.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $535.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

This gives you a 6300, on a quality ASUS board which gives the ability to overclock that baby. Also, the 270 not only holds more graphical power, but it can also be overclocked to reach the clock of the 270X, giving even more performance.

You can invest in a custom CPU cooler if you come up with a little bit more money, and I've included a quality 550W XFX PSU for major overclocking headroom. Also, I've gotten you a nice case for the desired airflow needed.

For overclocking, I feel like this is the better option. The 260X is probably the best value card out at the moment right now, though.
 
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damric

damric

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Sep 17, 2010
8,017
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37,990
NVIDA flavor, and small enough power draw to use a 300W PSU!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.88 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Xion XON-560 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $541.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
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Steel_Nugget

Steel_Nugget

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Dec 5, 2013
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Go with Agents build. For most games you want GPU power which the R9 will provide over the GTX 750 Ti, and if you live near a Micro Center and can add $20 to the build grab a FX 8320. Also damrics build doesn't give much room for an upgrade with the PSU.
 
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damric

damric

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Sep 17, 2010
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FX-6300 is very slow, ancient as far as technology goes. One would need an expensive motherboard, cooling solution, and PSU to overclock the thing just to come near stock i3 performance. It would need to be clocked to around 6GHz to catch the i5's stock performance. All bulldozer/piledriver CPUs also have major cache latency issues, crippling performance. Adding a more powerful GPU will be wasted by bottlenecks. It's just not a good option, whether building a budget rig or a performance rig.

TL;DR

I bench and overclock AMD CPUs all the time for fun, but for customers I always recommend the more balanced intel builds for better performance, lower power draw, and overall lower platform cost since you can use stock cooling and a cheap motherboard.
 
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Steel_Nugget

Steel_Nugget

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Dec 5, 2013
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I own a FX 6100, and have overclocked it to 3.9 on the stock cooler and a cheapish motherboard. It does bottleneck my HD 7970 but it stays at playable levels Eg. BF4 60 FPS. Since the R9 270 is lower end, and the FX 6300 is higher end (Comparing to one of my PCs) the match up should work well.

 
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