Greatest Price to Performance Ratio I Have Ever Seen

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DonQuixoteMC

DonQuixoteMC

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I haven't seen anything better around the $500 budget sweetspot.

Could also be paired with R9 290.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.65 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($48.83 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 280 3GB TurboDuo Video Card ($181.10 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Merc Beta (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $512.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-15 20:32 EDT-0400


EDIT: Bleh. First publish attempt failed. Reposted, but forgot to specify this thread as a discussion. Sorry about that.
 
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RazerZ

RazerZ

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Take a look at my builds ;)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.97 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 280 3GB TurboDuo Video Card ($181.10 @ Newegg)
Case: Enermax OSTROG ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $495.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-15 21:10 EDT-0400
 
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DonQuixoteMC

DonQuixoteMC

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I would spend more on a mb with a Z97 chipset . The MSI Mate , or Asrock anniversary models probably
Click to expand...
I agree that would lead to a more balanced build, but the sole purpose of this is just to challenge the magical $500 gaming PC. For the longest time, it's been AMD dominated.

@Razer: Holy smokes! The Antec Neo Eco 620W is $40 right now!? Shame I don't have a computer to put it in.

Anyways, interesting suggestion! I eliminated i3s from the equation since an overclocked G3258 can match them for less. (In most gaming scenarios)

That said, it certainly would increase the reliability aspect. Even though you can overclock on the H81 with 1.7 BIOS, I'm not 100% convinced that you should!

I would love to build either of these PCs, just to test what you really could get for $500 (closer to $600 with yours). Would be a fun experiment. Shame I don't have $500 to blow on something like this! :p
 
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RazerZ

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The G3258 has a problem with frame stuttering in cpu demanding games. Also the i3 is a much more powerful cpu, even if you push the G3258 to 4.7Ghz it can't compare to the i3's fps because the i3 can take advantage of hyperthreading. That's the reason why it's $50 cheaper than the i3. But I suppose if you're on a really tight budget you could swap it for the G3258.

You can overclock the G3258 with a H81 motherboard without a problem. Tom's did an article on this a while back.
 
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DonQuixoteMC

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Can't compete with the i3's FPS? Au contraire. The rest of the benchmarks from the Tom's article say about the same thing. Frame time variance/frme stutter are still legitimate issues though. (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-overclocking-performance,3849.html)

Would probably be worth the $20 extra to get i3 with stock cooler over the G3258 with budget 3rd party cooler to avoid some of the stuttering.

And as for overclocking on the H81, I know it can be done, but the Tom's article never touched on longevity. Which is where I'm mainly concerned. (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-b81-cheap-overclocking,3888.html)

On a different note, have you seen the BackBlaze hard drive reliability study comparing Hitachi, WD and Seagate drives? In your experience, have you ever seen anything that actually links those numbers with real world use? Especially comparing the Barracuda with the similarly priced Caviar Blue (1 TB models). I've heard so much about the reliability of WD over Seagate, but nothing actually conclusive. Just curious about your take one that.
 
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DonQuixoteMC

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Not for gaming though, if I recall correctly. Wasn't the verdict:

760K > G3258 for content creation, etc.
G3258 > 760K for gaming

Which brings up a good point: This thread should be titled: Best Gaming Price to Performance :p
 
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RazerZ

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I'm not sure if I can trust the benchmark toms did tbh. The BF4 test was on single player, not a 64 player multuplayer map. Anybody who plays BF4 doesn't play it for the campaign.

I don't personally own/nor have tested the G3258 so I can't say whether or not overclocking it will solve the stuttering issues it has on certain games, but from other members of this forum I've heard on CPU dependent games you would be better off getting an Athlon just to have a consistent frame rate.

I'd love to put the G3258 to the test, but I have other plans. The Athlon X4 860k was released last month and that's going to be the next upgrade for my A6 system. Can't wait to do some benchmarks pairing it with a HD 7950.

Yes I've seen their study comparing Seagate, WD, and Hitatchi. At best I'd say it's more of fear mongering more than anything with the 75% Seagate pass rate. They stress test their hard drives used for the benchmark much more than any average user would, which is why any of the three drives should work fine. I have a 750GB Seagate Barracuda ES that's over eight years old and is still up and running.
 
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DonQuixoteMC

DonQuixoteMC

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Very good point about the benchmarks being singleplayer. I always forget to check that. Makes me want to test this even more. I get the feeling that the i3 would handle multiplayer more gracefully than an overclocked pentium could.

Anyway, I'll keep wondering in the meantime.

"fear mongering"
I think that term fits quite well. BackBlaze's research, while intriguing, doesn't quite seem to show anything meaningful about consumer drives and consumer uses.

I think you're spot on about the real world reliability of most drives.

I'd love to see what you find testing the Athlon X4 860k!
 
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