Advice on first/budget/console-replacement gaming build - GPU/CPU combo

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GuzziGuy

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Oct 5, 2014
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Just about to build my first gaming PC - I've done quite a few builds for Linux desktops, but for general business use, where eg an i3/Pentium - even Celeron - is plenty, as is Intel graphics.

Switching to PC after PS1/2/3 for a number of reasons - more indie choice, cheaper mainstream games, lack of enthusiasm for current gen consoles. Not quite a hardcore gamer - don't really do the FPSs - but enjoy stuff like Tomb Raider, GTA, Resident Evil, Portal, and will be playing on a 1080 TV.

I'm aiming for a similar cost to a console and hopefully similar performance. What I'm looking at:


  • ■ Silverstone ML07 £50
    ■ Corsair 4GBx2 £64
    ■ Pentium G3258 £50
    ■ Palit GTX750 £92 (passive cooling - trying to quieten a living room PC)
    ■ MSI H81I Mini-ITX motherboard £45
    ■ Slot loading DVD £20
    ■ Microsoft wireless receiver £19 (I have a couple of 360 controllers)

I have a PSU and HDDs already, so this is about £340... not counting the £70 or so I'll need for Windows - am ultimately hoping to do SteamOS but I think at least for now I'll need Windows. As I've not done a gaming machine - or PC gaming - before, not quite sure how well this would work - eg:


  • ■ In general will I get console-ish performance from this?
    ■ Is it worth overclocking the pentium? If not, should I save £10 on eg a G3220?
    ■ Would I notice any difference getting a GTX750Ti?
    ■ Any reason to get a B85 over the H81? I think the H81 only has PCIe 2.0 - do I care?

TL;DR: never done PC gaming and looking for a bit of hand-holidng - any advice much appreciated!
 
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GuzziGuy

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Thanks for the replies - sorry, should have been more explicit on cost - am aiming for approx console cost, so around £350 - I had hoped to do £400 total, but looks like I'll go over that when I add Windows. My above spec stands at £340 for hardware but I'd go a little higher if there was a considerable benefit to doing so - but I'd still like the total cost (inc OS) to be nearer £400 than £500.

I currently have a 400W SFX PSU - it's a fairly cheap CIT one which I may upgrade later, but for now it will save me some money. My current case choice dictates a SFX - am space constrained so not sure I can go bigger.

HDDs - I have various 3Gbps SATA drives knocking around, eg a Toshiba 1TB 2.5, WD Blue 2.5, Seagate Barracuda 3.5. Again, not perfect and may upgrade but am hoping it will do for now.
 
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ZeusGamer

ZeusGamer

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I can recommend this build to you friend.
R9 270 will be MUCH better than 750ti, but you can swap it if you want.
Also the CPU that I put in the build is better than the Pentium G3220.

Here it comes:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£73.36 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£69.34 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£65.89 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£114.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case (£53.65 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £377.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-05 12:32 BST+0100

If you want to stay with the small form factor build, then this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£73.36 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£41.18 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£65.89 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£114.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£69.59 @ Aria PC)
Total: £365.01
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-05 12:37 BST+0100
 
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GuzziGuy

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ZeusGamer, many thanks for your reply and your research, much appreciated :) I have always done Intel until now so hadn't really considered AMD.

Unfortunately, I think I'm stuck with the chosen case - I really need to stick to an HTPC format case to go in an existing media unit and this Mini ITX one seems to be the best bet for a full-size GPU (via a riser). And looks like there are no Mini ITX AM3+ boards, only Micro ATX; if I were to go down to an X4 760K, then the consensus seems that the G3258 is better for gaming?

On the GPU the R9 270 looks good - I leaned toward the NVidia since it seems slightly preferred for SteamOS which I also want to play with, but I think AMD should be fine also.

But both seem to have quite a power cost - ie

  • ■ FX-6300 + R9 270 = 242w
    ■ G3258 + GTX750/Ti = 113w

This suggests a lot of of extra fan activity/noise - especially as there is a passive option for the GTX750.

All these issues are negotiable, of course... but considering that I'm not really FPSing, is there that much extra benefit?
 
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ZeusGamer

ZeusGamer

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Jul 9, 2014
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If you are going to drop down to 760K then the G3258 would be a better choice, you are correct.

For the GPU. This thread states that they now support AMD video cards [link]. Also, I should know this because I've got dual R9 280x's running in my dual boot SteamOS and Windows 8.1 system.

The GTX 750/ti is very power efficient because of the maxwell architecture. But they just won't compete with the R9 270 on the processing power.

I didn't know you wanted to stick with the mITX build, so let me replan you a new build.

UPDATE

Here's your new build mate:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor (£47.94 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£83.94 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£65.89 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£114.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case (£64.90 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £377.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-05 13:58 BST+0100
 
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GuzziGuy

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Again, huge thanks for your advice ZeusGamer and LukaBoki, much appreciated.

The R9 270 is tempting... although - ah heck - just realised my cheapo PSU doesn't have a connector for a GPU so I've gotta decide if its worth buying a new PSU for :(

So in either case - R9 270 or GTX 750 - would an i3 be worth the extra, or would the GPU still be the bottleneck?

Presumably OCing the G3258 involves extra cooling - not sure I'll bother but I guess it's good to have the option for £10 over the G3220. ZeusGamer, you suggest a H97 MB - any specific performance benefits over a cheaper H81I? Looks like even the latter let you OC?

Again, much appreciated - having done quite a bit of basic PC building and thought I had it figured out at the start - but the gaming/GPU context is all new to me!
 
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