CPU, GPU, and mobo for ~350, 720p gaming

winterman

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Jan 1, 2015
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I know its rather greedy of me but I was hoping someone could throw me ideas for a list that would get me 50+fps on high settings for games such as skyrim with mods running, gta 5, and bioshock infinite. Is this possible?
I will be playing mostly on a 720p television so i am not too concerned with 1080p settings.
Also, I list 350 as my desired combined budget but that is because I really am working with about 400 bucks and am figuring ill be spending 50-70 on 8 gb of ram. Would maybe going with 4gb and putting that money into gpu/cpu/mobo be a better choice, or will that just be cutting my self short?
This community has been absolutely positively the most helpful resource for me in learning on building my rig, my thanks and gratitude goes out to everyone on here who continue to share their knowledge, ur great!

As a quick aside, I really really would prefer to keep my budget ~400, but i realize for another couple hundred I would be getting an i5 with a gtx760, is shilling out the extra hundred now going to mean an extra couple of years before needing to upgrade, or am i better off skimming along on a budget because the lifespan of the worthwhile budget pc will last me long enough?
Thank U!!!
 
Solution
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Zeus Yellow 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($131.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $365.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-03 14:27 EST-0500

If u want u can remove the CPU cooler from the...

winterman

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Jan 1, 2015
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oh, and I have a 450w powersupply, along with a case with multiple built in fans, and a hard drive already. I am not personally experienced in overclocking although I am feeling pretty certain it is something I will be happy to do since it provides more bang for the buck.
 

M0j0jojo

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Zeus Yellow 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($131.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $365.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-03 14:27 EST-0500

If u want u can remove the CPU cooler from the list, cuz the CPU already comes with its own. The cooler I suggested is great for overclocking the CPU. This CPU can also overclock to 4.0Ghz with the stock cooler.
 
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winterman

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Awesome that looks like an excellent list. Looks like with the ASRock z97 I will be able to upgrade to an i5 in the future and it is a board that i can overclock intels on right? Because I am just a bit leery of purchasing a dual core as opposed to a quad core, from what i can tell games are likely going to utilize multiple cores more in the future. So i take it it would be more worth while to hold off on that purchase of an i5 or somesuch until a time when I feel more financially equipped or games have a greater necessity for quad cores.
That was a cooler i had in mind, and the r9 270 looks great too!
thanks a ton your advice has really helped me finally settle on a build.
 

M0j0jojo

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This Pentium has the same gaming architecture as all the other Haswell CPUs, you will get almost the same performance.
 

winterman

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It appears the powercolor radeon r9 270 is sold out just about everywhere. Will getting a r9 270x or r9 280 be worth while? I have also found XFX Radeon R9 270 Double Dissipation 2GB DDR5 PCIe 3.0x16 Video Card, this appears to be just about on par with the powercolor version, but I dont see overclocked or anything mentioned here, so I am not certain. What would you recommend?
 

M0j0jojo

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The "x" at the end of the 270 means it is Factory overclocked, but yes either getting the r9 270x or r9 280 would be worth, if you get either one of them, even the r9 270 and decide to get a 1080P monitor you would not have to upgrade GPU. The r9 Series are really good for 1080P Gaming. XFX is reliable brand, you can also go with that.