Review My Budget Build Please. Under $500

leenhia · Mar 10, 2015

Good enough for future gaming? I'm leaning towards AMD since Intel Pentium G3258 is only Dual-Core, not future proof.

Build #1
$69.99 Intel Pentium G3258 Haswell Dual-Core 3.2GHz LGA 1150 53W
$155.99 EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti Superclocked 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5
$49.99 MSI H81M-E33 LGA 1150 Intel H81 MicroATX
$54.99 Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
$54.99 Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache
$49.99 Rosewill LINE-M - Micro ATX Mini Tower Case
$39.99 CORSAIR CX430 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Power Supply

Total (Shipping & discount included): $477.89

Build #2
$104.99 AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5GHz
$155.99 EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti Superclocked 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5
$54.99 MSI 760GMA-P34(FX) AM3+ AMD 760G MicroATX
$54.99 Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
$54.99 Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache
$29.99 Rosewill FBM-01- Dual-Fan Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case
$39.99 CORSAIR CX430 430W 80 PLUS BRONZE Power Supply

Total (Shipping & discount included): $500.68

okcnaline · Mar 10, 2015

The first one is okay for gaming now, but since 1) The Pentium only has 2 cores and 2) FX-6300 is quite unsatisfying in games, both of these aren't ready for the future.

leenhia · Mar 10, 2015

okcnaline :

What should I improve on or change?

Mark the1 · Mar 10, 2015

You can get a good CPU like i5 4440 or 4460. But it will takeover money. If you can get i5 then it is really recommend but if you are stuck with 500$ then thar built is good.

okcnaline · Mar 10, 2015

@Mark the1: Again from another post, how is the FX's better than Intel Pentium?! FX has lower performance due to the higher fab processes which leads to less parts to make a core which leads to lower CPU cycle which leads to worse performance. And also, why are you suggesting a $175 card which isn't at all worth it in this sort of budget?!!! And you SHOULD OC the Pentium so to get better performance.

@leenhia: I'd probably hunt for more money before buying. $500 will get you quite far into the gaming world, but once you hit $600 or $700 things begin to improve DRASTICALLY. But for now, this build'll be good.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($103.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.78 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($33.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 240 (Black/Gray) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $501.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-10 01:19 EDT-0400

Sig2525 · Mar 10, 2015

okcnaline :

@Mark the1: Again from another post, how is the FX's better than Intel Pentium?! FX has lower performance due to the higher fab processes which leads to less parts to make a core which leads to lower CPU cycle which leads to worse performance. And also, why are you suggesting a $175 card which isn't at all worth it in this sort of budget?!!! And you SHOULD OC the Pentium so to get better performance.

@leenhia: I'd probably hunt for more money before buying. $500 will get you quite far into the gaming world, but once you hit $600 or $700 things begin to improve DRASTICALLY. But for now, this build'll be good.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($103.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.78 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($33.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 240 (Black/Gray) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $501.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-10 01:19 EDT-0400

+1 to this

but for me i would change the mobo to a cheaper h81 that way i could still get me 8 gigs of ram and r7 265

okcnaline · Mar 10, 2015

Mark, I'm not a fanboy, not you either. But you made some clear bonehead mistake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utiat2AOxnA
Ironically, I have an AMD badge, plus my pic is the label of AMD FirePro, one of my favorite GPUs today.

And the comment I made about R9 280 is that while it's good, you have a clear bottleneck here because you can't fit any good CPU in after you put in that juicy GPU.

leenhia · Mar 10, 2015

But I hear some games right now don't even run on Dual-Core anymore and so won't future games.

okcnaline · Mar 10, 2015

Yeah, that is if you plan on running GTA V and other spank new AA titles. Most games can do with 2 if you are playing those. Plus the Pentium is kinda designed to be a "for now" processor.

P.S.: You can get the i5-4690K when you got the $$$, AM3+ is stuck on FX 9590.

madmatt30 · Mar 10, 2015

The 6300 is a far far better chip than the pentium at stock speeds ,I would ever recommend the pentium - never has & never will be a gaming CPU - if it didn't over clock so well it would be worthless.

okcnaline · Mar 10, 2015

Why not just go with the build I listed... Problem solved. That has 4 threads (read: Windows see 4 cores), and the build is higher quality than listed in this entire thread. Plus, it directly competes against FX-6300 and is beast at single-threaded performance.

madmatt30 · Mar 10, 2015

The i3 build is nice - but the fairly weak 750ti will ultimately disappoint imo .

Just to go back to the fx 6300 as no one has done a decent build .
8gb ram on this & a much better GPU

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($94.88 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($60.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($151.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $499.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-10 03:09 EDT-0400

Sig2525 · Mar 10, 2015

okcnaline :

the i3 will even give performance that is as good as an 8350

Matt Dobe · Mar 10, 2015

For future proof go with the i3 build. Don't get stuck in a dead end like I did. I built an FX6300 build and overclocked. It is a nice rig and handles everything fine. I did get some extra performance from the overclocking but the single core speed is nothing compared to Haswell.

AM3+ sounds dead at the moment and you'd be locking yourself in that pit. With the i3/h97 build you can just stick in a new i5 later down the line and sell your i3. This would be a ton better for keeping up to date in the future. The Fx6300 even OCd will start to limit you in the next few years and you'd have to splash out on a new mobo and CPU for an upgrade.

leenhia · Mar 10, 2015

Okay I redid my build check it out and let me know.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bFDdwP

Question: Is the i3 Dual Core or Quad Core? I hear windows see it as Quad Core because of it's hyper-threaded. I'm thinking in the future games will be more advance thus needing more cores.

okcnaline · Mar 10, 2015

2 cores, 4 threads. Windows thinks it has 4 cores

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