New Build for Family

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Artie111

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Dec 1, 2012
23
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10,510
Full Description: So after building my very first PC, I was able to gain some fun experience and wanted to continue my PC journey by helping upgrade my family's computer that is a very outdated office machine. My main drive for this was that I got my brother into PC gaming once I finished building my own gaming machine. However, gaming on his family PC is just a lost cause. The games I play will just wipe out his prehistoric, premade office machine. It's sad to watch Minecraft lag on its lowest settings. I spent the night setting up a cheap budget build that would still portray the office computer's web browsing ability (Facebook, YouTube, Google), but also introduce a new gaming experience for my brother, so he can now play with me in games such CS:GO, TF2, Blacklight Retribution, and someday maybe even the newest GTA. Is this a good enough build for a casual gaming + web browsing family? I'm still quite the noob, so any advice would be highly appreciated!

tl;dr: Would this build be able to run most modern games for my brother that has gotten into PC gaming (Doesn't have to be on MAX settings, just able to run smoothly) and still provide casual web browsing for the rest of the family? Any recommendations for better parts would highly be appreciated!

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ky6PkL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ky6PkL/by_merchant/

Budget: $450 if possible
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($69.49 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI A68HM-GRENADE Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($48.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill Galaxy-01 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Stallion 450W ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.75 @ OutletPC)
OS: Windows 7 (Already own)
Total: $447.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-27 00:30 EDT-0400
 
Solution
camohanna
That's no problems if you can't salvage. If the dvd drive is ide its probably likely the hdd is, so forget about them and start from scratch.

I would suggest this as the pentium has very good single core performance for a steal price. I think the ssd will make the computer much more enjoyable than an stronger gpu:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WJy3Jx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WJy3Jx/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.25 @...
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Artie111

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Dec 1, 2012
23
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Thanks for the reply! However, I highly dislike my family's case as it only has one exhaust fan in the back. There is no front fan, side fan, or even a second fan as I can see. As for the HDD, would it still be transferable although it's very old? I know it won't save the Windows 7 OS, so I'll need to completely reinstall it, but would it be safer as just a secondary HDD and give them a fresh start with the larger 1 TB? I also believe the DVD drive is too old and wouldn't be compatible with this new build since it is IDE (Could say same for HDD now that I think about it...)
 
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camohanna

camohanna

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Oct 21, 2012
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That's no problems if you can't salvage. If the dvd drive is ide its probably likely the hdd is, so forget about them and start from scratch.

I would suggest this as the pentium has very good single core performance for a steal price. I think the ssd will make the computer much more enjoyable than an stronger gpu:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WJy3Jx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WJy3Jx/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.25 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($30.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $448.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-27 02:15 EDT-0400
 
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Solution
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Artie111

Honorable
Dec 1, 2012
23
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10,510


Thanks for a suggestion! Hmm... should I be worried about it not having "enough cores" for modern + future gaming? My brother will mainly be using this build for gaming. Is this too much of a worry, or should we be fine?
 
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camohanna

camohanna

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Oct 21, 2012
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Honestly I wouldn't worry too much in this low end config. The good thing with the parts i've listed is it is easy to upgrade from the pentium to an i5 down the road if you want to also upgrade the graphics card to something more beefier or feel like the dual core is bottlenecking - honestly you won't feel it with a 750ti.

That dual core pentium won't be the bottleneck in this config, it will be the graphics card.

You will be able to run all the games listed at medium + , maybe low for gta 5 but you will definitely be able to run it,
 
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