Entry Level Gaming build in 450$..?

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ExileStudio

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Hello everyone.
Recently i asked for some suggestions on upgrading my old rig and got some nice ones given the budget. But i thought its risky to use old parts for an almost new build. So i decided to ditch that and assemble a whole new build.
I'd like to again ask for help from tomshardware community to suggest me possible combinations of hardware for a gaming rig. Budget - 450$

I have a fairly new HDD so that i'll re-using.

Thank you in advance for all your help. ^_^
 
Solution
Chayan4400


Why do you need such a big cooler on a celeron? At this pricepoint, he should stick with the stock cooler. The celeron is hopelessly under powered for CPU intensive games like battlefield 4, and will be a sure bottleneck for the R7 270. A Z97 board doesn't make sense, even overclocked this CPU won't be as powerful as an i3. OP said he already has an HDD. Unfortunately, this is quite an unbalanced build.

To the OP:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($42.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory:...
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ExileStudio

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I don't really have a good idea of what mid-tier means to everyone. I'm not looking to run Battlefield 4 on Ultra 1080p or Middle Earth SOM on Ultra 1080p. I think an entry level build would be fine as well. Something that can maybe run Fifa 15 on 720p or Metal Gear rising on medium settings 720p.
So if you could help it would be great. ^^

 
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Chayan4400

Chayan4400

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Why do you need such a big cooler on a celeron? At this pricepoint, he should stick with the stock cooler. The celeron is hopelessly under powered for CPU intensive games like battlefield 4, and will be a sure bottleneck for the R7 270. A Z97 board doesn't make sense, even overclocked this CPU won't be as powerful as an i3. OP said he already has an HDD. Unfortunately, this is quite an unbalanced build.

To the OP:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($42.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($40.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($22.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $445.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-23 08:04 EDT-0400

This build should get 40-45 FPS on Battlefield 4 on the Ultra prest at 1080p, no overclocking needed. Actually quite a fair build, certainly not entry level, I'd say somewhere around lower mid tier actually.

If you can spare another $50, get an SSD, it will make your computer much more responsive:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $49.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-23 08:14 EDT-0400

If not, then save up for it later.
 
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Chayan4400

Chayan4400

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Apr 12, 2015
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Why do you need such a big cooler on a celeron? At this pricepoint, he should stick with the stock cooler. The celeron is hopelessly under powered for CPU intensive games like battlefield 4, and will be a sure bottleneck for the R7 270. A Z97 board doesn't make sense, even overclocked this CPU won't be as powerful as an i3. OP said he already has an HDD. Unfortunately, this is quite an unbalanced build.

To the OP:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($42.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($40.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($22.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $445.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-23 08:04 EDT-0400

This build should get 40-45 FPS on Battlefield 4 on the Ultra prest at 1080p, no overclocking needed. Actually quite a fair build, certainly not entry level, I'd say somewhere around lower mid tier actually.

If you can spare another $50, get an SSD, it will make your computer much more responsive:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $49.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-23 08:14 EDT-0400

If not, then save up for it later.
 
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Solution
NightAntilli

NightAntilli

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Couple of questions before I make a build
- Does it need to include a copy of windows, keyboard/mouse/monitor and so on?

Without these things, you can actually build a pretty decent entry gaming PC. If those things are to be included in your budget, then it won't be possible.
 
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Chayan4400

Chayan4400

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^^^^ Agreed. Also, sorry for the double post! No idea how that happened.
 
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NightAntilli

NightAntilli

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($70.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 285 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($158.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $428.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-23 08:31 EDT-0400

Chayan4400's build is also good, although I'd go for 2x4GB rather than 1x8
 
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ExileStudio

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nope.. just the case and everything in it. I already have windows cd and keyboard mouse.

 
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ExileStudio

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Yeah i thought there was something off about that build as well.. in any case, your build looks really nice for my budget thank you very much. :)

 
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ExileStudio

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This build also seems really powerful. Really appreciate your help. ^^
 
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ExileStudio

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I can't decide which build i should go for. :/ both seem really nice rigs given my price range.
Can you guys (chanyan4400 and nightantilli) decide what build i should assemble..?
 
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Chayan4400

Chayan4400

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Both are equally powerful builds that will perform well in almost any game. It really is a matter of personal preference!

To sum up the arguments for both sides:

AMD: Will perfrom slightly better in GPU intensive games, but will consume more power and run hotter.

Intel: Will perform slightly better in CPU intensive games, and will run cooler and consume less power.

Keep in mind that by 'better' I mean a max of 10 FPS difference, so really either build is fine for your requirements, and it mostly depends on whether you are an Intel/Nvidia or AMD fanboy :).
 
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NightAntilli

NightAntilli

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Chanyan's build has a more powerful processor for DX11 games and prior. And you'll have an upgrade path for the CPU. With mine, you won't.
The graphics cards are about on par with each other, although I have no proof, I expect the R9 285 to draw ahead in DX12.
The rest (except motherboard) is interchangeable.
 
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ExileStudio

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Alright i think i'll go with Chayan's build because i plan to upgrade the rig annually and i have more knowledge with intel proccessors, their sockets (lga1150) and nvidia cards. Although i like both amd and intel, i think this build will be more suitable for me. Thanks a lot both of you. Really really appreciate your great help. ^_^
 
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