Make a $ 500 CAD and under gaming PC build!

CTurbo

Pizza Monster
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($91.98 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Asus A88XM-E Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($59.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.95 @ Vuugo)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($134.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: Antec Green 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($62.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $493.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-26 21:34 EDT-0400
 
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Deleted member 1300495

Guest
Here you go:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($86.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81-D3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($57.18 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.39 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($141.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 361 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.88 @ shopRBC)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $512.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-26 21:39 EDT-0400
 
The G3258 is likely better for MOST games.

While it only has has two cores, it also has significantly higher performance per core (A worst case might be Starcraft 2 which can't use more than two cores last I checked so big advantage to the G3258 though well threaded games like BF4 probably do better on the 860K though I'd check CPU scaling for that for individual games)

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Athlon+X4+860K+Quad+Core
vs
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Pentium+G3258+%40+3.20GHz

So again, the 860K has the higher overall score but that's only comparable if the game/program can use the entire CPU which currently isn't very often for a CPU in gaming. Going forward with DX12 games the X4-860K should pull ahead though remember that doesn't include any games to date and it will likely be quite a while until you have mostly DX12 games.

Other:
GPU->
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_750_Ti/25.html

That's an older benchmark, and a reasonably good GTX750Ti like the Asus will overclock a lot higher.

GPU more:
*What also isn't shown often is that a weaker CPU paired with an AMD GPU is the loss of performance due to inefficient DX11 drivers. With a strong CPU like the i5-4670K this isn't obvious. With any AMD CPU or lower-end Intel CPU like the G3258 you'll be losing performance by eating up valuable CPU cycle compared to the NVidia drivers.

Thus,
I highly recommend an NVidia GPU while the AMD CPU is a toss-up depending on what gaming you do, though at least you can add a better Intel CPU later (if that's something you would consider) like the i5-4590.

 
I have to go, but at this point I'd probably recommend:

G3258
GTX750Ti
2x4GB 1600 C9
and...
suitable motherboard recommended for the G3258 with at least some light overclocking potential (reasonable quality and in budget)

You can easily find info online about suitable motherboards but I'd investigate that carefully.
 
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Deleted member 1300495

Guest


you do realize that that is not in his budget right?