Building a moderate gaming pc in 2 steps

Marc_2 · Oct 7, 2015

Hi people !

I'm trying to build a desktop pc for moderate-decent gaming, light photo editing and university work and I would like to do it in 2 steps.

My initial plan is to spend around 400$ in the CPU, RAM, computer case, Motherboard... ( everything except mouse, keyboard and monitor ). I have thought in i5-4460, 8 gb of RAM, 1TB HDD. I don't have much of an idea of Motherboards, computer cases and PSU ( I have calculated for this last one to be around 500-600 W )

The next step would be the graphics card. My monitor has a resolution of 1680x1050, so I'm trying to decide what would be better: a GTX 960, GTX 970 or an AMD equivalent (200-350 $)

What would you improve, add or modify ? Can someone show me an example of a buid ?

Sorry for my English, I'm still learning :/

Thanks !

TerabyteTech · Oct 7, 2015

Without an OS:

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

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($77.85 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($47.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($348.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $781.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 16:01 EDT-0400

With an OS:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4mbkMp
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4mbkMp/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($77.85 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($47.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($93.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $765.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 16:03 EDT-0400

Marc_2 · Oct 7, 2015

I appreciate your suggestion TerabyteTech, but I see the Pentium very weak and I don't need at the moment a SSD. Do I need a PSU of 650W and 64.99 $ ? And a case of 80 $ ? I think that saving in all those thing would meet my price/performance requirements better.

I do have an OS, thanks for the consideration

TerabyteTech · Oct 7, 2015

Marc_2 :

A more performance-oriented build:

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

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($77.85 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($47.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($184.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 350 ATX Mid Tower Case w/500W Power Supply ($54.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $706.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 16:31 EDT-0400

Though you don't need an SSD, I would strongly recommend one, as it would greatly speed up your system. But, if you really don't want an ssd, here is another build:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vdp3TW
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vdp3TW/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($326.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($77.85 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($184.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 350 ATX Mid Tower Case w/500W Power Supply ($54.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $765.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 16:30 EDT-0400

Chris Droste · Oct 7, 2015

Marc_2 :

heya Marc_2; based on what you were thinking, i fleshed out a build that's budget-oriented and should pretty well satisfy moderate gaming needs. If you're delving more into photoshop stuff I'd pop in another 8GB for 16GB ram total, but this should be pretty potent for the money.:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($183.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill SRM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.00 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.45 @ OutletPC)
Total: $699.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 16:46 EDT-0400

Marc_2 · Oct 7, 2015

Cool ! I just have seen a sapphire r9 290 dual-x OC 4GB ddr5 for 269$, I think that without the SSD I can afford it and it would be on the 700$ mark with great performance.

The last thing I need to know is if that build supports my VGA monitor or if only supports HDMI.

Chris Droste · Oct 7, 2015

look at the connectors/options spec for that videocard; most will have at least one DVI port for that generation. I'd recc moving away from a VGA connection but if it's your only option I'd pick up a DVI to VGA adaptor to go with it.

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