Thoughts on low budget gaming PC build

RandomLoser · Nov 9, 2015

Hey guys i've never built, or even USED another computer but the one I have (Stock inspiron 531 - Aka sh*t) I'm planning on getting my first ever gaming pc with some money that i've been saving for a while. I've got around $550 total and I want the best possible computer for playing games that I can get for this sum of money. I've been doing research and I built this list of parts:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Jz2qvK

So if you guys have any thoughts about it, better CPU's, GPU's, or anything like that please leave a comment and tell me what would be best and cheapest. Obviously I'm looking for price

erformance ratio's here, so thank you for your time!!

Jeff Kaos · Nov 9, 2015

Looks like a solid budget build and is pretty close to what I'm gaming on these days. Real close actually; right down to the CPU. The only thing I'd suggest is maybe going for a 500W PSU and maybe spend about $20 more for the Evega or Gigabyte version of the GPU. You could probably shave that extra money by taking the CDROM drive out of your old PC and installing it on the new build. The reason I make these suggestions is this: With a PSU you might want a little more power in case you ever upgrade and even though Corsair makes a good PSU better safe than sorry. But I'll totally admit that I'm paranoid as heck when it comes to PSU's because I blew more than a few in my day and used to repair PC's for a living and it was the number 1 issue when a system failed. As for the card it's just a matter of preference, I like Evega and have that exact GPU in my rig. That is without a doubt a very solid budget card and I've been extremely impressed with it so far; I've been playing Witcher 3 and Dying light with high graphics settings and haven't had any issues except maybe lower frame rates but I'm not an elite gamer so I don't really notice it. I know a lot of people are going to say "save a little more so you can get X" but I know that there's a reason why you're building a budget PC and saving a little extra or spending a little extra isn't always an option. And like I said, the PSU will work fine, I'm just paranoid. All in all good build.

sadams04 · Nov 9, 2015

THERMAL PASTE - Not needed
CPU COOLER - Don't forget one.
MEM - The AM3+ platform responds well to higher frequency modules.
HD - Less failures with the WD Blue.
GPU - A little bit more performance for less cost with the 260x.
CASE - No front USB 3.0. On a budget I like the Tesseract cases better...
PSU - No. XFX, Seasonic, the EVGA G2 lineup, or filter through the Tier 1 or Tier 2 list. www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
WIFI - Changed to an internal unit that supports AC
CASE FANS - Not needed.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($139.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($17.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Stealth 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($41.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($112.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $576.36

...or go Intel.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($70.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($112.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $533.47

ben001 · Nov 9, 2015

RandomLoser :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($70.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($36.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H23 ATX Mid Tower Case ($25.20 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.75 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus USB-N13 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($18.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $552.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-09 12:55 EST-0500

logainofhades · Nov 9, 2015

I would go this route, with that kind of budget. You have a better upgrade path, this way.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($120.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer ($13.89 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $543.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-09 13:09 EST-0500

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Thoughts on low budget gaming PC build

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