Looking for feedback on $500-600 gaming upgrade build

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rakoth

Distinguished
May 16, 2008
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18,680
Purchase Date: before Xmas
Budget: $500-600
Usage: gaming (mostly Minecraft right now)
Location: US
Preferred website: Newegg
Overclocking: no
SLI/Crossfire: no
Monitor resolution: 1920 x 1080
Parts not required: OS, optical drive, disk drives, possibly the PSU from other builds I’ve done

My 11 year old son wants a new computer for Xmas. To date he has been using a build I did a few years ago for his brother. Right now he plays Minecraft almost exclusively but I expect he’ll try some other, more graphics intensive, games in the next year or so.

Selected components

Technically I don’t need a case but my son doesn’t like the boring black ones I have, which I understand at his age. He likes the one listed in the list above, as well as this one: ENERMAX Ostrog GT ECA3280A-BR Black / Red Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
 $75

Should I consider adding an SSD such as this one? Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDRE256GB

I plan to reuse a Corsair CMPSU-450VX PSU which is about 4 years old, unless someone really thinks it’s a bad idea.

I’d appreciate any feedback on the above.
 
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blazorthon

Glorious
Sep 24, 2010
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I recommend going to a GTX 950 instead of the 750 Ti. There are models within about $20 of the 750 Ti despite a huge performance improvement.

You should get a new PSU. The old one is not completely compatible with Haswell.

An SSD is not necessary and won't help performance in games much, but it is up to many times faster in loading things and I recommend it if you dont mind spending the money. That Mushkin drive is a decent model. Other decent cheap models include Samsung's 840 Evo and 850 Evo, OCZ's Arc 100, and Sandisk's Ultra II.

EDIT: Also, here is a cheaper memory kit that is a little better:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f314900cl9d8gbxl
Your board wont run it at the full DDR3-1866; it will downclock it to DDR3-1600 liek the other kit, but it's still cheaper anyway.
 
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Forever Oleg

Forever Oleg

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Jul 15, 2015
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Looks good to me. Also, yes, you can reuse the PSU if it is still functional. Looks like it's of good quality. But I don't think it's Haswell compatible.

Are you sure you want to fork out for an i5? At this point, for Minecraft, he only need G3258 or max an i3 if he starts playing some other games. GTX 750 Ti is a good entry 1080p card so you are good there. You can get GTX 950/960 though.

SSD's only reduce loading times so if your child is impatient maybe you should consider getting one. Don't get Mushkin though. Samsung makes the most reliable and highest quality SSDs out there.
 
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rakoth

Distinguished
May 16, 2008
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18,680


Thanks to all for the feedback. I swapped the memory and video card, and added a PSU. The updated list is here
 
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