Budget amd pc for gaming (pcsx2, bluestacks, and most games at 720p)

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UKTone

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Feb 24, 2015
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Note: I live 30 miles away from microcenter that is in Madison heights, MI. I have 2700 in my bank account that is not going to any bills. I want to build a budget computer. I don't know if I should go with amd fx or one of the apu versions. Also, this is meant to be temporary/sold until I get the courage and knowledge to go all out and build a Full apx tower build (Likely Intel, unless amd catches up), but even then I likely won't get the top of the line stuff... but you never know, I might change my mind... but things get outdated pretty fast.

I have never overclocked before, but I want to try it for the cpu and probably the video card (how different is this for the gpu than for the cpu?)(And where do I find recommended overclocks for them?).
I want an SSD hardrive, but i would really like to be able to reuse it in my next build, is this possible?
I know the ram I won't be able to reuse, but it'd have to be DDR3 anyway, so it doesn't matter.

What is the difference between AMD FX 8320E and AMD FX 8320?

If you guys could recommend everything i'll need and should get for my computer, that would be very helpful, fans, case, recommended heatsink, motherboard, cpu, power supply, etc.

Microcenter apparently price matches newegg now, which may help me save a few dollars.

Thank you, the current microcenter sale ends on the 15th, should I possibly wait for the next sale?
 
Solution
genthug
If you want a gaming budget @ 720p, get an APU. And @ ohenryy, why would you put an APU with a GPU? Absolutely useless.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A10-7870K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor ($126.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Silverstone AR05 40.2 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI A78M-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY CS1211 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ OutletPC)...
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Dreggle

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use pcpartpicker"dot"com. put parts together and if anything is incompatible it will let you know. put a gtx 980 and an i7 and then just cheapest name brand parts and u can easily max everything for the next couple years.
 
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genthug

genthug

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Mar 20, 2016
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If you want a gaming budget @ 720p, get an APU. And @ ohenryy, why would you put an APU with a GPU? Absolutely useless.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A10-7870K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor ($126.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Silverstone AR05 40.2 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI A78M-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY CS1211 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Xion XON-310_BK MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($21.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $525.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-05 19:25 EDT-0400

I didn't skimp on either the RAM or the PSU because you can reuse RAM, and you can reuse the PSU. Especially that PSU. Good build quality and high power capacity. If you go with skylake or above, you won't be able to reuse the RAM, but that's alright. It's short money in comparison to the rest of a good build quality machine.

For reference, an A10-7850k will run BF4 at medium settings at an average somewhere near 70-80 FPS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv57qDXpEPU

Save the rest of it to go towards your actual build.

As for the rest of your questions: 8320e has a lower TDP and lower base clock speed than an 8320 does. It is not much different between the CPU and the GPU, the biggest difference is the amount of settings to tweak for the CPU. There are a few things you need to turn off in order to successfully overclock that you don't need to worry about for your GPU. After those are turned off, it's essentially the same process. Increase core clocks, see if fails. If fail -> increase voltage. If stable -> increase core clocks until failure. Rinse repeat until you reach thermal limits or when you start to see artifacts from your GPU.
 
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Outlander_04

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Partpicker wont show microcenter bundles unfortunately .

If you want you can build a decent $500 gaming pc using an AMD quadcore . Im not sure this is the wisest path though since its really a training exercise .

Why not go to a computer repair shop . Spend $50 on and old junker and then research it and disassemble it . When you can put it back together and have it run you are ready to build the pc you really want .
 
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Outlander_04

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If you are doing budget AMD gamer then this is probably the best way

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI A78M-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: OCZ Trion 100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $491.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-05 19:38 EDT-0400
 
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UKTone

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Feb 24, 2015
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Wow I think I like genthug's set up the most. 16gb of ram ddr3-2133 only about $67, but is still a little wasteful since I won't be getting ddr3 ram since i'd likely be going with intel, unless i'm doing another budget computer, so I guess it'll be fine.

How many fans, brand of heatsink, etc. should I get, etc. Don't want to overlook the small stuff, I've made mistakes before, so i am trying to avoid them.

What OS should I put on it? Windows XP, 7, or 10? I didn't really like 8 or 8.1, 10 is okay (getting better), but still on the bad side, definitely sticking to 64-bit, otherwise the extra ram wouldn't matter.

Thank you all for the help. And thank you, I forgot the parts website, meant to ask for it.. Also forgot to mention that I was trying to go under 400, but about 600 isn't too bad.

@Outlander, I didn't see your old junker reply until now, are you saying I get a old computer from them and buy parts for it to test things like overclocking and speeds, for example could I get a cpu, use it (without overclocking), just to see how well it works for me?
 
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genthug

genthug

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Personally I'd just go with 10, especially if you already have 7 or 8/8.1 because free. The build I posted is $525 because you're getting an SSD and a good PSU. Both of which you can reuse. Yeah, it's wasteful, and the other option that you could have would be to get a a pentium/i3, but any gaming GPU you pair with either will be over the $120 for the A10. I can get it under $400 if you want, but you won't want to reuse the PSU in your bigger build, and you will have to buy an SSD if you want one.

As for the whole budget build part -- you can certainly make a budget AMD build, but a budget Intel build would be better.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.33 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-D Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($47.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($36.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($117.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman ZM-T4 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($23.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $442.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-06 11:48 EDT-0400

Large downgrade in PSU, but you get DDR4, and you get an 1151 motherboard which does support single-gpu and dual channel RAM, so unless you want more than 32 GB of RAM or sli/crossfire, you can reuse the board for the larger build as well.

As for overclocking that, I'm not well versed in overclocking Intel, especially non K series, and I believe I've read somewhere they're more difficult/more susceptible to damaging if you overclock them, but you'll want confirmation from someone else on that.

Edit: I'm also not entirely sure how good that board is with overclocking.
 
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