Your thoughts on a budget build im planning?

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

Hello,

Im on a really tight budget and I've been piecing together a budget build that I hope would be able to play games on high to max settings on 1080p. (I play a lot of LoL but i do play Anno 2070, Cities Skyline and Civ 5 from time to time)

I was wondering if my planned build would suffice:

MSI B150M Night Elf
Intel Core I3 6100 (I have an Hyper 212x lying around to be used as a cooler)
GSkill Ripjaws 8GB Dual DDR4 2400
SanDisk Plus 240GB (Boot Drive)
WD Blue 1TB
Seasonic M12II-520 (wondering if I should get 520w or 620w)
Sapphire Nitro R9 380 Dual X OC 4GB

Kevern_11 · May 6, 2016

This build looks very well balanced. If you have the budget go up to a i5-6400/6500 if you can, otherwise this will suffice.

Nishant0462 · May 6, 2016

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go for a corsair psu.
Get a VS550 please.

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

Kevern_11 :

I reeaaalllly wanted a 6400 however it would really cut back my budget for my graphics card which would suck so im opting to go for the 6100. Would you think it would be better to get the 6500 now and get the better graphics card later in the future?

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

Nishant0462 :

I dont understand why I should get a corsair PSU. I used a seasonic for a build my brother asked me to do and i couldn't say anything bad about it. Also i've read it here somewhere that this PSU is ranked tier 1 or tier 2 of the PSUs out there. Im just too lazy to find the link. Though the vs550 is 30% cheaper.

superninja12 · May 6, 2016

poohge123 :

thats a smarter decision since with a gtx 950, you can already play all those games u want on high/max

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

superninja12 :

Cool, now I'm leaning towards getting an I5-6500 instead. Mainly ill be playing those games most of the times anyways. Also, would the 520 watt power supply be enough for the card?

superninja12 · May 6, 2016

poohge123 :

superninja12 :

Cool, now I'm leaning towards getting an I5-6500 instead. Mainly ill be playing those games most of the times anyways. Also, would the 520 watt power supply be enough for the card?

with ease and polaris and pascal will only use less and less power

maxalge · May 6, 2016

Nishant0462 :

why would he downgrade his good power supply for a crappy one like a corsair vs550?

geofelt · May 6, 2016

I like your plans; i3-6100 is a very good cpu for your type games.

Some thoughts:

1. The supplied cooler will do the job, but if your case can handle a 160mm tall cooler, the 120mm fan on the cm hyper212 will be quieter.

2. I like Samsung quality better for a ssd. 240gb should be fine.
Unless you will be storing large files such as videos, I would initially omit the hard drive.
For that difference, you can up the ssd to 500gb instead(about $150)

3. Seasonic quality is excellent. It is a tier 2 unit on this list:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true

The R9 cards are overclocked and hot; But the 520w Seasonic is excellent quality and has headroom.
Here are the requirements for other graphics cards.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
That said, the 620w version is not much more expensive and I would buy that.
You will be covered in the event you want a really strong graphics card in the future.
A psu will use only the wattage demanded of it, regardless of the max capability.
If it loafs a bit, it is likely to run quieter and more efficiently.

4. It might pay you to see what the upcoming pascal and Polaris announcements have to offer.
If you must buy now, I suggest a evga GTX960 or GTX970. The nvidia cards typically need 75w less power.
The reason for EVGA is that they have a 90 day trade up program. Read about that on their web site.

5. What will be your case?

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

maxalge :

My thoughts exactly. His comment got me worried that I'm spending too much on my PSU. I picked the right one all along.

geofelt · May 6, 2016

poohge123 :

I play a lot of civ 5 and it depends on a single fast core for performance.
Other games such as strategy games, sims and mmo are also in the category of needing a fast single master core.
The I3-6100 @3.7 will outperform a i5-6500@3.2 in your type of game.

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

geofelt :

I like your plans; i3-6100 is a very good cpu for your type games.

Some thoughts:

1. The supplied cooler will do the job, but if your case can handle a 160mm tall cooler, the 120mm fan on the cm hyper212 will be quieter.

2. I like Samsung quality better for a ssd. 240gb should be fine.
Unless you will be storing large files such as videos, I would initially omit the hard drive.
For that difference, you can up the ssd to 500gb instead(about $150)

3. Seasonic quality is excellent. It is a tier 2 unit on this list:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true

The R9 cards are overclocked and hot; But the 520w Seasonic is excellent quality and has headroom.
Here are the requirements for other graphics cards.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
That said, the 620w version is not much more expensive and I would buy that.
You will be covered in the event you want a really strong graphics card in the future.
A psu will use only the wattage demanded of it, regardless of the max capability.
If it loafs a bit, it is likely to run quieter and more efficiently.

4. It might pay you to see what the upcoming pascal and Polaris announcements have to offer.
If you must buy now, I suggest a evga GTX960 or GTX970. The nvidia cards typically need 75w less power.
The reason for EVGA is that they have a 90 day trade up program. Read about that on their web site.

5. What will be your case?

Thank you for your insight. I live in the philippines so I'm not so sure about that 90 day trade up program. I am thinking of getting the 960 and upgrade it somewhere down the road. I was thinking of getting the Cooler Master N400 as my case, any thoughts?

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

geofelt :

Interesting, but now im leaning towards getting the 6600. It will stretch my budget but seeing as i dont have to get the R9 380, my savings on the graphics card would then be used to spend on my processor.

beegmouse · May 6, 2016

Looking long term, I'd spend more on your PSU and skip the SSD.
The PSU will last you many builds. The SSD will not.
And an additional SSD at a later date will still be an option.

geofelt · May 6, 2016

You are getting out of the budget category.
My thought is that if you are looking at a i5-6600@ 3.5 , your price is going to be very close to a i5-6600K.
With an overclock, you can expect to be able to raise the multiplier to 4.5 or higher.
That will require a Z170 motherboard which will also cost more.
If such an upgrade in the future is a possibility, look for a Z170 motherboard up front.
I think I would still go with a i3-6100.

The N400 looks like a nice case at a reasonable price.

EVGA would be my vendor of choice.
You also have the option of using the integrated 530 graphics to get you going.
That would allow you to better assess how strong of a graphics card you really need for your games.

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

beegmouse :

I suppose it does. However, i do not plan to up my screen resolution for a long long time so i dont think I would run crossfire or SLI anytime soon. I think the 520W would do, in a year or two I might be able to afford better computer parts by then and I would be making a whole new build

. I was thinking that the SSD is more of a luxury now and was thinking of getting rid of it since I am on a budget.

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

geofelt :

Yeah, the 6600 is too much to be honest and I think sticking to the 6100 is the better choice here. My choice of games doesn't actually revolve around the triple A titles so I think the 6100 would suffice and keep me happy up until I save enough for a better rig.

Actually, I was gonna play on intel HD graphics for a while, because I will be waiting a bit to get my money for the graphics card. I was gonna build my PC and play with it for a couple of days without a graphics card while waiting for the money.

Lastly, I was looking at Palit GeForce GTX 950 as my graphics card as it is cheaper. I've read a few reviews about it and i haven't really seen any bad things about it. Do you think this would be a fine addition to my build?

geofelt · May 6, 2016

All GTX950 cards are built on the same base.
The differences are in the amount of factory overclocks and the fanciness of the coolers.
Some vendors have better support than others. Check out their forums.
In your case, your support likely will come from whoever sells you the card and what their rma policy is.
I see no problem with Palit but I have had no experience with them.

poohge123 · May 6, 2016

geofelt :

Prolly gonna get the Palit GeForce GTX 950 StormX Dual. Seems like a better fan, plus i can overclock it a bit if my temps are really good.

Thanks dude, you've been really helpful. Cheers mate!

Your thoughts on a budget build im planning?

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