Good Budget Build?

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HollowGrapeJ

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Sep 27, 2014
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I was wondering if this PC build looks like a decent budget build to you guys. The only thing I really question is the i3 though. I hear it's better to get i5's, but those can cost upwards of $170-$220+. And that isn't really gonna work here. That would defeat the purpose of the budget build.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/list/tYVTPs) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/list/tYVTPs/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/product/hV7CmG/intel-cpu-bx80662i36100) | $109.99 @ SuperBiiz
**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/product/t4fp99/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr910htx3g1) | $17.88 @ OutletPC
**Motherboard** | [MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/product/bwcMnQ/msi-motherboard-b150igamingproac) | $71.98 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/product/kkL7YJ/kingston-memory-hx421c14fbk28) | $48.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/product/MwW9TW/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $48.89 @ OutletPC
**Video Card** | [Sapphire Radeon RX 480 4GB NITRO+ 4G Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/product/f9cMnQ/sapphire-radeon-rx-480-4gb-nitro-4g-video-card-11260-02) | $224.99 @ NCIX US
**Case** | [Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/product/fGvRsY/thermaltake-case-ca1b800s1wn00) | $36.98 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/product/g63RsY/evga-power-supply-120g10650xr) | $79.99 @ SuperBiiz
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $679.69
| Mail-in rebates | -$40.00
| **Total** | **$639.69**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2016-11-13 05:00 EST-0500 |
 
Solution
RCFProd
Same cost as your build but with an i5 processor and a 2TB hdd instead of only 1TB

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H110I Pro Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.50 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB GAMING X Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply:...
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RCFProd

RCFProd

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Dec 8, 2013
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Same cost as your build but with an i5 processor and a 2TB hdd instead of only 1TB

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H110I Pro Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.50 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB GAMING X Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $660.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-13 05:43 EST-0500

CXM 450w is fine with a stock i5 + RX 480. power supply comes with 5 years of warranty.

Don't need a custom CPU cooler with locked Intel Skylake processors.

the RX 480 Gaming X by MSI is one of the best graphics cards for AMD Polaris on the market, along with XFX GTR. Pick that one: Review Studio Best Cooling Award
 
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Solution
synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
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Looks like a solid build. The starting price for an i5 is around $170-180 and lower end i5's aren't always a better solution depending on the game. The lower priced lower tiered i5's have slower clock speeds which can hurt performance in some games and the faster cores of the i3 6100 can be more beneficial if a game is more lightly threaded. For the money it's hard to beat, the 6100 performs close to the i5's.

You should get pretty decent performance in most games at 1080p, the exception maybe being bf1 or a couple others which push even i7's to 80-90%+ usage. There will always be some games in need of optimization or performance patch/updates.

The power supply you listed is a bit expensive, on one hand it's a gold efficiency on the other it's a g1 unit. The b2/g2 are usually preferred, better quality designs. There's a b2 unit, a bit overkill (750w) but decent price with rebate (since you listed mir's). After rebate it's only $50 from newegg.
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/JYyFf7/evga-power-supply-110b20750vr

If you'd rather have the gold efficiency you could go with this 550w model, likely better quality than that particular evga g1 unit at the same price.
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/DPCwrH/seasonic-power-supply-ssr550rm
 
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RCFProd

RCFProd

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Dec 8, 2013
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No problem :)



Whilst the 6400 has low clock speeds It's proven to perform similarly to the i5-4460, which has simply been a solid performer for Haswell. i3-6100 isn't all that bad in games don't need more than dual cores to run. However hyper-threading support in too many games is just shambles. I would take a lower clocked i5 with 4 physical cores over a dual core + HT higher clocked one everytime.
 
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synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
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I've not been fond of recommending the 4460 either, due to low clock speeds. At least a 4590 which typically runs around $10 more (give or take depending on location and currency). Same would apply to the 6th gen, an i5 6500 preferred to the 6400. 2.7ghz 'up to' 3.3 kind of hurts. When all 4 cores are loaded it's going to run around 3.1ghz and most games still heavily rely on a single core for most things even when they run multi threaded. That's a 20% speed drop from the i3. At least the 6500 has a 300mhz speed advantage for around $10 difference.
 
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RCFProd

RCFProd

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Doesn't change the fact that a lot of games have poor hyper-threading support :p. You'll have to rely on games that either support hyper-threading properly or don't use more than 2 cores to work. In either of the cases, It's fine. Too often though I'd say It's not to be honest.
 
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