- Apr 16, 2015
- 22,250
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Morning all,
My friends kid asked for my help, and I'm just trying to decide the best route.
He's on a very limited budget (approx $300 CAD, which I've told his going to be too low for anything viable - although I'd throw a couple of bucks in to help him out if needed) and I've got two ideas.
1. Utilize the components I have laying around unused and add only what's necessary.
2. Build with new, budget-orientated components and ensure it can be upgraded down the line as/when he has some cash available.
He only really wants to play a couple of games; Football Manager and CS:GO - but I'd prefer he had hardware that could support other, newer titles, even if only on low settings.
Football Manager is essentially a glorified spreadsheet with some fairly basic graphics - even a first gen mobile i3 handles it fairly well, so I'm not too worried there.
I don't play CS:GO though and, while I know the requirements are not too much at all, I'd appreciate any feedback on which option would be preferred (and why), along with any suggestions for changes.
Option #1.
I have an old Dell XPS 8100 or something (I forget the exact model) - I've already made some 'upgrades' to it with components I had laying around.
i7-920
Some little Arctic Freezer Cooler that doesn't keep things very 'cool' at all (broke the stock cooler so just needed something to get it functional).
Dell mobo, but standard layout and PSU connections etc- so I could migrate it to a new case.
2x4GB G.Skill RipjawsX 1333MHz DDR3
120GB SSDPlus
Windows 10 OEM.
SeaSonic built Corsair TX650
I'm thinking we'd add:
*A new case - maybe an HTPC mITX case to avoid seeing the green PCB of the Dell Mobo.
*GTX 1050 / 1050TI
*Might replace the PSU (it's old anyway - should still power the build, but I'd rather it be relatively problem-free)
*New CPU cooler.
*I've probably got a 1TB HDD I'd throw in.
Or
Option #2
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($84.75 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($44.98 @ NCIX)
Memory: Patriot 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($65.00 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB Mini Video Card ($139.98 @ DirectCanada)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $364.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-17 11:17 EDT-0400
*I can get the BIOS update done to 'cheap out' on the motherboard.
*PSU, storage and OS would come from the older Dell.
My head tells me the i7-920 build would be the better performer, but it's near 9 years old at this point. The i7 could be paired with a 1050ti, whereas the G4560 build would be limited to a 1050 or an RX460.
I'm sure neither build would have too many problem with CS:GO, but as far as any other title - any suggestions/thoughts/comments on the "best" route to go with this?
My friends kid asked for my help, and I'm just trying to decide the best route.
He's on a very limited budget (approx $300 CAD, which I've told his going to be too low for anything viable - although I'd throw a couple of bucks in to help him out if needed) and I've got two ideas.
1. Utilize the components I have laying around unused and add only what's necessary.
2. Build with new, budget-orientated components and ensure it can be upgraded down the line as/when he has some cash available.
He only really wants to play a couple of games; Football Manager and CS:GO - but I'd prefer he had hardware that could support other, newer titles, even if only on low settings.
Football Manager is essentially a glorified spreadsheet with some fairly basic graphics - even a first gen mobile i3 handles it fairly well, so I'm not too worried there.
I don't play CS:GO though and, while I know the requirements are not too much at all, I'd appreciate any feedback on which option would be preferred (and why), along with any suggestions for changes.
Option #1.
I have an old Dell XPS 8100 or something (I forget the exact model) - I've already made some 'upgrades' to it with components I had laying around.
i7-920
Some little Arctic Freezer Cooler that doesn't keep things very 'cool' at all (broke the stock cooler so just needed something to get it functional).
Dell mobo, but standard layout and PSU connections etc- so I could migrate it to a new case.
2x4GB G.Skill RipjawsX 1333MHz DDR3
120GB SSDPlus
Windows 10 OEM.
SeaSonic built Corsair TX650
I'm thinking we'd add:
*A new case - maybe an HTPC mITX case to avoid seeing the green PCB of the Dell Mobo.
*GTX 1050 / 1050TI
*Might replace the PSU (it's old anyway - should still power the build, but I'd rather it be relatively problem-free)
*New CPU cooler.
*I've probably got a 1TB HDD I'd throw in.
Or
Option #2
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($84.75 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($44.98 @ NCIX)
Memory: Patriot 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($65.00 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB Mini Video Card ($139.98 @ DirectCanada)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $364.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-17 11:17 EDT-0400
*I can get the BIOS update done to 'cheap out' on the motherboard.
*PSU, storage and OS would come from the older Dell.
My head tells me the i7-920 build would be the better performer, but it's near 9 years old at this point. The i7 could be paired with a 1050ti, whereas the G4560 build would be limited to a 1050 or an RX460.
I'm sure neither build would have too many problem with CS:GO, but as far as any other title - any suggestions/thoughts/comments on the "best" route to go with this?
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