Entry-level Gaming PC

[deusexcaelo]

After three years of lurking in Tom's, this is my first post, because I'll finally be able to build a computer. I have a three-year-old computer that's rocking a Celeron E1400 I overclocked to 2.7Ghz which I've used until now to play games with its IGP, even Skyrim and Mass Effect :lol: . I plan on giving it an SSD because my parents need an extra computer they'll be doing web and documents on. This build is for the new computer I'm going to have for games.

I live in the Philippines, so hardware stocks here are a bit saddening, but I've checked local stores for their pricelists to plan the computer. Hopefully the parts will be in stock when I buy them. I was given a budget of around 400 to 500 USD (I'll also be converting the prices for the parts) which I might be able to stretch to 600, but my parents are undeniably stingy. After much research, this is my build:

CASE: Fractal Design Define Mini (around 102 USD here)
MOTHERBOARD: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP (76 USD)
PROCESSOR: Intel Pentium G620 (56 USD)
GRAPHICS: PowerColor HD7750 (108 USD)
MEMORY: Corsair Vengeance LP 2x4GB (This one isn't the exact model, the one I'm getting is 1600. 54 USD)
SSD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM (64 USD)
PSU: Seasonic S12II 520W 80PLUS Bronze (64 USD)
TOTAL: 524 USD

I'll be buying this to make an entry-level gaming-capable-ish computer that I'll repurpose to a fileserver (nothing major, it'll just be a homeserver running WHS) once I get a proper gaming PC.

I was thinking that to lessen the cost of the build, I could use an AMD APU; if I get a 3850, the build would cost me about 480 USD:

CASE: Fractal Design Define Mini (102)
MOTHERBOARD: Asus F1A75-M LE (85 USD)
APU: AMD A8-3850 (104 USD)
MEMORY: Corsair Vengeance LP 2x4GB (54 USD)
SSD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM (64 USD)
PSU: Seasonic S12II 520W 80PLUS Bronze (64 USD)
TOTAL: 369 USD

I could get a 6670 for the Intel build to bring down the cost to 433 though, but I was planning on cannibalizing the 7750 for a later build that would use an i3 3220. One Tom's review has me leaning on the Intel, and if I were to repurpose the build to a fileserver I'm not sure how the 3850 performs compared to the G620. The AMD's motherboard is looking more appealing, since it has six SATAIII ports, compared to the Intel motherboard's four SATAIII with four SATAII.

So, should I stick with the G620+7750 or get the APU instead?
And, are there any suggestions for my build, to make it better?

 

[g-unit1111]

On your budget - I would personally drop the SSD, not only is the Intel 330 not really that good of a choice, 60GB won't get you very far these days. Get a 500GB mechanical drive for now, you can always add the SSD later on. If you can get a Corsair or Seasonic PSU that will be a better choice, I hear mixed things about FSP.

Any reason why mATX? That will really limit what hardware you're able to buy. If you post the store you're buying from that will help to suggest parts. If you don't know of one check the link in my signature.

 

[Outlander_04]

Read this thread
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/368957-31-under-intel-gaming

much more , and for less money

 

[jackspeed]

Correct me if im wrong but couldn't you crossfire the amd apu and the 7750? I am assuming that you have a spare hard drive to put files on as a windows install is a large chunk of that 60 GB and . otherwise get a mechanicle hard drive. Also Do you have a operating system?

 

[deusexcaelo]

On your budget - I would personally drop the SSD, not only is the Intel 330 not really that good of a choice, 60GB won't get you very far these days. Get a 500GB mechanical drive for now, you can always add the SSD later on. If you can get a Corsair or Seasonic PSU that will be a better choice, I hear mixed things about FSP.

Any reason why mATX? That will really limit what hardware you're able to buy. If you post the store you're buying from that will help to suggest parts. If you don't know of one check the link in my signature.

Hmm, okay, I could buy a Seagate one, it's about 64 USD; I'll go with that. About the PSU, I could go for a Seasonic S12II 520W, it's 66 USD. Lastly, for the motherboard, the Define Mini only takes mATX boards but I'm getting it mainly for its looks and it's supposed to be silent.

Thank you for the link! I found one site that I might switch to, but currently I'm using this as a pricelist: PCHub, some prices on the other site are lower so I might look into that.

Read this thread
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/368957-31-under-intel-gaming

much more , and for less money

Thank you for the suggestion, but if I recall correctly, isn't the Bulldozer a bit on the high-end of power consumption? I've heard only bad things about Bulldozer, especially the fact that it doesn't perform very well, so I wasn't thinking of using one.

Correct me if im wrong but couldn't you crossfire the amd apu and the 7750? I am assuming that you have a spare hard drive to put files on as a windows install is a large chunk of that 60 GB and . otherwise get a mechanicle hard drive. Also Do you have a operating system?

Hum, I checked on AMD's site and it doesn't seem to list the card; and here, even their A10 couldn't Crossfire with the 7750. I don't actually have a spare HDD but I don't really care for storage as I might buy mechanical drives soon afterwards, but if isn't really much of an upgrade I might stick with a 500GB. Also I got cheap upgrades to Windows 8 so that's what I'll use.

 

[Outlander_04]

Thank you for the suggestion, but if I recall correctly, isn't the Bulldozer a bit on the high-end of power consumption? I've heard only bad things about Bulldozer, especially the fact that it doesn't perform very well, so I wasn't thinking of using one.


.

The FX4300 should outperform any of the intel dual cores in gaming , and it is better everywhere else
At idle, sitting at a desktop or surfing the web the power difference is tiny

Under load in a game the extra cost of running the FX 4300 works out to be about 1 cent per hour in the US
Im pretty sure you wont even notice that

 

[Tev0]

You should look up AMD Athlon II X4 750k, it's unlocked and without any integrated graphics (cheaper, you're gonna use a GPU anyway).
Also the case is for mATX motherboards, you got ATX motherboard

I'm not sure of the price tags, but if you get a regular ATX case and a mATX motherboard and getting a AMD Athlon II X4 750K you should be able to save a few bucks to put on a cheap aftermarket CPU cooler that will allow to overclock the CPU