$500 Budget Gaming Build

[kassuba39]

Hello I am building $500 Budget Computer. Tell me what you think!

*Running on Win XP Pro 32* *Went Intel because I'm upgrading to an i5 or i7 in the future*

I'm going to play games like Skyrim, Call of Duty 4, CS:GO, Minecraft, and Fallout.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rfJW
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rfJW/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rfJW/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($67.53 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock B75 PRO3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($82.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($179.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On IHAS324-98 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $490.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

 

[bardacuda]

Looks pretty good but just keep in mind if you upgrade the CPU you won't be able to overclock it without a beefier power supply and a motherboard with a Z75 or Z77 chipset which you could get for pretty much the same price

ASRock Z75 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

That power supply is already cutting it close and it only has 1 PCI-E power connector so you would not be able to upgrade or add a 2nd video card in the future either without a different PSU.

Other than that it's a good gaming build for the budget you have, so as long as you don't add to the power requirements it's solid.

 

[kassuba39]

Looks pretty good but just keep in mind if you upgrade the CPU you won't be able to overclock it without a beefier power supply and a motherboard with a Z75 or Z77 chipset which you could get for pretty much the same price

ASRock Z75 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

That power supply is already cutting it close and it only has 1 PCI-E power connector so you would not be able to upgrade or add a 2nd video card in the future either without a different PSU.

Other than that it's a good gaming build for the budget you have, so as long as you don't add to the power requirements it's solid.

Thanks! This is my first PC build and it's definitely good to know things like that. Is there a better PSU I can get for around the same price range that will make the whole process more smooth when overclocking?

 

[bardacuda]

I don't think you'll find a better PSU at that price. If you want to go bigger you'll have to spend a bit more. So are you planning on overclocking? What CPU did you plan to upgrade to? Are you planning on upgrading the video card? These are the questions you will need to answer to find the right PSU.

 

[djangoringo]

That z75 mobo is also bad for sli or cossfire, it doesn't support sli and it crossfire support is poor.
The psu has the juice for cpu and gfx card oc, either board you choose, will give you the option to upgrade to an i5 or i7, the z75 will give you an option of overclocking (limited) the cpu but in most cases with people without experience just the turbo boost will do.
Crossfire two 7850 1GB is also a bad idea, in the future if needed switch for another generation mid-card, and 6-pin will power all future mid cards, the 7850 and 660 only need one now, new generations will consume even less power.

 

[kassuba39]

I don't think you'll find a better PSU at that price. If you want to go bigger you'll have to spend a bit more. So are you planning on overclocking? What CPU did you plan to upgrade to? Are you planning on upgrading the video card? These are the questions you will need to answer to find the right PSU.

As of now, I'm not really worrying about what my upgrades are going to be. For a processor most likely something like an i5 3450. I have no clue for a GPU, but like I said not worried.

With my current parts, if overclocking is necessary I will do so but, with my simple gaming needs I don't think I'll really need to worry about it.

 

[bardacuda]

What djangoringo said is true. I didn't want to recommend sticking with that PSU with an overclocked CPU but it would work. The z75 board is not for extreme overclocks but if you just wanted to get a modest ~4.4-4.5GHz it's fine and basically the same price as the B75 board you picked.
Like I said the build you put together is solid for what it is, but if you are planning on doing any upgrading without having to do a complete overhaul you will have to plan ahead because it could change your component selection including the PSU.
The non-K versions like the 3450 are not overclockable so if that's what you had in mind for an upgrade you don't need to change anything.

 

[kassuba39]

^ This is all true. I didn't want to recommend sticking with that PSU with an overclocked CPU but it would work. The z75 board is not for extreme overclocks but if you just wanted to get a modest ~4.4-4.5GHz it's fine and basically the same price as the B75 board you picked.
Like I said the build you put together is solid for what it is, but if you are planning on doing any upgrading without having to do a complete overhaul you will have to plan ahead because it could change your component selection including the PSU.

Alright well thanks for your advise! Do you think I'll have any problem playing on High with the games I listed?

 

[bardacuda]

Edited my post after seeing your post. The only game that might be held back a bit is Skyrim since it's very CPU-dependant. Check out this review to get an idea of how the dual-core pentiums stack up against other CPUs in games:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html

 

[kassuba39]

Just to point out too, this is my first computer build. I kept it on a low budget because I dont know much about computers and once I start learning a lot more about computers, I'll trust myself with the more expensive components. To add to that, I bet this setup will already surpass my gaming needs and expections. (Coming from playing console my whole life)

 

[kassuba39]

Edited my post after seeing your post. The only game that might be held back a bit is Skyrim since it's very CPU-dependant. Check out this review to get an idea of how the dual-core pentiums stack up against other CPUs in games:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html

Wow that's helpful! Thanks! Would you really think it's worth going from the Pentium Dual to the Intel
Core i3-2100? It only boosts framerate on Skyrim like 3 FPS.

 

[kassuba39]

Edited my post after seeing your post. The only game that might be held back a bit is Skyrim since it's very CPU-dependant. Check out this review to get an idea of how the dual-core pentiums stack up against other CPUs in games:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html

One more thing, is there any bottleneck between my processor and my video card? The G860 and the Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB.

 

[bardacuda]

No not for gaming. The only difference with the i3 is you get hyperthreading which doesn't help in games. If gaming performance is the only consideration then you may as well go with an i5 if anything.

While we're on the subject though, the G860 and i3-2100 are Sandy Bridge CPUs. Ivy bridge is a little better at roughly the same price point (Pentium G2120 and core i3-3220/3240)

 

[bardacuda]

One more thing, is there any bottleneck between my processor and my video card? The G860 and the Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB.

Read the article. Only in CPU-bound games....and it depends how CPU-dependent they are. Most games only care about the GPU. Skyrim is one of those exceptions though. Even still it should be totally playable on a Pentium.

 

[Pyree]

Grab the Window 8 Pro upgrade cheap while you still can.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy

 

[bardacuda]

Ehhh....you might want to put some thought into whether you want Windows 8 or not. Not everyone likes it and it is a new OS so there's probably still some kinks to work out. I'm always leery of new Windows versions after what XP and Vista were like when they were first released. Sometimes it takes a service pack or 2 before they are solid and sometimes they are just bloated buggy software that eventually has to get formatted away.

 

[Pyree]

There is no competition between Window 8 and XP when it comes to gaming. Window 8 will eat it alive for snack. It's XP we are talking here, not 7.

 

[bardacuda]

Ohh I completely missed that. I'm talking Win 7 vs Win 8. Yeah XP is outdated and won't run some games and a 32-bit OS can't address more than 4 GB of memory. IIRC this includes your VRAM on your video card so you would only have 3GB of available memory if you stick with XP 32-bit.

 

[kassuba39]

Ohh I completely missed that. I'm talking Win 7 vs Win 8. Yeah XP is outdated and won't run some games and a 32-bit OS can't address more than 4 GB of memory. IIRC this includes your VRAM on your video card so you would only have 3GB of available memory if you stick with XP 32-bit.

That's a good thing to know! That'll have to be the first thing I upgrade then! Haha. I'm using it so I don't have to dump money into a new OS right away.