Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

System Builder Marathon Q3 2014: Budget Gaming PC

Tags:
  • Build Your Own
  • Overclocking
  • Gaming
  • System Builder
  • Build
  • Components
Last response: in Reviews comments
Share
September 23, 2014 11:55:17 AM

Paul Henningsen kicks off our System Builder Marathon with a stunning low-cost system that leans on Intel's Pentium G3258 processor, a Radeon R9 270 graphics card, and plenty of DDR3 memory. His hardware costs add up to just over $500, too!

System Builder Marathon Q3 2014: Budget Gaming PC : Read more

More about : system builder marathon 2014 budget gaming

a b 4 Gaming
September 23, 2014 1:12:46 PM

Wow! Pentium G3258 becoming a monster for that price, once it goes over 4Ghz...
m
2
l
a b K Overclocking
a c 295 4 Gaming
September 23, 2014 1:24:03 PM

I would personally love to get a Pentium G3258 for my HTPC, it's only like $50 at Micro Center and the motherboard is $70 at Newegg. Hmm... decisions, decisions. :lol: 
m
2
l
Related resources
September 23, 2014 1:51:35 PM

What about the Frame Times? Isn't this processor notorious for bad frame times in heavily threaded games like BF4?
m
4
l
September 23, 2014 1:57:22 PM

Quote:
serves up to 30 A across its +12 V rails.

Its rated to serve up to 30 Amps but can do far more. Tests on this little gem shows it can output 22amps on each rail and maxes out around 38~39 Amps on both. Im paraphrasing a popular power supply testing site. Max wattage is about 553ish which is a good deal more than rated. This power supply can't be certified due to it lacks a circuit required but exceeds 80 percent efficiency.
m
1
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 23, 2014 1:57:38 PM

a lot of things went right for this build: amd introduced the full pitcairn/curacao gpu based r9 270 under 150w, needing single 6 pin pcie power connector, cryptocurrency craze was over and gfx card prices came down, hdd prices came down to sane levels, cpu-overhead-reducing gfx card drivers came out, intel released an unlocked dual core cpu and allowed o.c. bioses....
m
1
l
September 23, 2014 2:06:21 PM

I'm just not sure for one they didn't show latency times. I'm pretty sure this build will suck for future gaming to such as GTA5.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-overc...
When toms reviewed this CPU it was shown to have poor latency
For a 500$ build i would probably do a 6300+265 build. 600$ i would probably jump the build up to a I5+265 or 8320+270X.
m
1
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 23, 2014 2:47:00 PM

No stuttering? Very interesting; looks like more testing might be needed, but perhaps settings can also be adjusted.
m
0
l
September 23, 2014 3:13:27 PM

Since this CPU is super performer on various fronts (single core), so why not this config?

Pentium G3258 - $69.97
NZXT Kraken X31 - $73.98
Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO - $203.99
G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 - $184.99
Crucial M550 1TB 2.5" SSD - $447.98
Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX - $349.99


NZXT Phantom 530 (White) - $121.98
EVGA 650W ATX12V - $64.99 (not sure about its power good signal value?)
Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer - $16.99

Asus VG248QE Monitor - $264.99

D-Link DWA-171 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 2.0 - $29.27
Logitech MK550 w/Laser Mouse - $49.99
Corsair Vengeance 2100 - $79.99
Logitech Z506 155W 5.1ch - $69.99

Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (32/64-bit) - $170.99

Total: $2200

What you guys think? Usage? Racing Games at homes, audio/video encoding etc. I don't need K CPUs because I'm not in a hurry in this case.

Power source: 100% green aka Solar energy.
m
-6
l
September 23, 2014 3:46:21 PM

Will 400 watt enough for R7 265 ?? tell me ??
i use i3-4130 btw.
m
0
l
September 23, 2014 3:52:44 PM

Very similar to the system I just put together for myself except that I felt a 260X was more than enough power for the GPU and put the savings towards a small SSD for the boot drive.
m
0
l
September 23, 2014 4:24:55 PM

Nice but if you really want a cheap one that will drop your jaw you should consider G1820+GTX 750Ti from Evga(display port) and 2X4 gb ddr3 1600mhz ram. Give it a try, you might run naked on streets when you will see how it runs Battlefield 4, not to consider the the low price :) 
m
0
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 23, 2014 4:30:09 PM

elbert said:
Quote:
serves up to 30 A across its +12 V rails.

Its rated to serve up to 30 Amps but can do far more. Tests on this little gem shows it can output 22amps on each rail and maxes out around 38~39 Amps on both. This power supply can't be certified due to it lacks a circuit required but exceeds 80 percent efficiency.

To be more specific, the VP450 lacks PFC circuitry and as you said, this is required for 80+ certification. If the VP450 had it, it might manage 80+ Bronze.

I bought one last month to replace an old PSU (Antec SmartPower SL350) that got damaged by a power surge. At a glance, it looks like a nice little unit... and it is tier-2b too, which means close to as-good-as-it-gets.
m
0
l
September 23, 2014 6:20:50 PM

Hey Paul ! How's it going !? It would be MUCH better if you, Thomas and Don posted the links to the three machines' 3DMark and PcMark 8 results, so we could be able to compare them to ours. Hope you gyus are still able to post it at "Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected".
m
0
l
September 23, 2014 8:52:53 PM

pentium g3258 IS THE KING!
m
0
l
September 24, 2014 2:02:59 AM

Athlon 860k...
m
1
l
September 24, 2014 2:06:01 AM

The Athlon 860k is more future-proof , waiting for a review...
m
1
l
September 24, 2014 2:49:52 AM

@akula2

you could possibly get mobo for half of your estimated price and put this money towards better CPU(that's necessary for video/audio encoding).

Also Crucial M550 1TB 2.5" SSD - $447.98 is overkill, you'll be better off with 256GB SSD & 3 TB regular HDD = more capacity and your saved money could be spent on better PSU(Seasonic, Corsair, whatever).
m
1
l
September 24, 2014 4:31:51 AM

@milkod2001

You may want to put Antec at the first place in that list. Look them up as they are oldest and second to none in power supply companys. Seasonic was once their main manufacturer and many of their units are designed off Antecs leading power supply designs. Look up on newegg for example the highest rated power supply and you will see the Antec earthwatt 380. At the 650 Watt they again are the highest rated with Seasonic in about a second place. Their 750 hcg is about a tight with Corsairs much higher priced HX 750i.

Trust me that PSU is the best part of that build. While it doesn't have a second PCI-e power plug you could use a molex to PCI-e connecter and run a R9 285. Again this power supply is highly under rated in both watts and Amps output.
m
0
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 24, 2014 5:25:59 AM

Although I agree that Antec is one of the better PSU companies out there today, they did release a few stinkers maybe 10-12 years ago (Smartpower, iirc). They were not built by Seasonic, and used inferior capacitors, that failed. Back then when I was building PCs I wouldn't touch an Antec PSU; now it is one of my preferred choices. I haven't used a VP-450 yet, but have put numerous EA-380D's out there, with no failures yet.
This is what Corsair is doing now, with their CX (and I believe GS) lines; CWT builds them with Samxon capacitors that can't take heat. If you're interested, you can read more about these over on the badcaps.org forum.
m
1
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 24, 2014 6:31:47 AM

in what future is the athlon II x4 more future proof? AMD land..... every year people post this crap and every year games demand cores that can move as much info as quickly as possible rather then a bushel of slow cores.

P.S. I have a Phenom II x4 in one of CPUs and have built with more AMD CPUs then intel but that doesn't mean I spew this AMD "future proof" jargon line
m
-1
l
September 24, 2014 6:40:54 AM

Yep Onus, Antec has come a long way since those days. I had numerous (originally bundled) SmartPower and SmartPower 2.0's fail and come back within the 3-5 year time frame. The move to EarthWatts was a huge plus for their cases w/power supplies.

@ elbert, Just to clarify, There was no intent to discount the familiar VP-450 in any way, and my original "30 Amp combined +12V rating" got toned down a bit in edits, for the sake of a better read. When discounted/priced competitively it has become my go-to PSU for budget builds requiring auxiliary power.
m
0
l
September 24, 2014 10:09:13 AM

I am very curious if these builds were purchased after availability of the GTX-970's and 980's. At a minimum the Mid-Range build could swap a $330 970 for the $400 r9-290 they used last quarter and use the savings to boost its system value. The Q2 $1600 build could save $100 by cutting back from the i7-4770k to the i5-4670k and use that savings to convert the $530 r9-290x to an SLI pair of $330 GTX 970's.
m
0
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 24, 2014 10:12:30 AM

bmyton said:
I am very curious if these builds were purchased after availability of the GTX-970's and 980's...

Assuredly not. There are weeks of lead time in the SBM builds, from selecting parts and ordering, through all the testing, writeup, and schedule for publication.


m
1
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 24, 2014 10:20:09 AM

I wonder if there will be a bonus build this quarter. Sometimes, they answer questions raised in past builds, or address specific community interests or requests.

For my part, I'd like a question answered, which is "Can the AM1 platform with its 25W CPUs and x4 PCIe lane limitation be taken seriously for modern gaming on "good" settings on a single 1920x1080 monitor? PCPer.com used a GTX750Ti with one and it looked promising... TH has yet to address it though.
m
0
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 24, 2014 10:45:20 AM

Onus said:
I wonder if there will be a bonus build this quarter. Sometimes, they answer questions raised in past builds, or address specific community interests or requests.

For my part, I'd like a question answered, which is "Can the AM1 platform with its 25W CPUs and x4 PCIe lane limitation be taken seriously for modern gaming on "good" settings on a single 1920x1080 monitor? PCPer.com used a GTX750Ti with one and it looked promising... TH has yet to address it though.

amd has released two new athlon cpus for the am1 platform
http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2014/2014092201_Athlon_X4...

m
0
l
September 24, 2014 12:43:43 PM

At Microcenter G3258 + MSI Z87I Mobo = $100

While I like the processor, it is slow. I would prefer an i3 anyday. Better all around performance. And for HTPC, I would suggest 750Ti. It can handle most games at 1080p. I have i7 4770K + 750Ti and never have to play lower than 1080p.
m
0
l
September 24, 2014 1:54:06 PM

The G3258 reminds me of the old 370 slot Celerons from 1999.
They should make a dual slot board like the Abit BP6 way back when you could O/C two Celery 300a's from 300/350 to 500/550mhz... Though I guess SMP doesn't exist anymore or is disabled on chips lower than the Xeons... Thanks Intel!
m
0
l
September 24, 2014 2:54:26 PM

i3-4150 (3.5GHz) is only $99... why would anybody purchase the Pentium?
m
1
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 24, 2014 2:58:40 PM

Patrick Tobin said:
i3-4150 (3.5GHz) is only $99... why would anybody purchase the Pentium?

The Pentium G3258 is unlocked and with overclocking it will beat the i3 in lightly-threaded code... and lightly threaded describes the bulk of software and games out there, which makes it a pretty decent entry-level pick.
m
0
l
a b 4 Gaming
September 24, 2014 3:50:50 PM

I still cringe at the thought of using such a stripped down H81 board. That said, even if I wouldn't want one, that doesn't mean someone with a really tight budget wouldn't want to put every cent possible into the GPU.
m
1
l
September 24, 2014 11:05:05 PM

intel for the win, dual core yet performs better than other amd quad core..
m
-2
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 25, 2014 9:05:43 AM

Even if they are otherwise decent builds, alternates that do not follow the rules of the SBM (e.g. use of non-Newegg parts) will be deleted as off-topic to the SBM discussion.
m
0
l
September 25, 2014 1:45:37 PM

@dirtyferret
You claim they weren't future proof, then sort of admit they are. I too have AMD Phenom X4 based PC's, and they are no less future proof than the Core 2 Quads in their time. And they have all been proven to be capable gaming chips even today. Of course, they do need a bit of an overclock to really keep up, but they do. A 9450 @ 3.6Ghz (that is where I ran mine for years) will still play any game on the market @ 1080P.... Just as an OC' Phenom X4 would. Given their age, I would say that is exactly what future proof looks like.
m
1
l
September 25, 2014 3:12:13 PM

Dat stutter doe...
m
2
l
September 25, 2014 4:14:44 PM

I decided to use this build as a template for a build I'm doing for my little brother.
I shopped around and using almost identical parts I was able to knock ~$92 off the total price shown in the article.

These are the parts I ordered:

CPU : Intel Pentium G3258
$59.99
tigerdirect.com

MB : MSI H81M-P33
$50.38
newegg.com

RAM : Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
$69.99
newegg.com

GPU : PowerColor TurboDuo AXR9 270 2GBD5-TDHE/OC
$144.49 ( w/ promo code until 9/30 )
newegg.com

Hard Drive : Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB
$44.36 ( $59.36 -$15 w/ e-mail promo code for online order over $100...CPU + HD from tigerdirect.com)
tigerdirect.com

PSU : Antec VP-450
$39.99 ( w/ promo code until 10/12 )
newegg.com

Case : Rosewill FBM-02 Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower
$21.99 ( w/ promo code until 10/1 )
newegg.com

Optical Drive : ASUS DVD-Writer
$14.99 ( w/ promo code until 10/1 )
newegg.com

OS : Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
$84.99 ( w/ promo code until 10/1 )
newegg.com

Total = $531.17

Hopefully the actual build will go smoothly. Thanks for the great ariticle.





m
0
l
September 25, 2014 8:53:11 PM

My only concern is the use of a $45 USD motherboard, your practically guaranteed to run into problems sooner rather then later. Also this seems to be twinked to win single player low threaded benchmarks more then anything because two cores isn't going to be enough for an actual real world system with a 270. Better overall to go with an i3 or a 860K even if it means stepping down a bit in the graphics department. Lower benchmarks but better, more consistent real world performance.
m
0
l
September 26, 2014 5:07:56 AM

@ palladin 9479 - Those little cheap MSI boards hold up better than people realize. I know I personally have given away several of those to friends who still use them daily after 5 or 6 years. MSI cuts corners on connectivity, not quality in many of their boards. So long as you get solid caps, you are good to go.
m
0
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 26, 2014 5:25:47 AM

Cheap MSI AM3+ boards are notorious for weak VRMs. I've been using https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Ag... as a reference.
I would expect this to be equally true on the Intel side; they are perhaps saved by Intel CPUs' much lower power consumption.
Paul, did you happen to point an IR thermometer at the VRMs during this build? I think that would be a useful thing to do in the SBM.
m
0
l
September 26, 2014 6:09:15 AM

@ Onus, yes I did, and without concern (stock vs.OC). I always spot check (surrounding board components) when raising voltages and overclocking, especially on low-phase/budget boards.

Keep in mind also, I used the stock cooler, which is designed to help cool the surrounding VRMs. (Plus there were two large case fans nearby.) Once you introduce tower-style after market cooling, the game takes a change. Moderation and caution is always key, and it's wrong to assume an after market cooler allows higher voltages. It keeps the CPU itself cooler, that's it. But it then introduces other issues in apparently enabling higher voltages, yet very often cooling surrounding board components less. I wonder how many budget Intel boards pop VRMs with stock Intel cooling. I'd imagine it's very low, and deviation (voltage + after market cooling) is probably the real culprit.

@Palladin, keep in mind, this is overclocking a 53W part with stock cooling. We are not suggesting attempts in overclocking i5/i7, nor seeking higher voltages with aftermarket cooling. That said, long term I would prefer a drop to 4.0 GHz @ 1.20 V Even 3.8 GHz with stock voltage delivers a nice boost for the meek. But many enthusiasts would instead take the risk and ring out all they can, considering the parts are cheaply replaceable. Given the theme, that's more the route I chose for testing.

Concerning i3 vs. Pentium. Sure I too favor i3. But on a budget, $120 vs. $70 is a massive knock to graphics. Also keep in mind, this 4.1 GHz Pentium actually BEAT the i3-4130 (Q1's $750 PC), overall in applications.
m
0
l
September 27, 2014 9:31:16 AM

only thing i would change is the case the cooler master n200 is better AND cheaper. also i wouldent get an optical drive and i would get a an aftermarket cooler like the thermalright macho
m
0
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 27, 2014 4:24:13 PM

AMD 860K: If you need to record your games or do light editing and multitasking.
Pentium G3258: Strict gaming.
m
1
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
September 28, 2014 5:46:06 AM

Zircoben said:
AMD 860K: If you need to record your games or do light editing and multitasking.
Pentium G3258: Strict gaming.

I think this brings up a great point. I'd like to see "game + recording" added to the benchmarks. It's all well and good to say a given CPU plays "game XYZZY" at certain framerates, but if the player also wants to record, being unable to do so would be a dealbreaker that your current methodology does not expose.

m
0
l
September 30, 2014 6:00:11 AM

May I ask what this sentence means?

"Once its Pentium G3258 and Radeon R9 270 graphics card are fully optimized, it stands toe-to-toe in almost every threaded workload, while its victories became far more pronounced."

Does optimized simply translate to overclocked, or is there more?
m
0
l
September 30, 2014 2:20:50 PM

dirtyferret said:
in what future is the athlon II x4 more future proof? AMD land..... every year people post this crap and every year games demand cores that can move as much info as quickly as possible rather then a bushel of slow cores.

P.S. I have a Phenom II x4 in one of CPUs and have built with more AMD CPUs then intel but that doesn't mean I spew this AMD "future proof" jargon line


Implying the Phenom II X4 is future proof...
m
0
l
October 2, 2014 11:53:09 AM

really? pentium? i think an amd one will be much better than this garbage.
m
0
l
a b K Overclocking
a b 4 Gaming
October 2, 2014 1:00:56 PM

yahyaelgayar said:
really? pentium? i think an amd one will be much better than this garbage.

Based purely on benchmarks, the raw performance of the overclocked Pentium will beat most AMD offerings in most games. I do want to see the stuttering issue more thoroughly explored though, before I'll even think about it.
m
1
l
October 2, 2014 2:50:38 PM

I think that for 600€ we can wait and spend 800-900€ for better pc... But if only 600€, its nice...
m
0
l
October 2, 2014 5:44:08 PM

Onus said:
yahyaelgayar said:
really? pentium? i think an amd one will be much better than this garbage.

Based purely on benchmarks, the raw performance of the overclocked Pentium will beat most AMD offerings in most games. I do want to see the stuttering issue more thoroughly explored though, before I'll even think about it.


It's the difference between a "real world" PC and a "benchmark" PC. In the real world your not going to be running this super clean, everything disabled, system that's only purpose is to record how many frames were rendered to the frame buffer. You will have some AV software at a minimum, probably a webbrowser and while FF/WF is single process, Chrome will actually use different process's to render different tabs and plugins. You might even have some sort of voice communication software running, Skype, Teamspeak or Ventrillo. Video streaming / capture is also an option for those two do that sort of thing. A person just needs one or two of the items above and suddenly their system usage just altered significantly enough that there won't be enough processing resources available to the game to run at full, its going to get task swapped and when that happens *bam* stutter. Especially in a game like BF4 where there are dozens of interactions happening every second in multi-player (who the f*ck buys a modern FPS and doesn't play online). This is why I would never recommend a dual core solution to anyone wanting to play games. I used to never recommend i3's prior to Haswell but the upgrade to the ALU enables it to get quite a bit more out of HT and so you end up with about the same CPU resources that a 860K or FX4 would have, though single thread processing is going to be better.
m
0
l
      • 1 / 2
      • 2
      • Newest
!