Ultimate Value Gaming Build Guide

[seanjonna]

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[thatguy321]

it could be a limitation of you board

 

did you update your BIOS?

 

The Pentium even as a dual core need 1.25 volts to reach the 4.2-4.5GHz but may be higher depending on the chip you got

 

some users who got bad ones need up to 1.3V just to hit 4.5GHz

I haven't built it yet, still waiting on parts in the mail, but yeah, it's a limitation built into the board, I figured I go with something a little on the safe side as this is my first build and I can't really afford to fry things with trial and error.

 

Bios might need an update before being able to overclock.

 

Bump up the voltage right away. 1.2V is relatively low for the g3258. As long as your temps aren't going over ~75-85C (depending on your comfort level) during stress tests you should be ok. I have an aftermarket cooler, the stock one is garbage though it should be able to handle it, just keep an eye on the temps.

 

Alright, I guess I'll have to wait and see exactly what my options are in the bios. I'd like to keep it cool as possible, honestly a 25% overclock at 4.0ghz sounds good enough to me, I believe my GPU is going to be what's limiting my build (GTX 750 OC).

[7850OC]

i stay with the old A10 5800k (cheap four cores cpu with a 384sp gpu)

 

1 dimm of 4GB ram 1600mhz

 

any cheap case with a PSU inside

 

1TB HDD (for the many 50GB games and the 1080p recorded videos of raptr lol)

 

64 bits windows home premium oem (or windows 10)

 

and DVD drive  :blush: (i need one)

 

- - - - 

 

but yea, the R7 260X is awesome

 

(that will be my gpu choice also if i don't like use an apu)

[Speedyv]

You could gone with a i5 4460 and a H97 for that price. No point spending that much on a mobo. Even if you did, you might as well just get a Z97-A.

[SteveGrabowski]

it could be a limitation of you board

 

did you update your BIOS?

 

The Pentium even as a dual core need 1.25 volts to reach the 4.2-4.5GHz but may be higher depending on the chip you got

 

some users who got bad ones need up to 1.3V just to hit 4.5GHz

 

Mine stress tested and gamed for hours straight at 4.2GHz on only 1.10V, and 4.4GHz on 1.18V, using the stock cooler in an area with pretty high ambient temperature (85F or so).

[dragoon20005]

Mine stress tested and gamed for hours straight at 4.2GHz on only 1.10V, and 4.4GHz on 1.18V, using the stock cooler in an area with pretty high ambient temperature (85F or so).

thats impressive

 

i think you can go to 4.7GHz with a aftermarket cooler

[Dr. Xeno Pootis]

For anyone who wants to know the cost, its about $640 if you buy it all on Amazon.

[SteveGrabowski]

thats impressive

 

i think you can go to 4.7GHz with a aftermarket cooler

 

It's tragic that it's probably going to end up in a Netflix and movie watching box for the living room big-screen.  :unsure:

[Lynx]

i won't recommend using a pentium for a gaming build since you know there are some "limitation" with only 2 core cpu. and you may get into some annoying FPS dips with modern title like BF4, better step up to i3 or just get AMD 860K.

[YoloSwag]

In the US you can get the i5-4440 for $165 with free shipping from NCIX.

http://www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=89861&vpn=BX80646I54440&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1205

 

Wow, but still, this enforces the point of having more cost-effective performance PCs

[Mr Velocity1577]

What's that software bundle website again? You said it way to quick and didn't even link to it. It looks handy and I want to check it out as I haven't heard of it before.

[dragoon20005]

What's that software bundle website again? You said it way to quick and didn't even link to it. It looks handy and I want to check it out as I haven't heard of it before.

ninite.com

[yiweno]

What paint did he use to paint the CPU heatsink?

[Ciccioo]

nice intro, it's cool

 

what's not cool is the benchmarks: just because i can't afford a $2000 pc doesn't mean that i'm not going to play demanding games on it. Also, we alrealy know that any decent pc will play LoL and CS:GO at good framerates, so there's really no point in that single performance chart, it gives no information about how far we can go with that build

 

i would have liked to see benchmarks with batman/crysis/battlefield, maybe both at ultra settings and at "sweet spot" settings, which would be the highest settings that can still reach 60fps while looking as good as possible

sometimes i feel like LTT charts have very little if not zero thinking behind them, because they just don't represent anything interesting

[DomClancy]

I feel like LTT has finally lost touch entirely with what it is to do a 'budget' deal. I was reading the parts list at the library earlier in literally laughed aloud when I saw the motherboard selection...

 

It really feels like LTT put the least amount of effort into planning and preparing content for this video. Not even making time to talk about the rationale for the parts in this video, instead leaving most users to links. Someone who is passing by and not subscribed will likely not look through the description.  In turn, this video is honestly more of a 'how to assemble' instead of a 'how to shop/decide on parts' guide. 

 

Main Gripe #1 -- Preoccupation with Looks and Temporary Sales: I've done this advice for about 25 friends across the world.  Never has looks come into play as a deciding reason. Meanwhile, Linus admits in his intro of the PSU that 'looks matter' and he was distracted by the temporary sale of the rebate, that he went with a 430.  I mean, if we're willing to advise on one-time, occasional rebates why not direct people to this seller on eBay that's been offering Refurbed 760's at 2/3 of the price?

Main Gripe #2 -- A Confusion of Priorities: On both CPU and HDD vs SSD, I believe LTT made a mistake. While the G3258 has to be OC'd to make it worthwhile, the combined cost of a Z-mobo with the chip makes it more expensive than a 4590 on Amazon. This is inherently a better chip in the long-term.  When I saw the G3258, it honestly read to me like LTT was selecting it because it was easier to recycle a component it recently used in a comparison video than to do the leg-work for really thinking about what makes sense at this price.  As for HDD/SSD, while load, boot and installation times are a world's difference with an SSD, the value difference just doesn't make sense. 1TB is really all that's needed unless the person plans to own 40+ AAA games.

Main Gripe #3 -- An absence of details: This comes from having run a youtube channel. I get that you want to plug your RAM speed video. I totally do. But either make it more clear and don't mention XMP or take a longer time to mention the video here.  It just does a general disservice to a new prospective consumer to streamline advice like this.

 

Things done well -- The video card purchase options, the introduction, the building the system.  Parts.

However, you are running roughshod over the regular consumer and ultimately this is NOT a video I'd have friend's looking to get a new system watch.  Maybe, instead make a 'How to Decide @ Budget Levels' video. That seems more Linus' speed. And ultimately something that a) won't engender so much vociferous disagreement in the comments on Youtube and will yield general agreement and appreciation for. Since arguably that's what people most struggle on, like RAM Speeds or Capacity vs speed on disk drives.

Thanks for the video. Really enjoy most of LTT either way!

[ohschmitt]

What paint did he use to paint the CPU heatsink?

I'm pretty sure its basicly this http://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-7778830-Enamel-Bar-B-Que-12-Ounce/dp/B0010O0C94/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420211499&sr=8-2&keywords=heat+resistant+spray+paint

[SteveGrabowski]

I feel like LTT has finally lost touch entirely with what it is to do a 'budget' deal. I was reading the parts list at the library earlier in literally laughed aloud when I saw the motherboard selection...

 

...

Main Gripe #2 -- A Confusion of Priorities: On both CPU and HDD vs SSD, I believe LTT made a mistake. While the G3258 has to be OC'd to make it worthwhile, the combined cost of a Z-mobo with the chip makes it more expensive than a 4590 on Amazon. This is inherently a better chip in the long-term.  When I saw the G3258, it honestly read to me like LTT was selecting it because it was easier to recycle a component it recently used in a comparison video than to do the leg-work for really thinking about what makes sense at this price.  As for HDD/SSD, while load, boot and installation times are a world's difference with an SSD, the value difference just doesn't make sense. 1TB is really all that's needed unless the person plans to own 40+ AAA games.

 

Ultimately Linus is a hardware enthusiast and this is a hardware enthusiast forum though, which is why I think he always wants unlocked processors. I personally think overclocking is a waste of money unless budget doesn't matter much, in which case obviously the unlocked CPUs and Z or X series boards are the way to go. It's not like in the glory days of overclocking when you used the same board and the same heatsink to take your midrange chip to the highend chip, where the MHz really were free performance. Now you pay a big price premium for the unlocked multiplier, for the Z-series board, and for the water cooler or even just the Hyper 212 EVO heatsink. For this reason, it seems like a waste for someone like me who just wants to game with lots of performance. All that extra money can usually be put into other parts of the system where it matters more, like getting a CPU with hyperthreading, an SSD, a better video card, and so on. I know it's exciting to feel like you're getting free performance with your overclock, but it's just not the case anymore. The G3258 is basically the only Intel chip where you can make that free MHz claim since H-series boards and stock cooling are fine when overclocking it, but it's so gimped so as to be a waste if you're ever planning on any better video card than an R9 270.

[Str_Mape]

 

This Intel sponsorship is getting on my nerves. It used to be that some blurb about the SSD 730 made it into half of all the videos, now it's down to recommending the SSD 530? As a user of the SSD 530 (and other SSDs) myself, I'm hard-pressed to recommend it to anyone, at least at the absurd prices it's sold at. Even the 840 EVO manages to come in at a much lower price point, and the 840 EVO's not a budget drive here in canada. 

 

I'm sorry but I really wouldn't call $3.5 CAD / $3 USD for the 120gb version a much lower price point and in the US where the main audience is the 240GB 530 is actually $3 cheaper.

Down here the 730 series are actually the same cost or cheaper than the 840 EVOs so that's a no brainer.

[Guest]

 

 

 

I'm sorry but I really wouldn't call $3.5 CAD / $3 USD for the 120gb version a much lower price point and in the US where the main audience is the 240GB 530 is actually $3 cheaper.

Down here the 730 series are actually the same cost or cheaper than the 840 EVOs so that's a no brainer.

 

 

Not sure in what world $89.99 is $3.50 cheaper than $109.99. These drives aren't on sale 24/7, unlike the SP610 that's been that way for the past 2 months. I've used and still use the SSD 530, and it's most definitely not worth the price tag. The software bundle? Sure, it does add quite a bit of value, considering other manufacturers have yet to come up with a Toolkit as comprehensive and polished as the Intel SSD Toolbox. But the drive? No way. I think I should have went down to the states to buy my SSD instead.

 

Not sure what's with the SSD 730's price down in New Zealand, but here the MSRP looks to be around $300 for the 240GB. The 256GB 850 Pro is around $210. Tough pill to swallow, considering the SSD 730's main selling point is endurance.

[Steve0Kinev0]

I don't understand how linus picked his parts. He did explain it, but the parts list I came up with under his SAME guidelines/specs I managed to save around $35 dollars from his build AND managed to get a refurbed 7950 from GPU shack... If I got a cheap $100 GPU I would have saved around $80 off of his build. 

 

Can somebody shed some light on this for me? Did he have some other motive to pick parts that are much more expensive? How come he didn't get a locked i5 with a good H97 motherboard? 

The motherboard he addressed in this video, but he also showed how cheapo z97 boards don't OC much different than super expensive ones! So why spend the extra $50 on a board on a "budget" build. 

 

Here my variant of the build following his same guidelines. 
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nD3PhM

 

[Takata]

-snip-

 

Main Gripe #1 -- Preoccupation with Looks and Temporary Sales: I've done this advice for about 25 friends across the world.  Never has looks come into play as a deciding reason. Meanwhile, Linus admits in his intro of the PSU that 'looks matter' and he was distracted by the temporary sale of the rebate, that he went with a 430.  I mean, if we're willing to advise on one-time, occasional rebates why not direct people to this seller on eBay that's been offering Refurbed 760's at 2/3 of the price?

Main Gripe #2 -- A Confusion of Priorities: On both CPU and HDD vs SSD, I believe LTT made a mistake. While the G3258 has to be OC'd to make it worthwhile, the combined cost of a Z-mobo with the chip makes it more expensive than a 4590 on Amazon. This is inherently a better chip in the long-term.  When I saw the G3258, it honestly read to me like LTT was selecting it because it was easier to recycle a component it recently used in a comparison video than to do the leg-work for really thinking about what makes sense at this price.  As for HDD/SSD, while load, boot and installation times are a world's difference with an SSD, the value difference just doesn't make sense. 1TB is really all that's needed unless the person plans to own 40+ AAA games.

1. I'll agree that picking parts based on looks at this price point is probably not the best advice. However, don't compare [taking advantage of a temporary discount] to [buying a cheap, refurbished video card with a 90 day warranty from a seller on ebay]. The latter comes with substantially more risk.

 

2. The CPU was probably picked on the assumption that the games being played on this PC would not be able to take advantage of more than 2 cores. This would make the overclocked Pentium a better option that a locked i3 or i5, for these types of games. I really question the motherboard choice though. You can overclock the Pentium on some H97 boards (I think), so why would you spend substantially more on a Z97 board? When linus says the Z97 board has "a good balance of features, quality and expandability to price", it just sounds like meaningless marketing-speak since he doesn't back it up with anything. >.>

[DeViLzzz]

I think considering you have to do a hack to play Far Cry 4 with that dual core cpu I don't think this should have been in the Ultimate Value Gaming Build.  I think there are a very large group of people who want to play that game but would not want to fuss with some hack or whatever.  In regards to the video card choice give gamers a video card that "plays games the way they are meant to be played" and that means Nvidia.  As for the video I enjoy this sort of content from LTT and look forward to more of this in the future.

[Hutchi]

Been gaming on my laptop for a while & have parts laying around so think I'll build this today.

Can someone just confirm this will be fine with a GTX660? Thanks

Thanks again Linus for the build!

[Steve0Kinev0]

Been gaming on my laptop for a while & have parts laying around so think I'll build this today.

Can someone just confirm this will be fine with a GTX660? Thanks

Thanks again Linus for the build!

This build will work perfectly fine with a GTX 660. If you wanna order parts though, I'd be happy to put a build together for you and get you the best value within your budget.

[XionEternum]

Good video, but its not great, sorry guys.

 

I don't get why they didn't explain on what budget they where on and how much each individual part costs. For an budget video like this,I think its mandatory to explain the costs of each part and take a look at the budget as a whole. Even if I look in the description, I see no text about any costs whatsoever, which seems strange.

 

Also, a quick rundown for cheap peripherals would be nice. I mean, well, Linus dit a quick rundown....but just a bit to quick and felt cheap in comparison to the rest of the guide. 

 

At last, we all know you are sponsored by Intel and Corsair, but in these video the marketing for their products it is bit to blatantly and with such behavior you can scare off quite some viewers (in the long run). 

^This in every way.

Simple fact is we could replace the "Ultimate" in the title with "Intel" and it would be far more accurate. Truth is thus: THERE IS NO "ULTIMATE" BUDGET BUILD!

There are purpose-built systems within a budget, and those budgets can be in increments of $50.

Some want the best they can get now w/o upgradability. Some want affordable upgradability. Some want multi-tasking. Some want to record and stream.

This build fits only ONE of those roles. That is a role not even 10% of my clients ask for.

Most of my clients want jack-of-all-trades systems, and unless there is no limit to the budget I have no reason to go Intel when raw universal performance is almost always better on AMD's side of things for the budget.

Top all of this off with the simple fact that Intel DOES hold most of the market, the last thing we need is for AMD to give up competing with Intel. Thank you everyone who is pointing the spotlight at Intel so much.

Can't wait to see how much everyone loves Intel's price hikes when they are the only enthusiast part and hold a monopoly on everything.

I'm crossing my fingers AMD's next enthusiast launch will in all testing crush Intel options all the way up to and including their extreme $1000 CPUs, but come out price-locked under Intel "equivilants."

Not because I want to see Intel go under, but because we need a rebalance in the market. I would switch in a heartbeat if Intel price to performance was better than AMD's in most cases.