Semi-competent 720p system

[WarDance]

Yeah a 720p system in 2019 you read that right. Long story short I'm trying for as little $ as possible build a system for an acquaintance who I've recently learned has been trying to play games on a dying laptop with a 4th gen i3 and no dedicated gpu. Having a closet full of incomplete systems I can mostly piece something together already. basically what I have is for out of pocket cost of bout $110 is i3-4170/ GTX 950 (friend of mine upgraded recently to so he might give me back the 950 i gave him allowing sli) or RX 460/ 8gb ddr3/ 500gb HDD/ 450w psu /some generic case with mobo (lenovo i think, its in the back of the closet so i havent dug it out but i know it still works.) The OS isnt gonna be activated but she's a student so she should be able to get something from her college at a discount (or i might go to goodwill and look at the cases they are selling sometimes those old windows 7 keys work xD). how effective would this be with most games (even modern like anthem for example) at 720p low? 

 

Thanks for your time,

WarDance

Edited March 19, 2019 by WarDance
spelling errors

[Turtle Rig]

11 minutes ago, WarDance said:

Yeah a 720p system in 2019 you read that right. Long story short I'm trying for as little $ as possible build a system for an acquaintance who I've recently learned has been trying to play games on a dying laptop with a 4th gen i3 and no dedicated gpu. Having a closet full of incomplete systems I can mostly piece something together already. basically what I have is for out of pocket cost of bout $110 is i3-4170/ GTX 950 (friend of mine upgraded recently to so he might give me back the 950 i gave him allowing sli) or RX 460/ 8gb ddr3/ 500gb HDD/ 450w psu /some generic case with mobo (lenovo i think, its in the back of the closet so i havent dug it out but i know it still works.) The OS isnt gonna be activated but she's a student so she should be able to get something from her college at a discount (or i might go to goodwill and look at the cases they are selling sometimes those old windows 7 keys work xD). how effective would this be with most games (even modern like anthem for example) at 720p low? 

 

Thanks for your time,

WarDance

It will play pretty good but still suffer in modern AAA titles.  The CPU believe it or not is holding back that  950 gtx card.  Youll get 50fps maybe with that CPU and that GPU in DX10 and DX11 games at 1280x720 res.

[Eastman51]

The 950 is better than the RX 460, so I'd go with that for sure. 

I would try to fit in a 120GB SSD (you can get them for $20), as they are really nice to have.

I used to game at 1080p on an i3-4170 back in the day, paired with a 4GB GTX 960 (CPU bottlenecked that GPU hardcore) and 8GB of DDR3. 

Honestly, you can probably get 1080p low or 720p med (maybe higher, idk) with an i3-4170 and a 950; mostly dependent on game, Anthem would probably run poorly at any settings.

[Firewrath9]

950 is perfectly okay.

What cpus/mobo/ram do you have?

E3-1220 v2 are good for their cheap price, or e3-1240 v2.

DDR3 is cheap aswell.

 

[WarDance]

1 minute ago, Turtle Rig said:

It will p;lay pretty good but still suffer in modern AAA titles.  The CPU believe it or not is holding back that loley 950 gtx card.  Youll get 50fps maybe 80fps in some situations with that CPU and that GPU in DX10 and DX11 games.

Yeah i kinda figured the cpu was the low point, but even so 30+ frames is nice.

[Turtle Rig]

Just now, WarDance said:

Yeah i kinda figured the cpu was the low point, but even so 30+ frames is nice.

Youll get 30fps at 720p no problem.  Cup of coffee!  Im just curious if it can push 60fps.  Depends on the game.  But that low resolution really helps a lot bring up the fps and what not.

[WarDance]

15 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

The 950 is better than the RX 460, so I'd go with that for sure. 

I would try to fit in a 120GB SSD (you can get them for $20), as they are really nice to have.

I used to game at 1080p on an i3-4170 back in the day, paired with a 4GB GTX 960 (CPU bottlenecked that GPU hardcore) and 8GB of DDR3. 

Honestly, you can probably get 1080p low or 720p med (maybe higher, idk) with an i3-4170 and a 950; mostly dependent on game, Anthem would probably run poorly at any settings.

While not trying to sound selfish, probably going to have to pass up the SSD just because budgets tight being a full time student who only gets about 12-20hrs  hour work part-time a week at the shit hole known has walmart.

 

I might be able to get a 10,000rpm HDD off my brother though

Edited March 19, 2019 by WarDance
after thought

[WarDance]

4 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

950 is perfectly okay.

What cpus/mobo/ram do you have?

E3-1220 v2 are good for their cheap price, or e3-1240 v2.

DDR3 is cheap aswell.

 

the ddr3 i believe is 1333 or 1600mhz, I dnt have it yet, i sent a buddy of mine a 16gb upgrade and he's sending me his old 8gb, he is on the west coast and im on the east coast so it will take a few days to get here. the mobo is *goes to dig it out* Lenovo CIB85M.... and looking at it i see sli isnt a possibility

[WarDance]

*heading to college atm will reply to questions as soon as possible*

[Firewrath9]

13 minutes ago, WarDance said:

the ddr3 i believe is 1333 or 1600mhz, I dnt have it yet, i sent a buddy of mine a 16gb upgrade and he's sending me his old 8gb, he is on the west coast and im on the east coast so it will take a few days to get here. the mobo is *goes to dig it out* Lenovo CIB85M.... and looking at it i see sli isnt a possibility

the 950 is fine, and the mobo should be good. ram is fine aswell, 60FPS easy with the 950, depending on cpu.

The i3-4170 would work for now, although I suggest getting a e3-1220 v3 or i5 4570 for 50-60$ of ebay (sad you aren't i3-3xxx, xeon e3-1220 v2s are 30$, and great value.)

[WarDance]

ASUS B85M-E Is gonna be used instead because of the case has usb3 and the Mobo I had didn't. Also for shits and giggles I got anthem to run very poorly with an i3-550 so I think the i3 in this build should(I hope) be fine

[orze]

On 3/19/2019 at 7:36 PM, WarDance said:

Yeah a 720p system in 2019 you read that right. Long story short I'm trying for as little $ as possible build a system for an acquaintance who I've recently learned has been trying to play games on a dying laptop with a 4th gen i3 and no dedicated gpu. Having a closet full of incomplete systems I can mostly piece something together already. basically what I have is for out of pocket cost of bout $110 is i3-4170/ GTX 950 (friend of mine upgraded recently to so he might give me back the 950 i gave him allowing sli) or RX 460/ 8gb ddr3/ 500gb HDD/ 450w psu /some generic case with mobo (lenovo i think, its in the back of the closet so i havent dug it out but i know it still works.) The OS isnt gonna be activated but she's a student so she should be able to get something from her college at a discount (or i might go to goodwill and look at the cases they are selling sometimes those old windows 7 keys work xD). how effective would this be with most games (even modern like anthem for example) at 720p low? 

 

Thanks for your time,

WarDance

shish...that is preety bare bones...

id say chack around on second hand hp office pc's.

somtimes those things come with a i7 and they are hella cheap...

even if u shove a 950 in there i feel u will get more out of it then a i3.

most of them are ddr3 too so id gess u have some sitting around if u are planing to bult it...

so yea.

 

had a freind shove a rx580 in 1 and he plays bf1 with me on solid 60fps. at 1080p.

so yea u wont be able to get a 580

but the i7 will still do u way beter for the price of a full pc.

 

for a refrence. chacking on ebay that cpu u got the  i3-4170

is about half the price of a fully bult i7 2600. and thats a 4c8t i7.

 

so u can just sell the cpu if u ask me.

 

[WarDance]

Unfortunately atm I'm a full time college student with a trash part time job. (Last paycheck was under $200 cause they cutting hours of pretty much everyone working there whose also in school, next week I literally only have one 4.5 hours shift scheduled) Being that this person is just an aquintance and not a close friend or family (her mom's place is were I go to get my hair cut) bare bones is going to have to suffice for the moment.