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Planning a <$1000 gaming/workstation machine

immadeofpixels27
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This is going to be a PC that my whole family uses. Me for moderate gaming, my little brother for recording and editing gameplay (mostly of Minecraft), and my Mother will use it (rarely) for working from home (as a secretary in a slightly outdated office).

 

I want to use an AMD APU, will need plenty of USB ports, and lots of peripherals:

  • decent 1080p screen measuring <20"
  • usb keyboard/mouse
  • webcam
  • mic
  • speakers
  • possibly a bluetooth card

 

I will worry about the peripherals, but included the list to give an idea of how much room to leave in the budget for them. 

 

I'll answer any questions in the replies and updates to the topic. Thanks in advance! 

 

Edit 1: I want AMD because of freesync and the fact that I have a few thousand points in AMD Gaming Evolved. However, it doesn't have to be an APU

 

Edit 2: current setup:

 
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($158.95 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: NZXT Respire T20 68.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($19.98 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Micro Center) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($58.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($169.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Micro Center) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($88.98 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Gateway KX2153 Abd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Speakers: Logitech Z313 25W 2.1ch Speakers  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $811.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 19:54 EST-0500
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Posted

This is going to be a PC that my whole family uses. Me for moderate gaming, my little brother for recording and editing gameplay (mostly of Minecraft), and my Mother will use it (rarely) for working from home (as a secretary in a slightly outdated office).

 

I want to use an AMD APU, will need plenty of USB ports, and lots of peripherals:

  • decent 1080p screen measuring <20"
  •  
  • usb keyboard/mouse
  •  
  • webcam
  •  
  • mic
  •  
  • speakers
  •  
  • possibly a bluetooth card
  •  

For $1000 you can get a lot more then just an AMD APU. With this high of a budget for these uses, Intel is much more recommended. 

 

 
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.99 @ NCIX US) 
Motherboard: MSI B85-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($81.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($58.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: A-Data Premier SP610 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 
Video Card: HIS Radeon R9 290 4GB IceQ X² Video Card  ($239.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Micro Center) 
Monitor: AOC i2267Fw 60Hz 22.0" Monitor  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Speakers: Logitech Z313 25W 2.1ch Speakers  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $966.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 01:05 EST-0500
 
($35 left for a webcam)

"Rawr XD"

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For $1000 you can get a lot more then just an AMD APU. With this high of a budget, Intel is much more recommended. 

I want AMD because of freesync and the fact that I have a few thousand points in AMD Gaming Evolved.

 

Edit: nvmd, just saw the links... they weren't there until I refreshed the page again? anyway.. thanks a lot thats a nice looking build and having the Radeon card satisfies my AMD needs. But more Ideas are welcome!

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I want AMD because of freesync and the fact that I have a few thousand points in AMD Gaming Evolved.

That's dependent on GPU not CPU. And the build I just posted above in the edited post has an R9 290. Refresh the page :)

"Rawr XD"

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That's dependent on GPU not CPU. And the build I just posted above in the edited post has an R9 290. Refresh the page :)

I did and edited my previous post. lol

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: Apotop 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Video Card: HIS Radeon R9 290 4GB IceQ X² Video Card ($259.99 @ Newegg)

Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($31.99 @ Micro Center)

Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)

Monitor: LG E2411PB-BN 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ NCIX US)

Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($24.99 @ NCIX US)

Headphones: Creative Labs Creative Fatal1ty Headset ($22.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $964.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 02:34 EST-0500

This is what I would do. It doesnt factor in rebates so youve got more wiggle room to add things like an SSD if youd like, but the $35 extra to spare is meant for a webcam of your choosing. It has an AMD GPU as was your prefence, and it has a great CPU that is both great for gaming and great for productivity such as tasks like editing/rendering. Overall, it has everything you'd want. If you have cash to spare, the two potential changes would be to include an SSD and to swap the case out for an NZXT S340.

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Thanks for showing me pcpartpicker. This is the first I heard about the site. I spent a while tinkering around and came up with this:

 

 
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($158.95 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Biostar TA970 ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($58.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($169.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Micro Center) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($88.98 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Gateway KX2153 Abd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Speakers: Logitech Z313 25W 2.1ch Speakers  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $791.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 14:38 EST-0500
 
Chose a cheaper but faster AMD cpu and slightly cheaper gfx card, and included Windows 7 in the price.
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Just a warning, that CPU is basically a workstation CPU. "faster" doesn't mean anything because it's a completely different architecture. It's actually way worse in single-threaded tasks (see: gaming) than any Intel CPU (including the i5-4460 or even the lowly G3258), and a tiny bit worse in multi-threaded tasks than the Intel Xeon E3-1231 v3 in my build. Plus, you don't even have a motherboard that can supply sufficient power to that CPU. At the minimum, you want a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P motherboard, otherwise you risk thermal throttling or an overheated and then blown motherboard. Plus, you really want an aftermarket CPU cooler with the FX series, making it even more expensive. Even though the FX CPU is less expensive, the rest of the components make it not a good idea from a price to performance standpoint, and as you have it now it just doesn't work. At the very least if you must stick with the FX CPU, get that motherboard I mentioned (GA-970A-UD3P) plus a Cooler Master 212 Evo, however I do stand by my original suggestion of a Xeon E3-1231 V3 for this build.

 

Other random notes:

1) Stick to Seagate or Western Digital for HDDs.

2) If you don't care about super high quality speakers, you can get a better monitor with included speakers and get more bang for your buck.

3) I've never heard of that PSU. Make sure you double check on it. It may be a solid unit or it may not. 80+ Gold doesn't necessarily mean it has good components.

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Thanks for the feedback. This is first build and I'm not too familiar with the pros/cons of each part but seeing as how this will be a light gaming/video editing/workstation hybrid, I'm willing to keep the FX as long as it won't hurt gaming too much

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Thanks for the feedback. This is first build and I'm not too familiar with the pros/cons of each part but seeing as how this will be a light gaming/video editing/workstation hybrid, I'm willing to keep the FX as long as it won't hurt gaming too much

Many games will run just fine on the FX. The problem is that CPUs have two different metrics of performance. Single-threaded and multi-threaded. While the FX-8350 has great multi-threaded performance, it has poor single-threaded performance, so any game that relies on that will run poorly while games that can make use of all its cores will run great. This means that no single gaming benchmark can really demonstrate its performance since some games will run great while others run poorly. The commonly played games that require good single-threaded performance that will struggle on this CPU are: Skyrim, Starcraft 2, Planetside 2, WoW (when tons of stufff is happening on screen), Arma 3, Civ 5, and many others. However there are plenty more games that can run just fine on the FX. If you do go that route, I want to keep reiterating that you have to get a good enough motherboard to supply sufficient power to it, otherwise you risk blowing the motherboard or thermal throttling.

 

This is why I suggested the Xeon. It has great single-threaded performance AND multi-threaded performance, so it'll be able to play and stream all games well. Plus, when you factor in that you don't have to buy an aftermarket CPU cooler and the motherboards are typically around $20 cheaper, it's really not that much more than an FX platform. Well worth it in my opinion.

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Okay, thanks again for the help. I'll be back later and I'll tinker with your build a little to see if i can lower the price a bit.

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Changed motherboard and added a cpu fan.

 

 
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($158.95 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: NZXT Respire T20 68.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($19.98 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Micro Center) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($58.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($169.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Micro Center) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($88.98 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Gateway KX2153 Abd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Speakers: Logitech Z313 25W 2.1ch Speakers  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $811.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 19:54 EST-0500
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Okay, again, that motherboard cannot supply enough power to that CPU. It just wont work. You need at least the following board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970aud3p

 

For other boards with a list of known problems and others that have been used without issue, this thread has a large collection:

http://www.overclock.net/t/946407/amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database

 

I recommend you stick solely to the pure "Yes" answers as you don't want to be installing heat sinks onto the other boards.

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The list you pointed me to says the motherboard i picked supports 140W and my CPU is a 125W so i don't see the problem?

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The list you pointed me to says the motherboard i picked supports 140W and my CPU is a 125W so i don't see the problem?

Really? That's rare. 4+1 phase VRMs are almost always insufficient.

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The most intensive things i play are heavily modded Minecraft and things like World of Tanks

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