$600 PC

[cheeze_tartz]

I am building a PC for a friend and is budget is $700, but Windows costs $100. What is the best $600 build

[Polyvalent]

cant your friend just "borrow" a windows key?

[cheeze_tartz]

cant your friend just "borrow" a windows key?

What do you mean by "borrow"

[itachipirate]

Does he need future upgradability, or will he not upgrade for a very long time? What is the purpose of the computer? If games, which games?

[colonel_mortis]

Moved to New Builds and Planning.

[cheeze_tartz]

Moved to New Builds and Planning.

Sorry about that.

[cheeze_tartz]

Does he need future upgradability, or will he not upgrade for a very long time? What is the purpose of the computer? If games, which games?

He is planning on using it for at least one year. He is not planning to overclock. He plays Payday 2, World of Tanks, Planetside 2, and Titanfall. All he's looking for is to play all of them at least 45+ FPS on High/Ultra

[itachipirate]

My recommendations:

AMD CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sg9T99

 

Pros: Better for multithreaded tasks or multitasking. Better for most tasks besides gaming. Unlocked CPU. Handles most games just fine (Same CPU I have)

 

Cons:  Poorly optimized games(indie games, betas, bad ports, game emulation) will likely not run well on this CPU compared to an intel CPU. Much older architecture, This motherboard has NO UPGRADE PATH!

 

 

Intel CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dbbtBm

 

Pros: Will handle most games as well as the AMD CPU. MUCH better in older/badly optimized games/emulation. Considerably better single core performance. Much newer architecture, with upgradability (although a better CPU on an h97 board is not a great choice). Won't be flamed for having an AMD CPU. Less power draw

 

Cons: Worse multithreading and multitasking, things like streaming will not be able to be pushed to open cores like on the FX, so an FPS hit will be bigger if streaming games. Professional/productivity applications will be slower. Newer games may need more threading to be supported (EX. FC4 will not run on dual-core CPUs, but this one has 4 threads so that should be fine)

 

Both have 8gb of great RAM. Both have a 1tb WD hard drive, decent Corsair case, and Rosewill power supply that will handle some upgrades. Both have a GTX 960(picked over the 280x because I personally hate AMD drivers. And the 960 is newer with about the same performance and cost) both have asus motherboards because I love the ASUS BIOS.

 

Most of those games will run better or the same on the FX compared to the i3, besides World of Tanks which will run considerably better on the i3 (40fps on FX, perfect on the i3). If your friend is mostly an indie/beta gamer probably get the intel CPU build. If he wants to play newer gen titles on his computer for the next year, he can probably squeeze more performance out of the FX. Newer games will support more CPU cores.

 

More cores doesn't mean better, but it's up to personal preference here. GPU is the big thing most of the time, and the 960 is perfect for 1080p if you don't mind turning a few settings down in only the newest of games. I spent most of the time comparing the CPUs in this list because they are the only part that differed.

[cheeze_tartz]

My recommendations:

AMD CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sg9T99

 

Pros: Better for multithreaded tasks or multitasking. Better for most tasks besides gaming. Unlocked CPU. Handles most games just fine (Same CPU I have)

 

Cons:  Poorly optimized games(indie games, betas, bad ports, game emulation) will likely not run well on this CPU compared to an intel CPU. Much older architecture, This motherboard has NO UPGRADE PATH!

 

 

Intel CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dbbtBm

 

Pros: Will handle most games as well as the AMD CPU. MUCH better in older/badly optimized games/emulation. Considerably better single core performance. Much newer architecture, with upgradability (although a better CPU on an h97 board is not a great choice). Won't be flamed for having an AMD CPU. Less power draw

 

Cons: Worse multithreading and multitasking, things like streaming will not be able to be pushed to open cores like on the FX, so an FPS hit will be bigger if streaming games. Professional/productivity applications will be slower. Newer games may need more threading to be supported (EX. FC4 will not run on dual-core CPUs, but this one has 4 threads so that should be fine)

 

Both have 8gb of great RAM. Both have a 1tb WD hard drive, decent Corsair case, and Rosewill power supply that will handle some upgrades. Both have a GTX 960(picked over the 280x because I personally hate AMD drivers. And the 960 is newer with about the same performance and cost) both have asus motherboards because I love the ASUS BIOS.

Thanks so much! I will test these specs on games and see which one performs better.

[cheeze_tartz]

My recommendations:

AMD CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sg9T99

 

Pros: Better for multithreaded tasks or multitasking. Better for most tasks besides gaming. Unlocked CPU. Handles most games just fine (Same CPU I have)

 

Cons:  Poorly optimized games(indie games, betas, bad ports, game emulation) will likely not run well on this CPU compared to an intel CPU. Much older architecture, This motherboard has NO UPGRADE PATH!

 

 

Intel CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dbbtBm

 

Pros: Will handle most games as well as the AMD CPU. MUCH better in older/badly optimized games/emulation. Considerably better single core performance. Much newer architecture, with upgradability (although a better CPU on an h97 board is not a great choice). Won't be flamed for having an AMD CPU. Less power draw

 

Cons: Worse multithreading and multitasking, things like streaming will not be able to be pushed to open cores like on the FX, so an FPS hit will be bigger if streaming games. Professional/productivity applications will be slower. Newer games may need more threading to be supported (EX. FC4 will not run on dual-core CPUs, but this one has 4 threads so that should be fine)

 

Both have 8gb of great RAM. Both have a 1tb WD hard drive, decent Corsair case, and Rosewill power supply that will handle some upgrades. Both have a GTX 960(picked over the 280x because I personally hate AMD drivers. And the 960 is newer with about the same performance and cost) both have asus motherboards because I love the ASUS BIOS.

One question. For the MOBO on the AMD version, could I use an MSI 970 Gaming? ($100)

[FearTheScythe]

My recommendations:

AMD CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sg9T99

 

Pros: Better for multithreaded tasks or multitasking. Better for most tasks besides gaming. Unlocked CPU. Handles most games just fine (Same CPU I have)

 

Cons:  Poorly optimized games(indie games, betas, bad ports, game emulation) will likely not run well on this CPU compared to an intel CPU. Much older architecture, This motherboard has NO UPGRADE PATH!

 

 

Intel CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dbbtBm

 

Pros: Will handle most games as well as the AMD CPU. MUCH better in older/badly optimized games/emulation. Considerably better single core performance. Much newer architecture, with upgradability (although a better CPU on an h97 board is not a great choice). Won't be flamed for having an AMD CPU. Less power draw

 

Cons: Worse multithreading and multitasking, things like streaming will not be able to be pushed to open cores like on the FX, so an FPS hit will be bigger if streaming games. Professional/productivity applications will be slower. Newer games may need more threading to be supported (EX. FC4 will not run on dual-core CPUs, but this one has 4 threads so that should be fine)

 

Both have 8gb of great RAM. Both have a 1tb WD hard drive, decent Corsair case, and Rosewill power supply that will handle some upgrades. Both have a GTX 960(picked over the 280x because I personally hate AMD drivers. And the 960 is newer with about the same performance and cost) both have asus motherboards because I love the ASUS BIOS.

 

Thanks so much! I will test these specs on games and see which one performs better.

Let me just point out for the AMD build you can save $40 by buying Fx-6300, Asus mfa97 le r2.0, and G.skill 8gb combo

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1594324

[cheeze_tartz]

My recommendations:

AMD CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sg9T99

 

Pros: Better for multithreaded tasks or multitasking. Better for most tasks besides gaming. Unlocked CPU. Handles most games just fine (Same CPU I have)

 

Cons:  Poorly optimized games(indie games, betas, bad ports, game emulation) will likely not run well on this CPU compared to an intel CPU. Much older architecture, This motherboard has NO UPGRADE PATH!

 

 

Intel CPU version: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dbbtBm

 

Pros: Will handle most games as well as the AMD CPU. MUCH better in older/badly optimized games/emulation. Considerably better single core performance. Much newer architecture, with upgradability (although a better CPU on an h97 board is not a great choice). Won't be flamed for having an AMD CPU. Less power draw

 

Cons: Worse multithreading and multitasking, things like streaming will not be able to be pushed to open cores like on the FX, so an FPS hit will be bigger if streaming games. Professional/productivity applications will be slower. Newer games may need more threading to be supported (EX. FC4 will not run on dual-core CPUs, but this one has 4 threads so that should be fine)

 

Both have 8gb of great RAM. Both have a 1tb WD hard drive, decent Corsair case, and Rosewill power supply that will handle some upgrades. Both have a GTX 960(picked over the 280x because I personally hate AMD drivers. And the 960 is newer with about the same performance and cost) both have asus motherboards because I love the ASUS BIOS.

Hold on. I think you misunderstood me. My friend's budget is $700, but he has $600 to spend in PC Components, not $500.

[itachipirate]

Hold on. I think you misunderstood me. My friend's budget is $700, but he has $600 to spend in PC Components, not $500.

On my screen both of these PCs hover $600. May differ by region or a part may show no price, meaning it is not available in your area. If a part has no price next to it for you I can suggest a different part.

[itachipirate]

Let me just point out for the AMD build you can save $40 by buying Fx-6300, Asus mfa97 le r2.0, and G.skill 8gb combo

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1594324

Very helpful! Thanks for posting

[cheeze_tartz]

On my screen both of these PCs hover $600. May differ by region or a part may show no price, meaning it is not available in your area. If a part has no price next to it I can suggest a different part.

Never mind, the prices are <$600. I just had a confusion.