Budget build?

[Mr. Llama]

I am trying to save up for a new PC but I don't really have much knowledge about the good parts and the prices associated with performance. I only need a tower but I want something that I can either upgrade, won't need to for a while or just maybe something that will get me by.

 

I currently have a laptop with an integrated graphics card (As you can guess it chugs on the performance) and I've really been wanting to get something that is stable and has a good solid fps for once. I play League, Counter Strike : GO and I have wanted to get into a few other more taxing games, like DayZ for example. They don't need to be pretty, I'm only looking for the best performance I can get within a reasonable price range.

 

My price range isn't set yet, but at the absolute most I will say around $1000 Canadian dollars. If I can get something cheeper then I will jump on it, but I just recently watched the $300 scrapyard build that they did. My laptop, which was 700(ish) about 3 years ago can barely handle league of legends... (on minimum settings)

 

If someone would be so kind as to help me get started with a cheap build that can handle most games that would be amazing.

 

Thank you in advance~

[Swndlr]

You can probably shave some off of this to make it even cheaper, like take out HDD and add one later, or cut down SSD size, step down to 280X, etc...

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($218.50 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($73.75 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($63.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($60.75 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Club 3D Radeon R9 290 4GB Royalking Video Card  ($339.99 @ NCIX)
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($75.00 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($84.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1036.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-24 00:51 EDT-0400

[Mr. Llama]

You can probably shave some off of this to make it even cheaper, like take out HDD and add one later, or cut down SSD size, step down to 280X, etc...

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($218.50 @ shopRBC)

Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($73.75 @ Vuugo)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($63.99 @ Canada Computers)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Canada Computers)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($60.75 @ Vuugo)

Video Card: Club 3D Radeon R9 290 4GB Royalking Video Card  ($339.99 @ NCIX)

Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($75.00 @ Vuugo)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($84.98 @ Newegg Canada)

Total: $1036.95

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-24 00:51 EDT-0400

So if I decided to tone down the price a bit which items should I dock and which items should I keep? Like, say which are more important and which are not as important. I know the video card (should?) be the most important part but other than that?

[dizmo]

If you ever travel down to Vancouver, NCIX's Open Box can be an awesome place to grab some killer deals.
Same with their eBay store.

[Mr. Llama]

If you ever travel down to Vancouver, NCIX's Open Box can be an awesome place to grab some killer deals.

Same with their eBay store.

Yeah, unfortunately I don't have much transportation. I'd most likely be getting everything shipped to me. That and I don't currently have a lot of money to be spending. So it's the problem of getting the money then ordering things or finding deals. I love computers and want to get into working with them, but I don't know a whole lot as it stands now, haha.

[dizmo]

Yeah, unfortunately I don't have much transportation. I'd most likely be getting everything shipped to me. That and I don't currently have a lot of money to be spending. So it's the problem of getting the money then ordering things or finding deals. I love computers and want to get into working with them, but I don't know a whole lot as it stands now, haha.

If you look at the NCIX OpenBox site and see anything that catches your eye I can always ship it to you.

I work pretty close to their warehouse.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sICwh7aT0Ip0lZ4p_udCVmDrNlfISnA_grxvWvvnxZY/edit#gid=0

[Swndlr]

So if I decided to tone down the price a bit which items should I dock and which items should I keep? Like, say which are more important and which are not as important. I know the video card (should?) be the most important part but other than that?

What I would do is just step down to a 280X from 290 and if you dont play games that take up too much storage space, then remove the HDD for now and add one down the line when you need it, SSD should stay in because thats where you will install Windows or whatever OS youre using, it would be a pain to install it on the HDD then get an SSD and have to reinstall in on there.

[Mr. Llama]

Okay, so I went to a local computer store and have more or less decided to get a computer from them. I'm going to post the details here though and see if any of the parts are not as good as they could be for the same price. I trust the place for giving me the best, but I just wanted to make sure.

CPU: A10 6800K 4.1 QC

Motherboard: MSI A88X-G43

Memory: 8GB Kingston Hyper-X Kit

Hard Drive: 1TB Seagate HDD

Case: TT Versa H22 w/500W (guessing power supply)

Optical Drive: LG 24x DVDRW

O/S: Windows 7 Home Premium

 

I spent a good 2 hours or so talking to the guys over at National Computer Resource and I think it's a pretty good deal for the price. $714.99 I'm going to be getting a Video card and SSD later on when I can afford them. But for something that will run right now and play the games I play (much better than what I am currently doing) I think this would be a good deal. Anyone have anything to say, add, or otherwise?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[TheCaptain53]

So if I decided to tone down the price a bit which items should I dock and which items should I keep? Like, say which are more important and which are not as important. I know the video card (should?) be the most important part but other than that?

It's not which items you should, but more what you shouldn't. And the thing you shouldn't skimp on is the PSU. Make sure you get a good quality one from someone like EVGA, Antec, Seasonic etc etc. And always look up PSU reviews from someone like JonnyGuru.

 

Okay, so I went to a local computer store and have more or less decided to get a computer from them. I'm going to post the details here though and see if any of the parts are not as good as they could be for the same price. I trust the place for giving me the best, but I just wanted to make sure.

CPU: A10 6800K 4.1 QC

Motherboard: MSI A88X-G43

Memory: 8GB Kingston Hyper-X Kit

Hard Drive: 1TB Seagate HDD

Case: TT Versa H22 w/500W (guessing power supply)

Optical Drive: LG 24x DVDRW

O/S: Windows 7 Home Premium

 

I spent a good 2 hours or so talking to the guys over at National Computer Resource and I think it's a pretty good deal for the price. $714.99 I'm going to be getting a Video card and SSD later on when I can afford them. But for something that will run right now and play the games I play (much better than what I am currently doing) I think this would be a good deal. Anyone have anything to say, add, or otherwise?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Can I guess that this is pre-built? I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most people here will promote building your own over pre-built. You don't really get the same value for your money due to the mark-up on pre-builts.

Something like an i5-4460 with an H97 motherboard and an R9 380 4GB would do you really well. I'm not sure of the prices in Canada as I live in the UK, but I would have thought it would be approximately the same price (or maybe a little bit more).

[Mr. Llama]

It's not which items you should, but more what you shouldn't. And the thing you shouldn't skimp on is the PSU. Make sure you get a good quality one from someone like EVGA, Antec, Seasonic etc etc. And always look up PSU reviews from someone like JonnyGuru.

 

Can I guess that this is pre-built? I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most people here will promote building your own over pre-built. You don't really get the same value for your money due to the mark-up on pre-builts.

Something like an i5-4460 with an H97 motherboard and an R9 380 4GB would do you really well. I'm not sure of the prices in Canada as I live in the UK, but I would have thought it would be approximately the same price (or maybe a little bit more).

Okay, I'm using Pcpartpicker.com to get these same parts and price it out, see how much it is actually costing without added prices. I may upgrade a few things and just order it or change it around a little. I'm learning as much as I can so I'm not really getting ripped off, ya know? lol.

[Mr. Llama]

Okay, so I just had a new idea... instead of $1000 Canadian dollars for my budget, let's do 800, that is including taxes and shipping. What could I get that would be able to run everything that I could want, overclocked if it has to, for that price? Not worrying about mail-in rebates or whatever.

[Mr. Llama]

Oookay, so I went back to National Computer Resource here in Kelowna and they gave me a different quote.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/tryant776/saved/#view=ZqqJ7P

This is almost all the same parts, I have an optical drive and the Power is a different brand, but the same price. They quoted me for 812-ish (canadian) after taxes while I can get all these items from DirectCanada for 750 after taxes plus shipping (which is nothing since I live in canada.

 

Anything amiss or anything anyone would suggest different? I am getting this motherboard because it has onboard video, which means I can use the computer until I get a video card, which I can't quite afford just yet. (unless I find a good deal on something)