First Time Building A PC

[iCreatePiE912]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DKzHgs

I'm new to PC building btw

My budget is $500. I plan to run most games on High/60 FPS. Hopefully this will do when I buy it around late September/early October.

[Amazingasian]

That's not gonna get 60fps on high but it still will run AAA games with a decent fps.  Any chance you can spend another $100?

[Kingcomicbook]

reviews on newegg for the stock cpu cooler say its bad, consider buying an aftermarket

[Fgtfv567]

FM2+ is a dead socket, go AM3+, wait for Zen, or go intel LGA 1150

A 960 is not going to get high settings/60 frames on all games, especially something like Metal Gear Solid V or MKX

[Bob Jim]

FM2+ is a dead socket, go AM3+, wait for Zen, or go intel LGA 1150

A 960 is not going to get high settings/60 frames on all games, especially something like Metal Gear Solid V or MKX

Why does everyone worry over a 'dead socket'? The Athlon is a decent CPU for the price, nothing wrong with it considering its $75.

[Amazingasian]

Why does everyone worry over a 'dead socket'? The Athlon is a decent CPU for the price, nothing wrong with it considering its $75.

 

I'd still go for a Pentium G3258 over the Athlon.

[doublehelix]

Why does everyone worry over a 'dead socket'? The Athlon is a decent CPU for the price, nothing wrong with it considering its $75.

but compare that to the upgrade path of the g3258 / an I3. both of those are cheap and can be swapped for very high end chips or even just an I5

[Guest]

Why does everyone worry over a 'dead socket'? The Athlon is a decent CPU for the price, nothing wrong with it considering its $75.

Most AMD sockets are "dead" they're not going to be continued 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($42.49 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card  ($161.98 @ Newegg) 

Case: Apex Vortex 3620 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Directron) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $567.41

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-13 01:34 EDT-0400

This is what I would recommend, if you need to cut the price down to exactly 500, Pentium and cheapest Z97 you can get

[WillMcp]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/b2QLTW

The power supply is a lot better plus it's fully modular which will really help when working in a small case.

The case is a little smaller because you're using micro ATX anyway and it could help with desk space.

The hard drive is a few buck cheaper.

I took away the optical drive because you will probably never use it and it will save you a few bucks.

If you can get another $15 or so I think this would make it better, especially the power supply.

[Bob Jim]

I'd still go for a Pentium G3258 over the Athlon.

To me everyone who says this is pretty much of the mindset 'all AMD CPUs are junk'. 2 non-hyperthreaded cores just are not enough nowadays. Far Cry 4 started it, and other games will probably follow, needing 4 cores to run; more and more games/software are being optimised for 4 or more cores; and with DX12, some new games might well run better on the Athlon. Not to mention ANY multitasking, where the Athlon blows the Pentium away. Also remember that the Athlon is overclockable, just like the Pentium. Yes the Pentium has better Single core performance, but here that is somewhat less important.

[Bob Jim]

but compare that to the upgrade path of the g3258 / an I3. both of those are cheap and can be swapped for very high end chips or even just an I5

Unless you are upgrading within a few months, Z/H97 I3s and I5s are going to be out of stock/ very expensive. And if you are upgrading in a few months just wait and save that time and get something better to be honest.

[Bob Jim]

Snip

This might be better, got a 380.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: MSI H81I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($62.99 @ Directron)

Memory: Kingston Savage 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.89 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 2GB PCS+ Video Card ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($42.70 @ Mwave)

Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $546.54

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-13 01:41 EDT-0400

[Amazingasian]

Unless you are upgrading within a few months, Z/H97 I3s and I5s are going to be out of stock/ very expensive. And if you are upgrading in a few months just wait and save that time and get something better to be honest.

At least when you do upgrade you don't have to buy a new motherboard.

[Bob Jim]

At least when you do upgrade you don't have to buy a new motherboard.

... But you would is my point. Haswell is an old generation now. By this time next year or earlier, all Haswell I3/5/7s will be out of stock or really expensive, meaning that it is cheaper to buy a new mobo.

[The Official Czex]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DKzHgs

I'm new to PC building btw

My budget is $500. I plan to run most games on High/60 FPS. Hopefully this will do when I buy it around late September/early October.

 

Spend the extra $150, IT'S WORTH IT.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($83.31 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($57.55 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($44.49 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($83.92 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($269.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Total: $659.24

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-13 01:49 EDT-0400

[jewishdolphins]

dude you cant get what u want for that price unless you get a bunch of used crap. Spend the extra money and wait. it's well worth it. my 980 dollar build is only able to run games like gta v at 60 frames per second and batman arkham knight at like 30. so unless ur gonna be playing tf2, csgo and minecraft all day i suggest you wait my friend, it's well worth it. 

 

in case ur wondering my computer does do games like tf2 and minecraft at 300 fps+

[comicsansms]

FM2+ is a dead socket, go AM3+, wait for Zen, or go intel LGA 1150

A 960 is not going to get high settings/60 frames on all games, especially something like Metal Gear Solid V or MKX

FM2+ has newer CPU's than AM3+ CPU's

 

 

 

Spend the extra $150, IT'S WORTH IT.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($83.31 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($57.55 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($44.49 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($83.92 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($269.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Total: $659.24

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-13 01:49 EDT-0400

 

Dat SSD is not great,

Decent motherboard, I have the ATX version

The R9 290 would be bottle-necked

Expensive case (But a good case) but I would go cheaper.

[JohnnyCorporalTech]

 

Most AMD sockets are "dead" they're not going to be continued 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($42.49 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card  ($161.98 @ Newegg) 

Case: Apex Vortex 3620 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Directron) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $567.41

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-13 01:34 EDT-0400

This is what I would recommend, if you need to cut the price down to exactly 500, Pentium and cheapest Z97 you can get

 

That is a much better PC for the money.

 It's only $65 more, and has the ability to upgrade in the future to a better possessor.

[Guest]

That is a much better PC for the money.

 It's only $65 more, and has the ability to upgrade in the future to a better possessor.

Thats what I was thinking when I created this build, you could always upgrade to a 4790 is you needed to. a Unlocked Motherboard and a unlocked chip is a must if he decides to go along the 4690k - 4790k and the H97 should be fine if he goes along the 4160-4460 or 4690- 4790