Budget Gaming PC advice?

[Peyton]

So I've been struggling to run games on a potato laptop with integrated graphics for over a year now.

 

I'd like to upgrade to something more powerful. I'm not looking for anything amazing, just something that will run games at medium-ish settings with decent frames.

 

Where should I start? This is my first build, and I'm at a loss. Any advice on parts would be very helpful. 

 

My budget is probably going to be somewhere around 600 USD. 

 

Thanks!

[themaniac]

So I've been struggling to run games on a potato laptop with integrated graphics for over a year now.

 

I'd like to upgrade to something more powerful. I'm not looking for anything amazing, just something that will run games at medium-ish settings with decent frames.

 

Where should I start? This is my first build, and I'm at a loss. Any advice on parts would be very helpful. 

 

My budget is probably going to be somewhere around 600 USD. 

 

Thanks!

do you need a monitor operating system(for example windows) keyboard mouse

[Peyton]

do you need a monitor operating system(for example windows) keyboard mouse

I'm good as far as the OS, keyboard, and mouse goes.

[dappy9]

Typically sticking with AMD will make your build cheaper

 

Here's a PCPARTPICKER list that I worked on a few months back http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mZbwf7

It's slightly over 600 but you could remove some stuff that you don't need

[Sam Z Man]

Get the GPU used, a 7970 or 7950 can be found for 80-120$ are good choices.

[themaniac]

I'm good as far as the OS, keyboard, and mouse goes.

so you need a monitor?

[Prysin]

so you need a monitor?

seems like it

 

@Peyton

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($73.00 @ NCIX US)

CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling ACFZ13 36.4 CFM CPU Cooler  ($28.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88M PRO3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($48.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Apotop 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($41.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 285 2GB TurboDuo Video Card  ($147.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Directron)

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

Monitor: AOC i2267Fw 60Hz 22.0" Monitor  ($119.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $623.80

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 20:03 EDT-0400

 

If you bother to send in the rebates, then it will be under 600 USD, if not, its 623.80

I chose a IPS monitor because, after having used one for a long time myself i cannot really NOT reccomend using one. If you want to cheap out, you could do like i did and get a VA panel. Not quite as good as IPS, but pretty darn close.

[Peyton]

so you need a monitor?

Yes, but I'm not including that in the budget. I've set aside some extra for that purpose.

[Peyton]

Typically sticking with AMD will make your build cheaper

 

Here's a PCPARTPICKER list that I worked on a few months back http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mZbwf7

It's slightly over 600 but you could remove some stuff that you don't need

Thanks, man! I'll check this out.

[007agentHP]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

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

Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($67.89 @ OutletPC) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($44.49 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 2GB Dual-X Video Card  ($207.55 @ Newegg) 

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($40.00 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $574.79

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 19:59 EDT-0400

This system has no problem maxing out games at 1080p

this one includes a monitor if you need it

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($64.00 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard: MSI H81M-E35 V2 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($55.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($44.49 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($203.98 @ Newegg) 

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($40.00 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Monitor: Acer S220HQLAbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 

Total: $610.31

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 20:04 EDT-0400

[Prysin]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

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

Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($67.89 @ OutletPC) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($44.49 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 2GB Dual-X Video Card  ($207.55 @ Newegg) 

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($40.00 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $574.79

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 19:59 EDT-0400

This system has no problem maxing out games at 1080p

this one includes a monitor if you need it

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($64.00 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard: MSI H81M-E35 V2 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($55.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($44.49 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($203.98 @ Newegg) 

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($40.00 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Monitor: Acer S220HQLAbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 

Total: $610.31

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 20:04 EDT-0400

 

drop the bottom build. It is rubbish. The CPU sucks balls.

[007agentHP]

drop the bottom build. It is rubbish. The CPU sucks balls.

overclocked it can perform pretty well. it can easily do 4.2 Ghz on the stock cooler if not more which wont bottleneck the gppu

[DannyRyu]

The G3258 is meant to be overclocked, and its very easy to do on it.

[themaniac]

Yes, but I'm not including that in the budget. I've set aside some extra for that purpose.

ok since it won't be included then here PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-S1 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($39.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: Mushkin Essentials 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($20.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($179.00 @ NCIX US)

Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($31.98 @ Newegg)

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

Total: $600.81

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 20:16 EDT-0400

[Prysin]

overclocked it can perform pretty well. it can easily do 4.2 Ghz on the stock cooler if not more which wont bottleneck the gppu

its a dual core, and it shits itself in many games, some it cannot even run.

 

GTA 5 - completely useless. It stutters and freezes constantly

Farcry 4 - cannot run

Dragon Age: Inquisition - cannot run

There are more titles, but these are the ones i know of

There will be more titles in the future that will have the exact same issues. We are moving towards more cores, slowly. Already, the Pentium struggles to do many things at once. so if you try to play games, listen to music and download stuff at the same time, it craps out. Several people on these forums has said this before.

 

THE G3258 IS A OVERCLOCKING TOY. NOT A DAILY DRIVER CPU!!!

 

i3 4xxx / Athlon x4 860k OR higher.

[Guest Johnny5g]

I'm good as far as the OS, keyboard, and mouse goes.

i recommend this http://pcpartpicker.com/user/BlueRas_computers/saved/pQKV3C

[Peyton]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

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

Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($67.89 @ OutletPC) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($44.49 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 2GB Dual-X Video Card  ($207.55 @ Newegg) 

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($40.00 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $574.79

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 19:59 EDT-0400

This system has no problem maxing out games at 1080p

this one includes a monitor if you need it

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($64.00 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard: MSI H81M-E35 V2 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($55.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($44.49 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($203.98 @ Newegg) 

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($40.00 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Monitor: Acer S220HQLAbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 

Total: $610.31

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 20:04 EDT-0400

 

 

I really like the look of the first one, since I already have some extra funds for a monitor.

[Prysin]

ok since it won't be included then herePCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-S1 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($39.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: Mushkin Essentials 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($20.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($179.00 @ NCIX US)

Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($31.98 @ Newegg)

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

Total: $560.82

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 20:13 EDT-0400

4GB RAM wont be enough to play modern games + have a browser or spotify open in the background...

Why the unneccesary expensive PSU?

[007agentHP]

its a dual core, and it shits itself in many games, some it cannot even run.

 

GTA 5 - completely useless. It stutters and freezes constantly

Farcry 4 - cannot run

Dragon Age: Inquisition - cannot run

There are more titles, but these are the ones i know of

There will be more titles in the future that will have the exact same issues. We are moving towards more cores, slowly. Already, the Pentium struggles to do many things at once. so if you try to play games, listen to music and download stuff at the same time, it craps out. Several people on these forums has said this before.

 

THE G3258 IS A OVERCLOCKING TOY. NOT A DAILY DRIVER CPU!!!

 

i3 4xxx / Athlon x4 860k OR higher.

1. really,  a larger font?

2. take a look at these

case closed

[007agentHP]

I really like the look of the first one, since I already have some extra funds for a monitor.

the first one will have no problem maxing out 95% of games at 1080p and be able to play medium/ high at 1440p

[themaniac]

4GB RAM wont be enough to play modern games + have a browser or spotify open in the background...

Why the unneccesary expensive PSU?

I know I have already fixed that and made it 8gb

EDIT: the psu is very high quality and very worth it

[EllieThePurpleFuzzy]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TvJZyc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TvJZyc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($176.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($42.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($182.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $610.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 20:24 EDT-0400

 

or

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Z9MgWZ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Z9MgWZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($59.78 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($42.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 285 2GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card  ($172.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $593.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-15 20:27 EDT-0400

[Prysin]

snip

quote from comments section of YT

 

Evan Johnson

Not bad at all I thought far cry 4 had issues with dual core tho.

 

·    

FPSkillerPC

Yeah. I had to use a injector tool to make it boot or else it would just stop responding at the start. But overall the game runs perfectly on this cpu.

FPSkillerPC being the one who made the video.... you are suggesting a CPU you need to ini-hack a game to make it run? GREAT MATE, FANTASTIC.

Lets suggest that we just mod the CPU too so it gets hyperthreading while we are at it, shall we?

 

Apparently, DA got patched to fix the dual core thing.

 

bottom line in ALL of the above videos is that you are totally GPU bottlenecked. If you remove the bottleneck and let the CPU -try- to stretch its legs, these games would play very very very different.

 

Atm, the GPU bottleneck is probably just large enough to let windows do its thing with the avaible CPU performance... remove that headroom, and you gonna see something else.

 

like this video

 

or this one

 

 

 

there is stuttering, FPS drops, all these goodies... Great isnt it?

This is what happens when you remove the GPU bottleneck. you cannot break 45 FPS in the town... Even with OC....

 

This is why i say its a toy. Not because it cannot play the game, but because you gotta almost build around the limitations of your CPU rather then the games you want to play.

[Peyton]

quote from comments section of YT

FPSkillerPC being the one who made the video.... you are suggesting a CPU you need to ini-hack a game to make it run? GREAT MATE, FANTASTIC.

Lets suggest that we just mod the CPU too so it gets hyperthreading while we are at it, shall we?

 

Apparently, DA got patched to fix the dual core thing.

 

bottom line in ALL of the above videos is that you are totally GPU bottlenecked. If you remove the bottleneck and let the CPU -try- to stretch its legs, these games would play very very very different.

 

Atm, the GPU bottleneck is probably just large enough to let windows do its thing with the avaible CPU performance... remove that headroom, and you gonna see something else.

 

like this video

 

or this one

 

 

 

there is stuttering, FPS drops, all these goodies... Great isnt it?

This is what happens when you remove the GPU bottleneck. you cannot break 45 FPS in the town... Even with OC....

 

This is why i say its a toy. Not because it cannot play the game, but because you gotta almost build around the limitations of your CPU rather then the games you want to play.

Thanks for all the feedback, lol. I really appreciate it.

[Thunder Down Under]

This would be nice overall and would give some expansion option's.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YNzgWZ