About $400 budget for cousin's gaming rig

[Nerdtality]

Is this a good parts list for my cousin. I need it to be under $400.

If you have one better PLEASE POST ONE!

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9rwQ8d
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9rwQ8d/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($65.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI H81M-E34 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($40.99 @ NCIX US) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB STRIX Video Card  ($109.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($43.56 @ Mac Mall) 
Total: $383.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 19:47 EDT-0400

[Aereldor]

I call this one 'Unlimited rebate works'.

The processor doesn't have as great an upgrade path, but having four physical cores is becoming more important as games are geared more towards multi-threaded CPU performance than single-thread performance. It also has a better power supply and a far better GPU, at the cost of a case and motherboard that aren't as nice, with the only two USB 3.0 being in the back. If you don't want it going over $400, just bump back down to a GTX 750 Ti and you'll be well under $400 even if none of your rebates work.

 

Just make sure you don't underspend on the power supply. A poor-quality power supply can take the rest of your computer down with it when it fails, and can even burn down your house. @STRMfrmXMN has put together an extremely useful 'whitelist' of power supplies that are far less likely to fail catastrophically.

 

Here's the build-

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($73.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 V2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Micro Center) 
Memory: Avexir Core Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($25.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card  ($129.99 @ Micro Center) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $382.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 20:01 EDT-0400

[WebPlayz]

Just now, Aereldor said:

I call this one 'Unlimited rebate works'.

The processor doesn't have as great an upgrade path, but having four physical cores is becoming more important as games are geared more towards multi-threaded CPU performance than single-thread performance. It also has a better power supply and a far better GPU, at the cost of a case and motherboard that aren't as nice, with the only two USB 3.0 being in the back. If you don't want it going over $400, just bump back down to a GTX 750 Ti and you'll be well under $400 even if none of your rebates work.

 

Just make sure you don't underspend on the power supply. A poor-quality power supply can take the rest of your computer down with it when it fails, and can even burn down your house. @STRMfrmXMN has put together an extremely useful 'whitelist' of power supplies that are far less likely to fail catastrophically.

 

Here's the build-

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($73.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 V2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Micro Center) 
Memory: Avexir Core Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($25.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card  ($129.99 @ Micro Center) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $382.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 20:01 EDT-0400

thats a nice build but what about you change the 1tb hdd to like a 500gb so its cheeper

[HKZeroFive]

$1.61 over:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($73.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus A68HM-E Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($38.89 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Avexir Core Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($25.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 4GB NITRO Dual-X OC Video Card  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Raidmax ATX-402WB ATX Mid Tower Case  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: XFX XT 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($36.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $401.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 20:08 EDT-0400

[STRMfrmXMN]

7 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

I call this one 'Unlimited rebate works'.

The processor doesn't have as great an upgrade path, but having four physical cores is becoming more important as games are geared more towards multi-threaded CPU performance than single-thread performance. It also has a better power supply and a far better GPU, at the cost of a case and motherboard that aren't as nice, with the only two USB 3.0 being in the back. If you don't want it going over $400, just bump back down to a GTX 750 Ti and you'll be well under $400 even if none of your rebates work.

 

Just make sure you don't underspend on the power supply. A poor-quality power supply can take the rest of your computer down with it when it fails, and can even burn down your house. @STRMfrmXMN has put together an extremely useful 'whitelist' of power supplies that are far less likely to fail catastrophically.

 

Here's the build-

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($73.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 V2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Micro Center) 
Memory: Avexir Core Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($25.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card  ($129.99 @ Micro Center) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $382.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 20:01 EDT-0400

PSU whitelist is in my sig if link is broken for everyone else

[Aereldor]

5 minutes ago, Killstreak said:

thats a nice build but what about you change the 1tb hdd to like a 500gb so its cheeper

No. And I'll tell you why.

• It isn't that much 'cheeper'- the 500GB version of this drive actually costs $3 more than the 1TB version.
• The 1TB version of this drive is the most popular HDD on the market, and also one of the most reliable. I don't know if the same applies to the 500GB version.
• When games take up to 50GB of storage each, it's silly to have anything less than a terabyte of mass storage.

[WebPlayz]

7 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

No. And I'll tell you why.

• It isn't that much 'cheeper'- the 500GB version of this drive actually costs $3 more than the 1TB version.
• The 1TB version of this drive is the most popular HDD on the market, and also one of the most reliable. I don't know if the same applies to the 500GB version.
• When games take up to 50GB of storage each, it's silly to have anything less than a terabyte of mass storage.

good point... I am mad at my self lel

[diapersarefullofshit]

A 750ti sucks for a gamingrig. For $400,--, you will not buy a new gamingrig from a store. Be smart and get:

 

2nd hand : 8300+mobo+16GB memory and a good cpu cooler or better (=quad core intel maybe) for under $150/200,-- (believe me is possible)

New : Case & PSU

GPU : Try to get a good offer 2nd hand (7950/960/r9-380 or similar, atleast alot better then a 750ti) if not then a new one. Do not be fooled, a 7970 is a good gpu but they are cheap on the 2nd hand market.

------- +

+/- $400,-- but looks and plays like new.

 

I am amazed you are even trying to buy a gaming rig new at a store for $400,--, it is a waste of money.