How does one computer?

[HalfBag]

Hello  I'm Andrew. I'm looking to build a gaming tower w/accessories (Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor). My budget is around $600. I dont know a lot about computers, I know the basic parts to them and what they do but I dont understand specs all that well. Any suggestions or is it even possible to get a setup like this for $600? All I need it to do is run games like CS:GO, COD4 etc with 60+ frames. Thanks~

[StevenSensei]

Hi Andrew, welcome to the forums. You might be able to build something that will work but we would also need to know where you are located (US, Canada, Etc) and what resolution you hope to run your games in. 1080p 1440p 2880p etc. I would guess that with your budget you may be limited to 1080p at this time. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

Buying used and being thrifty with your purchases can seriously help, I think 600$ is achievable! The main costs are the videocard, CPU, and monitor. Finding them used helps a ton.

 

Are you willing to buy used stuff from your local classifieds or craigslist?

[comicsansms]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($114.78 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($41.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($27.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($172.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($48.99 @ NCIX US) 
Monitor: Acer G237HLbi 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Micro Center) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $597.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-06 00:18 EDT-0400

[Kyzer]

I'd recommend a i5-4460 ($180), 8gb RAM 2x4 ($30), MSI Z97-PCmate or ASUS z97-K (both about $120), 1tb HDD (~$40-60), $50 case, $50 500w PSU, plus a GPU such as the HD 7950, which sell for about $150 on ebay, killer deal.

[HalfBag]

9 minutes ago, Papakuma said:

Hi Andrew, welcome to the forums. You might be able to build something that will work but we would also need to know where you are located (US, Canada, Etc) and what resolution you hope to run your games in. 1080p 1440p 2880p etc. I would guess that with your budget you may be limited to 1080p at this time. 

I'm in the midwest US. Also I dont see a point in going 4k lol so I'd just want to stick with 1080p or 720p and if possible get 120 refresh rate.

10 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Buying used and being thrifty with your purchases can seriously help, I think 600$ is achievable! The main costs are the videocard, CPU, and monitor. Finding them used helps a ton.

 

Are you willing to buy used stuff from your local classifieds or craigslist?

The only thing about buying used parts is that I dont know what I'm talking about 90% of the time lol so if they start talking about stuff I dont understand and I just end up buying it I could get fucked over with a graphics card that doesnt fit on my motherboard, Or are all motherboards standard for the connector they use for graphics cards.. Idk lollll

 

4 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($114.78 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($41.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($27.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($172.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($48.99 @ NCIX US) 
Monitor: Acer G237HLbi 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Micro Center) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $597.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-06 00:18 EDT-0400

Any Idea on what a setup like this could run as far as FPS?

[Kyzer]

1 minute ago, HalfBag said:

I'm in the midwest US. Also I dont see a point in going 4k lol so I'd just want to stick with 1080p or 720p and if possible get 120 refresh rate.

The only thing about buying used parts is that I dont know what I'm talking about 90% of the time lol so if they start talking about stuff I dont understand and I just end up buying it I could get fucked over with a graphics card that doesnt fit on my motherboard, Or are all motherboards standard for the connector they use for graphics cards.. Idk lollll

 

Any Idea on what a setup like this could run as far as FPS?

i3's arent great

brb making a part list

[HalfBag]

1 minute ago, Kyzer said:

I'd recommend a i5-4460 ($180), 8gb RAM 2x4 ($30), MSI Z97-PCmate or ASUS z97-K (both about $120), 1tb HDD (~$40-60), $50 case, $50 500w PSU, plus a GPU such as the HD 7950, which sell for about $150 on ebay, killer deal.

Few questions, Whats the difference in performance between say like an i5 or an i7 processor? Along with that what is an HDD? is it like an internal mass storage?

[Kyzer]

4 minutes ago, HalfBag said:

Few questions, Whats the difference in performance between say like an i5 or an i7 processor? Along with that what is an HDD? is it like an internal mass storage?

i5's are quad cores

i7's are quad cores with hyperthreading

you wont see massive different in performance, it's just a few frames here and there, mostly in games like crysis 3, because it uses the hyperthreading

hyperthreading is just when the programs can use the CPU cores while they're inbetween the cycle of finished to getting ready again (or something like it, from waht i know)

the HT's are generally not very useful for games

 

edit:

i3's are dual cores with hyperthreading

[HalfBag]

4 minutes ago, Kyzer said:

i5's are quad cores

i7's are quad cores with hyperthreading

you wont see massive different in performance, it's just a few frames here and there, mostly in games like crysis 3, because it uses the hyperthreading

hyperthreading is just when the programs can use the CPU cores while they're inbetween the cycle of finished to getting ready again (or something like it, from waht i know)

the HT's are generally not very useful for games

 

edit:

i3's are dual cores with hyperthreading

Arent quad cores like basically required for any medium to high setting gaming with new triple A titles?

[Kyzer]

Just now, HalfBag said:

Arent quad cores like basically required for any medium to high setting gaming with new triple A titles?

yes, many games use all 4 cores

pentiums are dual cores, they will stutter in quad core games

i3's are dual cores with HT, the HT makes up marginally for the lack of real cores

[Kyzer]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H81I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($62.99 @ Directron)
Memory: Mushkin ECO2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($30.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.66 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 370 2GB PCS+ Video Card  ($118.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($26.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $633.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-06 00:36 EDT-0400

 

here you go, this is what i came up with

it's better than waht the other guy made

(btw the keyboard/mouse have blue LED since i thought you were that kind of person, they make a red version)

 

why i say better:

better cpu, will use the gpu fully

the i3 will never use 100% of the r9 380 he chose other than simple games like cod or older games

[HalfBag]

Just now, Kyzer said:

yes, many games use all 4 cores

pentiums are dual cores, they will stutter in quad core games

i3's are dual cores with HT, the HT makes up marginally for the lack of real cores

So from my understanding, What I need to play games at which level I'm trying to achieve as far as performance goes, is a Quad core CPU clocked at anything above 3Ghz, a graphics card made within the last three years, And about 8gigs of ram? as far as basics go. Can the motherboard effect performance?

[Kyzer]

2 minutes ago, HalfBag said:

So from my understanding, What I need to play games at which level I'm trying to achieve as far as performance goes, is a Quad core CPU clocked at anything above 3Ghz, a graphics card made within the last three years, And about 8gigs of ram? as far as basics go. Can the motherboard effect performance?

any modern quad from intel (amd doesnt count right now, they're behind), even at ~2.5ghz the quad will do fine

look at my parts list i posted

 

also, no, motherboard doesnt affect performance

[HalfBag]

2 minutes ago, Kyzer said:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H81I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($62.99 @ Directron)
Memory: Mushkin ECO2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($30.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.66 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 370 2GB PCS+ Video Card  ($118.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($26.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $633.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-06 00:36 EDT-0400

 

here you go, this is what i came up with

it's better than waht the other guy made

(btw the keyboard/mouse have blue LED since i thought you were that kind of person, they make a red version)

 

why i say better:

better cpu, will use the gpu fully

the i3 will never use 100% of the r9 380 he chose other than simple games like cod or older games

In this system is there any way that one part wouldnt be able to keep up with another? Creating a bottle-neck of performance? or is this pretty balanced, Like I said I'm not the most knowledgeable person about computer hardware specifically,

[Kyzer]

3 minutes ago, HalfBag said:

In this system is there any way that one part wouldnt be able to keep up with another? Creating a bottle-neck of performance? or is this pretty balanced, Like I said I'm not the most knowledgeable person about computer hardware specifically,

there will be no bottlenecking with the i5, the only bottlenecking is graphical capability, which is still very good, you should be able to play games like GTA 5 at 30fps ultra (atleast) with no extreme advanced graphics settings

 

with any i5 it won't bottleneck a GPU from its performance, rather just perform a little worse from higher end i5's and i7's, which would only be 10-15 frames more for $50+ plus overclocking

[Kyzer]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Mushkin ECO2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($30.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.66 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 370 2GB PCS+ Video Card  ($118.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($26.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $615.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-06 00:46 EDT-0400

 

I made an edit that used a better motherboard for expandability and compatibility.

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/s33NJx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/s33NJx/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($98.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($27.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate  1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($69.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380X 4GB DD XXX OC Video Card  ($189.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($22.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: LG 22MC57HQ-P 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($90.98 @ Newegg) 
Keyboard: Genius 31300710100 Wired Standard Keyboard  ($7.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Mouse: Rosewill RM-C2P Wired Optical Mouse  ($4.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $593.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-06 00:53 EDT-0400

[Kyzer]

2 hours ago, herman mcpootis said:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/s33NJx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/s33NJx/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($98.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($27.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate  1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($69.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380X 4GB DD XXX OC Video Card  ($189.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($22.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: LG 22MC57HQ-P 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($90.98 @ Newegg) 
Keyboard: Genius 31300710100 Wired Standard Keyboard  ($7.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Mouse: Rosewill RM-C2P Wired Optical Mouse  ($4.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $593.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-06 00:53 EDT-0400

no.

just no.

fx-6300 is garbage. ive had them. it wont ever use half of that gpu.

[Herman Mcpootis]

3 hours ago, Kyzer said:

no.

just no.

fx-6300 is garbage. ive had them. it wont ever use half of that gpu.

its not going to bottleneck, and your r7 370 is supposed to be better?