Budget gaming build

[Kithkannin]

A few weeks back I had put together a build that I liked. However college books cost more than I was hoping for (damn them for running out of used books) so I no longer have a 1,000 usd budget and had to drop it down to around 500usd. As such I have decided to focus on a similar build simply for gaming. I want to play modern and upcoming titles at decent if not high settings with smooth frame rates. I am coming over from console gaming so for my first pc I do not need insane 1440p 160fps and so on. Without further ado here is the current build I put together. It will hopefully be replaced by December with a much  more high end and future proof pc. I have the peripherals to hold over until my high end build. Will be picking up OS via Reddit. Only thing I ask is that if you make changes it has space for a pci wifi card.  

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($43.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 370 4GB Video Card  ($149.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS-I Epic Edition (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply  ($36.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $497.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-18 12:36 EDT-0400

[Adnanklink]

You could get a better gpu on the used market, especially now that a new gpu is on the horizon. Everything else looks pretty good.

 

-Adnan

[Kithkannin]

1 minute ago, Adnanklink said:

You could get a better gpu on the used market, especially now that a new gpu is on the horizon. Everything else looks pretty good.

 

-Adnan

I figured for just smooth performance in only 1080p that thing would be a beast. However I will look around on the used market as well. This is just a hold over pc for a few months until I can build something better.

[jeonjaeng]

U might wanna save some and get a 970a-g43 mobo, only real diff is there is no sli, can be found not bad price!

[SLAYR]

6 minutes ago, Kithkannin said:

I figured for just smooth performance in only 1080p that thing would be a beast. However I will look around on the used market as well. This is just a hold over pc for a few months until I can build something better.

I woild try to go for at least an i3, and ddr4 which 8gb of it goes for about $25-$30, but with $200 on the cpu and motherboard you could get an i5 6500, and h110 board.

[Spankyy_TPG]

I'm no expert, but that looks really good. Also I'm building a gaming pc too(soon..) and I'll use the same case, I really didn't know were to find a cheap, good looking and efficient, so thank you.

[Starelementpoke]

28 minutes ago, Kithkannin said:

A few weeks back I had put together a build that I liked. However college books cost more than I was hoping for (damn them for running out of used books) so I no longer have a 1,000 usd budget and had to drop it down to around 500usd. As such I have decided to focus on a similar build simply for gaming. I want to play modern and upcoming titles at decent if not high settings with smooth frame rates. I am coming over from console gaming so for my first pc I do not need insane 1440p 160fps and so on. Without further ado here is the current build I put together. It will hopefully be replaced by December with a much  more high end and future proof pc. I have the peripherals to hold over until my high end build. Will be picking up OS via Reddit. Only thing I ask is that if you make changes it has space for a pci wifi card.  

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($43.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 370 4GB Video Card  ($149.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS-I Epic Edition (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply  ($36.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $497.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-18 12:36 EDT-0400

Budget is $500?

[Aereldor]

4 minutes ago, Starelementpoke said:

Budget is $500?

 

32 minutes ago, Kithkannin said:

I no longer have a 1,000 usd budget and had to drop it down to around 500usd.

 

[Kithkannin]

8 minutes ago, Spankyy_TPG said:

I'm no expert, but that looks really good. Also I'm building a gaming pc too(soon..) and I'll use the same case, I really didn't know were to find a cheap, good looking and efficient, so thank you.

No problem at all. Sent about three days looking at various items and this is the outcome. There are better more potent builds in this range I'm sure. As previously mentioned Intel would work a bit better. For me and my budget on what is essentially a hold over pc though I think I'm going to toy around with amd after all it is a black and red pc. Lol

 

Also my planned long term build is a skylake system most likely using the new 1070 so figured id play on the other side with this one. 

[Kithkannin]

4 minutes ago, Starelementpoke said:

Budget is $500?

There abouts yeah. This really is only a play thing essentially. Oh and hopefully a source of extra credit in one of my IT courses. 

[Spankyy_TPG]

3 minutes ago, Kithkannin said:

No problem at all. Sent about three days looking at various items and this is the outcome. There are better more potent builds in this range I'm sure. As previously mentioned Intel would work a bit better. For me and my budget on what is essentially a hold over pc though I think I'm going to toy around with amd after all it is a black and red pc. Lol

 

Also my planned long term build is a skylake system most likely using the new 1070 so figured id play on the other side with this one. 

Sounds awsome

[Aereldor]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Biostar B85MG Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($37.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.50 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.98 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Xion XON-310_BK MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($25.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $521.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-18 13:15 EDT-0400

It'll handle more-or-less anything at 1080p. I went with the GTX 960 because it was a better deal, could work with a lower supply, and I don't use rebates in my recommended part lists. Still, expect about twice the performance with this rig compared to the one you posted, and furthermore, far more reliability due to an infinitely better power supply.

[Starelementpoke]

1 minute ago, Aereldor said:

 

 

Fair point.

 

13 minutes ago, Kithkannin said:

There abouts yeah. This really is only a play thing essentially. Oh and hopefully a source of extra credit in one of my IT courses. 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wz8VdC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wz8VdC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($43.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba  1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($42.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $503.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-18 13:24 EDT-0400

[Aereldor]

1 minute ago, Starelementpoke said:

Fair point.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wz8VdC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wz8VdC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($43.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba  1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($42.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $503.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-18 13:24 EDT-0400

Double back to a 960 and you can use a cheaper power supply and get him a Haswell i5. It'll be 10% slower, but he'll experience little to no CPU bottlenecking.

[Starelementpoke]

7 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

Double back to a 960 and you can use a cheaper power supply and get him a Haswell i5. It'll be 10% slower, but he'll experience little to no CPU bottlenecking.

He wouldn´t experience any CPU bottleneck either way, but if he needs the true quad core then it´s viable.

[Aereldor]

11 minutes ago, Starelementpoke said:

He wouldn´t experience any CPU bottleneck either way, but if he needs the true quad core then it´s viable.

I suppose so, although I think it's worth getting a quad-core even if it costs him about 10% GPU horsepower. Power supplies that can run the GTX 960 are also quite a bit cheaper, due to it's efficient architecture.

[Aereldor]

@Kithkannin- if you look to the used market, for $500, it's entirely possible to get yourself a Core i5 2500k/Core i7 2600k with a motherboard, 8-16 gigs of RAM, a reliable power supply (think Antec Earthwatts), and something like an R9 290 for $500. Buy your case new if possible, and your storage unless you get a good deal on an SSD with close to no write cycles.

[Starelementpoke]

8 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

I suppose so, although I think it's worth getting a quad-core even if it costs him about 10% GPU horsepower. Power supplies that can run the GTX 960 are also quite a bit cheaper, due to it's efficient architecture.

Fair enough.

[Aereldor]

1 minute ago, Starelementpoke said:

Fair enough.

If we're allowed rebates, he can have both. 
 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Biostar B85MG Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($37.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.50 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.98 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Xion XON-310_BK MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($21.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ Micro Center) 
Total: $513.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-18 13:49 EDT-0400

 

(Uses the improved 'Gray' Corsair CX 450W PSU, not the rocket-fuel green ones).

[Matias_Chambers]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/k7yMf7