Help me build a $350 PC because I'm poor and want a PC

[Skeng]

Hi! My budget is $350 USD and I live in New Hampshire, which is a state in the United States that happens to have no Microcenter ;(

My aim is to run the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with a decent amount of mods in multiplayer, civilization V at any settings, and Cities Skylines at any settings. I'd love to be able to play a game like GTA V but it's not on my expectation list. I've had really bad computers for a long time with the desire to game so I know that with this much money I probably won't be able to play AAA games like GTA V. I've been dreaming about building a $1000 dollar PC since like December and I've been saving up, but I realized that I can't collect that much cash, so here I am. 

I've got three options as far as I know. Option number one is to build a new PC but I don't think I'll get much for it. Option number two is a mostly used PC with most components of Craigslist, but I'm in New Hampshire so our Craigslist isn't very populated although I've seen some good components on there. The third option is to build something like Linus did out of server parts although I don't know if it's recommended for someone who has never built a PC. For option three, I can get a Dell Poweredge R410 motherboard and two Intel Xeon E5506 processors for $30, which would leave me with $320 to get a case, psu, gpu, and if possible a WiFi card although I can try Ethernet or a usb WiFi card if I have to. The hard drive I could take out of my Dell Dimension 3000, although I'd prefer to just get a new one however if necessary I'll deal with the insanely slow speeds.

Can you guys help me with this, please? Thank you all very much in advance. I won't need any peripherals or an OS or monitor or anything. I'm upgrading because this I just want to have something decent. My first PC was a Dell Dimension 3000 which I used up until 2012, and it was great, but over time I wanted to play better games. I had a nice HP laptop which I could even play GTA IV on and all the other games I like, but it's completely fucked now and I don't want to spend money to fix it. I now have a bad Lenovo laptop which can't even stay at 30 fps in GTA:SA with no graphical mods. Civ V is at like 10 fps, and Cities Skylines is unplayable. 

Edit: To clarify, "any settings" means it doesn't matter if I can run it maxed out or if I can run it at the lowest settings as long as it's playable.

 

[Simon771]

For that money you sadly won't get PC to play games at any settings.

You would be better off with console in this case.

[Skeng]

2 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

For that money you sadly won't get PC to play games at any settings.

You would be better off with console in this case.

Are you sure? When I said any settings I meant like if I have to then lowest, not like maxed out.

I found a build on reddit, would this be any good?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($78.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($41.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Avexir Budget Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($17.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 460 2GB Red Dragon Video Card  ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: DIYPC DIY-F2-P ATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($28.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $333.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:26 EDT-0400

[GauntletV2]

Your best best is craigslist, ebay, and some innovation. Ill link the build i made for a friend who is financially struggling but wanted to have a computer http://pcpartpicker.com/user/GauntletV2/saved/6JpdnQ. This is good enough to run games like overwatch on high at 1080, but the point is if you wanna build that cheap, you gotta really look for the parts to make it.

[Simon771]

Just now, Skeng said:

Are you sure? When I said any settings I meant like if I have to then lowest, not like maxed out.

I found a build on reddit, would this be any good?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($78.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($41.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Avexir Budget Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($17.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 460 2GB Red Dragon Video Card  ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: DIYPC DIY-F2-P ATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($28.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $333.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:26 EDT-0400

Ah okay then. Because for that money you surely won't be able to have settings on high.

And yes that build would be probbably best for that price. 

Maybe if you would be buying used parts, you could get some i3 4xxx instead of that AMD CPU.

[TheRandomness]

5 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

For that money you sadly won't get PC to play games at any settings.

You would be better off with console in this case.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($66.00 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-HD2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($36.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Avexir Budget Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 460 2GB Red Dragon Video Card  ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Zalman Z1 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $353.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:29 EDT-0400

 

You sure?

[Simon771]

Just now, TheRandomness said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($66.00 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-HD2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($36.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Avexir Budget Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 460 2GB Red Dragon Video Card  ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Zalman Z1 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $353.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:29 EDT-0400

 

You sure?

I thought he ment to play at any (all settings) like ultra and high.

With that build and the one he mentioned above, you can easily play on medium.

 

I just didn't understand what he meant with those "any settings"

[GauntletV2]

2 minutes ago, Skeng said:

Are you sure? When I said any settings I meant like if I have to then lowest, not like maxed out.

I found a build on reddit, would this be any good?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($78.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($41.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Avexir Budget Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($17.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 460 2GB Red Dragon Video Card  ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: DIYPC DIY-F2-P ATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($28.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $333.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:26 EDT-0400

 

2 minutes ago, Skeng said:

Are you sure? When I said any settings I meant like if I have to then lowest, not like maxed out.

I found a build on reddit, would this be any good?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($78.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($41.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Avexir Budget Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($17.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 460 2GB Red Dragon Video Card  ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: DIYPC DIY-F2-P ATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($28.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $333.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:26 EDT-0400

I'd be weary. The cpu is pushing 4 years old, and no ssd (which i'd consider a must for builds now a days), other than that, it seems good

[Skeng]

1 minute ago, GauntletV2 said:

 

I'd be weary. The cpu is pushing 4 years old, and no ssd (which i'd consider a must for builds now a days), other than that, it seems good

Yeah, I know. I'd rather have an Intel CPU (and an Nvidia GPU because shadowplay is important to me) but the SSD doesn't really matter. I have to sit through my PC booting up for like 10 minutes every day and I've never had an SSD so it doesn't matter much to me.

[TheRandomness]

2 minutes ago, GauntletV2 said:

 

I'd be weary. The cpu is pushing 4 years old, and no ssd (which i'd consider a must for builds now a days), other than that, it seems good

SSDs aren't a thing where you'd die if you didn't have one. I'd rather have a 5400rpm 1TB drive over a 120GB SSD because I'd rather play all my games and be patient than play 3-4 of my games and not be patient. The Athlon is fine, the FX isn't. 

[GauntletV2]

Just now, Skeng said:

Yeah, I know. I'd rather have an Intel CPU (and an Nvidia GPU because shadowplay is important to me) but the SSD doesn't really matter. I have to sit through my PC booting up for like 10 minutes every day and I've never had an SSD so it doesn't matter much to me.

give me a few and lemme see what i can whip up

 

[Skeng]

Anyone looked at option 3? I don't know if it's actually a good deal or not but I just wanna throw this in just in case it's worth something.

http://nh.craigslist.org/sop/5689485891.html

[Skeng]

There's also this water cooler thingy. This isn't part of the build as this I might purchase if I have some spare cash, but does anyone know if this keyboard and mouse combo is good?

[GauntletV2]

Well you run into 2 issues with such a cheap build. You can either get an amd cpu that will fit the price, but it will be useless in ~2 years, if that, and you would need to get a new cpu and motherboard to upgrade it. Or, you could spend a bit more now, and have a platform that you can just upgrade the cpu in a while.

[GauntletV2]

1 minute ago, Skeng said:

There's also this water cooler thingy. This isn't part of the build as this I might purchase if I have some spare cash, but does anyone know if this keyboard and mouse combo is good?

1. Not a water cooler

2. Mouse and keyboard are good, friend has it, works well

[Skeng]

2 minutes ago, GauntletV2 said:

Well you run into 2 issues with such a cheap build. You can either get an amd cpu that will fit the price, but it will be useless in ~2 years, if that, and you would need to get a new cpu and motherboard to upgrade it. Or, you could spend a bit more now, and have a platform that you can just upgrade the cpu in a while.

Okay thanks. I'd prefer to have a platform that I can upgrade, but I literally only have $350. Is this any good?

[TheRandomness]

1 minute ago, Skeng said:

Okay thanks. I'd prefer to have a platform that I can upgrade, but I literally only have $350. Is this any good?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI B150M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($51.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($32.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 75W 2GB Video Card  ($113.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Zalman Z1 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $366.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:47 EDT-0400

 

Please say you can find $17 somewhere :c

[The Elder Smurf]

18 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($66.00 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-HD2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($36.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Avexir Budget Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 460 2GB Red Dragon Video Card  ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Zalman Z1 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $353.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:29 EDT-0400

 

You sure?

I would back this build. The 845 is one kick ass little chip. But dude for that budget the used market is your friend

[GauntletV2]

Now as a responsible person, I'd tell you to get no less than this http://pcpartpicker.com/list/rfbNPs, otherwise you run into problems not to far down the road. The up side? Its the "run AAA titles" build, for much less than that 1000$ you mentioned. Other than this, you'll start to have problems in other builds with cheaper parts down the road. Some advice would be, cities skylines is a cpu intensive game, so dont go cheap on the cpu if you really plan to play it, and the other is NEVER cheap on a power supply.

[Skeng]

1 minute ago, TheRandomness said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI B150M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($51.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($32.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 75W 2GB Video Card  ($113.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Zalman Z1 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $366.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 01:47 EDT-0400

 

Please say you can find $17 somewhere :c

I guess it shouldn't be an iss-

"Base total: $419"

;(

I'll put this at the top of my list though to save up for.

[The Elder Smurf]

Just now, GauntletV2 said:

Now as a responsible person, I'd tell you to get no less than this http://pcpartpicker.com/list/rfbNPs, otherwise you run into problems not to far down the road. The up side? Its the "run AAA titles" build, for much less than that 1000$ you mentioned. Other than this, you'll start to have problems in the build down the road. Some advice would be, cities skylines is a cpu intensive game, so dont go cheap on the cpu if you really plan to play it, and the other is NEVER cheap on a power supply.

Dude there is a gtx 960 in that build. What are you smoking?

[Skeng]

1 minute ago, GauntletV2 said:

Now as a responsible person, I'd tell you to get no less than this http://pcpartpicker.com/list/rfbNPs, otherwise you run into problems not to far down the road. The up side? Its the "run AAA titles" build, for much less than that 1000$ you mentioned. Other than this, you'll start to have problems in the build down the road. Some advice would be, cities skylines is a cpu intensive game, so dont go cheap on the cpu if you really plan to play it, and the other is NEVER cheap on a power supply.

Yeah Cities Skylines is definitely a serious game I'd be playing. Well, I guess I have a more realistic amount to set as a goal.

[TheRandomness]

1 minute ago, Skeng said:

I guess it shouldn't be an iss-

"Base total: $419"

;(

I'll put this at the top of my list though to save up for.

:c

I hate small budgets. Impossible to get something good without MiRs. 

[Skeng]

1 minute ago, The Elder Smurf said:

Dude there is a gtx 960 in that build. What are you smoking?

eh my 1k dream build had a 960

[GauntletV2]

Just now, Skeng said:

Yeah Cities Skylines is definitely a serious game I'd be playing. Well, I guess I have a more realistic amount to set as a goal.

Yeah, so if you want that build(ish), some ways to cheapen it are, you can find an ATX case on ebay/craigslist cheap, ddr3 ram cheap, and maybe a 960 cheaper than listed