550 Dollar Budget Gaming PC

[Shabtab]

1 minute ago, Shiv78 said:

Seasonic S12ii 520 or 620W (there is like a 1 cent difference)

Dammn thats almost double here in India. what about MasterWatt Lite 500 ?

[SteveGrabowski0]

A budget of $550 kind of puts you in a no man's land. Because you can't fit an i5 into that budget, and that's what you need to run the best gpus for the money (RX 470 / RX 480), as AMD still has a problem with weaker cpus in some DX11 games (source: Digital Foundry, see their Pentium G4560 review on youtube). If you up the budget a little though you can get something really nice for 1080p high/ultra at 60 fps:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($52.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.77 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 470 4GB ARMOR OC Video Card  ($164.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ B&H) 
Total: $587.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 15:09 EST-0500

 

You would want to add a second 8GB stick of the same RAM when you can later on to get dual channel enabled.

 

If you can't up your budget for $590 it really doesn't make much sense to spend more than $450. In that case this should handle 1080p medium at 60 fps in most games.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($61.99 @ Jet) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($73.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($57.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.77 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card  ($137.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($31.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $446.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 15:12 EST-0500

 

I'd either up your budget $50 or drop it $100, because you need an i5 to make the best use of AMD gpus.

[FroHD]

1 minute ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

A budget of $550 kind of puts you in a no man's land. Because you can't fit an i5 into that budget, and that's what you need to run the best gpus for the money (RX 470 / RX 480), as AMD still has a problem with weaker cpus in some DX11 games (source: Digital Foundry, see their Pentium G4560 review on youtube). If you up the budget a little though you can get something really nice for 1080p high/ultra at 60 fps:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($52.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.77 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 470 4GB ARMOR OC Video Card  ($164.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ B&H) 
Total: $587.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 15:09 EST-0500

 

You would want to add a second 8GB stick of the same RAM when you can later on to get dual channel enabled.

 

If you can't up your budget for $590 it really doesn't make much sense to spend more than $450. In that case this should handle 1080p medium at 60 fps in most games.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($61.99 @ Jet) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($73.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($57.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.77 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card  ($137.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($31.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $446.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 15:12 EST-0500

 

I'd either up your budget $50 or drop it $100, because you need an i5 to make the best use of AMD gpus.

I can kick it up 50 bucks, thanks for the build!

[SteveGrabowski0]

1 minute ago, FroHD said:

I can kick it up 50 bucks, thanks for the build!

Then definitely go with an i5, and H110 board, and an RX 470. It's amazing price to performance. The RX 470 is competitive with the GTX 970 that cost $330 until about 8 months ago. It's a great gpu and an i5-6500 can keep it well fed.

[FroHD]

1 minute ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Then definitely go with an i5, and H110 board, and an RX 470. It's amazing price to performance. The RX 470 is competitive with the GTX 970 that cost $330 until about 8 months ago. It's a great gpu and an i5-6500 can keep it well fed.

Will do!

[SteveGrabowski0]

13 minutes ago, FroHD said:

Will do!

Crap, my case recommendation might not work because 3.5 inch drives can get in the way of the RAM.

 

 

I know the NZXT Source 210 and Source 220 are larger cases with really nice build quality that you can usually find for $40 or less. They're not very modern so you'll have to buy a 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch drive bay converter if you install an SSD later on though. But they're very well made. I almost built my current system with a Source 220 after being really impressed seeing it in person at a local computer shop. And the Source 210 is very similar.

[FroHD]

Just now, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Crap, my case recommendation might not work because 3.5 inch drives can get in the way of the RAM.

 

 

I know the NZXT Source 210 and Source 220 are larger cases with really nice build quality that you can usually find for $40 or less. They're not very modern so you'll have to buy a 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch drive bay converter if you install an SSD later on though. But they're very well made. I almost built my current system with a Source 220 after being really impressed seeing it in person at a local computer shop. And the Source 210 is very similar.

Also, What if i just use the i3?

[SteveGrabowski0]

15 minutes ago, FroHD said:

Also, What if i just use the i3?

I wouldn't, as it isn't powerful enough to use an RX 470 to its potential in some DX11 games due to higher driver overhead (which is eliminated in i5 or better). See this video starting at the 6:50 mark.

 

 

 

The i3-6100 and i3-7100 are pretty much the same cpu as the Pentium G4560, but with a little higher clockspeed. The RX 470 is a good gpu for the money that I think it makes sense to spend extra to get the i5 to properly drive it. Plus an i5 should be a very good cpu for AAA gaming for a bare minimum of three years, as I doubt we'll see new consoles until 2020 or so and they're the systems that drive AAA gaming development. The consoles have very week octacore processors so paralellization is critical for games to run well. With an i5 have four physical cores vs the i3/PentiumG4560 have two physical (and four logical) cores, the i5 is much better prepared to last for AAA gaming.

[SteveGrabowski0]

The i3 right now is in a no man's land because the i5 is what you need to drive the best gpus (eg RX 470 and up, especially with AMD cards) while the Pentium is a little more than half the price for 90% of the performance of the i3 (and is a good match for Nvidia cards, GTX 1050 Ti and below).

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($61.99 @ Jet) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) find out if the bios supports kabylake.
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($50.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 480 8GB Red Devil Video Card  ($223.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($46.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $508.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 20:42 EST-0500

 

if you can spend $600:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($50.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB Video Card  ($184.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($46.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $597.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 20:43 EST-0500

[FroHD]

16 minutes ago, herman mcpootis said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($61.99 @ Jet) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) find out if the bios supports kabylake.
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($50.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 480 8GB Red Devil Video Card  ($223.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($46.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $508.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 20:42 EST-0500

 

if you can spend $600:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($50.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB Video Card  ($184.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($46.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $597.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 20:43 EST-0500

Whats wrong with an i3?

[Herman Mcpootis]

1 minute ago, FroHD said:

Whats wrong with an i3?

nothing, but the G4560 performs very similar for much less, so not much of a reason to get the i3 for gaming anymore.

[FroHD]

2 minutes ago, herman mcpootis said:

nothing, but the G4560 performs very similar for much less, so not much of a reason to get the i3 for gaming anymore.

oh ok