So my little brothers birthday is coming up in a month, and I want to build him a computer. He's turning 15 this year and he plays games like League of Legends, Watch Dogs(on his Xbox One, which I told my parents not to buy for him, because it's a waste), and he started messing around in Photoshop and AfterEffects. While his current computer can handle this stuff, it doesn't really handle it well(He has to play on low settings, he can't play newer games like Watch Dogs or TES: Online on his computer), and that's what brought me to the conclusion of building him a new PC. Anyways, here is the part list http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mRHTzy. Is there anything I should change? My budget is $400 btw. Don't worry about the OS, because we've got that covered (Argh if you now what I mean ;D)
Don't worry about the OS, because we've got that covered (Argh if you now what I mean ;D)
that's the great thing about open source linux :)
Try getting faster speed ram. It'll improve performance and give your brother higher fps in games. Logan made a video about it.
Think i agree about the ram. You can probably get 2133 or 2400 for about the same price even.
Yeah but to hit a higher speed on that motherboard he is going to need to OC. 2133 or higher is really where you want to be. Then again an APU can be Meh.
Look at a 760k and a cheap dedicated GPU.
Ohh and don't pirate the OS. Usually more trouble than its worth.
Linux or buy Windows.
I will mirror what I put on the blog post here.
For about 500 you can get this. But if 400 is the max, then this might do it for you.
As he already has a PC, you could salvage the HDD from it and save some money.
Thanks for all the feedback :D. As for OC, how exactly do you do it and what would I OC? This would be my second time building a computer, but my 1st time OC (If I even decide to OC at all).
It would be the RAM speed as the board will drop it down to 1600mhz probably even if the RAM can run faster. It is pretty easy as well so not much to worry about if you do decide to go OC the RAM.
EDIT: You would overclock the RAM through the BIOS or the UEFI which ever the board has.
Why not pirate the OS? Mostly its less trouble, just entering the bizarre long code is a pain in the a**. From my experience installing the OS on my friends PC there was no problem ever, besides 100$ for a OS is to expensive for him.You can't play WD or TES on Linux
I have worked with pirate software for personal use, nobody can expect a private person can buy a 10'000 $ just for one use. I think it's a shame, when cooperation use pirate software, they have enough money to buy that stuff.
This is my opinion and I understand everyone that says pirate software is stealing, but if you go to the library and copy a book page, is that stealing too?
why are you not going with the FX 6300 it's about the same price but a bit faster (sorce: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html )
Because he would then have no way of having an image on a monitor and the a10 is an APU and the fx 6300 is a CPU. The difference being integrated graphics. I'm sure you can work it out from there
He can buy a cheap GPU and have the same power as the APU graphics (or even more) and he can upgrade in some time and have a great CPU and a GPU like a GTX or a AMD rx . Watch Dogs will never play good on a APU (tried it on my laptop with a nvidia 740M chip and it didn't play without terrible frame drops on lowest possible settings) I don't think a APU will do much better then my laptop.
If I'm wrong please feel free to correct me, as I want the best for his 400$ build.
@ThatCerealGuy Don't expect to play AAA titles on a 400$ machine, they will play but they will lag. I hope that you planed in the money for CD Drive and other stuff like mouse/keyboard. If you take that stuff from the old PC, you could safe a lot of money using stuff like the HD from the old Desktop.
He would be better of with a CPU AND GPU combo however i would recommend something like an Athlon as an fx 6300 doesn't really suite his budget
Just to let you know, I was going to upgrade to a CPU and GPU when I came across the money, but for now, my little bro doesn't have to play 1080p on Ultra settings. Thanks for your suggestions though :D.
I would go with this RAM instead - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313398
Also I have found that that case does not have very good cooling as it comes. You might want to look around for something that comes with more than one fan.
About your second remark, I was planning on taking a fan from his old computer and putting it in the front of the case to pull air in, and have a fan in the back to pull air out. Would this really work though?
Used 270xs on ebay are a great deal going for around $120
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CM4Tzy + http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sapphire-Dual-X-Radeon-R9-270X-2GB-DDR-Overclock-Edition-/251566351919?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item3a9285e62f
Yes this would work, but if you had one more fan in the front as an intake you would have positive air pressure in the case. That would make for better cooling and less dust inside the case.
We do not discuss pirating operating systems here. Whatever sketchy actions you do are your responsibility.
Faster RAM.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F4JdrH
Couldn't fit a 760k and dedicated GPU; was hitting around $450.