My friend decided recently to actually get a decent gaming computer instead of playing games on his school macbook. Originally he wanted to buy a cheap pre-built system and upgrade it because he thought that it could save him money. I had to try and force into his head that this wouldn't work out well and he would be better off just building his own. I raised him a challenge, I said that I would put together a part list for his budget ($600) and it would be better than anything he could buy pre-built online. This was the result: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tWNtHx The idea behind the whole build was to save money on the processor by over-clocking the G3258. I was overall very excited to see what happened with the build, partly because I thought that it had excellent value and partly because I wanted to finally get my hands on a chip I could easily over-clock. However, the next time I saw said friend he had already purchased a pre-built system.
At first I was angry, but then he told me that he got it on sale and it was originally $800. My hopes were briefly boosted, but then he showed me the computer he had purchased. It was a pc in some tacky black case with far too many annoying red LEDs plastered into every orifice. It's advertising was something along the lines of: "Powerful intel core i5 processor and Military grade motherboard." conveniently forgetting to mention the r7 250, the powerhouse of the cell.
I knew at this point that I had won the challenge, the 750ti blows the 250 out of the water and the G3258 over-clocks so well that whatever i5 was in the classic iBuyPower monstrosity was irrelevant. But alas, I lost the war, my friend had already blundered into the gimmicky grasp of a pre-built system. All I could do was walk away and shake my head. Let this be just another lesson to anybody new to PCs, even if it's on sale for $200 off, you can still build a better system for less money.
So since the computer will never see the light of day I figured I might as well honor it's memory, (see what I did there?) and put it up here for input. I can always learn more about computer building from my peers.
REMEMBER, THIS WILL NOT BE BUILT, I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO, BUT I'M AFRAID THAT CHANCE HAS GONE. (READ ABOVE)
Link again for some reason: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tWNtHx
- Me and my friend live in America (USD).
- budget of $600.
- PC is purely for gaming, any other features are not required.
- completely new lists accepted (What's your idea of the best value for $600?).
- Heck, I don't care, give me lists for good value at other price points.
- No peripherals needed.
- Any compatibility issues are a product of me not spending much time looking for that kind of thing. (I've heard there might be an issue with the PCI slot on this motherboard, but I'm not really sure)
Go crazy I guess...