Building first budget "Gaming" desktop have some questions

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1

I'm building my first budget "Gaming" desktop with my budget being only $300 for a Motherboard, Cpu, Ram, Case, and Video card and I have a few questions I would like some feedback on, i've actually accumulated a list of parts from some helpful people on another forum before I found this one from the youtube channel "great channel by the way".


Basically i've gotten a lot of help and feedback already as to what parts to get and how well they will work together and perform and i'm pretty confident about my choices but would still like some more feedback and this seems like an extremely helpful forum to post this in.


I know that for only $300 it's not gonna be the best computer in the world and i'm not looking for something that will run high end games on 1080p with 60fps but hoping for something that could atleast handle running games like Far Cry 4, and Watchdogs, I know watchdogs requires 6gbs of ram for minimum recommended and I currently would only have 4gb but I will eventually be getting more ram for this build as well as potentially other parts like a better PSU and CPU Cooler etc.


What i'm mainly worried about is --


1. Will this build be prone to overheating/will the stock heatsink that comes with the CPU be sufficient since I can't currently afford a better one at the moment.


2. Will my current PSU be powerful enough for this build, it's a "generic" 550w PSU and I say "generic" because i've never heard of the brand nor has anyone else i've talked with on the other forum I posted on.
The exact brand/model of it is -- AGI   AGI-U550UBBK 550W ATX Desktop PC SATA Power Supply Unit (PSU) 550-Watt

I've had someone tell me to get a 650w-900w PSU for this build which I would if I could afford it right now but personally I think it would be overkill while others have said the one I have should be fine since i've currently been using it to run my current desktop which has a Radeon 8800GTX which is a power hog compared to the R7 260X I plan on getting and I haven't had any problems with it so far "knock on wood".
And I used pcpartpicker when selecting these parts to find the cheapest sellers and it gave me an estimated wattage usage of 274W so assuming thats without a heafty load it seems to me that it should be good enough but I would like some more feedback about it also I will post a list of all the parts of my current desktop below for power usage comparison.


--Current Desktop Parts--


CPU -- Intel e6420

Motherboard -- Intel D946GZIS

Ram -- 4gb  -- Unsure of brand

HDD -- The 500GB 7200rpm I plan to use for my new build, plus another 80gb -- Unsure of brands atm since their in a custom bracket in my case and it's a bit of a pain to get out but i'm pretty sure the 500gb is Western Digital or possibly Seagate not 100% sure which but i'm petty sure it's one of the two.

GPU -- Radeon 8800gtx

--Budget Build List--

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6LDZjX

I also will be using a 500gb hard drive I have in my current desktop in this build and the PSU I talked about above.

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You can save another 70 $ on the OS when you get a copy from the guy in the WTS Thread. Many people here bought from him and he seems legit (we will never be 100% sure but anyways). For that money you saved, I'd get another 4GB RAm stick and a decent CPU cooler (Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO or alike).

Besides that it should do fairly decent at 1080p

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I don't need the OS I already have it on a disc somewhere in my house from when i bought it for my current desktop I just put it on the list since that's what i'll be using but thanks for the response anyways i do appreciate any and all feedback.

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550w should be more than plenty, the 260x only uses like 100W under load, so the estimate on pcpartpicker is likely a bit exaggerated.  The only issue is if that generic PSU can supply the right amperage on the rails.

I'm sure a lot of people will jump on you to get a "good" quality PSU, which I won't really argue, but it seems AGI is made by HiPro, and while not the best, they are used in a lot of OEM builds.  One thing to keep in mind though, unlike most things in a system that can fail, most times they only affect themselves.  A PSU going bad, spiking power, can potentially take out everything in the system.  Can be equally as bad when it doesn't supply enough power.

As for the stock heatsink, they suck, period.  However they do work.  Sure the CPU will run a bit on the warm side, but it shouldn't cause it to overheat.  They were designed to keep the CPU from hitting it's threshold, which they usually do, but everyone wants their CPU to run cooler.  That extra 2-3 years longer it may survive from the lower heat is a real bonus when it's already been replaced 5 years prior anyway.

Personally, I don't recommend to anyone who wants to game, using anything less than 8GB of ram.  Sure most games don't need this much, but you have to consider that the OS is still going to need part of that, and whatever other programs you keep running while you game.

5

Thank you for the reply its been super helpful, one question though is how would i tell if the PSU can supply the right amperage, here's a picture of the label on the side of the PSU if that helps

PSU LAbel
mcrnl5.jpg1200x1600

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Ah, so it's a HEC, was able to actually find a review with that model #.  While it doesn't look like a terrible PSU from that 1 (and only 1) review, it does look to be about 1A short on the 12V for the 260x (which requires 19A).  However most "dual" rail setuups really only have a single rail inside the actual PSU, so you're looking at 35A.

It would probably still work ok, as mentioned the 260x only draws about 9.8A (about 120W) max.  Of course you have to consider what else would be drawing power, but I doubt you'd run into a problem.  The bigger issue, IMO, is that the PSU itself is probably at least 7 years old.  Personally, when I can pick up a new 600W evga bronze for like $50, it gives me a little more piece of mind not having to worry about an unknown/old PSU.

7

thank you for all the help, I definitely plan on getting a new PSU when I get more cash was just hopin this will get me through till then which hopefully it should then,