Help With Joining the Masterace

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1

Hi I'm looking into finally building a PC. I've created a build, through PC part picker. I was wondering if I could get feedback on it and was wondering how well this rig could play games.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($103.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-E34 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer H226HQLbid 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($116.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($27.87 @ Amazon)
Total: $664.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-14 00:20 EDT-0400

2

thats quite small mobo if you ask me.

and you have forgotten about your CPU cooling (unless you plan using reference cooler)

The memory you have picked is terrible.

go amd... its cheaper.

1 Like
3

Here's what i'd go with at this price point.

AMD is best at low-end budgets, considering they are incredibly cheap and excellent for the money. and there is no reason you should be getting a dual-core in 2015. games are using more than two cores now, and developers are locking their games to be run strictly on quad-cores and or more cores.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/thbhJx

This is an ITX build. the PC will be relatively small.

Or if you want this build in the Micro-ATX form-factor. (this PC will be alittle bit big in size)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Cp7XGX

Most of the components on this build are overclock-able. which is nice. So you can squeeze ALL the performance out these components. the Athlon 760k average overclock is around 4.5 to 4.6Ghz. and i threw in the R9-285 for the future features support. you have Mantle, DirectX 12, Free-Sync and True Audio support for your games with the R9-285. the R9-280 does not have DirectX 12, Free-Sync, and True-Audio Support.

4

umm generic link yo

5

It's pretty solid overall, however you might want to drop down to the G3258 and up your GPU to a 290.

Also your RAM is fine, 1 stick is the way to go if you're using a dedicated GPU.

Look on newegg for CPU/motherboard/RAM combos, it'll save you a bit of cash for a GPU upgrade.

And those "gaming" peripherals probably aren't worth it unless you need the LEDs to see your keyboard.

Otherwise you could save money on your case, though cheaper cases can be a bitch to work with.

6

If you're gunna go ITX go all the way man.

7

problem with that is that instead of investing strictly in an APU which he will most likely never use. he just get a quad-core with no iGPU for cheaper. and put the left over money and invest it into a much more reasonable graphics card.

8

Check the case, it's basically as big as the ITX board itself, your PC would be the size of a book and it could game...at a decent level.

But really that's just more of a novelty.

If you want a normal ITX build you kind of half to go intel, FM2+ boards are pretty costly comparatively.

9

I would of gone with a much more reasaonable case. but the issue that arises is price and tiny sacrifices in areas i don't feel comfortable recommending. for example there is this ITX case. i think this would of been nice. but if i threw in the R9-285 there is a slight chance that the GPU could over-heat. and the sapphire ITX version is not on sale.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156319&cm_re=ATOMIC_ITX-_-11-156-319-_-Product

I COULD of just put this case and threw in the 960. BUT the R9-285 beats it in two out of three tests.

10

The only reason I went Intel was because I thought if I wanted to upgrade, the upgrade path on Intel seemed better than AMD

11

I don't know if I would want a micro atx build. I just chose that motherboard because it was pretty cheap and seemed decent. That's why I don't have a micro atx case

12

Thanks, I went with Intel as I thought the upgrade path on that was better. I don't know too much about AMD either. Case size, I just thought I'd be a good case large enough to hold everything and and accommodate more if I wanted to upgrade. Also could I take out the aftermarket cooler and maybe lower the RAM price as I would like to be in the $650-660 mark.

13

Wait, why not get a K part so you can overclock the i3?

14

still TeamElite rams are one of the worst. Get Mushkin, Corsair, G.Skill or something like that. Those are tops.