http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ZachR1/saved/Cz6G3C
My budget sits at around 350 hopefully less if i can.
I intend to put ubuntu on it temporarily until i can afford a windows copy.
I want to be able to run cs:go at solid fps.
Hope that is enough.
1 Like
Should just go for an APU man, it'll run it pretty well, also just use the shipping box for the case and throw all that money to a nicer display or something down the line, or a $200 GPU like a 380, maybe even just get an SSD if you don't need much space, though I'd stick to the 1TB hard drive probably
it'll be probably faster overall than the tests here given the faster RAM in the build below
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A8
7650K | CS:GO/Dota 2/SC2 benchmarks Tested With 1866Mhz
RAM
A8
7650K | Various AAA titles Tested with 2133Mhz
RAM
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9217/the-amd-a8-7650k-apu-review-also-new-testing-methodology/7
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PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/W6vLt6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/W6vLt6/by_merchant/
CPU: AMD A8-7600 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($74.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($63.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($39.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $263.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 22:58 EST-0500
I've been doing alot of looking into this i'm no expert but i wanted something more upgradeable afterwards, i'm not sure if an apu can bring this that is why i chose the pentium with the cheaper graphics card again i'm no expert so all guidance is welcome i am open to apu if i can be conviced enough. the benchmarks show the pentium with its stock integrated graphics?
You can do a fair bit with an APU, I ran 3 displays off my 5800K and still got highly playable frame rates in dota 2
The pentium build is better for upgrading ya as FM2+ has no upgrade path, but it's only a dual core which can really hurt performance in some games, and by the time you're going to upgrade you might as well keep saving and buy zen/kaby lake to be on the modern platform with USB 3.1 and all that. Like when do you think you'd even upgrade the CPU to an i5? if it's over a year then there's not too much point in worrying about that.
also if you go with the dedicated GPU, if you ever upgrade that then you have a GPU just sitting around, with the APU you have a really low cost system that does really well for the money, it's also going to be really cool and quiet at a max 65W TDP should you throw in an after market cooler
although it's probably worth spending a bit extra on the part you can OC
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-ad767kxbjcbox
@ZachR1 You already had a good build, however drop the new GPU and search around for a used card, soemthing like a 750Ti or AMD equivalent will serve you just fine and cost about the same. The only down side of your current build is that B85 (to my knowledge) does not support any sort of overclock which is really nice for the G3258.
While the chip is only a dual core, it is not limiting at all for games like CS:GO at all. Please refer to my posts on the chip here: https://forum.teksyndicate.com/t/new-build-based-on-the-pentium-g3258-that-fits-in-a-backpack/84031/18
@VXAce I was looking at sites like ebay i dont really know where to go for used pc parts. and i thought it did with a bios update. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LazZv1FIwQ
Holy shit, I did not know that. Go for it, take the G3258, you will not regret it. Seems like the same thing that happened to the H81 chipset happened to B85. At around 4.3GHz the chip starts to be a real CPU, anywhere above that and it is actually a real CPU for games that thrive on two threads (if you can get it there).
Used parts you can find on ebay or craigslist. You can also look at forums and just ask around locally. People have hardware sitting around with nothing to do with, they are usually willing to part with it.
It's probably not recommended at all on a low end board to flash it and overclock, as the board wasn't built for that.
@VXAce
Still only a dual core though, if CS:GO is his main game, then the APU will be fine, and the money saved could easily net an SSD into the build, which may be better overall for daily use. or it can simply go to getting a better GPU in the future sooner.
It also depends a lot on when the next upgrade is going to come, getting at least an i3 is probably a decent priority to go for.
Also wait didn't they just say in the last tech something about windows not working with overclocked G3258s on non overclocking boards?
i will be running ubuntu.
Dunno if the issue would still be there then though, although are you sure you aren't going to dual boot windows? because gaming on GNU/linux is still fairly limited overall.
The OCing in Windows 10 has bandaid fixes (iirc).
And if CS:GO is his main game, the G3258 and mid-level GPU will do better than an APU. If he plays other games and overclocks, he can play games like Battlefield, and Battlefront or anything else, games an APU will struggle on.
For a build at this budget level a SSD will not do him any good unless he already has a storage solution, and buying one will just be a pointless waste. As an upgrade in the future? Sure, why not. But the initial low budget build? Nah, not really useful.
I am getting excited. :)
I can't say for a stock clock G3258, but the max FPS you can get out of it at 4.3GHz (with CPU bottleneck assuming GPU is decent enough) is about 100-120FPS with bots, comp matches may be higher. Much better than 50-70FPS.
As said in the posts before I have a 650Ti Boost, and it has not bottlenecked the G3258 unless I decide to do something stupid (like max out BF4 settings all the way). Keep the graphics low and enjoy your frames.
All testing is done on a Windows 8.1 Pro N machine, Windows 10 and 7 along with all Linux things are not included.
I would go with a build like this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dDBH6h
Its about $10 over but then you should be in a good upgrade position and when you have more money you can get a good gpu.
1 Like
on the macbook air i'm on i get around 1-20 fps really with bad screen tearing when i turn.
Haha, surprised you even tried. MBA isn't really a gaming machine of any capacity.
if it was mine i'd sell it and buy a better build but I just use it 24/7
Battlefront seems to have issues with it, as it's just a dual core, if he's not upgrading any time soon, even an 860K is possibly a better choice, although you can fix the battlefront issues
A quad core is almost a requirement at this point, even if it's slower per core than a G3258, like if the upgrade to an i3 or i5 is a year away, then might be better off with the 860K just for game support, as more and more games require dual cores, GTAV, Far Cry 4, and Battlefront pretty much require quad cores, the trend will probably continue.
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WMJXTW
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WMJXTW/by_merchant/
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($74.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($63.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($30.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 360 2GB Core Edition Video Card ($100.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $355.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-18 00:36 EST-0500
The issue with that build is that the upgrade path is nearly non-existent. If he was to go with a G3258 and overclock until he could afford a new CPU, he would be able to get a much better CPU in the future. He could go for an i5 or an i7 without any issues aside from maybe upgrading the CPU cooler (upgrade choices: http://ark.intel.com/products/75019/Intel-DH82B85-PCH#@compatibility).
Your benchmark also does not hold the full picture. It is using an G3258 that is at 3.2GHz, other wise known as "stock clocks". The chip is not very capable at stock clocks for a game like Battlefront and Battlefield, however once OCed higher it does just fine with frame drops only when things get hairy. The core count issue in Battlefront is something that has to be considered, but at the same time, the fix exists and is far easier than that post makes it out to be (https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/3t92c2/dual_core_battlefront_fix/).
As for games requiring a quad-core... yes, but he can easily upgrade to a new CPU that will handle them just fine, and by the time he needs to he may find that the used market has Haswell chips coming in from other people who have upgraded to a newer architecture. We currently have a very small trickle of those parts currently, but by the end of this year or next year we should see a lot more.
but you then jump through a bunch of hoops to end up with something comparable in some games, rather than just getting the 860K and running fine out of the box.
It really just comes down to when they'd upgrade, if it's a few months, then the G3258 is probably worth it, if it's over a year and uncertain, I'd throw my hat towards the 860K just for ease of use and compatibility's sake.