Helping out my nephew to build his first PC. Originally I wanted to stay under 500$, but went over to about 600$. Wanted to know general opions on a build, and where I could trim some cost if possible. Would it be hard to get to the 500$ mark without significant loss of performance/quality?
Thanks in advance!
Build: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/BZbpHN
Apart from the FX-series being a dead platform and me having trust issues with Corsair Builder PSUs, this is good.
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I'm open to suggestions) If it's possible to make a similar build (price/performance) on the intel platform, I don't really mind which to build. I just thought 8350 was a staple of price/performance CPU's, but maybe things changed since I built my last pc 3 years ago)
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/NtGk9W
i5-6400 + RX 460
Personally, I am waiting for Zen before doing anything to my rig.
My dau has had her APU build for a year. Started at under 300. When I saw what games she likes I upgraded her monitor and went dual gfx about 6 months. She still has the stock cooler. When she wanted fallout 4 I figured I would upgrade it to an rx 480 if she really got into the game.
1 week later she stopped playing it cause it sucked.....dodged that bullet:)
Do you know what games he likes or is he new to pc gaming? Also what monitor will you be using?
He's quite new to PC gaming in general, but he's a big minecraft fanatic) don't judge hard, he's young) I'd imaging he'd get into all sort of games when he has a platform that can perform well, he's currently playing on an old laptop. I think his dad already has a monitor, keyboard and a mouse, so I was only asked to help with the build itself.
Thanks! How does RX 460 stack up to 380x? Is it in the same ball park? My last amd card was the 270x, and I wasn't paying too much attention to hardware last year or so.
Hmm, pretty significant performance drop, I think not worth 30$. Maybe I'll just change mobo and CPU and keep the 380x, seems like a decent card for casual gaming.
you could try to buy the cpu used?
you could get a 30$ case instead of a 50$ case
you could omit the dvd drive or even pull one out of a garbage picked pc
you could try to get a motherboard combo with the cpu if you buy it new,
also you can use the stock cooler there really not as bad as everyone thinks they are.
also you can try and find the 4gb version of the rx480 thats the same prce as the 380x
mm, since it's not my personal rig, i'd avoid used parts. Other things I'll look into, thanks!
You're gonna need to throw in an i3, or go for a much weaker GPU to bring the cost down.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i3-4370 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor ($148.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($35.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380X 4GB DD XXX OC Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($31.30 @ Newegg)
Total: $508.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-27 13:58 EDT-0400
I'd recommend newer mobos for modern features (USB 3.1 Type A ports and M.2) and on going bios updates if your set on fx8350. The old ones like my M5a99fx Pro R2.0 is outdated and Asus doesn't put out updates for it anymore. Multithreading is going to give the fx8350 a litte bit more legs as more games use DX12 or Vulkan, so I woudld refrain from dual core intel cpu recommendations. Go for something like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2F84D69066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128886
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157610
This looks good! Do you think the i3 + this mobo is a better combo than the one I found? Price difference is minimal.
Those seem too expensive for this particula build. I would get something like this for myself, but for this 1st pc thing value is more important. Thanks for suggestion though, I'll keep it in mind for myself)
No problem, expect the FX8350 and its mobo prices to tank once Zen CPUs and AM4 mobos hit the market, you'll have field day for really beast 1080-1440p 60hz builds, I game at these resolutions and refresh rate, with my FX8350 rig.
That'd be great) I'm currently just gaming on my MSI Apache with a 970m, which runs all the games I want. But I've been missing a proper PC with a nice big screen, so as soon as I get some spare cash I'll build myself a nice rig.
Providing you're not trying to max out the latest AAA title games, the i3 will handle most games reasonably well. It would be ideal if you could stretch a little, and go for an i5 4460 instead, for it's 4 cores, rather than the i3's two cores with two hyperthreads..
i3 4370 = $149
i5 4460 = $190
I already told them to manage their expectations) I think this will work fairly well for a first pc, which they can upgrade later on if they want to.