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Ideal PC builds for around 500 USD?

pc build budget

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#1
ScarletThirteen

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Hi everyone,

 

I've been looking to jump back into Hawken, since PC part prices have fallen nicely. I've been looking at this build, since it's only a few dollars more than my budget.

 

I'd really like to keep costs under 550 USD, so does anyone have any suggestions on what could be improved?



#2
Amidatelion

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Replace the 950 with a 750Ti, and good luck with that AMD processor. Also, check eBay. You can get pretty much everything you want cheaper there used, except mobo and processor, which you probably want to get new.



#3
Silverfire

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If you want to buy new:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hMhnxr

 

last gen core i5-4460 but it's still an i5, non overclockable, but that's really fine.  It's not necessary at all.  I am personally still on a Core i5 from several generations ago (Sandy Bridge) but it still carries its weight.

Basic Gigabyte mATX motherboard.

8 GB of Dual channel DDR3 memory (2x4 to properly utilize dual channel)

120GB SSD from Adata.  The logic here is to start out with a boot drive that's speedy and have a bit of storage right off the bat, and you can always add additional storage later on. It't not that expensive to add another 1TB of regular HDD for like $40, but for the sake of this build I left it out.  Once you go SSD for boot drive, you generally don't go back.

The prize of this build allows for a 4GB R9 380 card from PowerColor. 4GB of VRAM for "futureproof" as more games can take advantage of more VRAM in the future.  More powerful than the GTX 950 which only comes with 2GB VRAM, among other things.

Basic case from Zalman. Comes with USB 3.0 on the front, always nice.

500W EVGA PSU, it's 80+ Bronze at least and it'll support the R9 380.

 

Final price, after shipping and mail-in rebates: $547.70

 

Does not include peripherals (KB, mouse, monitor) and OS.


Edited by Silverfire, 06 December 2015 - 02:40 PM.

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#4
PoopSlinger

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My buddy just built one with the fx-6300 and a $30 motherboard with an EVGA 960 in my kitchen Friday.  So far we've played warframe, war thunder, Borderlands 2 and Hawken and it will hold a pretty steady 50-60 frames with high graphics and physx.


khn3gAi.jpg?1CitkI9t.jpgGkp2fB7.jpg

Come on Crafty, you have been officially called out on your lies. Your online reputation is at stake here, this is just like an old school street race running for pink slips. Its run what you brung and hope its enough. Put up or shut the fuzzy bunny up.


#5
JeffMagnum

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The Pentium G3258 only has two cores, but it's cheaper than the FX-6300 used in that build and performs nearly as well as high-end i5s when overclocked (plus it runs cool so it's easy to OC even on stock cooling) in a lot of games. 1150 also offers far more upgradability than AM3+ even though they're both obsolete sockets now that Broadwell is out. I'm also seconding an SSD boot drive for general usability and responsiveness, though I'd probably recommend going with a 120 GB 850 Evo (which is only $20 more on ebay than the A-Data linked above) due to increased speed and proven reliability. 


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#6
Silverfire

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The Pentium G3258 only has two cores, but it's cheaper than the FX-6300 used in that build and performs nearly as well as high-end i5s when overclocked (plus it runs cool so it's easy to OC even on stock cooling) in a lot of games. 1150 also offers far more upgradability than AM3+ even though they're both obsolete sockets now that Broadwell is out. I'm also seconding an SSD boot drive for general usability and responsiveness, though I'd probably recommend going with a 120 GB 850 Evo (which is only $20 more on ebay than the A-Data linked above) due to increased speed and proven reliability. 

 

Going along Jeff's recommendations:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G6r9kL

 

Pentium G3258 with a Hyper 212 Evo for cheap aftermarket cooling for more OCing.

Z97 Asrock motherboard (allows for upgrading to even the top LGA1150 Core-i7 down the road, always a nice option)

120 GB Samsung 850 Evo

8 GB of RAM

Same R9 380

slightly nicer case

same EVGA 500W PSU

 

Grand total: $499.30

 

Just remember that this is not a quadcore, and some games even now don't work with dual cores (I think Far Cry 4 is one of those).  Beyond those games, it should basically handle anything else at pretty decent settings and FPS.

 

 

My buddy just built one with the fx-6300 and a $30 motherboard with an EVGA 960 in my kitchen Friday.  So far we've played warframe, war thunder, Borderlands 2 and Hawken and it will hold a pretty steady 50-60 frames with high graphics and physx.

 

Going along with Poop's idea:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CMVtzy

 

FX-6300 with a Hyper Evo 212 for aftermarket cooling (worth it on any AMD jetenginesound CPU)

basic AM3+ Gigabyte mATX board

8 GB DDR3 RAM

120GB 850 Evo SSD

4GB GTX 960 from Gigabyte

Antec case

EVGA 500W PSU

 

Grand total: $523.30

 

Compared to the original build I said, R9 380 beats out the GTX 960 more or less, and you have an Intel based CPU over AMD.


Edited by Silverfire, 06 December 2015 - 05:11 PM.

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#7
JeffMagnum

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Going along Jeff's recommendations:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G6r9kL

 

Pentium G3258 with a Hyper 212 Evo for cheap aftermarket cooling for more OCing.

Z97 Asrock motherboard (allows for upgrading to even the top LGA1150 i7 down the road, always a nice option)

120 GB Samsung 850 Evo

8 GB of RAM

Same R9 380

slightly nicer case

same EVGA 500W PSU

 

Grand total: $499.30

 

Just remember that this is not a quadcore, and some games even now don't work with dual cores (I think Far Cry 4 is one of those).  Beyond those games, it should basically handle anything else at pretty decent settings and FPS.

 

You could add a 1 TB WD Blue in it for storage (120 GB really isn't enough for everything especially if you game or have a media collection) and still end up around $550. 


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#8
PoopSlinger

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He ordered the 212 evo Saturday morning. They managed to make the stock 6300 cooler even crappier than the one from my old x4 955 and the 8320. He went with the 6300 over 3258 cuz he thought more cores would help with some of his non-gaming stuff

khn3gAi.jpg?1CitkI9t.jpgGkp2fB7.jpg

Come on Crafty, you have been officially called out on your lies. Your online reputation is at stake here, this is just like an old school street race running for pink slips. Its run what you brung and hope its enough. Put up or shut the fuzzy bunny up.


#9
Shoutaxeror

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I'd rather go for a maximum size SSD according to the budget and add a HD later. A 250G SSD is really fine.


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#10
OdinTheWise

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i would stay away from AMD, the price may be tempting but the performance isnt the same.


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#11
Hyginos

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i would stay away from AMD, the price may be tempting but the performance isnt the same.


Price/performance on the Fx-6300 has been about as good as it gets for years now, or at least it was last I looked. The price on that chip is crazy.

As for the g3258, I'm really not sold. If you only want to play games that are already a few years back maybe, but the 2 core thing would really make me nervous about its ability to hold up for then next few years. If you plan to stick a better CPU in that socket after such a short period of time, then why not wait the few extra months and save yourself 75$ off the bat?

 

I'd rather go for a maximum size SSD according to the budget and add a HD later. A 250G SSD is really fine.

 

No, it is not. I have a 1tb drive for storage and a a good chunk of my programs (basically everything but games, OS, and Firefox), and even then I find my self having to uninstall a few steam games to free up space on the 250GB SSD at least once a month.


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#12
Meraple

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I have a 1tb drive for storage and a a good chunk of my programs (basically everything but games, OS, and Firefox), and even then I find my self having to uninstall a few steam games to free up space on the 250GB SSD at least once a month.

Do you have a fuzzton of programs or is my PC just.. empty?

 

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#13
JeffMagnum

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I think the decision to add a secondary storage drive comes down to whether or not your internet connection is fast enough to let you stream and download large amounts of media without any issues and if you value the privacy and reliability (assuming things are backed up) of local storage. Like here are my drives because I'm on fuzzy bunny DSL and have to hoard files that I want in the future:

 

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As to the choice between an overclocked G2358 and an FX-6300, imo the G3258's significantly better performance on tasks that use two or less threads makes it the winner in this price bracket for a gaming computer, plus the 1150 socket gives you more room to upgrade after most games start to efficiently use 4+ threads. It's also $15 cheaper, and you'd only be out $40 or so when you switch if you resell the used processor on ebay. Neither choice will be great a few years out, so with a $550 budget I'd make a build for right now while also giving yourself significant room for upgradability instead of trying to future-proof with a relatively cheap processor that's already over three years old. 

 


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#14
Shoutaxeror

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No, it is not. I have a 1tb drive for storage and a a good chunk of my programs (basically everything but games, OS, and Firefox), and even then I find my self having to uninstall a few steam games to free up space on the 250GB SSD at least once a month.

 

That's exactly what I said. 120 GB SSD is pretty small.


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#15
Rainbow_Sheep

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Talking about gaming in general with CPUs, Gaming favours processors with less, faster/stronger cores rather than many weak cores.

 

Also with CPU coolers, go with what poop said. The 212 EVO is the best Price/Performance cooler in the market right now, which is why it's used on hundreds if not thousands of builds on PC part picker alone.


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#16
KOS_Baconman

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Replace the 950 with a 750Ti, and good luck with that AMD processor. Also, check eBay. You can get pretty much everything you want cheaper there used, except mobo and processor, which you probably want to get new.

750 Ti is where its at


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What if we just give some bacon paint, some bacon holo-emotes and change Bunker from snow to bacon.

 

This way, everyone will be happy.

What you should really do, is replace your parts with bacon, so you can cook games and eat bacon

Obviously the wallpaper would be cooler if bacon was incorporated into it.

 


#17
EM1O

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Stay away from AMD at all costs, if you can. My box was bargain basement <$600 for everything (bluray, 16gBram, 2x 1TBhdd, etc) 3 years ago, 8350cpu, 7750gpu. Unless you think you'd enjoy spending hours googleing work-arounds and searching Forum-posted fixes for Hawken and other games, stay away--very very far away--from AMD.

 

Just sayin'.


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