250-300$ build

[Ahmed Riyad]

Ahmed from Egypt & I'm asking for your help in building a new case for browsing, watching movies & playing midrange games.

I don't know anything about overclocking.

I'm going to buy:

Intel Core i3-2120 processor (searching for i3-3210 but still can't find it in my region)

Gigabyte H61M-S2P

Kingston 4GB DDR3 1600

Tiger X6 with 400w PSU

The screen size is 18.5" with resolution 1366x768

I have WD Blue 500GB

My questions are :

First is there noticeable difference between i3-2120 & i3-3210 ?

Second : what video card do you advice me to buy in terms of usual gaming (like PES & NFS) & low budget (80-90 $)?

Third : Do I need to increase the RAM?

Thanks in advance


NB: here is a link of available video cards in Egypt ordered from low price to higher (1 US dollar = 7 Egyptian pounds)

http://www.egprices.com/en/category/computers/vga-cards?cat=1&sub=11&sortby=price_asc

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

Any help?

 

[NewYorksFinest]

Any help?

Stop bumping your thread :smack:.

No thread-crapping allowed. 1 point infraction has led to an automatic 1 day vacation from posting. -Admin DrPizza
Ahmed, good luck with the build.

 

[Ketchup]

If you are going to overclock, you will need a "K" series processor and a Z series chipset.

Considering your budget though, you would be quite happy with what you have, overclocked or not.

Most of the time, power supplies that come with cases are as cheap as they come. It would probably be worth is to get a separate unit from a good name, such as Antec or Corsair.

8 GB of RAM is the sweet spot for Windows 7 & 8. But remember that RAM is easy to add later if you need to.

In your region, can you get a Haswell around the same price?

 

[ElFenix]

4 GB of ram is fine, even in single channel. see the bottom of this page at hexus:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/68797-intel-pentium-g3220-22nm-haswell/?page=7

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

Stop bumping your thread :smack:.

No thread-crapping allowed. 1 point infraction has led to an automatic 1 day vacation from posting. -Admin DrPizza
Ahmed, good luck with the build.

I'm so sorry for that but I'm new to use forums in general & didn't know that what I did will bump the thread.

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

If you are going to overclock, you will need a "K" series processor and a Z series chipset.

Considering your budget though, you would be quite happy with what you have, overclocked or not.

Most of the time, power supplies that come with cases are as cheap as they come. It would probably be worth is to get a separate unit from a good name, such as Antec or Corsair.

8 GB of RAM is the sweet spot for Windows 7 & 8. But remember that RAM is easy to add later if you need to.

In your region, can you get a Haswell around the same price?

Yes I can get Haswell (4130) for about 25$ more & I'm really thinking of this option to get advantage of the integrated GPU (Intel HD 4400) instead of buying a dedicated graphics card & this would save for me about 30-35 $.

What do you think?
Need your opinion

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

4 GB of ram is fine, even in single channel. see the bottom of this page at hexus:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/68797-intel-pentium-g3220-22nm-haswell/?page=7

Thanks a lot for your help.

I read about having 2x2gb ram is better than a single 4gb ram but when I thought about upgrading in future , the single 4gb option will save me a free slot for another ram.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Sorry, but it is very difficult to build even a basic PC on that budget, much less a decent gaming system. Do you have a copy of windows available? If not that will add 100.00 to the cost. As for your specific question regarding video cards, anything cheaper than a HD7750 or gt 650 is going to be a very poor experience for gaming.

I don't know the availability in your region, but the best ultra budget combo for gaming is the athlon x4 750k plus a hd7750 discrete card. Even then that will cost 80.00 for the CPU and 100.00 for the gpu. To that you will have to add a motherboard, psu, case, ram, and windows. I would estimate 400.00 minimum for even a very basic system unless you already have a copy of windows that you can use.

As for the i3, it is fine for a mid range gaming box with a discrete card, but even a haswell i3 is terrible for gaming on the igp except for older/casual games. Normally I don't advise an APU for gaming, but if you absolutely cannot afford a discrete card, an older Richland A10 is better than an i3. That would be the A10 6xxx series. The newer kaveri A10 7850k is somewhat faster but too expensive.

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

Thank you so much

 

[Insert_Nickname]

As for the i3, it is fine for a mid range gaming box with a discrete card, but even a haswell i3 is terrible for gaming on the igp except for older/casual games. Normally I don't advise an APU for gaming, but if you absolutely cannot afford a discrete card, an older Richland A10 is better than an i3. That would be the A10 6xxx series. The newer kaveri A10 7850k is somewhat faster but too expensive.

If you don't mind stretching things a bit, you could try looking for the A10-7700K. You get almost the same (even slightly better) graphics performance as the 6800K, but with a never feature set (including mantle support). It should be a bit cheaper then the 7850K.

Otherwise I agree with frozentundra. If money is tight you're likely better served with a Richland A8 or A10. Two things to consider are:

1) Making sure you get an FM2+ mainboard. This will potentially allow a drop-in upgrade to Kaveri and potentially Carrizo in the future. FM2 and FM2+ are essentially the same cost, so its a "free" upgrade potential.
2) RAM timings and frequency. AMD's memory controller likes tight timings and frequency in that order. You should prefer lower timings over frequency when you select memory.

 

[Blue_Max]

Since you want to play games, the A10 7700k makes an EXCELLENT choice.

Just remember these AMD "APU" units benefit from the fastest RAM you can get, and you definitely want two sticks in dual-channel. Since you'll be using system RAM for video, I'd recommend 2x 4GB sticks.

Of course, it also depend on your local prices... some things may be much cheaper than others!

Another option to strongly consider is the intel Dual-core Celeron & Pentium chips, like the G3220, which are quite cheap. Then add the best video card you can afford - used if you have to.

What's your online store? Maybe through Google translate, we can understand it well enough to find the best deals available there.

 

[mfenn]

Can you list out the pricing you're seeing for each part? No need to convert to dollars, it's easiest for us to compare to the site you gave if you leave everything in your native currency.

 

[mfenn]

I'm so sorry for that but I'm new to use forums in general & didn't know that what I did will bump the thread.

Welcome to the forums Ahmed!

It is find to post in your thread as much as you want as long as you're adding new information. Posting things like "any help?", "bump", etc. is generally frowned upon unless your post has fallen off the front page. Then it's OK to bump.

All that being said, there is no excuse for anyone to be a jerk to you about it. There are proper channels for reporting such things, and calling you out in the thread is not one of them.

mfenn
General Hardware Moderator

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

Welcome to the forums Ahmed!

It is find to post in your thread as much as you want as long as you're adding new information. Posting things like "any help?", "bump", etc. is generally frowned upon unless your post has fallen off the front page. Then it's OK to bump.

All that being said, there is no excuse for anyone to be a jerk to you about it. There are proper channels for reporting such things, and calling you out in the thread is not one of them.

mfenn
General Hardware Moderator

Thank you so much for your kindness & for making things clear to me

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

Can you list out the pricing you're seeing for each part? No need to convert to dollars, it's easiest for us to compare to the site you gave if you leave everything in your native currency.

To summarize in points:

1- Im not an advanced user of computer as my profession as a physician is totally away from this field so my information is limited.

2- I dont know anything about AMD processors & all what I know about Intel processors just got it in the past few days.

3- I need this PC mainly for browsing & watching movies but my young bro (8 yrs old) will use it mainly for gaming.

4- I can postpone buying the graphics card until I have good budget for it.

5- I dont know anything about overclocking & not planning to learn anything about it.

6- My budget for now is so tight 2000 LE.

7- I've fixed the price of the case + the Kingston 4Gb ram at 500 LE
(200LE for the case & 300LE for the ram)

8- After searching a lot I have now three plans to choose one of them :

Intel core i3-2120 (700LE) + Gigabyte H61 (400LE) = 1100 LE

Intel core i3-3210 (800LE) + Gigabyte H61 (400LE) = 1200 LE

Intel core i3-4130 (900LE) +Gigabyte H81 (550LE) = 1450 LE


9- The following video cards are available at my area
Geforce GT640 = 700 LE
Geforce GTX650 2GB = 1000 LE
Geforce GTX650 4GB = 1150 LE

10- If I buy a dedicated video card, isn't it better (in terms of budget) to have a core2duo processor as the integrated GPU in the i3 processor will not be needed?


11- You can look for anything you want with its price in Egypt at this link:

http://www.egprices.com/en/category/computers



Thank you so much for your efforts , time & patience.

 

[Blue_Max]

The AMD APU's are very overpriced in your area. You get better value with Intel...
I recommend the latest generation of i3 which has some decent graphics built in, slightly better speed, and a socket capable of future upgrades.

It also doesn't need fancy RAM, so a single 4 or 8GB stick is plenty.

http://www.egprices.com/en/product/intel-core-i3-4130-haswell-3-4ghz-lga-1150-54w-dual-core-desktop-processor-el-nekhely-technology 870LE (i3 4130)

http://www.egprices.com/en/product/asrock-h81m-hds-socket-1150-motherboard-el-nekhely-technology 490LE (h81m mobo)

OR

Spend much less on a processor almost as fast (for your needs, you wouldn't see the difference) and put the money saved into a good video card.

http://www.egprices.com/en/product/intel-pentium-g3220-haswell-3-0ghz-lga-1150-54w-dual-core-desktop-processor-compu-art 450LE (g3220)

http://www.egprices.com/en/product/gigabyte-gtx-750-windforce-1gb-gddr5-gv-n750oc-1gi--baraka-computer 1000LE (GTX 750)

http://www.egprices.com/en/product/asrock-h81m-hds-socket-1150-motherboard-el-nekhely-technology 490LE (h81m mobo)

This GTX 750 seems to be the best value off that site... there are faster cards but this one is the fastest for the money... others are 30% more money for 10% more speed, etc. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it requires no additional power so you can get a smaller, cheaper (but still good!) power supply and save on your power bill too.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

1- Im not an advanced user of computer as my profession as a physician is totally away from this field so my information is limited.

Sorry for assuming prior knowledge.

8- After searching a lot I have now three plans to choose one of them :

Intel core i3-2120 (700LE) + Gigabyte H61 (400LE) = 1100 LE

Intel core i3-3210 (800LE) + Gigabyte H61 (400LE) = 1200 LE

Intel core i3-4130 (900LE) +Gigabyte H81 (550LE) = 1450 LE


9- The following video cards are available at my area
Geforce GT640 = 700 LE
Geforce GTX650 2GB = 1000 LE
Geforce GTX650 4GB = 1150 LE

10- If I buy a dedicated video card, isn't it better (in terms of budget) to have a core2duo processor as the integrated GPU in the i3 processor will not be needed?

I'm afraid a Core 2 Duo is not going to cut it any more for gaming. A Core 2 Quad might have a little life left in it paired with a GTX650. If you can find one used. I'd not recommend buying one new.

I'd certainly recommend the i3-4130 if you can wait with adding a graphics card. The fairly advanced HD4600 in the i3 should be able to at least run PES/NFS at low detail setting, and if you add a GTX650 later it will be a potent little gaming machine. But if you can't wait, I'd urge you to at least consider a AMD APU, since you get a better IGP with one of them. At the cost of some CPU performance.

Using your link I came up with an AMD alternative, a 7700K paired with a Gigabyte mainboard. It's a little more expensive then the i3, but I don't think you're going to get much better graphics performance on your budget. An alternative would be dropping to an A8-6500 which I have also listed.

Mainboard (470LE):
http://www.egprices.com/en/product/gigabyte-ga-f2a55m-hd2-fm2-motherboard-rev-3-maximum-hardware
APU/CPU 7700K (1190LE):
http://www.egprices.com/en/product/...ocket-fm2-95w-quad-core-desktop-apu-time-tech

Total cost: 1660LE

And the 6500 for reference (820LE):
http://www.egprices.com/en/product/...ocket-fm2-65w-quad-core-desktop-apu-time-tech

 

[Insert_Nickname]

OR

Spend much less on a processor almost as fast (for your needs, you wouldn't see the difference) and put the money saved into a good video card.

http://www.egprices.com/en/product/...150-54w-dual-core-desktop-processor-compu-art 450LE (g3220)

http://www.egprices.com/en/product/...orce-1gb-gddr5-gv-n750oc-1gi--baraka-computer 1000LE (GTX 750)

http://www.egprices.com/en/product/asrock-h81m-hds-socket-1150-motherboard-el-nekhely-technology 490LE (h81m mobo)

This GTX 750 seems to be the best value off that site... there are faster cards but this one is the fastest for the money... others are 30% more money for 10% more speed, etc. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it requires no additional power so you can get a smaller, cheaper (but still good!) power supply and save on your power bill too.

That's the best so far, but also the most expensive. Good work squeezing that under 2000LE. My hat is of to you... :thumbsup:

 

[Blue_Max]

Considering the 6800k APU alone was 1200LE, I went with the best under the wire. I consider myself the master of cheap performance... many years of tight budgets.

Thanks!

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

Spend much less on a processor almost as fast (for your needs, you wouldn't see the difference) and put the money saved into a good video card. http://www.egprices.com/en/product/i...ssor-compu-art 450LE (g3220) http://www.egprices.com/en/product/g...araka-computer 1000LE (GTX 750) http://www.egprices.com/en/product/a...ely-technology 490LE (h81m mobo)

VS

I'm afraid a Core 2 Duo is not going to cut it any more for gaming. A Core 2 Quad might have a little life left in it paired with a GTX650. If you can find one used. I'd not recommend buying one new.

This made me a little bit confused -with all respect to all members participated in this fruitful discussion- so I decided to choose between the following 2 plans:

1- Mobo Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2P-B3 Socket 1155 motherboard .. 400LE
(but it will only support pass of RAM up to 1333Mhz , is this ok?)

2- CPU Core i3-2120 .. 700LE

3- Kingston Hyperx 4GB 1600Mhz .. 300LE

4- Graphics card for 700LE that you will choose for me from this list
http://www.egprices.com/en/category/computers/vga-cards/?&min=700&max=750&page=2

Total 2100 LE


The other plan :

1- Mobo Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2PV LGA 1150 Motherboard .. 550LE
(support 1600Mhz)

2- CPU G3220 .. 450LE

3- Kingston Hyperx 4GB 1600Mhz .. 300LE

4- Graphics card for 700LE also

Total 2000 LE

Waiting for your opinion & for your chose of the graphics card.

Dont forget to tell me what case & power supply I will need specially that a friend of mine told me that Tiger X6 case (200LE) will not be good for this build & I will need a case with PSU not less than 500LE

 

[Insert_Nickname]

This made me a little bit confused -with all respect to all members participated in this fruitful discussion- so I decided to choose between the following 2 plans:

1- Mobo Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2P-B3 Socket 1155 motherboard .. 400LE
(but it will only support pass of RAM up to 1333Mhz , is this ok?)

2- CPU Core i3-2120 .. 700LE

3- Kingston Hyperx 4GB 1600Mhz .. 300LE

4- Graphics card for 700LE that you will choose for me from this list
http://www.egprices.com/en/category/computers/vga-cards/?&min=700&max=750&page=2

Total 2100 LE


The other plan :

1- Mobo Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2PV LGA 1150 Motherboard .. 550LE
(support 1600Mhz)

2- CPU G3220 .. 450LE

3- Kingston Hyperx 4GB 1600Mhz .. 300LE

4- Graphics card for 700LE also

Total 2000 LE

Waiting for your opinion & for your chose of the graphics card.

Dont forget to tell me what case & power supply I will need specially that a friend of mine told me that Tiger X6 case (200LE) will not be good for this build & I will need a case with PSU not less than 500LE

Well, this'll be a little awkward...

I apologize in advance if it comes across a little strong. It is well meaning.

Allow me to point out a couple of things. You will not get a gaming-capable graphics card on that budget. The absolute minimum that makes sense getting over an APU is a Geforce GT650/GTX750 or Radeon R7-250X/HD7750. If you go below those cards, you'll be better served by an APU. Discrete cards in this price range simply do not have the additional performance over the APU to warrant spending extra on them. Especially on such a tight budget.

Forget about even trying to run games on the Intel IGP, the only Intel IGP that is remotely capable of running games is the HD4600, which is not present on the Pentium/Celeron branded CPU's. Even some i3 do not have it. Instead the Pentium/Celerons use a cut down version that is not capable of running modern 3D games. Even the lowest-end AMD A4 is faster then that IGP (I even think the IGP in Kabini is faster). And has far better driver support.

So long as the case is ATX compliant, it is "good enough". As for the PSU, any PSU from a reputable manufacturer is plenty enough for a build in this range. It'll likely never exceed 100W at full load.

I was only suggesting the Core 2 Quad, because I assumed your current PC was Core 2 Duo-based. In that case a used Q6600 + f.x. new GTX750 could make sense.

 

[Noo]

Just bought a xfx radeon 7850 on eBay for $80. Check out eBay.

 

[Ahmed Riyad]

Well, this'll be a little awkward... I apologize in advance if it comes across a little strong. It is well meaning.

As English is not my native language sometimes I've some problems in understanding what others wanna say so please excuse me.

You will not get a gaming-capable graphics card on that budget. The absolute minimum that makes sense getting over an APU is a Geforce GT650/GTX750 or Radeon R7-250X/HD7750.

The list I mentioned before contains Radeon R7-250x like:
Gigabyte R7 250 OC 2GB GDDR3
SAPPHIRE R7 250 1GB GDDR5 WITH BOOST
all of them for 700LE, or do you mean another card ??? please excuse me as Im a physician not PC expert

Please check this link http://www.egprices.com/en/category/computers/vga-cards/?&min=700&max=750&page=1

If you go below those cards, you'll be better served by an APU. Discrete cards in this price range simply do not have the additional performance over the APU to warrant spending extra on them. Especially on such a tight budget.

I really dont know anything about AMD products & my knowledge is only about Intel

Forget about even trying to run games on the Intel IGP

Im not going to depend on Intel IGP & that is why Im looking for a discrete graphics card

I was only suggesting the Core 2 Quad, because I assumed your current PC was Core 2 Duo-based.

My old PC is broken & I got rid of whole of it except the hard disk drive & building a completely new one .

Thank you

 

[Insert_Nickname]

As English is not my native language sometimes I've some problems in understanding what others wanna say so please excuse me.

As a matter of fact, English is not my native language too...
Your English is actually very good.

The list I mentioned before contains Radeon R7-250x like:
Gigabyte R7 250 OC 2GB GDDR3
SAPPHIRE R7 250 1GB GDDR5 WITH BOOST
all of them for 700LE, or do you mean another card ??? please excuse me as Im a physician not PC expert

Please check this link http://www.egprices.com/en/category/computers/vga-cards/?&min=700&max=750&page=1

I suppose those would work, if you set your expectations accordingly. I'd still recommend moving up to the Geforce GTX750 Blue_Max suggested. As it is based on Nvidia's brand new "Maxwell"-architecture, it's just a much better and more future proof card.

For a gaming PC, you should always prioritize the GPU over the CPU. The GPU matters much more then the CPU in games. You almost can't buy a CPU that's "too slow" for everyday usage today. Today even a low-end Pentium/Celeron is as fast, or even faster, then a high-end Core 2 Duo. Hence you can afford to save a bit on the CPU side, and put more money into the GPU side of the machine.

The R7-250 is "handicapped" (relative term) by the fact that it only has 384 shaders. A "shader" is the unit that does all the mathematical work of actually drawing the picture you see on screen. Generally the more shaders a chips has (there are a few exceptions, and AMD's and Nvidia's are not directly comparable) a card has, the "faster" it is. The next step up would in AMD's case would be the R7-250X which has 640 shaders. The GTX750 has 512 shaders, which due to the different architecture (Nvidia) is actually more powerful then the 250X, and twice as fast as the regular 250.

I really dont know anything about AMD products & my knowledge is only about Intel

There is not that much difference really. Without getting in to a long technical explanation, Intel tends to offer better CPU performance, while AMD tends offer better graphics at a given price point. The one place where that doesn't hold true is with AMD's FX-series. Since they're based on an older architecture, they do not have an integrated graphics core. Another is the high-end Intel "enthusiast" chips, that use the same HD4600 as the rest of the i3/i5 line-up, but here that does not matter since almost everybody uses such chips with a powerful discrete card.

Actually both Intel and AMD chips qualify for the APU moniker since they both have an integrated graphics core on-chip. Its more force of habit among us "enthusiasts" to refer to Intel "CPUs" and AMD "APUs" then any technical reason. There is very little difference between them from an end user point of view.

My old PC is broken & I got rid of whole of it except the hard disk drive & building a completely new one .

Thank you

Ah, starting from scratch. You could properly reuse the case if its ATX. I'd recommend changing the PSU if its more then 5 years old. Just to be on the safe side. Caps do degrade with use.