First Gaming pc build help

[rehbo]

Looking to build my first budget gaming pc for under $650. I want to use it mainly for arma 3/day z. Here is a build I found on newegg that I was interested in:AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz Eight-Core CPU, MSI 970A MOBO, MSI Radeon HD 7770 1GB, G.SKILL 8GB MEM, Seagate 1TB HDD, SAMSUNG 24X DVD Burner, Rosewill 600W PSU, ZALMAN Z11 PLUS Case. I may pick a different Motherboard and PSU because the reviews fo those weren't that good. Tell me what you guys think

 

[JackMDS]

In order to give you credible serious advice please look at this post.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121

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Follow the post above and post it in away that it will be easy to read and relate to it

See example here - http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2401780

 

[Yuriman]

This thread will probably be useful to you:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2401718

HD7770 is a bit low-end, but it makes sense if the computer's primary use is not gaming or only for older games, to spend more on other parts.

 

[Loser Gamer]

I got a 760 GTX and DayZ is choppy with my 6core Phenom 2. That game isn't optimized well at all though. But that 7770 will get eaten alive in that game.

I'd try for a better card for sure

 

[Loser Gamer]

if I was you I'd do something like this. But you still need to come up with cash for the OS. Parts come to $658

 

[rehbo]

Just so you know, I will be completely new to the dayz/ arma experience so I don't plan to run the game on max settings. If I ran on low settings how would that card do?

 

[rehbo]

That build looks pretty nice loser gamer. How does dayz/arma run with those specs?

 

[rehbo]

I read that people have some problems with the life span of the msi n760. I'm looking at the Sapphire Radeon R9 270X Dual-X Boost OC AMD Graphics Card 2GB Graphics Card. Nothing but great reviews and it's cheaper

 

[frozentundra123456]

Arma 3 strongly favors faster single core performance. A 2 generation old i3 2100 is faster than an FX8350, much less an FX 6300, according to game.gpu benchmark.

If this is your game of primary interest, you should go with intel. A haswell i3 would be considerably faster than the sandy bridge shown in the benchmark. So I would choose that over any FX for this game. Or you could even get the overclockable Pentuim 3258. At 4+ ghz, that would probably be as fast an any processor you could find in this game, although you give up some performance in newer highly threaded games.

 

[rehbo]

So with arma or dayz, should my focus be more on the CPU and not the gpu? Remember I'm on a budget. So I'd either have to go down a notch on the gpu and go up on the CPU or vise versa

 

[rehbo]

I'm reading that arma 3 is cpu intensive so how about an i5 4430 3ghz quad-core with an Asus geforce gtx 750 ti 2 gb?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Arma 3 strongly favors faster single core performance. A 2 generation old i3 2100 is faster than an FX8350, much less an FX 6300, according to game.gpu benchmark.

If this is your game of primary interest, you should go with intel. A haswell i3 would be considerably faster than the sandy bridge shown in the benchmark. So I would choose that over any FX for this game. Or you could even get the overclockable Pentuim 3258. At 4+ ghz, that would probably be as fast an any processor you could find in this game, although you give up some performance in newer highly threaded games.

This.

 

[mistersprinkles]

In that case

Cheapest case with decent air flow you can find
Pentium G3258
Gigabyte H97 G1 Sniper
2x4GB DDR3 (look for cheap 2133Mhz sticks, but 1600 will be fine.)
Gtx 760
Corsair CX500
Crucial MX100 128GB
WD Caviar Blue 1TB

the G3258, given a case with good air flow, can overclock quite high on the stock cooler. You will have to OC this chip as high as the heatsink will allow to get optimum performance out of it. If you look up comparisons in google you will see that with this particular CPU, game performance really goes up with higher clock speed. It is a dual core CPU, like an i3, but it lacks hyperthreading. Apparently, for Arma 3, that doesn't matter...

Nice thing is, if you ever want to upgrade to an i5 for about $175, you can just pop it in your motherboard and sell the G3258.

 

[rehbo]

I will not do any over clocking yet

 

[rehbo]

Would this be a decent build for arma 3?
Intel Core i5-4430. -cpu
ASRock H97M PRO4. -mobo
G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL. - memory
Western Digital WD10EZEX. - hard drive
Asus GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 - gpu
Corsair 200R. - tower
Corsair CX500 - power

 

[Yuriman]

Would this be a decent build for arma 3?
Intel Core i5-4430. -cpu
ASRock H97M PRO4. -mobo
G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL. - memory
Western Digital WD10EZEX. - hard drive
Asus GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 - gpu
Corsair 200R. - tower
Corsair CX500 - power

750Ti is a very weak GPU also. I would go with something like a 270x, GTX760 or 280. I haven't read about any longevity issues with 760's. Otherwise, your part selection looks pretty good.

Some other possible tweaks:

Swap out the memory for this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231477
- Only difference is, it's lower voltage meaning it will draw less power and produce less heat. Not a huge difference, but worth $4 IMO.

-That board is on sale at Newegg right now and is probably the best choice, but if it goes off sale, consider dropping down to a B85-based board to save money.

-Personally, I would be tempted to get a cheap solid state drive, they make a night and day difference in every day use over a conventional hard drive. If you're going a bit over-budget, dropping down to an i3 would be a reasonable compromise.

-Don't go too cheap on the GPU. You won't be happy with a 750Ti or HD7770.

 

[Loser Gamer]

I tend to side with a more powerful video card than a more powerful cpu for a budget gamer so I would plunk the cash on the best VC you can get all the while still getting a capable CPU.

I also like the idea of more cores verses fewer that might be faster. Once multi tasking starts to happen, other programs funning while gaming and such, more cores are better.

But in reality an i3 would make a great budget gamer also but you need to put a little more cash up front for it which may make you reduce your VC model which is why since you have a budget dollar amount I would go with the amd cpu so you can keep your VC beefed.

 

[rehbo]

Would would something like the amd FX 6300 be ok to use for arma 3 if I had a great vc?

 

[Yuriman]

Would would something like the amd FX 6300 be ok to use for arma 3 if I had a great vc?

In Arma 3, an i3 has a large advantage over a 6300. This isn't true for all games, but for your particular games an i3 is the better chip.

IMO, the 6300's biggest advantage over an i3 is that it can be overclocked. A highly overclocked 6300 is a very respectable chip, but stock vs stock, there isn't a lot of incentive to go with AMD's offering. i3 is on a newer and much better chipset/platform and comes with other goodies such as better USB3 and SATA controllers, PCI-e 3.0 and (often) better audio.

In my first post, I linked a thread where another member here was asking about the two.

 

[rehbo]

Sorry for so many questions. I just want to be able to play arma 3 on medium /low settings with no problem. How's this look? http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

 

[Bman123]

Don't settle for low settings. Have you looked into buying anything used?

 

[rehbo]

I don't trust used parts. And with the build I just showed, couldn't I run arma 3 on medium with no problems?

 

[CropDuster]

Would this be a decent build for arma 3?
Intel Core i5-4430. -cpu
ASRock H97M PRO4. -mobo
G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL. - memory
Western Digital WD10EZEX. - hard drive
Asus GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 - gpu
Corsair 200R. - tower
Corsair CX500 - power

I think this would suffice but I would try get a GTX760 if possible.

I tend to side with a more powerful video card than a more powerful cpu for a budget gamer so I would plunk the cash on the best VC you can get all the while still getting a capable CPU.

I also like the idea of more cores verses fewer that might be faster. Once multi tasking starts to happen, other programs funning while gaming and such, more cores are better.

The problem is Arma is very much CPU singlethread limited. I saw hardly any increase in FPS from my GTX460 to my R9 290 in Arma. The only difference is I can turn the graphical settings up while still getting the same crappy 35-40 FPS.

 

[Bman123]

I don't trust used parts. And with the build I just showed, couldn't I run arma 3 on medium with no problems?

I'd buy a non k core i5 or i7 in a heartbeat if the price was right, I've bought many used video cards without any issue too. Your budget is what $650? You can do good with that much, just have to be wise and shop around. Don't impulse buy stuff look for deals man, get the best bang for your buck

 

[rehbo]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PRGm23

This build will cost me around 740 on pcpartpicker.com
Where would I go about looking for cheaper parts? This site gives a list of prices and sites already