Gaming Build/Upgrade

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awongsurawat

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Nov 7, 2008
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OK, I already posted a question in the video card and graphic section, but this may work better for my questions.

PLEASE when you POST threads asking for input on system builds tell us...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming, currently playing Skyrim and Diablo III

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$300 for the upgrades, up to $400 if a video card is needed.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

US

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

No preference

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

I already got an SSD. I have a case/power supply/DVD Drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers. I may use one of my current video cards, either a 9800GT or a HD4670.

Looking to get a CPU/Motherboard/RAM and possibly video card, or should I get another 9800GT and run SLI?.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Default Speeds

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?

1600 x 900 is my current monitor resolution

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.

Hoping to buy within a week.

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?

No software needed. Have a copy of Windows 7 pro 32/64 bit and Windows 8.1 pro 32/64 bit.

Currently I am looking at an AMD FX-6300 CPU, MSI 970A-G46 Motherboard, 2 x 4GB RAM. No idea on a video card, if one is suggested over the 9800GT.
 
Ken g6

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
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awongsurawat said:
Currently I am looking at an AMD FX-6300 CPU
Click to expand...
Neither Skyrim nor DIII get much out of more than two CPU cores. And DIII doesn't need a powerful CPU anyway.
awongsurawat said:
already got an SSD. I have a case/power supply
Click to expand...
How big is the SSD, and how powerful is the power supply? How old are they?

For now, I'll suggest:
CPU: Pentium G3420, $70
Mobo: ASRock H81M, ~$50 with shipping
GPU: ASUS R7 265, $173 with shipping. IIRC, Skyrim likes high VRAM bandwidth, which this has.

Total: About $293, with new GPU. Which leaves about $100 if different upgrades are needed.

Edit: Found that different upgrade needed: RAM. :$
8GB DDR3, $61
 
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A

awongsurawat

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Power supply is a Cooler Master 500W, SSD is a Crucial M500 240 GB, though I may use my older Crucial M4 256 GB

Would I be better if I increased my budget a little to get a Core i3 or AMD FX-6300 over the dual core pentium? I am looking at newer games down the line eventually and I would like this to be more future proof.

Ken g6 said:
Neither Skyrim nor DIII get much out of more than two CPU cores. And DIII doesn't need a powerful CPU anyway.How big is the SSD, and how powerful is the power supply? How old are they?

For now, I'll suggest:
CPU: Pentium G3420, $70
Mobo: ASRock H81M, ~$50 with shipping
GPU: ASUS R7 265, $173 with shipping. IIRC, Skyrim likes high VRAM bandwidth, which this has.

Total: About $293, with new GPU. Which leaves about $100 if different upgrades are needed.

Edit: Found that different upgrade needed: RAM. :$
8GB DDR3, $61
Click to expand...
 
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Ken g6

Ken g6

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awongsurawat said:
Would I be better if I increased my budget a little to get a Core i3 or AMD FX-6300 over the dual core pentium? I am looking at newer games down the line eventually and I would like this to be more future proof.
Click to expand...
Yes and maybe, respectively. Or you could get this now, and save up enough to get an i5 when those newer games come down the line.

You have a Cooler Master PSU (not the best brand) that isn't made anymore. a new $20AR PSU might be a good addition too.

I just found a cheaper 7850 ($110 AR AP!) which could open your budget a bit.
 
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awongsurawat

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Nov 7, 2008
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I was thinking that I may need to change the power supply as well. My other power supply is an Antec Basiq 500W, which is from the same era, I don't know if this one is the same.

It sounds like am am best off with a basic Pentium CPU with a motherboard that has an LGA 1150 socket, so I can upgrade the processors later on. I think I would start with 8GB RAM total, then maybe move up to 16GB. I wonder if I would benefit from any more RAM than 16GB?

That 7850 and new Power Supply look good. I should have probably planned to spend more than I originally did, as quite a few of my components don't seem like they may work as well as I would like.

Ken g6 said:
Yes and maybe, respectively. Or you could get this now, and save up enough to get an i5 when those newer games come down the line.

You have a Cooler Master PSU (not the best brand) that isn't made anymore. a new $20AR PSU might be a good addition too.

I just found a cheaper 7850 ($110 AR AP!) which could open your budget a bit.
Click to expand...
 
Ken g6

Ken g6

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For Intel, you would want to go Haswell: i3-4130 ($125) and maybe a B85 ($60) if you don't want to do RAID. (If you do later, you could get a real RAID card.)

Tom's Hardware compared a Haswell i3 to the FX-6300 and this summarizes the results:

2013-Gaming-Performance.png


The i3 is the $750 PC, while the FX-6300 is the $650 PC. Both have better video cards than yours will but are otherwise similar. He also tested Skyrim specifically on one page.

Edit: I see you missed the shellshocker deal on RAM. You still want 1.5V RAM, though. Here's the same stuff in a different color for $63.
 
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Bman123

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Nov 16, 2008
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If your on a budget right now to get the thing put together grab a haswell i3. Hyperthreading is better then it use to be and the i3 is way better IPC wise then the fx6300. At least with the i3 to start with you can get a i5 later that beats any of the fx CPUs
 
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awongsurawat

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Nov 7, 2008
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I think that this may be the direction that I am going, getting an i3 over the FX-6300. Perhaps in the future I can upgrade to an i5 or i7, and increase the RAM. I will start with 8GB then move up from there. If I get a motherboard that has four RAM slots, it will be easier to upgrade than one that has only two RAM slots.

Bman123 said:
If your on a budget right now to get the thing put together grab a haswell i3. Hyperthreading is better then it use to be and the i3 is way better IPC wise then the fx6300. At least with the i3 to start with you can get a i5 later that beats any of the fx CPUs
Click to expand...
 
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NewYorksFinest

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Mar 27, 2014
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How about a new computer. You can spend ~$400 for a good, entry level system that can play most games at 1080p @ low-medium settings.
 
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awongsurawat

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mfenn

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At some point the distinction between "new computer" and "upgrade" is splitting hairs.

OP, one thing that is really lacking from this thread is a complete rundown of what you currently have (CPU, mobo, RAM, GPU, HDD, SSD, ODD, PSU, Case). You listed out your current PSU, SSD, and GPU(s), but the rest is a big black hole.

The more information that you give us, the better advice we can give in return. For example, it could be the case that your current CPU is totally fine, and you just need a RAM or GPU upgrade. Or it might, not. We don't know the difference at this point.
 
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awongsurawat

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Nov 7, 2008
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mfenn said:
At some point the distinction between "new computer" and "upgrade" is splitting hairs.

OP, one thing that is really lacking from this thread is a complete rundown of what you currently have (CPU, mobo, RAM, GPU, HDD, SSD, ODD, PSU, Case). You listed out your current PSU, SSD, and GPU(s), but the rest is a big black hole.

The more information that you give us, the better advice we can give in return. For example, it could be the case that your current CPU is totally fine, and you just need a RAM or GPU upgrade. Or it might, not. We don't know the difference at this point.
Click to expand...

What parts I currently have is an SSD, and a case with 500 watt power supply, of which I have been told that the power supply I have is no good. I also have two video cards, a 9800GT and a HD4670. I also have a couple sata DVD drives. So to make my computer complete I will have to get a CPU, Motherboard, RAM. I don't have any modern motherboards, and the last ones that I had were socket 939 with 1 or 2 GB RAM. Those were single core Athlon 64 CPUs. I sold those already, so I no longer have them.

The other motherboard I still have is out of a slimline HP, it has 2GB RAM, and is a Athlon x2 64 5000+ (Asus M2N61-AR (HP) with Athlon 64 x2 5000+ Processor and 2 GB PC2-5300U RAM (2 x 1 GB)). That can only go up to 4 total GB RAM with two slots, and if I start spending money on the RAM for that (DDR2), I may as well get some more ram, 8GB DDR3 and upgrade the motherboard and CPU as well. It would be ideal if I can sell that also, but no one seems to want it.
 
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lehtv

lehtv

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Dec 8, 2010
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The eXtreme 500W is unfortunately a piece of junk, but if you rename it to eXtreme 350W, then it's alright. Meaning, treat it like a lower wattage unit and it performs within the electrical limits imposed by the ATX specification.

I would much rather use the Antec Basiq. The one you linked is the correct unit, as it is the only 500W unit in the Basiq series. The review of that unit at hardwaresecrets proves it is more than worth its 500W wattage rating, capable of outputting over 600 watts of clean power before shutting down safely. You should, however, keep power consumption well below the 500W rating, because it's a lower end unit so most likely the capacitors can't take much of a beating.

This PSU will power any 6-pin card with no sweat, and even dual 6-pin cards that pull 150W (e.g. R9 270X) should be absolutely fine as long as you don't overclock them - it's a dual rail unit so you don't want to overload the rail that's designed to power one 6-pin card.

The Gigabyte case is completely usable, you don't need a new case unless you just want more modern features that don't directly impact your PC's performance.
 
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awongsurawat

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Nov 7, 2008
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lehtv said:
The eXtreme 500W is unfortunately a piece of junk, but if you rename it to eXtreme 350W, then it's alright. Meaning, treat it like a lower wattage unit and it performs within the electrical limits imposed by the ATX specification.

I would much rather use the Antec Basiq. The one you linked is the correct unit, as it is the only 500W unit in the Basiq series. The review of that unit at hardwaresecrets proves it is more than worth its 500W wattage rating, capable of outputting over 600 watts of clean power before shutting down safely. You should, however, keep power consumption well below the 500W rating, because it's a lower end unit so most likely the capacitors can't take much of a beating.

This PSU will power any 6-pin card with no sweat, and even dual 6-pin cards that pull 150W (e.g. R9 270X) should be absolutely fine as long as you don't overclock them - it's a dual rail unit so you don't want to overload the rail that's designed to power one 6-pin card.

The Gigabyte case is completely usable, you don't need a new case unless you just want more modern features that don't directly impact your PC's performance.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks for the info! I will put the Antec Basiq power supply in the case that I will use. I think for now I will go with the Haswell i3 and Biostar motherboard and 8GB RAM. I will continue to use my old video card until I can get a better video card. I kind of want an updated case, but I won't get one until I sell the old ones. I think this is the direction that I will go in.

When I upgrade the case and power supply eventually, what wattage should I go with, can I be OK with a new 430 as previously suggested, or go with a more powerful one, say 600 watt? I will start with the i3 and single video card, but I would like to eventually go i5 or maybe i7 and maybe dual video cards.
 
lehtv

lehtv

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Dec 8, 2010
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When I upgrade the case and power supply eventually, what wattage should I go with, can I be OK with a new 430 as previously suggested, or go with a more powerful one, say 600 watt? I will start with the i3 and single video card, but I would like to eventually go i5 or maybe i7 and maybe dual video cards.
Click to expand...
Personally, I would always recommend minimum 500W for most gaming rigs purely due to having two PCIe connectors natively, although some high quality 450W units also have those. Preferably two 8-pin, so that your setup will support any single GPU graphics card on the (new or used) market, even the high end ones.

Dual video cards would typically need four PCIe connectors, available in some 650W units and all 750W units of decent quality. The price gap between 650W and 450-500W is quite noticeable, and will hurt your unit's efficiency a little bit when using components that don't require more than that 450W. Don't buy an overkill PSU just because you might one day get dual graphics cards... in the very unlikely event that day comes, then you can just upgrade your unit.

The PSU doesn't really care what processor you have, they don't consume anywhere near as much power as your typical gaming grade graphics card, not to mention two graphics cards. What does matter a little is whether you overclock the CPU, but when talking about Intel Ivy Bridge and Haswell overclocking on air, the impact on power consumption is pretty negligible. A heavily overclocked AMD FX-8350 would be a different thing altogether.

As for the case, there are dozens of good options, it all depends on your budget, compatibility restrictions (e.g. you want it to support ATX boards or 140mm fans etc.), and what happens to be competitively priced at the time.
 
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mfenn

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Thanks for the info! Given what you've posted, here's what I would recommend:

i3 4130 $125
ASRock B85M-HDS $55
Team DDR3 1600 8GB $60
R7 265 $160
Reuse SSD $0
Reuse Antec Basiq 500W $0
Reuse Case $0
Total: $400

The R7 265 is generally faster than the GTX 750 Ti, but uses a little more power to do so. I opted for a faster CPU because Skyrim is a bit of a CPU hog. The R9 265 is a 2GB card, which can be potentially limiting in a heavily modded Skyrim, but going any higher would completely blow your budget out of the water.
 
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awongsurawat

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Nov 7, 2008
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mfenn said:
Thanks for the info! Given what you've posted, here's what I would recommend:

i3 4130 $125
ASRock B85M-HDS $55
Team DDR3 1600 8GB $60
R7 265 $160
Reuse SSD $0
Reuse Antec Basiq 500W $0
Reuse Case $0
Total: $400

The R7 265 is generally faster than the GTX 750 Ti, but uses a little more power to do so. I opted for a faster CPU because Skyrim is a bit of a CPU hog. The R9 265 is a 2GB card, which can be potentially limiting in a heavily modded Skyrim, but going any higher would completely blow your budget out of the water.
Click to expand...

That is some great information there thanks! I will go with a build really close to this one. I may have to hold off for a little for that video card but I can probably get the rest fairly soon. Thanks again!
 
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