@coercitiv
Is this still your current choice? The Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2PV uses DDR3L memory, not DDR4. Also, you might want to check maximum supported memory speed before spending extra cash on faster chips.
Good catch! Thank you for that, I totally forgot that the 1151 boards can have either DDR4 or DDR3L.
You mention high prices for H97 mobos, yet choose H110 over H170 when it comes to Skylake. I strongly suggest you take another look at Haswell as a budget gaming platform.
You know, good point. I took this advice and that of frozentundra123456 and took another look at the i5-4590 over at Micro Center and went even cheaper on the chipset with a H81 board and it looks like it is significantly cheaper. I will post the new configuration at the bottom of this thread...
What will be played on this machine? I would rather save $100 on games than on the hardware. At the lower end $150 can easily mean double the FPS in game.
Since this is for a friend and his wife (who currently only own an Xbox 360), I'm not sure what will be played on this machine other than Black Ops 3. I haven't heard them talking about many other games. They just always mention how they wish they had a gaming PC so that they can play with me and everyone else they know. So as of now, black ops 3 is the main thing it needs to run but I'm sure they'll be buying more games down the road. I know when it comes to his Xbox 360, he tends to like racing games and RPG stuff and his wife tends to be more on the Black Ops and casual games stuff.
Yea, I dont agree with the "skimp on cpu, spend more for gpu" philosophy, especially considering a new generation of dgpus will be out in some months that should bring a huge improvement in performance and power efficiency. Better to get a solid cpu with no compromises and if you must upgrade in the future, do it for the gpu.
I agree with the point you've made here. This is why I reworked everything to try to get an i5 in there. I would like to start them off with at least a decent GPU capable of running BO3 at a solid 60fps (on at least medium-high settings) though. I know there are supposed to be some awesome new graphics cards being launched later this year but I'm not sure when. I did some Googleing and I get conflicting answers as to when the cards are coming out and how expensive they might be.
Also, OP, for those advocating FX, do you really want to overclock a system you are building for someone else? Quite a bit of extra work setting up the system (tweaking, stability testing) for a system for someone else, and possible stability issues down the line.
No, no I do not. As soon as everyone started telling me that I would need to overclock the FX-8320E for it to be worth anything, I kind of crossed that out as an option. Overclocking adds to the cost because I will have to purchase more fans and an aftermarket CPU cooler. It could also lead to issues down the road as you said. The FX-8320E just doesn't seem worth it to me...
However, the quality of the unit is mediocre. For only $14 more dollars you can get the very good EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Semi-Modular PSU with a 5 rather than 3 year warranty if you order today. ($49 after rebate)
I really hate dealing with mail-in rebates, but I did find an EVGA 600 B1 on sale on Amazon for $45. Is this a good model? Worth the extra $10? I think the only differences I've noticed with it is that it's 80+ bronze and has two pci-e connectors. I will look into that rebate deal still if it saves me money and gets a better product, I just hate rebates lol.
I wouldn't count on upgrading ever. Have any of you actually built computers for friends? It's a pain to support the thing forever, and promising an upgrade later just puts you on the line for yet more work on it. And if you're building it for them in the first place there's a 90% chance they wont ever upgrade it themselves, they'll just call you.
I actually quite enjoy working on all this stuff. I don't mind if they call me down the road to perform their upgrades for them. I've built systems for myself and friends before, I just haven't ever been on such a tight budget (because I wasn't the one paying for my other friend's machines).
Okay, so here is the new configuration:
Processor: i5-4590 [$160]
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-HD2 [$40]
http://www.microcenter.com/product/458662/GA-H81M-HD2_LGA_1150_mATX_Intel_Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8Gb (2x4) DDR3 1600 [43]
Power Supply: EVGA 500 W1 [$35]
Graphics: Sapphire Radeon Nitro R9 380 4Gb [$200]
Storage: WD Blue Mainstream 1Tb 7,200RPM [$40]
Case: Thermaltake Versa N21 [$55]
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_4&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Total = $610 (after taxes and shipping and all that)
^This i5-4590 system is exactly within my budget! I am still open to suggestions though on all of these parts. I am particularly curious about the H81 motherboard quality. Also still looking at different cases that may be better.
Facebook
Twitter