Originally posted by Pepeq I own a Mac, so by definition every windows-based machine is a budget PC.
Thank you for adding nothing to the thread other than you like to overpay for apple products. Now we can safely close it since we are enlightened by you being on the apple bandwagon.
Listen to the pot call the kettle black...
Ummm yeah.
I actually posted some advice pertaining to the topic a few posts up.
I think the line for the new I phones are forming that way -------->. Its been a couple of weeks so it is time for a new model. Dont miss out!
Apparently my owning a Mac is too much for your psyche to handle... Macs clearly are OP... you should try one.
That doesn't delude me into thinking they make good gaming PCs, or that they are good for everyone. Since the OP says they will be gaming a lot, I wouldn't recommend a Mac.
They are not budget friendly, but I also think you do get what you pay for with them and the Apple Premium Price actually does go to something valuable (or I wouldn't have bought them).
Not everyone sees value in those extra things though, and I don't try to argue with them - everyone has a bit different set of values, and the next models Apple puts out may not have the same value.
For instance, I don't value the current Mac Pro very highly, certainly not at it's $2500+ price tag, but I did really like the older style and thought that was worth the money (in certain situations). I am moderately interested in the new Retina 5k iMac, but I think it's niche is going to be mainly delegated to photoshop/photograph nuts and that's about all I would recommend it to (if it can handle video at 4k-5k I would be more impressed with it, but idk that it can handle that well). I really like the Mac Mini, I think it hits a lot of different niches and does those fairly well, and I really like the MBP as a working/business machine. iPad/iPhone - depends on what you are wanting to use them for.
You've got no memory and no OS. Add those in and you're basically at $800, which is way outside of the budget.
Wait a second, isn't RAM extremely cheap? Like under 20$ is what I was figuring for RAM on the posted build.
(EDIT- ok RAM is more than I thought. for 8G im looking at like 75$, I got it now.)
I don't need a DVD drive either, I have a USB DVD drive for emergencies.
So how much is the OS ? I was figuring about 100 bucks. That would make this build around 750, right? Please let me know if I'm thinking wrong here.
My budget isn't "carved in stone". I have money, it's more about what I want to spend (as little as possible). I assumed I would need to pick up an OS . So the build he posted is pretty much in line with what I was looking for. I think.
Should I snag up that cheap little SSD drive today? Is it worth the risk of it not working for it to be half off? Or are the little ones always that cheap now?
Do they ever offer deals on the OS ?? (no I don't want to learn LINUX at this time)
What do you think of the video card in the posted build? Will this meet my criteria of 30+ fps in modern games?
Is the Mobo and CPU a good gaming set up?
Sorry for so many questions, but this is the area I have little knowledge on, I know what the parts are and what they do, but just like a watermelon I can't tell a good one from a bad one just by looking.
Thanks again, this all is extremely helpful !
The do offer deals on OS sometimes. I caught Windows 8.1 on sale at newegg for $70. The video card is a 280 which is the same as a 7970 if I am not mistaken. Right now I am running a 7970GHZ which is a slightly overclocked 7970 and I can play any game out at high settings. The Mobo and cpu are very good for the prices. That CPU imo is the best value cpu for building a gaming pc period. I recommend reading some user reviews at newegg and amazon and also going to YouTube and searching for videos on the components. Always try to listen to people that actually own the stuff you are interested in.
Occasionally there are great deals that are going to be gone fast, and I could understand grabbing those. For example, a decent enough power supply for $11 after rebate. But those aren't very common, and it's not worth your effort to look for them, as if you think you've found one, you're probably wrong. Just wait until you have the money and buy everything at once, as you're likely to make mistakes if you try to grab random parts earlier.
Now that I have another look at that, you're going to put a 250 W video card into a dinky case with only one fan? That strikes me as a bad idea. And a $135 motherboard is something that maybe you can justify on a $1000 budget, but not if the buyer wants something closer to $600.
Should I snag up that cheap little SSD drive today? Is it worth the risk of it not working for it to be half off? Or are the little ones always that cheap now?
If you're getting just an SSD and no hard drive, I'd recommend getting something in the ballpark of 240 GB, as is commonly available around $100. 120 GB isn't very much storage these days.
Finding substantial discounts on Windows is pretty rare. Microsoft knows that you need an OS and probably need to buy it from Microsoft, so they have no incentive to offer temporary sales to get you to buy it one week instead of another.
Now that I have another look at that, you're going to put a 250 W video card into a dinky case with only one fan? That strikes me as a bad idea. And a $135 motherboard is something that maybe you can justify on a $1000 budget, but not if the buyer wants something closer to $600.
Dude, get a life. If he needs a fan then just buy a $5 fan. This is why I told him to read up on every component and see what people say that actually own these products. I built my PC for around the same price and my AsRock Extreme3 cost around the same price at the time. Telling somebody that has $600 to spend that he should buy Intergrated Graphcs. That was priceless. Why the hell do I keep talking to you anyway.
Here is a build that clocks in around $600. Some of these have promo codes & sales that are time sensitive tho. But maybe can use this as an example of what you can get.
Come to $623 after using promo codes. After the mail in rebates comes to $583
There is no SSD. I would rather save the money and use an HDD over an SSD in this case so I can get a dedicated GPU. The computer may be a bit slower without an SSD but for gaming the only real difference is load times. I can deal with a few seconds longer load times easier than I can integrated graphics.
The 750ti is better than integrated graphics any day of the week. Personally I would even wait another month to build and save more $ to avoid integrated graphics if I had to make a choice.
This also does not include a CPU cooler, so you will be stuck using the stock cooler. Would not OC until you get a better one.
The CPU is on sale for $79. You can get the 6 core for the same as the 4 core when not on sale. $99. If you miss the sale get the 6 core for the same price.
Like I said these prices are time sensitive. If you cant buy everything today but can buy some today and the rest in a few weeks then grab the stuff on sale IMO. If something is DOA you bought today returning it in a few weeks wont be a problem.
But anyways, just some ideas of what you can build for around $600. Maybe not the best but a very capable gaming PC that you can upgrade easily as funds permit. Adding an SSD would be my next upgrade tho.
Originally posted by Jockan Dude, get a life. If he needs a fan then just buy a $5 fan. This is why I told him to read up on every component and see what people say that actually own these products. I built my PC for around the same price and my AsRock Extreme3 cost around the same price at the time. Telling somebody that has $600 to spend that he should buy Intergrated Graphcs. That was priceless. Why the hell do I keep talking to you anyway.
I didn't actually look at your links, so I have no idea what you have in that build... but on a $600 budget, I'd start with Integrated graphics too, rather than skimp the hell out of everything else and build a crappy PC. If I was coming in way under budget, then I would shift gears, but I would be surprised on $600 if I would.
A good build that's just a little bit slower is better than a faster crappy build in my opinion. I tend to place a higher value on things like customer service after the sale, warranty support, build quality, and I'll even admit to reputation and some degree of brand loyalty.
But I didn't look at your links - maybe you have a genius $600 build with top tier video in there and I don't even know it.
There are questions both of budget and priorities. If you want higher graphical settings at the cost of having to wait on the computer more often, then something like jdnewell's build will work. Personally, I'd rather make room for an SSD, even if it means having to run most games at medium to high settings rather than being able to max stuff.
That comes to $547, including shipping and before rebates. Yes, it's integrated graphics--but it's integrated graphics that will beat most of the discrete video cards that you could get for $70. And it's integrated graphics that will be competitive with AMD's top of the line from 2007. Yes, it's not 2007 anymore, but neither would it require paying hundreds of dollars for a discrete video card to get that level of performance.
And it comes with an obvious upgrade path: add a discrete video card later, once you've got more money available. Just about anything will be playable, and usually at medium to high settings, though often not max. Yes, it will be lower settings than if you spent $200 on a discrete video card today; it will probably be in the ballpark of 1/3 of the performance of the GTX 750 Ti that jdnewell linked. But the integrated graphics approach lets you spend $0 on a discrete video card today, and that's a huge deal if you're trying to get a nice computer on a sub-$600 budget.
Originally posted by Jockan Dude, get a life. If he needs a fan then just buy a $5 fan. This is why I told him to read up on every component and see what people say that actually own these products. I built my PC for around the same price and my AsRock Extreme3 cost around the same price at the time. Telling somebody that has $600 to spend that he should buy Intergrated Graphcs. That was priceless. Why the hell do I keep talking to you anyway.
I didn't actually look at your links, so I have no idea what you have in that build... but on a $600 budget, I'd start with Integrated graphics too, rather than skimp the hell out of everything else and build a crappy PC. If I was coming in way under budget, then I would shift gears, but I would be surprised on $600 if I would.
A good build that's just a little bit slower is better than a faster crappy build in my opinion. I tend to place a higher value on things like customer service after the sale, warranty support, build quality, and I'll even admit to reputation and some degree of brand loyalty.
But I didn't look at your links - maybe you have a genius $600 build with top tier video in there and I don't even know it.
You don't have to be genius to build a pc for $600. There are so many articles and videos around about building a budget pc. Nobody should look at intergrated graphics if they have $600 to spend on a computer. I can build a pc for less then the one I posted that's better then intergrated. Don't compare me to you. OP got what he came for so you all can have this thread to your selves.
You don't have to be genius to build a pc for $600.
Says the guy whose idea of a $600 PC costs closer to $800.
On a $600 budget, you have to cut back somewhere. The GPU is an easy thing to upgrade later; some other things are much harder to upgrade later. And the only thing you sacrifice by going with integrated graphics is that you typically have to turn graphical settings down further.
But 384 GCN shaders is nothing to sneeze at. That's half of what the Xbox One has, for example. It's not going to relegate you to being stuck at 20 frames per second in everything. It will only mean that you have to turn off or down a few very demanding settings.
I appreciate you guys taking the time to put up some sample builds for me to look at and chew over.
I will take your advice and wait a week or two to start buying components, then I'll only be a week or so away from ordering the rest of it.
Quizzical, if I go your route with integrated graphics, I could then grab a a dedicated GPU in January. Would I need more heat disbursement at that time?
Or I could go with a standard hard drive for now, then add a SSD in a month or two. In that case I could maybe pop for the GPU right off the bat.
I think I would rather get a good Mobo/CPU to start and then add GPU later.
I am going to do more reading, and researching as suggested. I'll let you guys know what I come up with !
This is really fun ! Thanks again for all the help and sage advice.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
Originally posted by Jockan You don't have to be genius to build a pc for $600. There are so many articles and videos around about building a budget pc. Nobody should look at intergrated graphics if they have $600 to spend on a computer. I can build a pc for less then the one I posted that's better then intergrated. Don't compare me to you. OP got what he came for so you all can have this thread to your selves.
$100 for Windows off the bat (unless you want to pirate or happen to have a transferrable license - I don't count on that though unless explictly told)
8G of RAM is pretty standard. So there's another $70 or so.
Case is a bit variable, it's a budget, so let's say $40-50ish for a basic no frills model.
Power supply is a bit variable, but it's a budget, let's stay on the lower end with some sort of quality - that's around $40.
HDD/SSD - I don't build computers any more w/o an SSD, so I suppose you could save a few dollars here on a HDD - but a 120G SSD is what I would call entry level (~$70), although a 240 would be more comfortable (~$100). This would be the first item I would bump up if the budget lets me.
Motherboards you have some leeway, but this is a budget. Let's say $70 for budget, although i've seen them as low as $50 before. This depends somewhat on if you are going with integrated graphics or not though.
CPU, my go-to budget CPU is a FX-6300 (about $100). But this low I would look integrated, that puts with an A10 7850 (about $160 right now, although I've seen it as low as $130 before).
So on integrated graphics, that puts us at $100 (Windows) $70 (RAM) $45 (Case) $40 (PSU) $70 (SSD) $70 (MB) $160 (CPU) = $555
That would leave me enough money to consider the 240G SSD, but probably not enough to look at discrete graphics with this build.
Going on discrete graphics - mostly the same bits less the CPU, let's see how it adds up $100 (Windows) $70 (RAM) $45 (Case) $40 (PSU) $70 (SSD) $70 (MB) $100 (CPU) = $495
So I'm left with $100 to get a video card. The graphics in the A10 7850 (512 stream processors) are somewhere between a R7 250 and a 250X (384-640 SP respectively). I can get a R7 250X for about $100, but I won't have any left over to bump that SSD.
So ... those two builds are going to run about the same. The discrete graphics will be just a touch faster gaming, but has a smaller SSD. Extra HDs are easy to add later, but it's also easy to add in a discrete GPU later on too.
So - does it take a genius? No. Not really. But it isn't a cut and dry "OMG Your crazy for even thinking integrated graphics", and AMD integrated graphics don't suck like Intel's (as your Avatar should indicate to you).
You aren't really gaining anything going with the discrete graphics, you end up with maybe slightly faster graphics on the build than integrated, at the expense of something else (in my case, it was SSD size, but other builds may choose something else). Drop that Windows license, that frees up a good chunk of money and the equation shifts a bit.
Quizzical, if I go your route with integrated graphics, I could then grab a a dedicated GPU in January. Would I need more heat disbursement at that time?
Or I could go with a standard hard drive for now, then add a SSD in a month or two. In that case I could maybe pop for the GPU right off the bat.
When you're ready to buy, come back and ask again. Prices bounce around a lot, and if someone linked something because it was cheap at $50 today, and it's $80 in two weeks when you're looking to buy, it's better to get something else instead.
If you're going to get integrated graphics for now and add a discrete card later, then you build around the assumption that you need to handle however much power the discrete card will need. So you get a case and power supply that can handle it--like what we've been linking in this thread, and unlike a $30 case or 300 W power supply that you could find a little cheaper.
My recommendation would be to try the integrated graphics and see how it goes for a while, and don't buy a discrete card until you think you definitely need something better. In most games, you'll need to turn down or off a handful of very demanding things (shadows, any sort of ambient occlusion, especially demanding forms of anti-aliasing, maybe a couple less common things that most games don't have) and be able to max everything else.
Depending on what games you play, it's entirely possible that you'll be happy with integrated graphics for a year or two, and then the upgrade options you're looking at will be vastly better than available today. Or you might decide in January that you definitely need a discrete card and quickly.
Integrated graphics isn't relegated to the ultra low end like it used to be. Strictly speaking, both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have integrated graphics--though the PS4 has integrated graphics that will outright beat just about any discrete card that you're likely to find for $150.
As time passes and Moore's Law allows ever more transistors on a chip, integrated graphics are expected to gobble up an ever larger segment of the market. I wouldn't be surprised at all if, five years from now, there's little point in buying a discrete video card for a new computer for under $200 because the cards you can get for $100 are slower than integrated graphics. AMD and Nvidia have stopped making new discrete video card chips that are basically the lowest end version of an architecture that you can make and have it still be functional. It used to be that you could readily get a low end card of the latest generation for $40. Now they start at about $70, and new discrete cards for that market segment aren't going to keep coming for long.
I wanted to say with release of gtx 970 lot of lower Gpu droped like shit in Price some website gave crazy price cuts for 760 770 but to be honest better earn a few more bucks and buy something worth those money money
If your in USA its easy here in Europe prices are little higher . While you pay 400$ we pay 390 euro = 498 $
You can buy gtx 760 for 174 Euro from some website like caseing.de this is 200 $ But this suck and this Card is hod as devil butt
Put few more bucks to make your purches really worth the money
It is almost mid november. If your going to buy a dedicated GPU in January then I would just wait.
No need to build a system around integrated graphics for 4 weeks. Personally I would either wait until Jan. to build and just do it right, or buy a dedicated GPU now and add an SSD later.
To me it would be foolish to build a system with an APU for a few weeks. Just wait and build an actual gaming PC that you will be happy with from the get go. If you were talking 4 months then that would be different, 4 weeks with the holidays thrown in is not much time.
Integrated graphics are not bad necessarily, but it is low end.
But you could make it to 800 and LOSE only all fancy brands reputation and Great cooling from Gigabyte
Case for 40 $ but big enouth for gtx 970 will look not that cool
Ram for 71 $ there are cheaper brands
PSU no change 62 $
CPU no chnage 174$
GPU GTX 970 from EVGA 340$ Gigabyte much better cooling and has better cooling architecture .
Motherboard 70 - 80 $ There are some cheaper brands
hard driver 44 $ well you will same few bucks but you will have 500 gb I have 300 )))
And he we are an Amazing performance build for just 801 $
So I made you an build that is a little more expensive that will give 2 times better FPS it's up to you to decide to waste 600 700 for an average or 800 for great
For example I've seen ppl suggesting 750ti 760 builds but they will run battle field 4 at 30 fps and GPu temp will be around 80 C .... my cheap build will run at 50-65 fps and at around 69 C
also in long run CPU haswell and GTX 970 will save you more money than GTX 700 series or AMD CPU
Also you could wait for Chrismas discounts . I plan to get my Inno3d Air boss Ultra them in hope of a discount ^^
It is almost mid november. If your going to buy a dedicated GPU in January then I would just wait.
No need to build a system around integrated graphics for 4 weeks. Personally I would either wait until Jan. to build and just do it right, or buy a dedicated GPU now and add an SSD later.
To me it would be foolish to build a system with an APU for a few weeks. Just wait and build an actual gaming PC that you will be happy with from the get go. If you were talking 4 months then that would be different, 4 weeks with the holidays thrown in is not much time.
Integrated graphics are not bad necessarily, but it is low end.
This is my dilemma. I just figured the best sales will be in the next few weeks and maybe some just after xmas. The after xmas stuff is usually just whats left over though.
I am very happy I started this thread early. I have time to think about things some and I have already learned a ton of stuff I didn't know a couple days ago.
I'll fine tune my budget and see what extra dollars I can come up with.
If I would have said I could spend 800, then I would have gotten all 800 dollar builds. This thread has been a great example of what the lower end configurations could be. But I might have to pony up a few more bucks to get everything I want.
I truly appreciate the help.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
Wait until you have the money and are ready to buy and then come back.
This is the best advice given in the entire thread. With such a small amount of money you are much better off wainting until you have around $1000 and can get something 2-3x more powerful.
Its like deciding to get a Wii U instead of saving up another $150 for a PS4, just so you can get a console. Just throwing your money away (unless you are a Nintendo fan of course).
Since you are going to be using it mostly for games, you really do NOT want to cut yourself short with a weak CPU, low amount of memory and an average graphics card.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
This is my dilemma. I just figured the best sales will be in the next few weeks and maybe some just after xmas. The after xmas stuff is usually just whats left over though.
I am very happy I started this thread early. I have time to think about things some and I have already learned a ton of stuff I didn't know a couple days ago.
I'll fine tune my budget and see what extra dollars I can come up with.
If I would have said I could spend 800, then I would have gotten all 800 dollar builds. This thread has been a great example of what the lower end configurations could be. But I might have to pony up a few more bucks to get everything I want.
I truly appreciate the help.
If you are going to wait until January(good idea BTW) keep your eyes pealed on places like Newegg who normally have great new years sales, online warehouses also. The idea they only sell leftovers is framed in a negative light which isn't true because many stores tend to overstock on a lot of items they will think will be popular. Its actually a good thing.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
Originally posted by paulytheb This has all been extremely helpful.I appreciate you guys taking the time to put up some sample builds for me to look at and chew over. I will take your advice and wait a week or two to start buying components, then I'll only be a week or so away from ordering the rest of it.Quizzical, if I go your route with integrated graphics, I could then grab a a dedicated GPU in January. Would I need more heat disbursement at that time?Or I could go with a standard hard drive for now, then add a SSD in a month or two. In that case I could maybe pop for the GPU right off the bat. I think I would rather get a good Mobo/CPU to start and then add GPU later. I am going to do more reading, and researching as suggested. I'll let you guys know what I come up with ! This is really fun ! Thanks again for all the help and sage advice.
If someone is recommending you going with on-board GPU for gaming rig, you know you need to ignore that person.
You've got no memory and no OS. Add those in and you're basically at $800, which is way outside of the budget.
For some reason the link for the memory did not get saved in my wish list but add $70-$80 for 8GB memory and its puts it at about $680. I dont add OS's to builds, I just build the PC it self.
Why wouldn't you add the OS to a build? It is required. Makes no sense.
Wait until you have the money and are ready to buy and then come back.
This is the best advice given in the entire thread. With such a small amount of money you are much better off wainting until you have around $1000 and can get something 2-3x more powerful.
Its like deciding to get a Wii U instead of saving up another $150 for a PS4, just so you can get a console. Just throwing your money away (unless you are a Nintendo fan of course).
Since you are going to be using it mostly for games, you really do NOT want to cut yourself short with a weak CPU, low amount of memory and an average graphics card.
Agreed. There is a reason it says "GUIDE" under Quizzical's forum avatar.
Comments
Apparently my owning a Mac is too much for your psyche to handle... Macs clearly are OP... you should try one.
I own a Mac.
In fact, I have 3 of them in my house right now.
That doesn't delude me into thinking they make good gaming PCs, or that they are good for everyone. Since the OP says they will be gaming a lot, I wouldn't recommend a Mac.
They are not budget friendly, but I also think you do get what you pay for with them and the Apple Premium Price actually does go to something valuable (or I wouldn't have bought them).
Not everyone sees value in those extra things though, and I don't try to argue with them - everyone has a bit different set of values, and the next models Apple puts out may not have the same value.
For instance, I don't value the current Mac Pro very highly, certainly not at it's $2500+ price tag, but I did really like the older style and thought that was worth the money (in certain situations). I am moderately interested in the new Retina 5k iMac, but I think it's niche is going to be mainly delegated to photoshop/photograph nuts and that's about all I would recommend it to (if it can handle video at 4k-5k I would be more impressed with it, but idk that it can handle that well). I really like the Mac Mini, I think it hits a lot of different niches and does those fairly well, and I really like the MBP as a working/business machine. iPad/iPhone - depends on what you are wanting to use them for.
The do offer deals on OS sometimes. I caught Windows 8.1 on sale at newegg for $70. The video card is a 280 which is the same as a 7970 if I am not mistaken. Right now I am running a 7970GHZ which is a slightly overclocked 7970 and I can play any game out at high settings. The Mobo and cpu are very good for the prices. That CPU imo is the best value cpu for building a gaming pc period. I recommend reading some user reviews at newegg and amazon and also going to YouTube and searching for videos on the components. Always try to listen to people that actually own the stuff you are interested in.
This is the memory I did not post.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460
Now that I have another look at that, you're going to put a 250 W video card into a dinky case with only one fan? That strikes me as a bad idea. And a $135 motherboard is something that maybe you can justify on a $1000 budget, but not if the buyer wants something closer to $600.
If you're getting just an SSD and no hard drive, I'd recommend getting something in the ballpark of 240 GB, as is commonly available around $100. 120 GB isn't very much storage these days.
Finding substantial discounts on Windows is pretty rare. Microsoft knows that you need an OS and probably need to buy it from Microsoft, so they have no incentive to offer temporary sales to get you to buy it one week instead of another.
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so say we all
Dude, get a life. If he needs a fan then just buy a $5 fan. This is why I told him to read up on every component and see what people say that actually own these products. I built my PC for around the same price and my AsRock Extreme3 cost around the same price at the time. Telling somebody that has $600 to spend that he should buy Intergrated Graphcs. That was priceless. Why the hell do I keep talking to you anyway.
Here is a build that clocks in around $600. Some of these have promo codes & sales that are time sensitive tho. But maybe can use this as an example of what you can get.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136276 DvD drive $15 after promo code
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133253 Case $55 before $25 Mail in rebate ~ $30 after
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339 HDD $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130637 Motherboard $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487024 GPU $130 before $15 mail in rebate, $115 after
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438012 PSU $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 RAM $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113287 CPU $99 before $20 promo code, $79 after
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416806 OS $99
Come to $623 after using promo codes. After the mail in rebates comes to $583
There is no SSD. I would rather save the money and use an HDD over an SSD in this case so I can get a dedicated GPU. The computer may be a bit slower without an SSD but for gaming the only real difference is load times. I can deal with a few seconds longer load times easier than I can integrated graphics.
The 750ti is better than integrated graphics any day of the week. Personally I would even wait another month to build and save more $ to avoid integrated graphics if I had to make a choice.
This also does not include a CPU cooler, so you will be stuck using the stock cooler. Would not OC until you get a better one.
The CPU is on sale for $79. You can get the 6 core for the same as the 4 core when not on sale. $99. If you miss the sale get the 6 core for the same price.
Like I said these prices are time sensitive. If you cant buy everything today but can buy some today and the rest in a few weeks then grab the stuff on sale IMO. If something is DOA you bought today returning it in a few weeks wont be a problem.
But anyways, just some ideas of what you can build for around $600. Maybe not the best but a very capable gaming PC that you can upgrade easily as funds permit. Adding an SSD would be my next upgrade tho.
I didn't actually look at your links, so I have no idea what you have in that build... but on a $600 budget, I'd start with Integrated graphics too, rather than skimp the hell out of everything else and build a crappy PC. If I was coming in way under budget, then I would shift gears, but I would be surprised on $600 if I would.
A good build that's just a little bit slower is better than a faster crappy build in my opinion. I tend to place a higher value on things like customer service after the sale, warranty support, build quality, and I'll even admit to reputation and some degree of brand loyalty.
But I didn't look at your links - maybe you have a genius $600 build with top tier video in there and I don't even know it.
There are questions both of budget and priorities. If you want higher graphical settings at the cost of having to wait on the computer more often, then something like jdnewell's build will work. Personally, I'd rather make room for an SSD, even if it means having to run most games at medium to high settings rather than being able to max stuff.
For example, you could try this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113360
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226525
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148694
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147159
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416776
That comes to $547, including shipping and before rebates. Yes, it's integrated graphics--but it's integrated graphics that will beat most of the discrete video cards that you could get for $70. And it's integrated graphics that will be competitive with AMD's top of the line from 2007. Yes, it's not 2007 anymore, but neither would it require paying hundreds of dollars for a discrete video card to get that level of performance.
And it comes with an obvious upgrade path: add a discrete video card later, once you've got more money available. Just about anything will be playable, and usually at medium to high settings, though often not max. Yes, it will be lower settings than if you spent $200 on a discrete video card today; it will probably be in the ballpark of 1/3 of the performance of the GTX 750 Ti that jdnewell linked. But the integrated graphics approach lets you spend $0 on a discrete video card today, and that's a huge deal if you're trying to get a nice computer on a sub-$600 budget.
You don't have to be genius to build a pc for $600. There are so many articles and videos around about building a budget pc. Nobody should look at intergrated graphics if they have $600 to spend on a computer. I can build a pc for less then the one I posted that's better then intergrated. Don't compare me to you. OP got what he came for so you all can have this thread to your selves.
Says the guy whose idea of a $600 PC costs closer to $800.
On a $600 budget, you have to cut back somewhere. The GPU is an easy thing to upgrade later; some other things are much harder to upgrade later. And the only thing you sacrifice by going with integrated graphics is that you typically have to turn graphical settings down further.
But 384 GCN shaders is nothing to sneeze at. That's half of what the Xbox One has, for example. It's not going to relegate you to being stuck at 20 frames per second in everything. It will only mean that you have to turn off or down a few very demanding settings.
This has all been extremely helpful.
I appreciate you guys taking the time to put up some sample builds for me to look at and chew over.
I will take your advice and wait a week or two to start buying components, then I'll only be a week or so away from ordering the rest of it.
Quizzical, if I go your route with integrated graphics, I could then grab a a dedicated GPU in January. Would I need more heat disbursement at that time?
Or I could go with a standard hard drive for now, then add a SSD in a month or two. In that case I could maybe pop for the GPU right off the bat.
I think I would rather get a good Mobo/CPU to start and then add GPU later.
I am going to do more reading, and researching as suggested. I'll let you guys know what I come up with !
This is really fun ! Thanks again for all the help and sage advice.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.
$100 for Windows off the bat (unless you want to pirate or happen to have a transferrable license - I don't count on that though unless explictly told)
8G of RAM is pretty standard. So there's another $70 or so.
Case is a bit variable, it's a budget, so let's say $40-50ish for a basic no frills model.
Power supply is a bit variable, but it's a budget, let's stay on the lower end with some sort of quality - that's around $40.
HDD/SSD - I don't build computers any more w/o an SSD, so I suppose you could save a few dollars here on a HDD - but a 120G SSD is what I would call entry level (~$70), although a 240 would be more comfortable (~$100). This would be the first item I would bump up if the budget lets me.
Motherboards you have some leeway, but this is a budget. Let's say $70 for budget, although i've seen them as low as $50 before. This depends somewhat on if you are going with integrated graphics or not though.
CPU, my go-to budget CPU is a FX-6300 (about $100). But this low I would look integrated, that puts with an A10 7850 (about $160 right now, although I've seen it as low as $130 before).
So on integrated graphics, that puts us at
$100 (Windows)
$70 (RAM)
$45 (Case)
$40 (PSU)
$70 (SSD)
$70 (MB)
$160 (CPU)
= $555
That would leave me enough money to consider the 240G SSD, but probably not enough to look at discrete graphics with this build.
Going on discrete graphics - mostly the same bits less the CPU, let's see how it adds up
$100 (Windows)
$70 (RAM)
$45 (Case)
$40 (PSU)
$70 (SSD)
$70 (MB)
$100 (CPU)
= $495
So I'm left with $100 to get a video card. The graphics in the A10 7850 (512 stream processors) are somewhere between a R7 250 and a 250X (384-640 SP respectively). I can get a R7 250X for about $100, but I won't have any left over to bump that SSD.
So ... those two builds are going to run about the same. The discrete graphics will be just a touch faster gaming, but has a smaller SSD. Extra HDs are easy to add later, but it's also easy to add in a discrete GPU later on too.
So - does it take a genius? No. Not really. But it isn't a cut and dry "OMG Your crazy for even thinking integrated graphics", and AMD integrated graphics don't suck like Intel's (as your Avatar should indicate to you).
You aren't really gaining anything going with the discrete graphics, you end up with maybe slightly faster graphics on the build than integrated, at the expense of something else (in my case, it was SSD size, but other builds may choose something else). Drop that Windows license, that frees up a good chunk of money and the equation shifts a bit.
When you're ready to buy, come back and ask again. Prices bounce around a lot, and if someone linked something because it was cheap at $50 today, and it's $80 in two weeks when you're looking to buy, it's better to get something else instead.
If you're going to get integrated graphics for now and add a discrete card later, then you build around the assumption that you need to handle however much power the discrete card will need. So you get a case and power supply that can handle it--like what we've been linking in this thread, and unlike a $30 case or 300 W power supply that you could find a little cheaper.
My recommendation would be to try the integrated graphics and see how it goes for a while, and don't buy a discrete card until you think you definitely need something better. In most games, you'll need to turn down or off a handful of very demanding things (shadows, any sort of ambient occlusion, especially demanding forms of anti-aliasing, maybe a couple less common things that most games don't have) and be able to max everything else.
Depending on what games you play, it's entirely possible that you'll be happy with integrated graphics for a year or two, and then the upgrade options you're looking at will be vastly better than available today. Or you might decide in January that you definitely need a discrete card and quickly.
Integrated graphics isn't relegated to the ultra low end like it used to be. Strictly speaking, both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have integrated graphics--though the PS4 has integrated graphics that will outright beat just about any discrete card that you're likely to find for $150.
As time passes and Moore's Law allows ever more transistors on a chip, integrated graphics are expected to gobble up an ever larger segment of the market. I wouldn't be surprised at all if, five years from now, there's little point in buying a discrete video card for a new computer for under $200 because the cards you can get for $100 are slower than integrated graphics. AMD and Nvidia have stopped making new discrete video card chips that are basically the lowest end version of an architecture that you can make and have it still be functional. It used to be that you could readily get a low end card of the latest generation for $40. Now they start at about $70, and new discrete cards for that market segment aren't going to keep coming for long.
Id suggest you focus and build your PC around gtx 970 because it is very cheap and has outstanding performance
bought my self a gtx 760 .... not very satisfied
http://www.logicalincrements.com/ hope this help very simple
I wanted to say with release of gtx 970 lot of lower Gpu droped like shit in Price some website gave crazy price cuts for 760 770 but to be honest better earn a few more bucks and buy something worth those money money
If your in USA its easy here in Europe prices are little higher . While you pay 400$ we pay 390 euro = 498 $
You can buy gtx 760 for 174 Euro from some website like caseing.de this is 200 $ But this suck and this Card is hod as devil butt
Put few more bucks to make your purches really worth the money
It is almost mid november. If your going to buy a dedicated GPU in January then I would just wait.
No need to build a system around integrated graphics for 4 weeks. Personally I would either wait until Jan. to build and just do it right, or buy a dedicated GPU now and add an SSD later.
To me it would be foolish to build a system with an APU for a few weeks. Just wait and build an actual gaming PC that you will be happy with from the get go. If you were talking 4 months then that would be different, 4 weeks with the holidays thrown in is not much time.
Integrated graphics are not bad necessarily, but it is low end.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MNS0D5Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A20O7ZIM03RW46
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CRSM4I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0092ML0OC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CO8T9VC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NH5T1UA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2YLYLTN75J8LR
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXK59OW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A22WDFGR5I1U9E
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T3GRNW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
<span a-color-price="" sc-price="" sc-white-space-nowrap="" sc-price-sign"="">$945.17
But you could make it to 800 and LOSE only all fancy brands reputation and Great cooling from Gigabyte
Case for 40 $ but big enouth for gtx 970 will look not that cool
Ram for 71 $ there are cheaper brands
PSU no change 62 $
CPU no chnage 174$
GPU GTX 970 from EVGA 340$ Gigabyte much better cooling and has better cooling architecture .
Motherboard 70 - 80 $ There are some cheaper brands
hard driver 44 $ well you will same few bucks but you will have 500 gb I have 300 )))
And he we are an Amazing performance build for just 801 $
So I made you an build that is a little more expensive that will give 2 times better FPS it's up to you to decide to waste 600 700 for an average or 800 for great
For example I've seen ppl suggesting 750ti 760 builds but they will run battle field 4 at 30 fps and GPu temp will be around 80 C .... my cheap build will run at 50-65 fps and at around 69 C
also in long run CPU haswell and GTX 970 will save you more money than GTX 700 series or AMD CPU
Also you could wait for Chrismas discounts . I plan to get my Inno3d Air boss Ultra them in hope of a discount ^^
This is my dilemma. I just figured the best sales will be in the next few weeks and maybe some just after xmas. The after xmas stuff is usually just whats left over though.
I am very happy I started this thread early. I have time to think about things some and I have already learned a ton of stuff I didn't know a couple days ago.
I'll fine tune my budget and see what extra dollars I can come up with.
If I would have said I could spend 800, then I would have gotten all 800 dollar builds. This thread has been a great example of what the lower end configurations could be. But I might have to pony up a few more bucks to get everything I want.
I truly appreciate the help.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.
This is the best advice given in the entire thread. With such a small amount of money you are much better off wainting until you have around $1000 and can get something 2-3x more powerful.
Its like deciding to get a Wii U instead of saving up another $150 for a PS4, just so you can get a console. Just throwing your money away (unless you are a Nintendo fan of course).
Since you are going to be using it mostly for games, you really do NOT want to cut yourself short with a weak CPU, low amount of memory and an average graphics card.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
If you are going to wait until January(good idea BTW) keep your eyes pealed on places like Newegg who normally have great new years sales, online warehouses also. The idea they only sell leftovers is framed in a negative light which isn't true because many stores tend to overstock on a lot of items they will think will be popular. Its actually a good thing.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
If someone is recommending you going with on-board GPU for gaming rig, you know you need to ignore that person.
GPU > SSD anyday for gaming.
Why wouldn't you add the OS to a build? It is required. Makes no sense.
Agreed. There is a reason it says "GUIDE" under Quizzical's forum avatar.