Budget ~$400 Gaming Build

[volt01]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Ideally under $400

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US-PA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word
CPU
RAM
MOBO
CASE
PSU

"Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
DVD Drive, HDD, and GTX 260

6) Will you be overclocking?
Maybe, probably not. It's for my brother

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
1080p

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon- ASAP

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
Nothing Special

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes-64bit Windows 7.

 

[Dangman]

Can you come back in 3-4 days? With your low budget, we may have to use a lot of Newegg combo deals. Unfortunately we won't know what Newegg's September deals will be until a few days from now.

 

[volt01]

I was looking at newegg, and If I get an antec case+psu combo I can save a bunch of money. However, is 430W enough power for a GTX260, and the rest of the computer.

I was also leaning towards getting a phenom II x4 processor, I know it's a little old but at $100 it's hard to beat for the price to performance ratio.

I priced a system out really quick. It's a little out of date. What do you guys think?

CASE: Antec 300 =$59
MOBO: ASUS AM3 MOBO = $110
PSU: Antec 550W =$65
MEMORY: G.Skill 4GB DDR3 = $33
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 = $120

Total: ~$390

 

[E4g1e]

I was looking at newegg, and If I get an antec case+psu combo I can save a bunch of money. However, is 430W enough power for a GTX260, and the rest of the computer.

I was also leaning towards getting a phenom II x4 processor, I know it's a little old but at $100 it's hard to beat for the price to performance ratio.

I priced a system out really quick. It's a little out of date. What do you guys think?

CASE: Antec 300 =$59
MOBO: ASUS AM3 MOBO = $110
PSU: Antec 550W =$65
MEMORY: G.Skill 4GB DDR3 = $33
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 = $120

Total: ~$390

That's a poor buy for the money, for the following reasons:

1) The PSU, despite a "550W" rating, actually has only 37A (444W) on the +12V rail. (NEVER add up all of the +12V rails in a multi-rail PSU!) Plus, that PSU is seriously overpriced at $68 shipped! Several 500W PSUs actually have more +12V capacity than that BP550+ and sell for less money than that BP550+.

2) The Antec 300 case is also overpriced at $62 shipped (rounded up to the naxt higher dollar value), especially given the fact that it's cramped on the inside (especially from rear to front). Any hard drives installed in that case will seriously restrict the length of graphics cards installable in that case. In fact, the GTX 260 will be an extremely tight fit or not even fit at all in that case if a hard drive is also installed in line with the PCI-e x16 slot on the motherboard.

3) The AMD motherboard that you chose has no future CPU upgrade path whatsoever (aside from the already existing AMD CPUs, most of which are very overpriced for their performance). This is because new AMD CPUs are coming out this fall that require a new socket, the 942-pin AM3+ that will be backwards-compatible with current AM3 CPUs. But the motherboard that you chose has only a 938-pin AM3 socket, which will not be compatible at all with the new AMD CPUs (the CPUs will not even physically fit the older socket without damaging or destroying some of the pins on the CPU).

 

[tonytnnt]

Do you live by a Microcenter? If so, my CPU and motherboard advice will change, and you can almost afford to get a GPU within your $400 budget. (The CPU and motherboard price will come down to about $110 before tax.)

For AMD I recommend this:

$190 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz and MSI 970A-G45 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (note that this motherboard supports Bulldozer)

For Intel I recommend this:
$125 - Intel Core i3-2100
$65 - BIOSTAR H61MU3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

The AMD can be overclocked, and if you're willing to do that, I would get the AMD. Otherwise they perform pretty close to each other.

You can double your RAM for $7 more.
$40 (use promo code EMCKAKJ22) - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

The Antec 300 isn't that great of a case (Note: I have one.) It's not bad, it's just nothing special, and at $60 is overpriced. The NZXT Gamma for under $40 is better in every way except the side panels aren't quite as sturdy (I just put together a system with the Gamma a few days ago.) There are other cases for around $60 that are better than both (HAF 912 for example.) Or the Thermaltake V4 for $50.

The Antec BP550 is terribly overpriced at $65. WAY overpriced. And it's not a very good PSU to begin with. Consider these lower cost, higher quality options instead:
$60 (before $20 MIR, also use promo code EMCKAKJ47) - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$55 (plus $3 shipping) - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

If you take my suggestions from above (Thermaltake case, Corsair PSU), you'll be spending $340 before a $20 MIR, free shipping, and you even get a $10 Newegg giftcard when you get the AMD option. That $60 (and giftcard) can then be applied toward a future GPU purchase because that GTX260 is a significant bottleneck to your system, especially at 1080p.

The GPU I would recommend assuming you can round up another $100 is the
$175 (before $20 MIR) - SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB
If you want better customer support and a lifetime warranty get this:
$190 (before $20 MIR) - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB and free copy of Deus Ex