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Gaming Build/Upgrade

C

chiguy20002

n00b
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
25
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, I currently play Skyrim and Diablo III
Web browsing and light Photoshop work also. I may use this for web page design/development as well as some light programming.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$300-$400

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

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Looking for CPU/RAM/Motherboard, and possibly Video Card

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I will be using a case/500W Power Supply, with DVD Drive. I may reuse a 9800GT or HD4670. I also already purchased an SSD.
The power supply I believe is this one: COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1680 x 900, it is a 20"

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I hope to purchase within the week

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Crossfire or SLI optional, USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s preferred. No need for onboard video or UEFI.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have both Windows 7 Pro 32/64 and Windows 8.1 Pro 32/64.
 
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The AMD setup is definitely not a good route to take for your planned usage due to its lower gaming performance. However I wouldn't recommend that Intel setup either since it's not that much cheaper than a current-gen Intel setup to be worth getting.
$120 - Intel Core i3-4130 CPU
$81 - ASRock H87M Pro4 Intel H87 mATX Motherboard
$64 - Kingston HyperX Blu KHX1600C10D3B1/8G 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$118 - Gigabyte GV-R726XOC-1GD Radeon R7 260X 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$40 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU
---
Total: $423 shipped.

A bit over your budget but well worth it IMO:
- That video card is probably the cheapest video card I can recommend for decent gaming right now. With that said, if you see a HD 7770 card for below $100, get that instead.

- That PSU is the cheapest decent PSU I recommend to people. Any lower and you start getting really really shitty power supplies like that Coolermaster for example.

- Single stick of RAM because it allows for the most flexibility in RAM upgrade.

- That CPU is about 5% faster than the Intel CPU you listed. Plus the H87 platform is slighlty more up-to-date than the H77 platform.
 
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Looking at what you have here man, you may be disappointed. You just wont have the power to run alot of the newer games out there, and at least not w/o running lowest graphic settings. The biggest issue there would be your cpu and your gpu. If you get an underpowered gpu, then you really cant do much, but if you pour too much money into the gpu, its bottlenecked by your processor and doesnt do anything anyway. Try to focus most of your money on those two things, and try to budget in the mobo. I'd drop the SSD especially since there are more important components. Whaver you decide to do man, good luck.
 
I am debating between these two motherboards:

Biostar Micro ATX DDR3 1600 LGA 1150 Motherboards HI-FI B85S3+

MSI Computer Corp. Motherboard Micro ATX DDR3 1333 LGA 1150 Motherboards B85M-G43

Probably going with this Processor...Intel Core i3-4130 3.4 3 FCLGA 1150 Processor BX80646I34130

This RAM...Kingston Hyper X Blu 8 GB (2x4GB Modules) 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 XMP Desktop Memory - KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX

I am aware this may limit me somewhat, but currently I am gaming on a laptop with a first gen i5, 4GB RAM and a GeForce GT310M video card, so I would think that these with a discrete graphics card, though older, should run better. I already got the SSD, so that is not going away. I will start with my old 9800GT, and then upgrade the video card when budget allows.
 
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chiguy20002 said:
I have two I can choose from, both older 500 watt. One is an antec basiq and the other is a cooler master.
Click to expand...

I would get a new PSU then. Both of those PSUs aren't any good. The CX430 I recommended earlier is far far higher in quality than either of your current PSUs.
 
So a power supply as well. Which motherboard out of the two posted? Also will the 430 watt be enough or would I need more?
 
Dangman said:
Between the two mobos, probably the Biostar. The 430 is enough.
Click to expand...

The Biostar is also a little less expensive. Would I ever need to upgrade the 430 power supply if I upgrade the video card, or go dual video card? What would I need to upgrade to at that point?
 
chiguy20002 said:
The Biostar is also a little less expensive. Would I ever need to upgrade the 430 power supply if I upgrade the video card, or go dual video card? What would I need to upgrade to at that point?
Click to expand...

Considering your low budget right now, the CPU you're going with, the choice of motherboards, and your current monitor resolution, I highly highly doubt you'll ever go dual video card. So no point in worrying about it.

As for a single video card, as long you stay with a video card that's more or less mid-range (GTX 760 or R9 270X for example), you'll be fine albeit maybe a tad too close on the quality scale.
 
Dangman said:
Considering your low budget right now, the CPU you're going with, the choice of motherboards, and your current monitor resolution, I highly highly doubt you'll ever go dual video card. So no point in worrying about it.

As for a single video card, as long you stay with a video card that's more or less mid-range (GTX 760 or R9 270X for example), you'll be fine albeit maybe a tad too close on the quality scale.
Click to expand...

I think I would go with an R9 270X or 7850/265 as a video card upgrade. I don't want to spend more than $150 for a video card when I eventually get that. For now I will run the 9800GT or HD4670.
 
I am thinking my build close to finalized will be a Haswell i3-4130, a B85 motherboard, 8GB RAM. I will use my current case with the Antec Basiq power supply, the DVD-R that is in there and either a Crucial M4 256 or Crucal M500 240 SSD. I will start with either the 9800 GT or HD4670, then upgrade to the R7 265 or get the HD 7850.
 
chiguy20002 said:
I am thinking my build close to finalized will be a Haswell i3-4130, a B85 motherboard, 8GB RAM. I will use my current case with the Antec Basiq power supply, the DVD-R that is in there and either a Crucial M4 256 or Crucal M500 240 SSD. I will start with either the 9800 GT or HD4670, then upgrade to the R7 265 or get the HD 7850.
Click to expand...
I still recommend a new PSU upgrade. That Basiq is not good enough for your planned video card upgrades.
 
chiguy20002 said:
I am thinking my build close to finalized will be a Haswell i3-4130, a B85 motherboard, 8GB RAM. I will use my current case with the Antec Basiq power supply, the DVD-R that is in there and either a Crucial M4 256 or Crucal M500 240 SSD. I will start with either the 9800 GT or HD4670, then upgrade to the R7 265 or get the HD 7850.
Click to expand...

Dangman is correct about that Basiq 500 not being good enough for your planned GPU upgrade (however modest): It is based on the infamous FSP Epsilon platform – and like all Epsilon-based PSUs, it exhibited serious out-of-spec ripple when operating near or above 500W output (these findings were based on better-written professional lab reviews of such PSUs). That ripple would eventually kill some or all of the critical components of your planned new build even if the PSU itself didn't die or explode.
 
E4g1e said:
Dangman is correct about that Basiq 500 not being good enough for your planned GPU upgrade (however modest): It is based on the infamous FSP Epsilon platform – and like all Epsilon-based PSUs, it exhibited serious out-of-spec ripple when operating near or above 500W output (these findings were based on better-written professional lab reviews of such PSUs). That ripple would eventually kill some or all of the critical components of your planned new build even if the PSU itself didn't die or explode.
Click to expand...

So would either of these recommended PSU be OK, the Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU or the Corsair Builder Series CX 500 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS (CX500)? This would be what I would upgrade right before upgrading the video card. I am trying to this in steps. So I would get the CPU/Mobo/RAM, use current Antec PSU and current video card, then when I upgrade video card down the line I would upgrade the power supply at the same time?
 
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chiguy20002 said:
So would either of these recommended PSU be OK, the Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU or the Corsair Builder Series CX 500 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS (CX500)? This would be what I would upgrade right before upgrading the video card. I am trying to this in steps. So I would get the CPU/Mobo/RAM, use current Antec PSU and current video card, then when I upgrade video card down the line I would upgrade the power supply at the same time?
Click to expand...

The CX430 is the better deal. The CX500 is only worth it if it costs $50 since there are better quality PSUs around the $60 price point.

I would upgrade the PSU at the same time as the CPU/Mobo/RAM. As Eag1e and I have both said, that Basiq PSU is just crap.
 
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Dangman said:
The CX430 is the better deal. The CX500 is only worth it if it costs $50 since there are better quality PSUs around the $60 price point.

I would upgrade the PSU at the same time as the CPU/Mobo/RAM. As Eag1e and I have both said, that Basiq PSU is just crap.
Click to expand...

Give me a couple of suggestions for the good PSU around $60? I will add this to my CPU/Mobo/RAM build. I will also use everything else I have currently. The video card will be my next upgrade, either a 7850 or R7 265.
 
chiguy20002 said:
Give me a couple of suggestions for the good PSU around $60? I will add this to my CPU/Mobo/RAM build. I will also use everything else I have currently. The video card will be my next upgrade, either a 7850 or R7 265.
Click to expand...
You can usually find the Seasonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W or the XFX TS 550W for around $60 to $65.

You probably won't find the HD 7850 for any sort of reasonable price (~$150).
 
OK, so I will take a look at the Seasonic Power supplies.

I think most likely I will be going with an R7 265, they seem to be around $160.
 
Done and ordered! Very excited. Thank you everyone for your advice!

I just have to save up for a new Video Card, but I have a good start right now. I think the 9800GT video card will be a nice improvement over what the Haswell i3 has for built-in video, right? Or am I better off using the built in video and not installing the 9800GT card?
 
chiguy20002 said:
D
I just have to save up for a new Video Card, but I have a good start right now. I think the 9800GT video card will be a nice improvement over what the Haswell i3 has for built-in video, right? Or am I better off using the built in video and not installing the 9800GT card?
Click to expand...

Honestly, not sure. Try both and see which is the best.
 
Dangman said:
Honestly, not sure. Try both and see which is the best.
Click to expand...

I will use the built in graphics, and run some tests, then install the 9800GT, then run some more tests. I know I do need to get a more current graphics card eventually. Thanks!
 
Got everything together, and it all seems to run well. I have not installed the 9800GT yet, seeing what the built-in 4400 can do. I installed an old PCI Wireless Network card because I don't have any network connections where the computer is, we run wireless for the most part at home.

The power supply I am using is the Antec Basiq BP500U, it is older, but it looks like they still sell the same model now, though it may be a future revision. Seems to be working well so far.

A video card upgrade is my next upgrade, though not sure when I can get one. I may run some tests with the 9800GT vs the HD4670 card that I have. What are some good tests to run to determine overall speed for everything?
 
For gaming 3DMark/3DMark11 is a pretty standard benchmark. Note that PCMark also by Futuremark is more of a whole system bench and is biased toward SSD storage. I also like to use Unigine Heaven as a gaming bench.
 
rastaban said:
For gaming 3DMark/3DMark11 is a pretty standard benchmark. Note that PCMark also by Futuremark is more of a whole system bench and is biased toward SSD storage. I also like to use Unigine Heaven as a gaming bench.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I will take a look at both of those and see what I come up with. I also may load Skyrim and Diablo III to see how they do.
 
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