Look, there’s really no point in swapping one generic mid-tower for another random mid-tower, if you catch my drift. High-end cases usually start around the $100 mark, so I’d say skip that step for now. If you have room for extra fans, maybe toss those in to improve airflow. We've actually had cases on this forum where someone ended up with a better case than the one we suggested. Feel free to post a photo if you don't mind.
Here is a build without the case, featuring a reliable but budget-friendly power supply, a 240GB SSD, and a beefier graphics card.
1 x AMD Athlon x4 845 FM2, box 1 x Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2 (SFM2+,DDR3,DVI/VGA,USB3.0,SATA III) mATX 1 x KINGSTON ValueRAM DDR3 (8GB,1600MHz(PC3-12800)) CL11, Retail 1 x SSD AMD Radeon R3 240GB 1 x hexa 400 w, 80+ 1 x MSI GF GTX950 2GD5, 2GB,GDDR5,DVI, HDMI,DP, DX12
Total: $1073 for the future. It's not a bad idea to throw this in; the CPU will run cooler and quieter, though the stock cooler will get the job done just fine.
I’ve looked into it, and honestly, you won't get all that for that price. You should save up at least another $167 because I can't guarantee you'll hit medium/high settings in every game . What kind of Case are we talking about?
Try this instead:
1 x AMD Athlon x4 845 FM2, box 1 x Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2 (SFM2+,DDR3,DVI/VGA,USB3.0,SATA III) mATX 1 x KINGSTON ValueRAM DDR3 (8GB,1600MHz(PC3-12800)) CL11, Retail 1 x AMD Radeon R3 SATA III 120GB SSD, 2.5” 7mm, SATA 6 Gbit/s, Read/Write: 520 MB/s / 360 MB/s, Random Read/Write IOPS 57K/18K, PN# R3SL120G 1 x Grafička kartica Palit GTX750 StormX OC 2GB DDR5 1 x MS Mercury 2, 1x12cm+1x9cm vent.
Total: $840 it futura
Your power supply is a bit crappy. If I were you, I'd ditch the SSD for now, grab a Fortron hexa 400 w, and pick up a 240GB SSD down the road. A 120GB drive isn't really ideal once you factor in the OS, your apps, and games. You could actually get better graphics for that money (like an R7 260 x), but I went with this build specifically to accommodate the power supply—it's just a lower risk. $10 You could always swap to an Athlon 840 if that helps the budget.
Honestly, they might as well just write off that entire segment at this point. It’s clearly not worth pouring R&D dollars into a market they don't even care about. There will always be some niche demand for legacy hardware or rebranded old stock from someone trying to patch together a budget rig—like an ancient desktop lacking integrated graphics—and that’s really where the story ends.
No one who actually knows what they're doing is going to build a new system around something like a Celeron paired with a GT 710 or 740. If you aren't gaming, why bother with a dedicated card when the CPU has integrated graphics? And if you *are* gaming, you'd either buy a decent used GPU for the same price or just opt for a modern quad-core APU with actual performance. Sure, there are outliers—maybe someone needs extra video outputs or something specific—but those are tiny margins. I’d bet my bottom dollar that most of their sales in this category are just outdated machines meant to fill space on a shelf.
I mean, if you can get that HD 530 integrated graphics for the exact same price, why wouldn't you?
As for those cheap low-end PCI-e cards sitting around for a few bucks—that’s actually where the issue lies. From what I can see, neither Nvidia nor AMD is interested in churning out new chips for that bottom-tier category anymore. It looks like Nvidia will likely wrap things up with the GTX 1050 (which sits around $200+ and competes with something like an RX 470) just like they did with the GTX 950 in the last generation. On the AMD side, their most budget-friendly option with H.265 support will probably be the GTX 1050, which should land somewhere around a hundred bucks (not counting APUs), and that’ll basically be the extent of the new lineup. In the lower-end bracket, we're mostly just looking at a bunch of rebranded old tech.
To be honest, I’m not sure why you’d need an RTX 3070 for that kind of workload. You can check out several tested Adobe performance benchmarks right here: klik.
Additionally, judging by these various graphics software benchmarks, I think the best move regarding price-to-performance would be picking up an RX 470 (essentially a slightly trimmed 480) if they fall under $667. Otherwise, grab an RTX 3060 at most if you feel like you absolutely need CUDA support, though based on that first link, it doesn't seem like a dealbreaker . A high-end GPU just doesn't justify the massive price gap compared to a card in the $200-$300 range.
Mark Wright6 said:Thanks so much! So, I'd be ordering through adm.hr—does everyone think they handle shipping out to Indianapolis okay? Also, just wondering if all the individual boxes (like for the GPU, CPU, etc.) arrive separately I'm planning on paying cash on delivery.
You should receive all the original boxes, and yes, cash on delivery is an option.
The main thing is that those Skylake i3 chips come with built-in H.265 support, which is a total game-changer if you're looking at 4K content or anything similar.
He might not be worried about 4K just yet, but this is all about being future-proof. You'll just need to make sure the motherboard has an HDMI 2.0 or DP 1.2 port to handle it.
Since you’ve already started a thread, why not brag about what you've managed to collect so far? That one up there looks like it’s straight out of 1971. 😁
To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't even bother trying to sell that. I've been looking around, and it seems like those i7 chips are still fetching upwards of $200 out there.$100 About a year ago, I remember seeing some listings on eBay... $133 It’s probably because decent motherboards are getting harder to find, so people just end up selling them for pennies. Honestly, if you're building for gaming or something similar, all you really need to do is drop in a significantly more powerful GPU—maybe throw an SSD in there too—and you've essentially performed a total blood transfusion on the system. It completely changes the DNA of the machine.
The thing is, media outlets claim none of this is actually happening. When it comes to getting your hands on Gainward or Palit cards, you’re basically at the mercy of distributors like Micro Center because they control the supply chain.
Alright everyone, let’s get one thing straight from the jump: we all know Jeffrey Allen92 is a total mountain man, so there's no need to stress about it. He’s using a clone because he supposedly can't access his original profile. If the moderators on the other sub-forums have cleared him, then we will too. Just remember, the rules haven't changed—a new profile isn't a clean slate, as those previous warnings issued to the mountain man still stand. Also, it goes without saying that running two profiles simultaneously is strictly off-limits. On the flip side, I'm asking you guys not to go out of your way to provoke him or stir up drama. Let's just keep things civil; I'm confident we can stick to on-topic discussions.
Besides the graphics card, I might be able to pick up an Athlon excavator—basically a Bristol Ridge build on the AM4 socket—in about two months, provided there are still some cheap-ass AM4 motherboards available by then.
It would probably run somehow. I once ordered a build from a guy featuring a G1820 paired with a GTX 1050 Ti, and he claimed it worked perfectly fine—though I highly doubt he’s actually tracking his FPS. He mentioned experiencing some minor stuttering during fast travel sequences or something similar, but that's about it. If there is any silver lining to using that socket, it’s the ability to upgrade to noticeably more powerful processors later on. However, if you aren't planning on upgrading, you're much better off sticking with the setup Smartic put together for you.
The GT 630 is essentially just a rebranded GT 440. In my view, it's slightly more capable since it supports DX11 and features a newer architecture, plus it comes with more VRAM—though honestly, 2GB is total overkill for a chip of that caliber.
At worst, you’re looking at a custom GTX 1050 Ti that hits the same price point as a 380x, but offers better performance, lower power draw, and those modern features we all expect. That said, there's a chance current GPUs might see a price drop in the coming weeks or months; even the GTX 1060 is already
- You could easily get away with the cheapest LGA 1151 motherboard available—just make sure it supports DDR4 RAM. If you pick a board with only two slots, grab a single 8GB DDR4 stick for about $450-$167 - Cooler Master Z3 case—roughly $100. This isn't a strict requirement, but it's an absolute steal. It makes zero sense to cram an i5 and a GPU worth nearly two hundred bucks into some junk case from $67 - 1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD (around $133), or perhaps a Toshiba P300 or WD Blue (just ensure it's 7200 RPM) - EVGA SuperFlower Gold 450W power supply. It’s worth spending slightly more than a basic 500W unit since you get a 5-year warranty
That covers everything. A soldering iron is optional hardware, meaning it's definitely not essential
Dual-core processors suffer from poor minimum FPS in Grand Theft Auto V, which leads to annoying stuttering, according to this guy, a point further proven by this tester's results. He also suggests upgrading to a better Intel Pentium G3258.
Processors without the K suffix aren't meant for overclocking, but there’s actually a loophole lately. On certain Intel Z170 boards—mostly the budget-friendly ones like ASRock—you can actually push those locked CPUs using BCLK. It used to be a massive headache even for unlocked chips, so this is a game changer. Just keep a close eye on your BIOS version; there's even a chance Windows updates might tweak the processor microcode.
8GB is plenty for gaming, and honestly, blowing money on extra fan controllers is just a waste of cash. You could redirect some of that budget toward a better GPU instead (though, looking at your specific situation, a custom AMD Radeon RX 480 with 4GB isn't even available in the US yet).