Posts by graniteharbor85

Everything looks good, just go with that XFX NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 I mentioned earlier.

That Fury RAM is actually cheaper right now and way better than Crucial—honestly, if you don't have a Gigabyte board, you might as well grab the XFX with the beefier heatsink for the same price.

Man, why even bother hitting up those local corner stores? You're basically asking to pay more for worse stuff. It’s simple math—they usually only deal with one or two small-time suppliers, so they don't get those massive bulk discounts you see at places like Walmart or Target. Since they aren't moving huge volume, they have to jack up the margins—they gotta make their money on one single item instead of spreading it out over three 😁—plus, the selection of HW gear is always pretty weak.

I'd run Grand Theft Auto V on this build I put together—definitely not on that pre-built MSGW one. Jack Wood87, you've actually got plenty of time since you have 9 months left, so maybe check back a few days before you pull the trigger... prices and deals can change literally overnight.

Assembly is just assumed to be included unless you explicitly say you want to put it together yourself. You'll end up with a box full of screws and all the component packaging.

You can, but only if you buy genuine Windows first (it's about $333 with installation included).

The most reliable option is definitely Windows 7 64-bit SP1—though, if you want something more recent, you could always go with Windows 8.1 64-bit.

Hey, that’s actually a whole different story—it really depends on which card you were looking at. With them, if you use an American Express 6-month plan, the price stays the same as paying cash, but for any other card, they tack on an extra 10%.

? I think you messed up the math a bit 😁

How exactly is $167 too expensive? If it ends up being $3,200 in the cart—which happens to be your entire budget and basically hits that $3k mark—then what's the issue?

Honestly, you can't even call that first build a "gaming" rig given the GPU they threw in there—that NVIDIA GT 730 is barely enough for light stuff like The Sims and things in that ballpark. Anything else is going to be a total struggle, or you'll be stuck playing everything on low settings at some tiny resolution—just steer clear of it entirely. Plus, it comes with a pretty weak processor, which really limits your upgrade path later on; unlike other options, the AMD FX 6100 actually has enough juice to handle much stronger cards without becoming a massive bottleneck.

Honestly, just skip those pre-built setups—they’re usually absolute junk when it comes to how they're put together. It's way better to pick out your own parts one by one, especially since most shops will throw in free assembly anyway if you buy everything from them.

For that kind of budget, here's what I'd aim for:

AMD FX 6100
LC CC 95
GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2 AM3+
CRUCIAL 4GB 1600 MHZ
Seagate BarraCuda 3.5" 1TB SATA 3
NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 1GB DDR5
FORTRON HEXA 400W 80+ ACTIVE
MSI Carbon MIDI ATX

If you’re looking at smaller monitors, honestly, some cheaper options will totally do the trick: Apple iPhone 15 22" Pls.

Don't even think about going with an Intel processor in this budget range. Honestly, they're pretty weak compared to a Pentium—and you really don't need that beefier integrated graphics anyway. Intel just has a more advanced architecture, so the single-core performance is way better. As for the power supply, picking up a used one isn't a bad move since you're getting quality, but since your power draw is basically peanuts, you could easily just go with a Dell OptiPlex 400/500 unit. In my experience, those cheap Dell units are super reliable right now—I've built a few rigs using them paired with Intel Celeron G1840 or Core i3/i5/i7 chips, even adding an entry-level dedicated HD 6670, and the PSU stays stable, quiet, and doesn't overheat at all.

Also, a quick tip: grab the NVT 603 instead. Internally, it’s identical to the 601, but it ditches that annoying glossy front panel. It looks way classier in person, plus you won't be constantly wiping away dust like a crazy person.

Do you think an R9 290 will fit comfortably in here? I’m skipping the SSD for now since it's not a huge deal—this is strictly a gaming rig anyway, and it'll be super easy to slap one in later on.

AMD FX 8300
Cooler Master Hyper 212
GIGABYTE 970A-DS3P
Crucial 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Seagate 1TB Barracuda HDD
Sapphire R9 290 4GB Tri-X GDDR5
FSP 600W 80+ Bronze
Zalman Z3 Mid Tower
Acer 23" IPS 1080p Monitor
Genius Slimstar Optical Drive
Genius Wood Speaker Set

It really just depends on what you’re getting out of it. If you’re planning on overclocking your CPU with a liquid cooler or running a heavy SLI setup, then yeah—it makes total sense to toss in an extra fan and actually focus on better airflow.

😁 As far as I can tell, everything runs fine—until you try to mess around with CF/SLI.

Look, we totally get what you're trying to do with your budget, but you gotta realize we haven't just popped up out of nowhere—we aren't suggesting this stuff for no reason. It seems like you haven't really done much digging yet, and honestly, if you don't know your way around current HW trends and components, it's easy to mess up. Grace Kern gave you some solid advice, but if you try to DIY this without a plan, you're just going to end up tangled in a mess and buying the wrong parts. Is there a specific reason you're even looking at HG Srot? I ask because their specific parts—like the motherboard and the GTX 970—are pricier, and they don't even have the R9 290 you were looking for. Plus, their service just isn't on the same level as futur or Adm, who are basically the gold standard for US web shops when it comes to custom builds, hardware selection, and actually handling returns.

Fortron power supplies have had a great reputation for years—specifically the FSP group behind them. Right now, the Hyper / Raider deals are absolute best buys; they have zero competition because they offer a lower price point than everyone else while providing a rock-solid platform, better warranties, plenty of connectors, high efficiency, and stable voltages. There’s really no need to blow extra cash on something more expensive if you specifically asked for a budget build that can still handle everything you need.

Why would you even bother with an mATX board for a build like this? Just grab a decent ATX board with a proper layout—it makes way more sense. And honestly, don't go thinking that just because it's an Asus, it's going to last you forever. Their boards aren't exactly the gold standard for reliability anymore; that reputation kind of went down the drain right around the Sandy Bridge era. Also, you don't really need Dual Channel RAM since you won't notice much difference over single channel anyway—plus, sticking with a better board gives you more breathing room for upgrades later. Though, let's be real, you'll probably end up jumping past 16GB soon enough anyway. As for the V300, stay far away from that one and just go for a higher capacity Samsung 850 EVO instead—after they messed with the NAND and the firmware, the performance took a massive hit. That Asus isn't worth it, but if you actually wanted something better than a B85 chipset, maybe look at a Killerica. You don't even need to spend hours researching this stuff—just listen to some solid advice and you won't screw this up 😉

The biggest dealbreaker here is definitely that Broadwell support—once you factor that in, everything else is pretty much irrelevant. At the end of the day, you're really just looking at the actual physical specs of the board itself. B85, H97It’s kind of a toss-up, honestly—it really just comes down to what you actually need out of your rig. If you're looking at those mid-range "gaming" cards that aren't exactly cheap, I'd say picking up an excellent one is definitely the move. Killerica.

You could also go this route:

Intel Core i5-4440
ASRock B85 Pro4
Crucial 8GB 1600 MHz
Samsung 120 GB 850 Series Basic SATA3
Toshiba 1TB 3.5" SATA3
Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB TRI-X DDR5
LG DVD-RW SATA
Fortron Raider 650W 80+ Silver
Fractal Design Define R4 BP Plexy

= $2630.

- You don't really need to jump up to an H97 chipset—honestly, Broadwell isn't going to give you any massive boost in CPU performance anyway.
- Right now, prices for the GTX 970 are pretty steep, so the R9 290 is a way better value if you want similar performance.
- Plus, the total price for the whole build drops significantly, and you end up getting a much nicer case and a higher quality PSU.

It’s not you—those links have been dead for a while now.

No hard feelings at all—it just sucks that you're running into issues with such a straightforward setup. Like Timothy Kim60 was saying, just run through more passes, maybe 5 or 6, and honestly, if you want to be 100% sure, just leave it running overnight. You could also try swapping it into a different slot, testing it with a different version of Windows, and just doing a quick visual check to make sure everything is seated right—you know, the basics like the 24-pin, the 4-pin CPU, HDD cables, the cooler, and all that stuff. If nothing changes, just send it back for a warranty claim and let them deal with it.