Thomas Flores74 said:I forgot to mention I'm running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor and my power supply is a 460W LC POWER Silent Giant GREEN POWER LC6460GP3 V2.3.
Go for THAT deal TNG linked you to—it's an absolute steal. At 1440x900, everything's gonna fly. 🙂
Robert Rodriguez2 said:My trusty Athlon x3 450 with its three cores and a GTX 450 actually held up pretty well... they managed to run Dragon Age: Inquisition on medium settings at about 40-45fps. 👍
I'm running this on my laptop—an i5 4200m paired with an 8750M—and I'm getting the exact same settings and average FPS... 🙂 It’s honestly pretty weird that you can actually get it to run. A ton of people have been flooding the Electronic Arts forums complaining that they can't even launch the game on triple-core processors. Did you end up installing that fix for dual cores or what...?
Timothy Kim60 said:I think they tweaked Far Cry 4 (maybe even Dragon Age: Inquisition) so you can actually run it on a dual core, but honestly, you can't really bank on that since it's just something the modding community cooked up...
If you've been paying attention, even Linus avoids dual-core processors for that exact reason—I think I've caught him dodging them at least twice now. He’ll pick an Athlon over a Pentium any day, and if he isn't using the Athlon, he's looking at an FX 6300 before an i3...
i3 And yeah, they totally botched it—stock cooler and everything... 🤣 )
Some games just stutter on a Pentium (like Watch Dogs and GTA V, I think...)
And for DA:I, a new tweak just dropped, but honestly, I think 99% of players are still dealing with massive frame drops. Your FPS might look decent at around 30-40, but then it just tanks to 1 or 2 for a second or two. It’s pretty clear the game isn't even optimized—or coded—to actually run on an AMD FX 6300...
It's funny how people love to make fun of something like an FX 6300. Around here, that's considered a solid midrange CPU that ends up in just about every budget build...$1333They’re basically just talking about some low-end CPU you’d slap into a budget rig you build in your basement while swinging a baseball bat around... 🍿 How on earth does a GTX 960 and an FX 6300 even fit into a $500 build? 😲
Anthony Hall4 said:Thanks to everyone for all the hard work...
Can someone please explain the difference between these two processors?
There isn't much point in looking at the > when you have an > sitting right there. Having just two physical cores and two threads basically makes certain games unplayable. Sure, you can overclock the thing until it hits the ceiling, but let's be real: Dragon Age: Inquisition won't even launch on it. And that’s a game that came out a year ago—just the first one in the lineup.
fadedorca66 said:Plus, that EVGA unit uses a Corsair platform, so you shouldn't have any issues. Your only problem will be having to rely on those crappy Molex-to-PCIe adapters.
It depends. From what I gather, older versions of the EVGA 450 W had two 6-pin connectors, while the newer ones only come with one. I have two buddies with builds that were almost identical using an EVGA 450 W; one of them actually fried his rig during a lightning storm after about two years, so he bought the exact same PSU again, but this time it only came with a single 6-pin connector. So, if the power supply you're looking at has been around for a few years, there's a chance it might have the 2x6-pin setup, which would let you avoid those crappy Molex adapters.
Wait, what even is this? Why is this being posted in a thread dedicated to useful sites and actual best buys? This is the exact opposite of everything we're looking for here. 🙂 With a $4,000 gaming rig, 6 TB of HDD storage, and a 1 TB SSD, plus a single GPU... you could easily snag a 980Ti SLi for that kind of cash.
fadedsailor17 said:claims it's brand new in the original box, but there's no warranty included 😢
It’s totally possible it "fell off a truck." 🍿 If it really is factory sealed and unopened, you'll be able to tell, and if so, it's definitely a killer deal 👍
darkowl72 said:In my opinion, warranty length is the only thing that matters.
I’m not sure what kind of games ADP is playing with their warranties, but if you check out the Links website, they have Samsung and Transcend models listed with 36-month warranties. Even if you don't feel like you need the extra space right now, if you can swing the extra couple of bucks, just go for the terabyte drive. It'd be a mistake not to...
If you're asking me, I'd grab the terabyte, but my sister insists she doesn't need anything more. She's still rocking a Toshiba laptop from five or six years ago with a 320GB HDD, and she barely filled that up in all that time. Either way, I'm looking at the longest warranty available and that's basically it. Thanks! 👍
My sister needs an external drive, something around 500 GB should do it. I could just grab the cheapest option from Best Buy or Amazon, or maybe there's a better deal out there somewhere?
If you think you've scored a deal on a CX unit from a local used market, it might actually be worth it. That power supply is solid, but honestly, buying one brand new just doesn't make sense—especially when you're looking at the end of the line for the Fortron Hyper 500W. 🙂
I'm not entirely sure how the payment side of things will play out for you—specifically how much extra you'll be paying if you opt for an installment plan—but here is what I would personally go with:
1 x AOC i2276VW, 21.5" IPS 16:9, 1920x1080, 250 cd/m2, 50,000,000:1 1 x CoolerMaster Devastator keyboard+ mouse, US layout, RED LED 1 x Genius speakers SW-S2.1 200, 6W RMS, 2 x 1.5 W per satellite 1 x Intel Core i5-4460 (3.20GHz,1MB,6MB,84 W,1150) Box 1 x Asrock H81M-HDS, s1150, Intel H81, M-ATX, dual Channel 2 1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston DDR3 HyperX Fury, 1866MHz, CL10 1 x XFX R9-280X-TDFD, DD Radeon R9 280X 1000M Boost 3GB DDR5 1 x HDD Seagate 1TB, Serial ATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003 1 x Fortron 500W Power Supply, Hyper, PPA5005003, 12cm fan 1 x Zalman R1 white mid tower case. 192(W) x 465(H) x 450(D)mm
$2300BestBuy.com
The case is white, so I'm not sure if that fits your vibe; you could swap it out for THIS, though the Zalman is a higher quality build. Generally speaking, you'll be able to handle most things, though you might have to drop some heavy settings from High to Medium or turn off certain filters, but that's about it. 🙂
darkorca52 said:Thanks! Since this processor isn't available, any other suggestions? Maybe an i3 with a dedicated graphics card I also need Wi-Fi
An i3 won't fit the budget if you want the original OS included, and honestly, you don't even need a dedicated graphics card. For basic web surfing and working in Microsoft Office, the Intel integrated graphics will handle everything just fine. The Pentium G3260 is available; it looks like they just changed the link or something. Here it is: CLICK The only thing I might change in this graniteharbor85 build is the case. This Voyager doesn't really suit an office setup—it looks more like a high-end gaming rig. But hey, that's just personal preference. 🙂 Otherwise, this setup is going to fly through anything you throw at it from your list.
True. BTW, I just picked up an RX 380X at a pretty reasonable price. It looks quite promising—finally something to bridge the gap between the Radeon R9 280X and the GeForce GTX 970 or the Radeon R9 390. CLICK It doesn't lag much behind the Radeon R9 290; in some spots, they're practically equal. For a starting price of $733, it definitely doesn't look bad.
Charles Barnes5 said:I don't have a specific suggestion, but dropping $4,000 on a gaming rig these days doesn't seem like the smartest move to me.
Why?
Aside from that initial $4k, you're going to be pouring money into upgrades constantly. I remember back when I was obsessed with gaming, I dropped a ton on a $200 and couldn't even go a year before I felt the itch for an upgrade. As soon as a new title drops, the requirements spike and new cards hit the market immediately. Plus, some games just run better on one brand versus another.
A PlayStation is a much better option. You'll actually have some peace of mind for a while.
And if we're talking Intel vs. AMD, AMD has always shown better performance in my experience and based on what my gamer friends tell me.
Technology has come so far that you can grab a decent laptop for a similar price that will still run games pretty well.
Wait, what? 😲 You think you can spend $4,000 on a LAPTOP and get a similar experience to a PC? You walk into a "Desktop Computers" subforum and recommend a PlayStation over a PC just because it's a "much better option"? And you think $200 gets you a "solid graphics card"? Or that AMD always outperforms Intel? Honestly, I don't even know how to respond to this besides KLIK 🙂
graniteharbor85 said:If you aren't planning on overclocking, Intel NVIDIA is definitely the better way to go—especially since you won't have to deal with the massive heatsinks most AMD processors require. Plus, you’ll have much more room to breathe with a wider selection of high-end CPUs when it comes time to upgrade.
i3 4170 GIGABYTE H81M S2V Kingston 8GB 1600 MHz. Toshiba 1TB SATA III 3.5" Hard Drive GIGABYTE GTX 950 2GB WF FORTRON HEXA+ 400W 80+ ACTIVE MS VOYAGER MIDI ATX
= $1333 Includes shipping and handling.
This... 👍 I just built that exact same rig for a friend recently for around $4,000, and he says he's loving it. Honestly, there's no point in trying to force an AM3+ build at these current price points—it's definitely not worth it in this budget.
You could try something like this if you want to max out your budget:
1 x Asrock H81M-HDS, s1150, Intel H81, M-ATX, dual Channel 2 1 x OCZ SSD ARC 100 240GB, OCZ Barefoot 3 M10 Controller 1 x FORTRON 400W Power Supply, HEXA plus 400, 12cm fan 1 x Zalman ZM-T1 PLUS micro tower case. 189(W) x 427.5(H) x 364(D)mm 1 x Intel Core i3-4160 Processor (3.60GHz, 512KB, 3MB, 54 W, 1150) Box 1 x 8GB DDR3 (1x8GB) Kingston, HyperX Fury, 1866MHz, CL10
$1006 admin
It’s got a smaller, more compact case, a 240 GB SSD (I don't think you'll need any more space than that), and a fast processor paired with 8 GB of RAM. Honestly, this is overkill for an office setup, but like I said, this version is for when you want to fully utilize the entire budget—you could realistically go much cheaper. Just pick whatever OS you prefer. That brings you to about ~$333. Personally, I wouldn't go past Windows 7 because I'm just too used to it.