Budget PC build under $450

As for a DVD or optical drive—honestly, just grab whatever one is the cheapest at the store.

Larry Ortiz5 said:As for the DVD or optical drive, just grab whatever is the cheapest one available.

Alright 😁
Thanks for the help, everyone. Tomorrow I'm going to take this Google configuration over to a few local shops, like Best Buy or Micro Center, to get some quotes on the total cost. I'll throw in an optical drive and a few other bits too, then compare their prices against what I can find at a place like Amazon to see where I get the best deal. 😁

Peace out hah

Just a heads up, you should probably check the local shops first. They might try to push some low-end motherboards on you, and honestly, the CPUs and power supplies here are pretty much a disaster...

I honestly think most people who walk into a retail store just get talked in circles by the sales clerks. They'll claim certain power supplies are superior just to push them, or tell you they can handle subpar, overpriced graphics cards—it's all nonsense. At the end of the day, people just settle for whatever mediocre gear they can afford. I've seen plenty of folks venting about this exact same thing online.

Hannibal9, look, just click those links, toss them in your cart, and finish the checkout yourself without letting anyone manipulate you. You'll realistically come out ahead by about 99.99% if you do.

Timothy Kim60 said:I honestly think most people who walk into a retail store just get played by the clerk. They’ll tell you a low-end power supply is actually top-tier, or convince you to settle for some overpriced, mediocre GPU. At the end of the day, people just end up stuck with whatever subpar gear they were talked into. I’ve seen plenty of people venting about this online.

Jamie Lopez19, just click the links, throw them in your cart, and buy your stuff online without letting anyone manipulate you. You'll realistically come out ahead by a massive margin.

Yeah, I see it now. I'll probably just ask them about the price, but honestly, it looks like I'll just order from Amazon instead.🙂

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.

graniteharbor85 said:Why would you bother picking stuff up at local shops when you're just going to get hit with worse quality or higher prices? It’s simple math. They deal with fewer suppliers, or more often, just one. That means they don't get the bulk discounts you'd see elsewhere, so they hike up the margins—they have to make their money on a single sale instead of moving high volume like a big retailer 😁. Plus, the selection of HW is usually pretty pathetic.

It's the truth. I checked, and half of these parts aren't even in stock, so I'm just going to order everything from Future Electronics. 😁
Thanks again. Take it easy 😉

What's the verdict on an Intel Core for this price range?
And is there any point in overclocking it?

Depends on what you're using it for. If you're thinking about gaming, I guess it's probably not the best move since it'll start feeling outdated pretty fast.

fadedorca66 said:Depends on what you need. For gaming? Not such a great call anymore. It's starting to show its age.

That's what I was thinking. Two years ago it was a solid pick, just wondering if it still holds up.

It performs perfectly fine in most titles, though you might run into some bottlenecks in a few newer games since it's just a dual core. Ultimately, it all comes down to what you plan on doing with the machine. Plus, you always have the option to upgrade later on.

Timothy Kim60 said:It’s fine for most games, though you'll hit walls in some newer titles because it's just dual core. It all comes down to what you actually plan to do with it. Plus, you can always upgrade later.

Is this the one that allows overclocking?

Asking for a buddy who wants to grab this plus a motherboard (his current board died along with his Core 2 duo). He's looking to upgrade to a standard i5 down the road—no overclocking an i5 for him!

Does he need a specific board since this Pentium is overclockable, or will a "standard" chip work? (Since i5 chips vary based on clock speed). Any recommendations? Also, can he slap a stock i5 cooler onto this, or does it come with its own? (I have a spare lying around).

Thanks!

Regarding that Pentium, you can actually perform an overclock on non-Z chipsets too, provided you run a BIOS update.

For example, moving from budget options up to more premium boards, you've got the As Rock H81M-HDS, the Asus B85M-G, the MSI H97 PCMATE, and then those lower-end H97 / Z97 anniversary editions from As Rock.

Just keep in mind that a cooler is included with every processor.

Just keep in mind it’s fine if they aren't trying to run the newest AAA titles, but if they want to, that i5 upgrade probably needs to happen pretty soon.

For example, look at GTA 5:
http://pclab.pl/zdjecia/artykuly/cha..._vhigh_cpu.png

Check out those dual-core setups struggling down there... I guess it's fine for WoW or League, but if they're planning on playing GTA 5, they should probably just grab a quad-core instead.

With an AM3 socket, you could look into a Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P + FX4300 or maybe an fx6***, or even just an FM2 Athlon x4 740 or 750...
On AM3, there's actually room to upgrade later, whereas FM2 pretty much hits a dead end.

Timothy Kim60 said:That Pentium? You can actually overclock it on non-Z chipsets too, provided you get a BIOS update.

From cheapest to most expensive: you've got the ASRock H81M-HDS, then the Asus B85M-G, followed by the MSI H97 PCMATE, and finally those cheaper H97/Z97 ASRock anniversary boards.

Every processor comes with its own cooler included.

Thanks. That’s exactly what I was wondering—it just doesn't make any sense for him to drop the cash on a Z series.
Look, I get that you'll get a cooler. My point was whether there's actually any real difference between a stock Pentium & stock i5 cooler. If there isn't, I might just give him my spare i5 stock cooler.

fadedorca66 said:Look, just keep in mind that if they aren't planning on running the latest AAA titles, it’s fine as is. But if they actually want to play those? Then that i5 upgrade needs to happen sooner rather than later.

Like GTA 5:
[Image Link]

Look at these two-core losers struggling down there... If they just want to play WoW and League, fine, whatever. But if they're planning on running GTA 5, they better go buy themselves a quad-core.

If you're looking at the AM3 socket, you could go with the Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P + FX4300 or maybe an fx6***. Or just stick to the FM2 route with whatever Athlon x4 740 or 750 you can find.
So you can still upgrade on AM3, but once you hit FM2, that's basically the end of the line.

Look, the rig's already rocking an HD4870, so a Pentium is more than enough.
Power supply? I'm thinking Corsair 650 w.

Who knows what the future holds, but this setup works for now. That Pentium actually has enough kick to handle a decent GPU upgrade. If he manages to scrape some cash together later, he should just grab an i5 and a beefier graphics card.

P.S. It’ll be a blast trying to OC this little beast. Might just bring my 7850 along to see how it holds up.

fadedorca66 said:Take GTA 5, for example:
http://pclab.pl/zdjecia/artykuly/cha..._vhigh_cpu.png

Honestly, I'm kind of impressed. That oc-ani G3258 holds its own against:
FX 6350 (OC-an)
FX8350
and those i3 chips

which cost way more per unit

Plus, in this specific test, the best AMD Octacore OC-an at 5GHz is basically neck-and-neck with an i3.

Would this be alright if I just grab everything?

That brings the total to $1233

(Going with a bigger SSD and skipping the internal HDD since I'm using an external one)

To PC Lab data is unreliable—honestly, it’s borderline inaccurate

wiredotter14 said:

Would this be okay if he takes everything?

That would result in $1233

(a larger SSD and no HDD since an external drive is being used)

Which store is that? He should look into an OCZ SSD ARC 100 240GB. Also, that's way too much overkill for an H81 motherboard. If he wants to play GTA 5, it would be a good idea to step up to an i3; he can see online that playing on a dual-core causes stuttering (the minimum FPS in that test shows it, though that site isn't exactly reliable, but you can see similar results elsewhere)

David Sanders4 said:Those PC hardware sites are unreliable, even inaccurate.

True, that site is fake. People constantly point that out on the Tom's Hardware and AnandTech forums.

man I live in the US, that site is not trustworthy even here, everyone knows that this website doesn't even do benchmarks, you'd better find an American website, even a 6-year-old in the States knows that site is a joke, how can you rely on it!?

...

dude it seems you don't get it do you!? that's just a website, they don't even do actual benchmarks. I live in America, not you—just go into any local shop and mention that site, they'll laugh in your face. even a 6-year-old kid in the US knows this.

You know its GW & PC hardware sites in action when 770 = R290.

yeah so called tech sites I don't believe in that (nobody does )
Always have inaccurate benchmarks.

Those tech sites need to check their systems. 😁
An OS reinstall on an AMD machine is clearly needed.
Why people read this site is beyond me. No other website has anything remotely close to those numbers.

I've seen this firsthand. I once ran some benchmarks for a game—something like > or maybe a Far Cry title—and the numbers were incredibly strange. Meanwhile, sites like TechSpot, PCGamesHardware, and GameGPU, along with YouTubers like Linus Tech Tips and Teess Tech, all reported nearly identical results that were worlds apart from that one Polish site I follow.

To be honest, I have my reservations about GameGPU; it feels like they might round their numbers off too aggressively, or perhaps their testing methodology is just a bit eccentric—like if they tested ten different processors and somehow ended up with a perfect 100fps across the board in a benchmark. That said, their core data remains very much in line with the other major outlets, so I still find their findings relatively credible.

Timothy Kim60 said:Which store is that? They should check out an OCZ SSD ARC 100 240gb. Also, that's way too much love for an H81 motherboard.

thanks, found some OCZ, cheaper price
GTA V isn't even on my radar.
Went with the Pentium to save cash; maybe I'll upgrade to something better later.
Also, honestly, an i3 feels like total overkill compared to this OC Pentium when you're pairing it with an R7 260 x.

Most of the stuff is from Amazon.com
Is this alright?
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GA-...81+motherboard
?

P.S.

Looked at some OC tests for that Pentium. In most cases, gaming performance sits right around i3 levels. Not bad.