Budget PC build under $450

That Corsair SSD is actually cheaper and offers much better performance 👍

Regarding the Pentium versus the i3, it isn’t quite that simple. It really comes down to whether certain games will even launch or run at all. Take Far Cry 4 or Dragon Age: Inquisition, for instance—those likely won't run because they require the four threads found in an i3. Plus, thanks to Hyper-Threading, the i3 consistently delivers better performance in almost every modern title.

Timothy Kim60 said:That Corsair SSD is cheaper and way better.👍

Regarding Pentium vs i3—it’s not that simple. It’s really about whether certain games will even launch or not. Take Far Cry 4 or DA: Inquisition, for example, plus probably a lot of newer titles since the i3 has those 4 threads. Plus, having Hyper-Threading gives the i3 a leg up in almost every modern game.

thanks for the advice

I'm running an i3 + 7850 and it works great.

We'll see what the budget looks like.

You should probably figure out which games they plan to install first. For some titles, that Pentium with an overclock is actually a sweet spot, but for others, those two cores are going to struggle—think Watch Dogs and things like that. g3258 owners club

Look, even a Pentium / Celeron (Duo Core) isn't all that bad. I’m running a G1840 right now and it's a total workhorse. I get through just about everything on it. Personally, I think an Intel Duo Core Best Buy is the way to go—you just can't beat that value for the money. Some people swear the AMD Six Core is the king of budget builds, but I'm not buying it. Honestly? Celerons are awesome. Especially the 1820 or the 1840.

Honestly, those Pentium / Celeron chips just don't hold a candle to anything else in that price bracket. It feels like a total rip-off for what you're actually getting.
Of course, it really boils down to what you plan on doing with the machine. If we're talking about gaming—let’s be real here—the era of Duo Core processors is effectively over. We're heading toward a point where more and more games simply won't launch, or if they do, the stuttering will make them unplayable.

The era of the Duo Core is definitely winding down, yeah. But honestly? They’re still solid little processors.

Timothy Kim60 said:To's true, the site is a total sham. People point that out all the time over on the Tom's Hardware and AnandTech forums.

I was just looking at the GTX 770 being ranked alongside the R9 290... yeah, right. Maybe Intel and NVIDIA will toss them a little bribe or a new CPU every year just so they can keep pumping out those flashy ads.

David Sanders4 said:I'm looking at the GTX 770 being in the same league as an R9 290... yeah, right. Maybe if Intel and NVIDIA gave them some kickback or a free CPU every year, they could actually afford to market the stuff properly.

It’s probably not them directly. More likely distributors are footing the bill for the site.

Whatever. We went with the Pentium because it's the sweet spot for an R7 260 x. If there's money later, he can always upgrade the CPU or the GPU.

Roughly $1100, and I threw in a massive SSD and 8GB of RAM.

http://postimg.org/image/4ekyidkoj/

edit:

Battlefield 3, FIFA 14, World of Tanks, and a few other shooters
plus AutoCAD.

I really hope you have an extra HDD lying around somewhere, because it isn’t listed here, and 240 GB is just a joke for how much stuff ends up on a PC 🙂

Adam Moore3 said:I hope you've got an extra HDD stashed away somewhere, because it’s nowhere to be found on this list. Honestly, 240 GB is a joke—it's nowhere near enough space for everything that's going on this machine. 🙂

External? Already got one. 😉

Most of that 240GB is just going to be occupied by standard software anyway. If you run out of breathing room, you can always ditch those massive Steam games you aren't even playing.

Aha, alright then, looks nicely organized. It’s definitely a lot more competitive compared to our local shops here in the States.

Adam Moore3 said:Got it. Looks like a clean build. Prices are actually pretty decent compared to our local US shops.

😁

Prices are always dropping, especially on stuff that isn't even cutting edge anymore.

I’m looking for a ballpark idea of what I can get right now for about $1000. This build is going to be almost exclusively for gaming, so I want to make sure everything is optimized for that. To keep things simple, just give me the tower—I don't need any peripherals. I actually already have a hard drive and a case, so if cutting those out lets me squeeze in some better components, let's go with that. Also, where’s the best place to shop? Doesn't have to be here in the States; I'm open to whatever is most cost-effective.
Edit: I currently have this Sapphire HD 6670 1GB DDR5 card, though I'm not entirely sure if I should hang onto it for a bit longer.

The LC Power LC-CC-95 CPU cooler—the one with the 90mm fan.
It’s pretty vital to grab 4GB of DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL11.
Maybe consider the AMD Kaveri Athlon II (3.1GHz, 4MB, 65W, FM2+). It comes in a box.
ASUS A88M-E motherboard.
The Palit GeForce GTX660 2GB graphics card.
Corsair CX Series, 430 Watt

Total comes to $2,943.55 or so.$13 Delivery... downtown.

If you can, maybe grab another 8GB stick of that same RAM. It'll probably work out to about...$1067.

I'd go with the EVGA 270 if it saves you a few bucks.

Regarding the CPU, I'd honestly pick the Intel Pentium G3258. You can easily overclock it even with a stock cooler. Plus, for the same price as that Athlon II, you're getting a much better upgrade path (Socket 1150 vs FM2+).

With this build at this price point, I don't think you need to worry about a Pentium bottlenecking you. It handles most games just fine, and you aren't stuck on the FM2+ platform.

If you want to spend more, that's a different conversation.

Here, look: http://postimg.org/image/fmu81wrwj/

$40Just start saving up for an extra 4GB of RAM.

edit: Get a beefier power supply if you're planning to upgrade later. For now, what's there should be plenty for a 2-core setup plus an R9 270.
edit2: Depends on what you're playing. You can get by with a 6670, but if you're planning on upgrading to something serious soon, you might as well sell it or pass it off to someone else now.

Just a heads up, the CPU and power supply are out of stock, by the way.

So, the non-K version of the Athlon has finally arrived. $165 - interesting. Honestly, grabbing this 860K isn't worth the money anyway since you can pick up an FX 4300 for even less right now (currently under $200) + at least you actually have a decent upgrade path ahead of you.

crimsonstag84 said:The CPU and power supply aren't actually in stock, by the way.

Whatever, he already had it in my cart.
It’s listed at Micro Center, but if I try to order just that part separately, it'll end up being about $30 more once you factor in shipping.
Either way, I wouldn't recommend building anything on that old AMD platform right now.

Let’s face it, all the current platforms are getting pretty outdated. Word on the street is that Socket 1150 is only getting two more Broadwell chips before it's done, and we're already hearing rumors that Skylake is hitting the market as early as Q3 this year.

That said, that Pentium would actually beat out an Athlon II in quite a few games, but the real question is how many upcoming titles it can actually handle given the two-core limitation. So, if he isn't planning on a quick upgrade from the Pentium, the Athlon II is the safer bet. Of course, there aren't any meaningful upgrade paths there; it's more of a "run it until it dies" type of platform, after which he'll just need to swap out the whole motherboard.

That’s exactly my point.

If you're looking at future upgrade paths, this is a total no-brainer.
A Core i7 or maybe even a Ryzen 5 later on.
The 1150 isn't really "old" if you can actually swap in something much better down the road. I'm using an 1155 right now and I don't feel stuck; I can still grab an i5 in a few years that won't feel significantly worse than a budget modern chip.

Obsessing over a Ryzen... 🥱

edit: I know there are other CPUs for Intel boards, but nothing worth bothering with for an upgrade.