Thoughts on this build?

Since I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about hardware, I’d appreciate it if someone could confirm whether this configuration is actually any good.
The plan is to use this rig primarily for gaming—aiming to run newer titles decently (even if I have to settle for low settings just to get them moving).

ASUS H81M-C, 1150, Intel ® H81, DDR3, 2 slots, 1600 MHz
Intel Pentium G3220 processor, 3.00GHz, 512KB, 3MB, Haswell
Sapphire R7 260X 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Kingston, 1600MHz, CL9, HyperX, KHX1600C9D3B1/
HDD SAMSUNG 500GB Barracuda HD502HJ 7200rpm 16MB cache SATA II
Chicony HPA-400W power supply, Advanced Highly HPA Series MS industrial Taurus
Advanced Highly HPA Series MS industrial Taurus without PSU, Midi tower, ATX, mATX, 5.25"

$899.

And one slightly more intelligent question: does this count as a complete configuration, or am I missing something? Just trying to qualify for free assembly at a local shop.

If you're asking me, I’d probably save up a bit more cash first and just grab an i5 processor... I mean, honestly, trying to play anything decent with an $133 is going to be a struggle—especially when it comes to all the newer titles hitting the market lately. 🤷 You might get away with it if you're okay playing at a tiny 800x600 resolution, but who really wants that? 😁

Larry Ortiz5 said:If you ask me, I’d just keep saving up more cash until I could swing an i5 processor... Because honestly, once you upgrade that CPU... $133 I need to get some gaming done, especially those newer titles hitting the market right now... 🤷 You might end up having to play at 800x600 resolution... 😁

Don't talk nonsense and don't disrespect my processor. 😬 Hang in there. I’ve got an identical setup myself—I’d go as far as to say you might have actually picked yours up from my thread... 😬 Battlefield 3, The Witcher 2, and Dishonored all run perfectly at 1080p. Sure, they aren't exactly the cutting-edge titles on the market right now, but they still work just fine as a benchmark... I think with my... 😁 It could run pretty much anything, though obviously some titles would struggle more than others with the details. That said, it'll definitely work for gaming. There are certain scenarios where that i5 would totally hold its own—like playing multiplayer games such as Battlefield 4. Then you have cases like Dead Rising 3 in single-player, where the GTX 570 and FX 6300 only manage about 30 FPS at 720p on low settings, which is honestly kind of ridiculous. That's an extreme example, but looking at it generally, if you're hunting for a budget gaming build, I don't think you can do much better than this. If you can scrape together a few extra bucks to go for that i5 mentioned earlier, that would definitely be the move. If not the i5, then at least grab a quad-core Athlon. You can easily put something like that together for $3,000. 🙂

It’s highly likely this configuration is from your thread. I actually stumbled upon it about a month ago when I was first looking to pull the trigger on a new PC—but, well, I'm still waiting for the funds to hit my account... so I figured I'd check back to see if it’s still a solid build 😁. Much appreciated

Adam Moore3 said:Look, let’s not talk down my processor, okay? 😬 Honestly—I actually have an identical setup myself—I'd go as far as saying you might have even picked yours from one of my old threads 😬 and look, say we take Battlefield 3, The Witcher 2, or Dishonored... they all run perfectly fine at 1080p. Sure, they aren't exactly the cutting-edge titles hitting the market right now, but they still work as a decent benchmark, don't they? I think with this (my 😁) build, you could play pretty much anything—maybe with higher settings here or lower there, obviously—but it’ll definitely get the job done for gaming. There are certainly cases where that i5 is totally sufficient, like playing multiplayer games such as Battlefield 4, or even running Dead Rising 3 in single-player where a GTX 570 paired with an FX 6300 at 720p on low settings manages about 30 FPS, which is honestly kind of laughable. That’s just an extreme example, but generally speaking, if you're hunting for a budget gaming rig, I don't think you can do much better. If you could scrape together a few more bucks and jump up to the i5 mentioned earlier, that would be the ideal move. If not the i5, then at least a quad-core Athlon. You can easily pull that together for $300. 🙂

I agree with everything said, really. My only concern is that it would be a shame for someone to build a brand-new rig only to realize later they should have spent a little extra upfront. If there's any spare cash at the start, just put it toward an i5. It'll give you peace of mind down the road—plus, if you ever decide to grab a beefier graphics card later, you won't have to deal with a massive bottleneck. Otherwise, you'll end up having to pay for both a new GPU and a new CPU at once, which is a huge hit to the wallet all at once. But hey, if he doesn't plan on upgrading... then it's probably fine as is. 👍

Larry Ortiz5 said:I mean, sure, if they have the budget, I’d just feel bad if someone agrees to a whole new build but doesn't account for extra cash upfront to grab an i5. If they go with that processor now, they’ll be set for the future. Plus, if they decide to upgrade to a beefier graphics card later, they won't have to deal with a bottleneck... Otherwise, they'll end up paying for both a new GPU and a new CPU at the same time, which is a massive hit to the wallet. But if they don't plan on changing anything? Then it's fine.. 👍

Exactly. Of course, if you've got the money, it's always worth stepping up to a better processor. Or a better GPU too. 🤣 I mean, looking at how Dead Rising runs right now... it's brutal... 🙂

I’m still missing a decent graphics card... everything else in my rig is actually pretty solid. But man, it’s impossible to scrape together enough cash when there are so many other things pulling at my wallet—between going out on the weekends, keeping up with shoes, and just general clothes, I'm basically broke.🤣 I’ve been eyeing a GTX 780 specifically. I saw someone listing one on eBay for $300 with a warranty, and honestly, I bet I could talk them down to maybe 200--$100 but what's the point? I don't even have enough spare change for a snack right now.

It looks like this build is pretty outdated since Chicony hasn't had stock in months...

Go with the Fortron Hexa/Hexa + 400W combo and an ASUS H81M-C motherboard. Micro Center doesn't seem to have the 260X in stock right now—maybe they bumped the prices up—so you might want to grab an MSI GTX 750 1GB DDR5 instead. It’ll save you some cash and still comes with a solid 3-year warranty.

You don't have a burner, but you can always just flash the OS via a USB drive.

Timothy Kim60 said:It looks like that setup is pretty old since Chicony hasn't had stock for months now...

Go with a Fortron Hexa/Hexa + 400w, an ASUS H81M-HDS motherboard, and since they don't have the 260X at Best Buy—maybe prices spiked—you could grab an MSI GTX750 1GB DDR5 for less money and get a 3-year warranty.

You don't have a burner, but you can always burn the OS via USB.

Yeah, that’s definitely my configuration; even my Chicony is humming away inside the PC right now. 😬 It's a shame, really, because Chicony used to be such a best buy—cheap and reliable. 🙂

1 x Intel Core i5-4440 (3.10GHz,1MB,6MB,84 W,1150) Box
1 x Asrock B85M Pro4, S 1150, Supports 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7
1 x Sapphire R9 280 3GB OC Dual-X, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm
1 x Samsung 120 GB 840 evo Basic, SSD disk, Kapacitet 120 GB, 2,5"
1 x AOC I2269VWM, IPS monitor 21,5" Wide, WLED, 1920x1080@60 Hz
1 x LG GH24NS, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R
2 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x Zalman ZM600-LX, 600W
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. MB standard
1 x Logitech Z323, 2 satelita (6W RMS) + Subwoofer (18W RMS

$2326

Anyone got better suggestions? Is this build actually any good? 🙂

Jonathan Scott54 said:1 x Intel Core i5-4440 Processor (3.10GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Box
1 x Asrock B85M Pro4, S 1150, Supports 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7
1 x Sapphire R9 280 3GB OC Dual-X, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm
1 x Samsung 120GB 840 EVO Basic, SSD disk, 120 GB Capacity, 2.5"
1 x AOC I2269VWM, IPS monitor 21.5" Wide, WLED, 1920x1080@60 Hz
1 x LG GH24NS DVD burner, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R, 8x DL, 40x CD-R
2 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x Zalman ZM600-LX Power Supply, 600W
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. MB standard
1 x Logitech Z323 Speakers, 2 satellites (6W RMS) + Subwoofer (18W RMS)

$2326

Anyone got a better suggestion? Is this build okay?? 🙂

It's all fine, though I'd probably just grab an XFX 550W power supply instead.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:Fine, but I'd personally go with an XFX 550W power supply.

It’s a bit pricier, but I'll consider it.🙂

1 x Intel Core i5-4440 Processor (3.10GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Box
1 x Asrock B85M Pro4, S 1150, Supports 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7
1 x Sapphire R9 280 3GB OC Dual-X, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm
1 x Samsung 120GB 840 EVO Basic, SSD disk, 120 GB Capacity, 2.5"
1 x AOC I2269VWM, IPS monitor 21.5" Wide, WLED, 1920x1080@60 Hz
1 x LG GH24NS DVD burner, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R, 8x DL, 40x CD-R
2 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. ATX standard
1 x Logitech Z323 Speakers, 2 satellites (6W RMS) + Subwoofer (18W RMS)
1 x XFX TS Series 550W PSU -P1550S-XXB9

$2374

Is this it then?? 😁

1 x AOC I2269VWM, IPS monitor 21.5" Wide, WLED, 1920x1080@60 Hz
1 x Intel Core i5-4440 Processor (3.10GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Box
1 x Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H, Socket : 1150, Intel ® B85, 4xDDR3 1600
1 x MSI R9 280 3GB GAMING 3GB GDDR5 384bit, R9 280X GAMING, 28nm
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Samsung 120 GB 840 evo Basic, SSD disk, Capacity 120 GB, 2.5"
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x XFX TS Series 550W PSU -P1550S-XXB9
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. MB standard
1 x LG GH24NS DVD burner, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R
1 x Genius speakers SP-HF800A, 20W, wood, Frequency response 80~20KHz

$2368

Fair enough, maybe give this one a second thought since the price-to-performance ratio is looking a bit better here.

FX 8320
DEEPCOOL GAMAXX
GIGABYTE 970A-DS3P
KINGSTON 8GB 1600 MHZ
INTEL 520 120 GB SSD SATA 3
TOSHIBA 3,5 1TB SATA 3
XFX R9 280 3GB BLACK EDITION
LG GH24NS95 SATA
FORTRON FSP RAIDER 550W 80+ SILVER
ZALMAN Z3 USB 3.0 MIDI ATX

ACER 23" IPS 1080p
LOGITECH Z213 2.1

= $2367.

1 x Intel Core i5-4440 Processor (3.10GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Box
1 x Asrock B85M Pro4, S 1150, Supports 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7
1 x Samsung 120 GB 840 evo Basic, SSD disk, 120 GB Capacity, 2.5"
1 x AOC I2269VWM, IPS monitor 21.5" Wide, WLED, 1920x1080@60 Hz
1 x LG GH24NS DVD burner, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R, 8x DL, 40x CD-R
2 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x XFX TS Series 550W PSU -P1550S-XXB9
1 x Logitech Z323 Speakers, 2 satellites (6W RMS) + Subwoofer (18W RMS)
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. MB standard
1 x MSI R9 280 3GB GAMING 3GB GDDR5 384bit, R9 280X GAMING, 28nm

$2392

Actually, I think I'm going through with this build. Everything looks compatible enough to finally pull the trigger, right? 😁

Is it actually any good?