$400 PC Recommendation

[slyu9213]

Back again looking for some suggestions. Short story my brother's friend who has been using a loaner PC (mine from scratch) is looking to upgrade/build a PC for GTA V. Budget is $400, what is a good way to go? $400 is not much for a full build honestly so it will be for only core components.

What can be reused...

Case: Basic Gigabyte Case (1 or 2 exhaust and 1 or 2 intake) or Cooler Master N200
HDD: 250GB 7200RPM HDD
Fans: 1-4 Fans
PSU: 500W PSU (Don't remember brand)
Optical Drive: DVD Burner (may not use anyway)

Everything else needs to change as it's an AM2+ board with an AMD Dual-Core and a HD 4850.

The biggest problem here is the choice in CPU. Cheapest Intel i3 Haswell/Broadwell, FX 6300/8310, or Athlon X4 760K/860K. Maybe even a used Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge i5. Suggestions, whether full builds or just parts would help in the final decision. Thanks

 

[TopLuca]

What about that maybe ?

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wXpjgs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wXpjgs/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($94.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($54.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($126.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $384.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-24 17:17 EST-0500

 

[maddogfargo]

Please find the brand or make/model of the PSU. If it's good it can probably be reused. If not we'll need to include it in the build.

Do you need Windows?

Do you have an Intel or AMD preference? There are some good i3 and PentiumG budget builds as well as FX 6300 or 8320 builds that might work.

 

[slyu9213]

Thanks for the posts so far. I don't have access to the current PC right now so I can't check for the actual PSU Brand/Model right now. For now if you're making a build consider choosing a new PSU model also. I have no personal preference when it comes to this purchase as the build is not for me but another person. I want the best for the money. I'm okay with an i3 but will try to stay away from pure Dual-Core CPUs whether it is AMD or Intel.

Oh and no need for OS, already have a new one ready to go

Another thing to consider is that I can probably obtain an FX 6300, FX 8310/8320, or a i5 2400 for a very similar price around $100/110 mark.

 

[smorizio]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YZDC99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YZDC99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($68.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($126.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $388.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-24 17:27 EST-0500

 

[filippi]

Try this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-budget-gaming-pc,4065.html

 

[slyu9213]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. CPUs are down to 860K, FX 6300, i3 4160, and i5 2400/2500. As for GPU I will either go with a 750 Ti or a second hand 270X.

.:edit:.

Highly likely I go with a i3 4160 + 750 Ti/270X. The PC is for GTA V which has now been delayed til April so I won't be purchasing parts until late march. Hopefully some price drops occur but I doubt as Broadwell will probably not be out by then. If the FX 6300/95W 8-Cores are lower than $90 then than I may go with AMD too. But it seems i3 is still best bang for the buck for gaming, at least for the $400 budget

 

[eatmypie]

My friend built a pc mostly from stuff craigslist for about $500 if you don't mind driving a bit and buying 2 gen behind stuff you probably could have a better system. I've seen quite a few 3rd gen i5's on there with motherboards for under $130-140 sometimes. My friend got a gtx 670 for like $95 on there also. So if you are willing to go with some used stuff you might get more performance for the money. But I haven't always liked buying used.

 

[slyu9213]

My friend built a pc mostly from stuff craigslist for about $500 if you don't mind driving a bit and buying 2 gen behind stuff you probably could have a better system. I've seen quite a few 3rd gen i5's on there with motherboards for under $130-140 sometimes. My friend got a gtx 670 for like $95 on there also. So if you are willing to go with some used stuff you might get more performance for the money. But I haven't always liked buying used.

That's a good idea. Sadly I don't live in a big enough town and PC components and PCs in general are overpriced even on CL. Not sure if people just can't forget about the original price they paid, trying to rip off people as it's a smaller town, etc. Anyway I check CL every few days and not a lot of good deals at all, let alone Intel at a cheap price.

 

[eatmypie]

You probably could do a 860k r9 280x build if you wanted to get the 280x from ebay but you would need a need power supply but one of the decent 550w would be enough. In my work pc I had an fx 8350 and an r9 290x running on a 550w xfx power supply, now evga G2 750w so that shows how nonsense the requirements are for those cards. But on ebay someone is selling new asus r9 280x cards for only 20 or 30 bucks more than the 750ti http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-AMD-R9280X-DC2T-3GD5-Radeon-R9-280X-3GB-GDDR5-PCI-Express-3-0-Video-Card-/291391320779?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43d846b2cb

 

[slyu9213]

You probably could do a 860k r9 280x build if you wanted to get the 280x from ebay but you would need a need power supply but one of the decent 550w would be enough. In my work pc I had an fx 8350 and an r9 290x running on a 550w xfx power supply, now evga G2 750w so that shows how nonsense the requirements are for those cards. But on ebay someone is selling new asus r9 280x cards for only 20 or 30 bucks more than the 750ti http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-AMD-R9280X-DC2T-3GD5-Radeon-R9-280X-3GB-GDDR5-PCI-Express-3-0-Video-Card-/291391320779?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43d846b2cb

Thanks for that. I'll be keeping my eyes on new & second hand GPUs until the end of March. If I can find a used 280x or any GPU higher than a 270x around that time I will make changes into the rest of the build (if possible) to try to purchase the stronger GPU.

I made 4 potential builds based on the 860K, FX 6300/8320, i3 4160, and i5 2400 and at the end all four builds prices are $270-290 (~$10 difference give or take) when I take into the cost of the CPU, Motherboard, RAM, 1TB HDD. That leaves ~$110-130 for the GPU. Unless I find a really good deal it will be hard to get a 280x and a PSU to power the GPU too. The i5 2400 build is pretty much a goner as I have seen the Haswell i3 match, beat, and lose some against the i5 2500K in games. So CPU-wise it's Haswell i3 vs 860K/6300/8320 for now.

Personally I am running an FX 8350 and R9 290 on a 620W PSU. So yeah I don't really accept the PSU requirements most of the time. Only when I consider Xfire and OCing both CPU and GPUs.