$500 Budget Gaming PC

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raysfan98

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Jul 14, 2014
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Over the past few months I have been looking to build the best gaming rig for $500 or less. I really want the best bang for my buck here, while maintaining a rig more powerful than the new consoles. I feel I have achieved the best build for what I want, playing games at high settings 1080p better than the consoles. I went Intel core i3 for the upgrade route, I would have gone FX-6300 but the upgrade route is dead. All suggestions are welcome, and any comments are welcome! ^_^ (http://pcpartpicker.com/user/raysfan98/saved/8Tsj4D)
 
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I myself just went with a pentium g3258 over the i3-4150 because i3 is stuck at 3.4ghz where im able to over clock my g3258 up to 4.5ghz and only cost me $70 for it vs $120 for i3

Heres what id probably do http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LgBpWZ Its $47 less than one you posted. 1st the cpu is alot better once overclocked.2nd you get 8gb of ram vs 4 gb and from what ive heard is the ripjaws series is one of the best. And then you can take the $47 saved and either get a nice z97 mobo or better graphics card or just "save" it =P
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $506.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-31 13:13 EST-0500
 
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Well, thanks for the fast response! I was wondering, why did you go 8gb of ram? I can easily upgrade to another 4 in like 1 month after I buy the system! Plus, I went with the NZXT power supply because it is a good color contrast with the case, a good wattage and fully modular with excellent reviews, as it is 80+ bronze certified! :)
 
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Thanks for the reply man! I do not feel as though the 860k is a better CPU than the i3 like you said it is. I would love to go 8gb of ram out of the gate but my budget just can't allow it. Also where did you see AMD will release new CPU's for the FM2+ socket? because if they really are... dude that would be amazing because their budget CPU's are pretty good for the money!
 
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I myself just went with a pentium g3258 over the i3-4150 because i3 is stuck at 3.4ghz where im able to over clock my g3258 up to 4.5ghz and only cost me $70 for it vs $120 for i3

Heres what id probably do http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LgBpWZ Its $47 less than one you posted. 1st the cpu is alot better once overclocked.2nd you get 8gb of ram vs 4 gb and from what ive heard is the ripjaws series is one of the best. And then you can take the $47 saved and either get a nice z97 mobo or better graphics card or just "save" it =P
 
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Id go with the intel because what if you get 5-6 months down the road with some extra change and find you want "MORE" like everyone does 😉 if you went with fm2+ would be hitting the top with the apu series like the a10-6800k a 4.1ghz quad core which since you already have a dedicated gpu they wouldnt be much of an upgrade from the 860k cause the apus are not optimised per core as well. Where as if you went with the intel and the 1150 socket you could go all the way to the top with the i5's and i7's and since this is a Gaming pc intels tend to be faster at gaming.
for 2015-2016 for fm2 socket only more apus which you will be paying more just for equal or even less perfomance since your buying a cpu and gpu combined.
 
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I really like this build! However I am very skeptical on overclocking because I have heard of all the possibilities where you can go wrong! I feel as though overclocking is more work than it should be, however since you have overclocked is it really hard for a first time learner? Also, factoring in a Z97 mobo for overclocking, a hyper 212 evo/plus and a good power supply it will cost more than that!
 
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I used a friends pc which was the msi motherboard using the stock cooler and a 450watt psu I was able to hit 4.5 ghz stable was at 70c during heavy intsense benchmarks mind u you rarley hit that intese use on day to day use or gaming. We tried bf4 with a gtx750ti and played about 4 hours straight 60fps on high settings and the lowest was 30fps due to skyscraper falling right next to me =P. So your 550w should be more than enough. Stock cooler is perfectly fine on it so now need to go crazy with a 212evo and as for the z97 mobo yea I would get one which is only about $40-50 more which as i said below you could use the $47 saved and put it towards that. As for first time over clocking this had been my first time overclock also =) and after 2-3 how to videos was able to due it. I found this video to be most helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CHs5_TdpXE

Edit: If i rember correctly on one of the forums a few people said it is relativly hard to hurt anything except with to high of voltage and heat . I belive the recomended max volts for the g3258 is 1.3 when we had it at 4.5ghz we used 1.25-1.27 volts. And with intel cpus you want to keep temp below 80c. At 90c and above shorten the lifespan of the cpu.
 
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Thanks for the great advice, I researched overclocking a little more today! I don't think the process will be that hard I just have to monitor my voltage throughout the cores and the overall power consumption.
-Once again- Thanks! ^_^
 
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