$550 AUD Gaming PC Build - Need some help!

[LollyHunter]

Hey! I am planning on building a gaming based computer. My budget is about $600 max.

Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next month.
Budget Range: $500-$600
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Surfing the net, Watching Movies (not so much but I will do it sometimes)
Preferred Websites for Parts: Anything in Australia; Mwave, PCcasegear, etc,.
Location: Australia, Sydney
Parts Preferences: Don't care
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: The monitor I plan to get is 1920 x 1080


Ok so I already have a build in mind, this is what i have so far:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/2Fvfu

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor $139.00 PCCaseGear

Motherboard: ASRock 980DE3/U3S3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard $69.00 PCCaseGear

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $62.99 Mwave Australia

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $69.00 CPL Online

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card $99.00 CPL Online

Case: Cooler Master K380 ATX Mid Tower Case $54.00 CPL Online

Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply $59.00 CPL Online

Total: $551.99


The monitor I plan on getting is the ASUS VS247HR 23.6" 2ms HDMI Full HD LED Monitor.

As for the PSU I may not necessarily get that particular one as i would prefer a more trusted and popular brand instead like the Corsair CX430 or Corsair VS550, if you have any other suggestions for a good budget PSU please let me know.

It's the same case when it comes to the... case. 😉 The K380 is not set in stone I may still swap around. I like the look of the Cougar Volant Black and the Aerocool Strike-X Advance Devil Red. And again any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

So basically what I would like to know is how did I do, it is my first build? And can i make this build cheaper. I am fully aware that this build will never max out any settings or anything but I just want a cheap gaming PC that will get the job done and be able to play games... And yeh so if anyone has any advice or suggestions they would be greatly appreciated!

Also I posted this thread about 2 weeks ago and decided to wait until I had a bigger budget, but it could take me up to 6 months to increase my budget to what would be considered a good quality build i guess. So I have decided to make a decent PC now instead ($600 is my max.), but I do plan on possibly upgrading in the future.


Cheers and Thank You in advance,
LollyHunter

 

[LollyHunter]

haha those SHAW "gaming units" for $18

Fun video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Js2A1qdB8

Haha thats a good video thanks man!

 

[LollyHunter]

Ok I pretty much have two final builds... AMD vs. Intel

AMD build:
CPU: AMD FX6300 $139.00
Mobo: Asus M5A78L-M LX V2 $68
RAM Patriot 4GB 1600MHZ $45
HDD: WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM $68
GPU: AMD R7 260X $164
Case: Coolermaster NSE-300 $49 (case is not definate)
CPU Fan: Deepcool Gammaxx 300 $21
PSU: Antec 450P 450Wat $59
Total: $613

Intel Build:
CPU: i3-4130 3.4GHz $137.00
Mobo: MSI B85-G43 $84
RAM Patriot 4GB 1600MHZ $45
HDD: WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM $68
GPU: AMD R7 260X $164
Case: Coolermaster NSE-300A $49 (case is not definate)
PSU: Antec 450P 450Wat $59

Total: $606

Which ones is better? If you were to choose out of the two which would you pick? Or are there some adjustments you would do (still keeping in the budget)?

Thanks heaps for your help guys I really appreciate it!

 

[rolandzhang3]

If you're planning a CPU upgrade to an i5 or i7 then go with the Intel Build, if you're not then go with the AMD build

The other thing is that the Intel stock cooler should do just fine since you won't be overclocking

 

[Scoregie]

I would be going with the intel since with the AMD you don't really have much overclocking headroom. If you find yourself lacking in power with the Intel one you can upgrade to an i5 which will beat the AMD by quite a margin. The only real downside to the Intel is that it can't be overclocked and in multithreaded games the i3 CPU will be your limiting factor. (not many games are multithreaded at the moment). So my vote goes to the Intel over the AMD. Also note the quality of board your getting with the Intel one is better.

Another note if you try to stay with the coolermaster N series for cases you'll get 2 fans one back one front so better cooling.

 

[rolandzhang3]

The i3 holds its own quite well even with CPU intensive games like Metro, should last a fair while until you get that i5 😀

 

[Scoregie]

The i3 holds its own quite well even with CPU intensive games like Metro, should last a fair while until you get that i5 😀

Exactly as the tech world moves further I've noticed it's harder and harder to go AMD for CPU's unless your overclocking I don't really think it's worth it. Plus he can't OC well on that AMD board so the next upgrade is the 8320 (8350 is a rip) and that wouldn't be as an big improvement from the i3 to the i5

 

[LollyHunter]

Ok i think i will go with the Intel. And from what I can here it is much more upgradable, is that right?

 

[Scoregie]

Ok i think i will go with the Intel. And from what I can here it is much more upgradable, is that right?

Yeah pretty much. I'd say in the end you have a few more upgrade options with the Intel.

For example you can have 4 sticks of RAM in it. Where the AMD Motherboard only has 2 RAM slots.

Also the AM3 socket is a dead socket so no more CPU's are being built for it I think (don't hold me to this) Intel is doing one more revision for socket 1150

 

[rolandzhang3]

Yep, though an 8 core on a 760G board would be a silly thing to do, that'd throttle so essentially no upgrade path with the AMD option

Seems that AMD is going to be focusing on APUs this year

 

[LollyHunter]

Awesome!! Thanks again guys!

 

[rolandzhang3]

Cheers 😀

 

[Scoregie]

Anytime