Best CPU/Motherboard/RAM for Gaming with my $300 budget?

Goten13

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Hey guys,
I I'm looking to spend $300, MAYBE a little more on these three parts! Gaming purposes! All three are a bottleneck in my rig. I'm hoping to score a core i5 or something. What would you guys suggest?

My Rig:
Windows 10 64-Bit
Apevia X‑CRUISER Mid-Tower
ASUS M2N SLI-Deluxe Motherboard
AMD Phenom I Black Edition 2.4
Asus Geforce GTX 750 TI 2GB OC Edition
6GB DDR2 Ram
Corsiar CX600 PSU?
Standard 500 GB HD
 
Solution
This is what I would do:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($77.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($26.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $299.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-15 13:37 EDT-0400

Slightly better chip than the i5 4460, faster RAM for gaming, M.2, PCIe x4 slot for upgrades (USB 3.1, NVMe SSD, etc.), ALC 1150 codec for upgraded audio, and unlike the 6600K it comes with a stock cooler.
best 300 bucks upgrade i could think of:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-E34 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($50.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP900 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($47.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $298.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-15 13:03 EDT-0400
 

Goten13

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Hmm, that looks good. If I were to skip the SSD, would that be a big deal? Also, where would that extra $50 be best put? DDR4? or more CPU ghz? Thanks!
 

The Greater Good

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Well, 300 is cutting it close. But here's what I came up with:

MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157636
ASRock Z170 Pro4s - $110
I picked that as you can add an NVMe SSD later for a really nice speed increase over your platter drive you have now. The only downside is no SLI but that might be stretching the budget too tight.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117561
Intel Core i5 6600k- $220
I picked that because it's not worth saving the 40 dollars and not getting the "K" model in my opinion.

So you're at $330 USD before tax and shipping. Honestly that's not bad but you're still going to need RAM. 16 gigs of DDR4 is about 50 dollars on Newegg right now. If you want to save some cash, you can get a worse MB and a non "K' i5 but it's not worth saving the 50-80 dollars on a junk MB and having a CPU that can't overclock. If I were in your position, I'd save a little more money to have a computer you can really enjoy. an extra 100 dollars can go a long way towards a build with more features and some future-proofing. My 2 cents from building my own computers for the last 21 years. :)
 

Goten13

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Hey thanks for your input! Question whats NVMe? and whats the difference between the MB filippi suggested and the one you aresuggesting? They both support SSD for the future don't they?
 


You will do a major upgrade (cpu/mobo) so this is the perfect time to build a OS-SSD + Data-HD storage setup.
You will love it.
And the haswell 4460 is already too much cpu for the tiny 750ti anyway,
 

The Greater Good

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NVMe is the latest and greatest in solid state drives. Right now up to 2500 MB/s transfer as opposed to 550 MB/s for a standard SSD. Both will work just fine with that MB I picked but I would go with the NVMe drive given the choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147467

The differences are between the MBs I picked and what filippi picked:
-Mine can overclock
-Full ATX vs micro ATX
-can handle twice the RAM
-More ports (USB, SATA etc)
-NVMe support
- the 4xxx series CPU is a dead socket so no upgrades in the future to something brand new

The biggest differences right there. If you can spend another 20 bucks on a MB, you can get one that supports SLI and Crossfire.


 
The Greater Good has suggested you a great upgrade.
It is more like a 450 bucks upgrade though: you will need a good cpu cooler because i5-6600k has no cooler and you will need some cash for RAM.
It make sense if you want overclock and you want a high-end gpu so you pay more to enjoy stronger gaming performance. You wont see any improvement in a 750ti gaming setup.

 

The Greater Good

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Thanks for reminding me about the CPU cooler, filippi and the comment about the build! So at $330 +$30 (HS/FAN) plus $50 ( RAM). So maybe around $430-450 after everything is said and done. But that's a really nice upgrade.
 
This is what I would do:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($77.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($26.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $299.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-15 13:37 EDT-0400

Slightly better chip than the i5 4460, faster RAM for gaming, M.2, PCIe x4 slot for upgrades (USB 3.1, NVMe SSD, etc.), ALC 1150 codec for upgraded audio, and unlike the 6600K it comes with a stock cooler.
 
Solution


Absolutely. The best price/performance gaming setup imho.
Good enough for any high-end gpu Goten13 will choose in 2016-2018 next upgrade.
 

The Greater Good

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^ That's not bad for the price but no overclocking in the future and 8 GB RAM and not 16. I think it's worth the 40 extra dollars for a MB that can overclock, but if not, then that's pretty darn nice for only 300 bucks.
 

Goten13

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To be honest, I dont really care for overclocking. Not a fan of it (mostly becuase I have no clue how, or how to manage it carefully). also ram is pretty cheap so going from 8 to 16 wont be a big deal down the road. SO, that being said, is @bears suggestion the best bang? Thanks guys!
 


Well, for 5 more dollars you can go with thisZ170 MSI MB and get some faster RAM to go with it:

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/qkX2FT/msi-motherboard-z170apro

I sort of prefer the Gig for the upgraded sound, but either would be a reasonable choice.

 

Goten13

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I saw that @fillipi mentioned my GPU being "tiny"? Is my GPU a problem area also? I purchased it not too long ago thinking it would be a great addition. I'm not running witcher or crysis or anythng that hardcore lol. Just like: League of legends, Civ V, possibly Blade and Soul. That kind of stuff.
 

Goten13

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Hmm, alright. I was hoping to not have to worry about turning down graphics after this upgrade. I got a bad suggestion on that GPU then I guess. Bought it like 3 months ago for like $150 : / What kind of upgrade tree can I look forward to regarding the GPU with the suggestions you gave me?
 


the 750ti is a entry-level gaming gpu that even a todays i3-6100 can easily handle.
Buying a 750ti is like buying a 3 people elevator and i3 could handle 500kg, i5-4460 1000kg and a highly oced i5-6600k could handle 1500kg. No matter what motor you chose it is still a 3 people elevator. Cant deal with more people than that.
 

Goten13

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Hey bear thanks a bunch for your input! I decided to go with your suggestions for the most part. I'm wndering, If I went with the i5 6600K instead, would I need a different MB? I only wonder because as worried as I am with overclocking, my GPU came with OC software so maybe the CPU will also? So its safer maybe?