BestConfigs Poll - Budget AMD-Based Gaming PC

[jpishgar]

It's time to vote on your favorite build for this category!

Please see below for a list of the choices available.

Zared619's "Red Storm"

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($139.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($90.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($376.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z9 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $999.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

nix327's Build

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qToY

Processor: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($129.00 Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($61.97 Newegg)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 Newegg)
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($231.97 Newegg)
SSD: Crucial M4 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($59.99 Amazon)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.98)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 Amazon)
Cooling: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler (54.99 Newegg)
DVD Burner: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($22.98)

Total: $845.85

Basically Awesome Gaming Build

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($139.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot G2 Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($77.27 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($181.97 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On IHAS324-98 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $656.05

Chase's "Comfortably runs Far Cry 3" Everyday Machine

Processor: AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE $99.99
Motherboard: Biostar A880GZ $59.99
RAM: G.Skill Value Series 2x 4gb $39.99
Graphics Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 560 ti 1gb $149.39
Hard Drive: Seagate SV35 500gb 6.0gb/s $69.99
Case: Thermaltake V3 Black Edition $44.99
Power Supply: hec Orion XPOWER585 585watt power supply $29.99
DVD Burner: LITE-ON DVD Burner $16.99
Total: $511.99

Desperate Gamer Build

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nWxm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nWxm/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nWxm/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($81.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($41.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Gamma Classic (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 350W ATX Power Supply ($25.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $383.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

 

[drinkingcola86]

Wooo First vote.

 

[Derza10]

Maybe you should set the budgets all the same.... I think everyone is going to like the 1k build better than a $400 build...
have a 2k AMD build with ~4-6 builds
have a 1k AMD build with ~4-6 builds
have a $500 AMD build with ~4-6 builds
and then maybe a poor mans build in the $250-$400 range.

 

[drinkingcola86]

Derza your right. there are actually 2 separate builds one in the 1k range and 1 in the 2k range.

However, in the 2 job fields that I've have had in the past 6 years, if you have a budget of a certain amount, you best be using most of it or you lose it.

 

[Onus]

Yuck. I need to start participating in these.
Zared: busted budget, and an oversized PSU.
Nix: obsolete mobo, undersized SSD
"Awesome:" questionable PSU (made by CWT, using inferior Samxon capacitors)
Chase: bad mobo choice, and there's no PSU in the build (the hec Orion just looks like one).
Desperate: No PSU in the build. Clear understanding of "budget" though, although sacrificing the video card went too far.

I think I'll go with "Desperate," with the caveat that I'll spend another $116.11 toward a PSU and a HD7750.

 

[William_White]

I went with awesome because it is an actual budget build with a 3x2 processor and an ok gpu, the red storm is midrange and nix's only has a 2x2 processor and a not much better gpu.

 

[zared619]

Yuck. I need to start participating in these.
Zared: busted budget, and an oversized PSU.
Nix: obsolete mobo, undersized SSD
"Awesome:" questionable PSU (made by CWT, using inferior Samxon capacitors)
Chase: bad mobo choice, and there's no PSU in the build (the hec Orion just looks like one).
Desperate: No PSU in the build. Clear understanding of "budget" though, although sacrificing the video card went too far.

I think I'll go with "Desperate," with the caveat that I'll spend another $116.11 toward a PSU and a HD7750.

Firstly, the budget was at the time. I could have tried to be really cheap and posted a build with prices from black friday, but that would be unfair, so I submitted a build well before that. The price reflects the price of components at that time. It is impossible to tell were prices will go in the future, so jpishgar decided that the best way is to just keep prices were they were.

Secondly, the PSU is by no means over-sized. If the budget would have allowed it, I would have added an 850. There are two reasons behind this.
1. Overclocking CPU's is fun, effective, and takes more power.
2. Because I included an awesome mobo that has two pcie 2.0 x 16 ports, a lot of people would love to add another GPU. That also takes a lot of power, especially with another 7970.

 

[zared619]

Thank you everyone for the votes! Hopefully we can repeat next year!

 

[Superbucsfan]

Very nice builds Giving me great ideas thank you!

 

[Harleem]

Very nice

 

[saltiren]

I liked these builds, but I was looking for a really budget PC, like 500 or less. I made a video for the people like me who just want a Pc for less than 500 that can still game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzwLSIs1M1k

 

[jpishgar]

This topic has been desticky in top of the forum by Jpishgar