Budget ($700 AUD) Build - Need Help

[LollyHunter]

Ok so I built a very cheap gaming build close to 10 months ago now and it just isn't holding up and performing at the level I would like it too. I now have a larger budget and therefore am looking to upgrade.
The only parts I am keeping from my old build is:
Storage - WD Caviar Blue 1TB
GPU - Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB
PSU - Corsair VS 650

So ideally a budget pc build with those parts listed above that is optimized for casual gaming and photo/video editing.

This is what I had in mind so far, any ideas, suggestions or constructive critisism is always greatly appreciated

[PCPartPicker part list](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/vxDjTW) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/vxDjTW/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i3-4350 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i34350) | $159.00 @ CPL Online
**Motherboard** | [MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-h81mp33) | $69.00 @ Centre Com
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f310666cl9d8gbxl) | $69.00 @ Umart
**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezrx) | $70.00 @ Centre Com
**Video Card** | [Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB Dual-X Video Card](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-100365l) | $169.00 @ PCCaseGear
**Case** | [Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/thermaltake-case-ca1d500s1wn00) | $89.00 @ CPL Online
**Power Supply** | [EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100b10500kr) | $72.00 @ CPL Online
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$697.00**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2015-11-18 15:19 AEDT+1100 |

Thanks in adavance,
LollyHunter

 

[Outlander_04]

Use a WD blue drive instead . The green saves a watt or two that you will never notice but is a lot slower .

 

[LollyHunter]

Oh yeh sorry it is meant to be a WD blue, I already have a blue anyways

 

[rhysiam]

So I'm a bit confused, you say you're keeping your HDD, GPU and PSU, but you have them all listed again in your proposed build.

You don't really want to go crossfire with either of those PSUs, or with a H81 motherboard.

If you're really keeping those components with a $700 budget, you should easily be able to afford an i5, or even a Xeon which would help your photo and video editing.

Also, can you not reuse the RAM from your current build? That would save a little more.

Also, the Corsair VS PSU you have is pretty low quality, and the EVGA unit you've listed is only slightly better. If you can stretch to it it would be well worthwhile to move to a better PSU like this Antec 520W for $95: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-hcg520

 

[LollyHunter]

So I'm a bit confused, you say you're keeping your HDD, GPU and PSU, but you have them all listed again in your proposed build.

You don't really want to go crossfire with either of those PSUs, or with a H81 motherboard.

If you're really keeping those components with a $700 budget, you should easily be able to afford an i5, or even a Xeon which would help your photo and video editing.

Also, can you not reuse the RAM from your current build? That would save a little more.

Also, the Corsair VS PSU you have is pretty low quality, and the EVGA unit you've listed is only slightly better. If you can stretch to it it would be well worthwhile to move to a better PSU like this Antec 520W for $95: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-hcg520

Ok sorry, what I meant was those are the parts I would like to keep and therefore dont need another HDD, GPU or PSu.
Although if you think it is best for me to do a slight upgrade on the PSU i can probably stretch out if you think it will be worthwhile.

With the RAM I had G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB in my old build but would really like to upgrade with this build.

The thing is I am making another cheap build for my brother with the old parts I'm not using so its not as if the RAM is just going to waste haha.

 

[rhysiam]

Ok sorry, what I meant was those are the parts I would like to keep and therefore dont need another HDD, GPU or PSu.
Although if you think it is best for me to do a slight upgrade on the PSU i can probably stretch out if you think it will be worthwhile.

With the RAM I had G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB in my old build but would really like to upgrade with this build.

The thing is I am making another cheap build for my brother with the old parts I'm not using so its not as if the RAM is just going to waste haha.

So if you take those components out of your build, then you have an extra $311 to in your budget no?

In which case upgrade your PSU to the Antec unit I suggested above and step up your CPU to either:
- Xeon E3 $325: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/mr/umart/intel-cpu-bx80646e31226v3
- i5-4460 $275: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54460

They're more or less the same processor (that Xeon model actually has integrated graphics), except the extra $50 for the Xeon gets you hyperthreading, which generally doesn't matter for gaming on Quad Core processors, but it does help for video editing and the like. The Xeon has slightly higher clocks too.

Your other alternative is to go with a Skylake build with a cheap motherboard, DDR4 RAM and a i5-6400.

 

[rhysiam]

A quick look at pricing suggests that a Skylake build is probably a better idea. I gotta go now, so can't put one together for you. But have a look at socket 1151 motherboards with an i5. The i5-6400 is pretty cheap, but low clock speeds, so might be worth springing for the i5-6500 if it fits budget. The performance increase is about the ratio as the price increase.

Good luck.

edit -> don't for you need DDR4 RAM. But it's priced pretty similarly now anyway.

 

[rhysiam]

OK, I did it anyway. Here's my suggestion:

[PCPartPicker part list](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/TbWCTW) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/TbWCTW/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80662i56500) | $295.00 @ Centre Com
**Motherboard** | [ASRock B150M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-b150mpro4) | $135.00 @ PLE Computers
**Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmk8gx4m2a2133c13) | $79.00 @ Centre Com
**Power Supply** | [Antec High Current Gamer 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-hcg520) | $95.00 @ CPL Online
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$604.00**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2015-11-18 16:44 AEDT+1100 |


You have $95 left, which is enough for a case - that's a personal decision, I'll leave it to you.

BUT, you'll also need a new copy of Windows, which won't fit in your $700 budget. It does include a solid PSU though, and your brother can presumably reuse your old Corsair VS unit - it's low quality but if you're putting an ultra budget build together for him, it's okay. So the money you saved buying a new PSU, plus the $95 left in your budget might just be enough for Windows and a case... maybe not quite depending on your case choice, but it should go close.