Budget Gaming Build

Solution


That looks pretty good for a 1440 x 900 Monitor resolution. I would opt for the best GPU that you can afford, but if...
Well I'd up the GPU and change a few items, so here is what I'd look at:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($233.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $676.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-09 04:12 EDT-0400)

R9 270x build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectCU II Video Card ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $653.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-09 04:17 EDT-0400)

If you want to keep your Mobo selection (I don't recommend it, but..):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.49 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectCU II Video Card ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $638.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-09 04:19 EDT-0400)
 


Could you tell me why you dont recommend my motherboard, also, is G.Skill Ares better than Ripjaws? and is it worth it to get a lower CPU and a better Video Card? (Like what you did.)
 
Well, I did some research and realized that I don't need some these stuff, so I lowered all the components down. I did this because its cheaper and it can handle the games I want to play, also, maxing out the settings of games will be useless for me because I only have a 1440 x 900 20" monitor.

This is the cheaper build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3GFZt

Do you guys agree of me going with the cheaper build or should I go with the last one(or the builds posted by lunyone)?
 


That looks pretty good for a 1440 x 900 Monitor resolution. I would opt for the best GPU that you can afford, but if the GPU you selected is all that you can afford than go with it. My previous builds were assuming at least 1080p resolutions, but even the R9 270 is pretty good with 1080p with some of the settings lowered.

For those wanting to see the build without clicking the link above:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.49 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $595.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-09 05:59 EDT-0400)
 
Solution


Thanks for the feedback :) I may go with R9 270x if I can. Also, I have a question, if I'm playing on my 1440 x 900 monitor and I turn the settings of the game to 1080p, would it show 1080p or 900p/720p?
 
No you can only go up to 1440 x 900 (native resolution). You have to have a monitor that has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 to get the advantage of that resolution. You can turn down your resolution from 1440 x 900 to something lower, but I wouldn't recommend it. So you would be at 900p for your gaming needs, unless you wanted to turn the resolution down for some reason.
 


Ok thanks, I think 900p is good for me. Would this mean that I will have more fps in games because I'm on 900p?

Will there be a large difference in FPS(frames per second) between High 900p and High 1080p?
 
You should be able to game with higher settings on 900p than 1080p, just because the GPU has less things to draw on the screen than on 1080p. I personally would upgrade to 1080p when you can, but for now 900p is okay, especially since you already have the monitor.
 


Would I be able to play the latest games smoothly on Med-High settings on 900p?
 


Alright, thanks for everything :)
 


Thanks 😀