Budget gaming build?

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Garfield1020

Garfield1020

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Apr 14, 2015
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Im thinking of going AMD for my first gaming PC, because they are cheaper.

It is currently $1000 dollars. Can anyone recommend some parts i can take out and replace to reduce money?

Thanks

Build:http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cqDsCJ
 
Solution
Archaic59
An Intel build is easily in reach of your budget and will wipe the floor with AMD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($116.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($334.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Newegg)...
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An Intel build is easily in reach of your budget and will wipe the floor with AMD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($116.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($334.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($35.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $992.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 15:34 EDT-0400
 
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Solution

+1
Go intel for gaming.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote

The intel build with a gtx 970 is a lot better. That amd combo is before tax and shipping. So it will end up costing more.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You could even save some money and not affect performance too much:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($90.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin ECO2 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($83.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($295.00 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 240 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($35.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $931.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 16:41 EDT-0400

Mainly the difference is a non-"k" series Intel i5. You save money, but lose the ability to really overclock it. Honestly, not a huge deal for most people.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
Not sure if you want to overclock, but with a gaming build there is no need, and with your budget you dont need to go AMD

E3 is better then i5 because of intel hyperthreading. You only need 8gb for gaming, get cheaper case, better GPU (GTX 970 - better performance, and less power consumption), and a better power supply (you can get here very good ones for as low as 55$ (XFX and Seasonic) if you don't plan to SLI in the future (in this case 550W is more the enough for your system). Dont forget to check this list (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html) if you decide to buy a different PSU.

Non overclocking build (better one in my opinion)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($241.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($337.35 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H35 ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($27.45 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1002.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 16:47 EDT-0400

Overclocking build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($231.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($110.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($337.35 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H35 ATX Mid Tower Case ($71.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($27.45 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1019.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 16:44 EDT-0400
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The xeon costs 242$
The i5-4460 costs 176$
The xeon is 200mhz faster with a slightly faster boost clock.
Hyper threading does not help gaming.
If you are going to spend more than 176$ go with the 4690k and overclock, this beats the xeon in performance for less money.

Zero reason to go with a xeon.
 
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Upvote 0 Downvote
We are just now starting to see games that minimum requirements are quad cores. This took years, and it's because the majority of gamers are running quad cores that they can finally start requiring 4 cores. It won't move above a 4 core minimum for quite a while, I am against trying to future proof.
 
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I am not, for the simple reason that, as was stated on one of the last best choice from tomshardware (not sure if it was CPU from March), you should not buy your system thinking only on what you need today, since most people will stay with the same PC for 4 year or even more.

And that is not the only point for getting an E3. For example, players that record they games will have better performance with E3 then with i5.
 
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The intel build with a gtx 970 is a lot better. That amd combo is before tax and shipping. So it will end up costing more.
Click to expand...

You're delusional. There is no sales tax and shipping is $2 (the mobo). $2

And, really bad at math. The price after rebates (with shipping!) is now below $880. With a 256GB SSD. 16GB of RAMs. 42 PCIe Gen2 990FX lanes. You swung. You missed.

And, there are combos with a GTX 970 available, too.

 
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Ok, even so you suggested an 880$ build that initially costs 946$.
His budget is $1000, for $1000 he should be going intel and getting a gtx 970. If there is a combo for that, sure that is great.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Intel is always better for me, you can spend less on the PSU and cooling while getting amazing gaming performance, the i5 4460 wrecks the amd 8350 in everything, even when the 8350 is overclocked.

Maybe for rendering the amd would be better but the i5 wouldn't be too behind in that regard.
 
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I dont think any one is saying that AMD is better (which would be a lie), but, at most, that it would give you a decent performance. The thing is that the intel performance would be much better, for the same money. AMD can only compete with Intel at sub $500 builds.

If you are worried about intel's build cost, check some options:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($181.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($110.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($337.35 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $833.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-25 06:48 EDT-0400

If you think you ned 16GB ram you can change to http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-bls2kit8g3d1609ds1s00 (for gaming you dont need more the 8gb)

Option 2 (with a better power supply and a different, cheaper case, but also a good one):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($110.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.79 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($337.35 @ Amazon)
Case: Enermax OSTROG ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $882.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-25 07:06 EDT-0400

If you will not buy a second GPU in the future to SLI you can change motherboard to Asrock H97 (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-h97anniversary) without losing performance, and you can change the PSU to one with 500 to 650W:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-xfxts550w
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-s12ii620bronze
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-m12ii520bronze
 
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I am a huge amd fan. I like the company, they do a lot of good for gamers. Releasing a new API helped get microsoft to do directx12, then they give that api to Vulcan to be the basis for their new API. I always try to go AMD when it comes to graphics cards, specially because they win in performance per dollar in sub gtx 970 price points.

However, in cpus there is no contest. I have owned athlon x2, phenom II's but sadly can't recommend AMD anymore if you can afford an i5-4460. People will say but it's a quad core vs an 8 core. For gaming, you only need 4 cores tops right now. Also, the AMD fx 8350 is an 8 core but 2 modules will share resources so it's more like a 4 core with hyper threading. A 4 core with a lot less performance per clock.
 
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... Ok, even so you suggested an 880$ build that initially costs 946$.
His budget is $1000, for $1000 he should be going intel and getting a gtx 970. If there is a combo for that, sure that is great.
Click to expand...

The OP: "It is currently $1000 dollars. Can anyone recommend some parts i can take out and replace to reduce money?"

The trolling Intel Fun Bunch and their meaningless hyperbole and obfuscation rolls on ....


 
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Whoops you're right, I just saw 1000$ assumed it was a budget.

 
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($314.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: combo ($5.96)
Total: $765.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-29 11:22 EDT-0400

You can trade out the WD 1tb drive for a samsung 850 evo, they just are not on sale at this moment.
 
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