Budget Gaming Computer.

[mx90]

Hello,

I will be building a budget gaming computer for moderate gaming needs. I already have Intel Core i5 2400 3.1Ghz processor, Kingston 16GB 1600Mhz RAM. My budget is around ~$550-600, and I have shortlisted the following components:

• 
  ASRock Z75 PRO3 ATX
  
  EVGA SuperNOVA 750 80PLUS B2 Bronze
  
  GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280 OC 1072MHZ 3GB 5.0GHZ GDDR5
  OR
  GIGABYTE Radeon R9 285 OC 973MHZ 2GB 5.5GHZ GDDR5
  
  Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black
  
  Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU heatsink

Please advice if this will a good build. Feel free to suggest any other parts better than the ones I chose. Thank you

 

[Mugglensu1984]

Why have you listed two different Radoen cards? If you want to crossfire then you need two of either but not both. If you want us to choose then the 280 is better than the 285. That PSU is not good. Buy a 620Watt Seasonic.

But your CPU is pretty weak so dont do any corssfire or Sli setups.

 

[timeconsumer]

A Core i5 2400 is a socket 1155 CPU which will not work in a Z87 motherboard.

 

[mx90]

Why have you listed two different Radoen cards? If you want to crossfire then you need two of either but not both. If you want us to choose then the 280 is better than the 285. That PSU is not good. Buy a 620Watt Seasonic.

But your CPU is pretty weak so dont do any corssfire or Sli setups.

Thank you for your reply. I forgot to put 'or' between the two GPUs. Seasonic 620W PSU is $150+ here. Any cheap alternative to EVGA?

I will upgrade the CPU in near future when I have some money, but now I am on very tight budget. For the price R9 280 is best, right?

 

[timeconsumer]

I will upgrade the CPU in near future when I have some money, but now I am on very tight budget. For the price R9 280 is best, right?

You'll be upgrading it much sooner than you think if you buy that motherboard. That CPU will not work in a socket 1150 Z87 board. You need a socket 1155 board.

 

[mx90]

I will upgrade the CPU in near future when I have some money, but now I am on very tight budget. For the price R9 280 is best, right?

You'll be upgrading it much sooner than you think if you buy that motherboard. That CPU will not work in a socket 1150 Z87 board. You need a socket 1155 board.

Thanks for pointing out. Might have ordered it tomorrow. Any good motherboard for Socket 1155?

 

[Mugglensu1984]

Why have you listed two different Radoen cards? If you want to crossfire then you need two of either but not both. If you want us to choose then the 280 is better than the 285. That PSU is not good. Buy a 620Watt Seasonic.

But your CPU is pretty weak so dont do any corssfire or Sli setups.

Thank you for your reply. I forgot to put 'or' between the two GPUs. Seasonic 620W PSU is $150+ here. Any cheap alternative to EVGA?

I will upgrade the CPU in near future when I have some money, but now I am on very tight budget. For the price R9 280 is best, right?

For the price R9 280 is good.
But take a look at these 285s Radeon R9 285@Newegg.ca
I found this Seasonic S12II-620 Bronze 620W However, compared to the EVGA 600B, I find that the EVGA is a better PSU so your choice was good.

For Socket 1155

ASUS P8B75-M/CSM LGA 1155 Intel B75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel B75 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

 

[mx90]

I ordered the ASRock Z75 PRO3 ATX motherboard, got pretty good deal on it. The features/price comparison was good and better chipset than B75.

I also ordered the Corsair Carbide Series 300R Case and GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280 OC Edition GFX card.

Also, I am thinking of buying EVGA SuperNOVA 750 80PLUS B2 PSU to make it some future proof, as I will be replacing the CPU to more powerful as well as motherboard in around 2 years. I actually got the i5 2400 processor and 16GB RAM for free, as cousin upgraded his PC and gave it to me. So, I will keep this motherboard and processor as make another HTPC out of it when I upgrade the PC.

I only play Company of Heroes 2, so I think this build will be enough for it to play the game at medium settings at 1080p. Will only upgrade the PC when CoH3 comes out in 2 or 3 years. I have Asus N550JV laptop with Core i7 4700HQ, 16GB and GT 750M. CPU is good but the GPU struggles in the game.

Rest of the components I will order tonight or maybe tomorrow.

I thought of stretching the budget by extra $100 to buy case and PSU that will at least accommodate an upgrade in near future.

 

[mx90]

So, the parts have arrived. The Corsair 300R case is really good looking and well built.

 

[mx90]

All set up done. Started the PC for the first time, prompted to install the OS, then rebooted to install the OS and nothing shows up.

No beep, No POST, no display.

All system, CPU and GPU fans are running.