Budget PC Build $500

[mching]

I'm looking to retire my current i5-750 build (see signature).
I have a really tight budget, $500, for a new build.
I can re-use some components from my older pc though.

Here's what I have:

PSU: CX600M builder series
RAM: GSkill Ripjaws 2x4GB 1600
HDD: 2Tb Seagate Barracuda
SSD: Corsair M4 128gb (?)
PROC: ???
BOARD: ???
CASE: ???
GPU: ???
COOLER: ???

I game, but not as often as I used to so there's no need to go crazy with the GPU.
Instead of opting for i3-4170($110) and invest on GPU like most gaming builds, I think going with an
i5-4460($170) would suit me better for my needs. (Don't get me wrong though, I do plan on playing with this rig but nothing hardcore).

I'm aiming for a MicroATX build, I don't plan on OCing. Do I still need an aftermarket cpu cooler?
Also there's been a lot of cheap AIO water cooling such as CM Seidon and H55, are they any good?

I don't live in Canada or in the US, so prices are a bit different.
H97 boards are expensive here, cheapest at $80, while H81 & B85 are at $50 and $65 respectively.
Given current pricing of the boards here, do you guys recommend I pay the premium for H97? I won't be really needing all that SATA 3 and USB 3 ports. (I do need min of 4xSATA and 6xUSB ports). I am aware of the support issue with haswell refresh and non 97 boards. Also, I have no experience with H or B boards, some say that B or H boards are cheap and generally not-good.
The selection (locally) for b85 and h81 asus, msi, gigabyte, and asrock boards is pretty huge.
While only asrock h97 anniv and pro are available for h97 boards.

As for GPUs:
Zotac GTX 960 2GB ITX 128bit ddr5 (ZT-90310-10M) at $170
Zotac GTX 960 2GB 128bit ddr5 (ZT-90306-10M) at $180
Gigabyte GTX 950 OC 2gb (GV-N950OC-2GD) at $160
Asus R7 370 Strix DC2OC 2gb 256bit ddr5 at $160
Sapphire R7-370 Dual-X OC Ed 2gb ddr5 at $150

If the budget would permit me the get a 256gb ssd, then I would.
Crucial bx100 250gb $90, samsung 850 evo 250gb $110.

last priority would be the microATX case.
I could always go CM N200 if there's not much left of the budget for the case.

Thoughts and suggestions? Alternate parts are also welcome
Thanks.

 

[RazerZ]

What else do you plan to use the PC for, asides from gaming?

 

[smorizio]

your better off using as many as the old parts as you can. the parts you listed can be reused. the ssd not bad as a boot os drive and one or two games for now. when you have the funds you can replace it with a larger ssd. the h97 chipset is for the newer haswell devil cannon and brodwell cpu. some of the older mb wont run them even with a bios update. check with the vendor on the h81 chipset mb to see what cpu they support and what bios level they need. it not a good outcome if the bios rev of a new mb is too low to post your new cpu and you dfont have another cpu to install to update the bios. if i was rebulding on tight funds i go with the mb..cpu and case...and if i was going to game a larger power supply then reuse all the parts i could then swap out the gpu when i had the funds.

 

[Geekwad]

Just to throw this out there; If you're mainly using this for productivity applications with some gaming on the side, you can also consider a Xeon build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card ($183.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $496.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 03:28 EDT-0400

This isn't a first choice for gaming (there are better values for the money), but it does give you that i7-like performance for a lower price point. I did chew your whole budget up though, so it assumes you get another case and SSD later.....

 

[mching]

What else do you plan to use the PC for, asides from gaming?

Nothing heavy to be honest, it's just that my current pc is showing signs of aging.
Not to mention my board is evidently dying. I'm due for an upgrade.

I really used to play a lot of games, but recently time has made that difficult.
Right now, browse a ton of sites, do some light video editing, movies, games on the side.

I've been planning to play some of the games that've been released recently, not to mention looking forward to fallout 4. With that said, you think going down to an i3-4170 is recommended?

 

[nzrajput]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KDLPrH
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KDLPrH/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Directron)
Motherboard: Asus B150M-A D3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($65.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $475.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

By the way, drop that Corsair CX PSU

 

[RazerZ]

Can't speak for Fallout 4, but most modern games will run on an i3 great. Though if you can stretch the budget an i5 would be ideal with 4 real cores compared to a dual core with hyper threading.

A GTX 750ti would work for modern gaming at 1080p around medium to high settings and is incredibly energy efficient. Your PSU isn't the greatest and personally that card is the highest I would go before upgrading the power supply.

 

[mching]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KDLPrH
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KDLPrH/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Directron)
Motherboard: Asus B150M-A D3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($65.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $475.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

The thing with going skylake is that, I won't be able to re-use my 8gb ramsticks (ddr3).
Then I would need to fit in ram to my already paltry budget. Not to mention expensive processor and board.

 

[mching]

Can't speak for Fallout 4, but most modern games will run on an i3 great. Though if you can stretch the budget an i5 would be ideal with 4 real cores compared to a dual core with hyper threading.

A GTX 750ti would work for modern gaming at 1080p around medium to high settings and is incredibly energy efficient. Your PSU isn't the greatest and personally that card is the highest I would go before upgrading the power supply.

Really? I've heard that you can run a GTX970 and i5-4590 easily with 500W.

 

[nikoli707]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($175.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0 Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $478.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 22:40 EDT-0400

we can rag on the cx600m but it should work fine on this very low wattage build. you could throw a gtx960 in there and bring the total up to $504.75.

otherwise wait until the xfx 550w power supply goes on sale for $25. it just happened the other week and seems to happen once every 2 months or so.

 

[RazerZ]

[
Really? I've heard that you can run a GTX970 and i5-4590 easily with 500W.

Yes, with a quality 500W PSU. You do not want to cheap out on the PSU initially only to have it fail and possibly take other components with it on its way out. Their caps are garbage and that PSU is rated to work at 30C and below.

 

[nzrajput]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KDLPrH
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KDLPrH/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Directron)
Motherboard: Asus B150M-A D3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($65.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $475.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

The thing with going skylake is that, I won't be able to re-use my 8gb ramsticks (ddr3).
Then I would need to fit in ram to my already paltry budget. Not to mention expensive processor and board.

You can use your DDR3 ram sticks with the motherboard and CPU i suggested. They both supports DDR3 RAM.

 

[mching]

I did some research, took your suggestions into mind and am pretty firm on the i5-4460.
My main dilemma right now is the motherboard. (I've already confirmed from the shop that their B85s
have support for haswell refresh chips. Will do a follow up on H81s)

Do I get H97, B85 or H81?
Since I am not planning on OCing nor do SLI/Crossfire.
(I play on a 1080p monitor, not planning to get anything higher)
I'd prefer to have 4x SATA and 3xUSB ports though.
Which brands? Gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, or Asrock?

It's a bit odd to see that some boards are near identical, yet differ in price point
like MSI's H81M-P33 & B85M-P33.

Since I am on a tight budget, which board I get will affect the other components of this build.
If I go H97, I would probably forego a GTX960 and get a GTX950 instead.
So I am asking you guys, experienced builders that you are, if it's worth to skimp on the board a little
to get better parts. (e.g. getting an H81 would leave me enough to get GTX960 and possibly a better case)

 

[nikoli707]

some h81s are light on mosfet and vrm quality and are probably more geared for <54w cpus. its likely that gigabyte or asrock will have the best prices and they are fine. if you can get asus for a similar price then thats fine too. skip msi for their low end boards. the msi b85 there has a pcie16x 3.0 slot while the h81 has a 2.0 slot... the b85 has two more usb 2.0 connections.

h97 boards and some b85s offer four ram slots while h81s only offer two. not much of a deal if you have plenty of ram. most people just use 8/16gb which two slots can do. other prefer dual channel and/or upgrade and will run 4x4gb+16gb. also 4gb sticks usually overclock better than 8gb sticks. but if you have 2x4gb already and want to upgrade to 16gb and only have 2 ram slots then the ram you already own is useless, instead of just getting an identical set and going 4x4gb.

if you are never going to upgrade your cpu then the 4460 will run fine on an h81. asrock h81s have a 4 phase vrm that is plenty for 95w processors. the msi p33 has a 3 phase and while modest it should work fine, though people somethings feel this is a little light, along with sometimes shotty manufacturing on low end msi boards. so i say skip that.

id feel fine running the 4460 on an asrock h81 as long as it has the usb 2.0/3.0 and sata 6g/3g connectors i feel i may need to use. the pcie16x 2.0 slot isn't a game changer, there is no single graphics card yet that can saturate a pcie 2.0 slot yet and benchmarks show a 1-2% performance difference between 2.0 and 3.0 so dont worry about that, especially with a gtx960.

4460 power consumption on an h81 wouldnt be any worry... though the 4790 could be pushing some 3/4 phase vrms and mosfets near their limits...

 

[mching]

some h81s are light on mosfet and vrm quality and are probably more geared for <54w cpus. its likely that gigabyte or asrock will have the best prices and they are fine. if you can get asus for a similar price then thats fine too. skip msi for their low end boards. the msi b85 there has a pcie16x 3.0 slot while the h81 has a 2.0 slot... the b85 has two more usb 2.0 connections.

h97 boards and some b85s offer four ram slots while h81s only offer two. not much of a deal if you have plenty of ram. most people just use 8/16gb which two slots can do. other prefer dual channel and/or upgrade and will run 4x4gb+16gb. also 4gb sticks usually overclock better than 8gb sticks. but if you have 2x4gb already and want to upgrade to 16gb and only have 2 ram slots then the ram you already own is useless, instead of just getting an identical set and going 4x4gb.

if you are never going to upgrade your cpu then the 4460 will run fine on an h81. asrock h81s have a 4 phase vrm that is plenty for 95w processors. the msi p33 has a 3 phase and while modest it should work fine, though people somethings feel this is a little light, along with sometimes shotty manufacturing on low end msi boards. so i say skip that.

id feel fine running the 4460 on an asrock h81 as long as it has the usb 2.0/3.0 and sata 6g/3g connectors i feel i may need to use. the pcie16x 2.0 slot isn't a game changer, there is no single graphics card yet that can saturate a pcie 2.0 slot yet and benchmarks show a 1-2% performance difference between 2.0 and 3.0 so dont worry about that, especially with a gtx960.

4460 power consumption on an h81 wouldnt be any worry... though the 4790 could be pushing some 3/4 phase vrms and mosfets near their limits...

Thanks for the very insightful response.

Everybody has been recommending me to go H97, but H97 prices here are a bit higher than I would like.
Also, I really won't be needing the extra that H97 offers (apart from the 4x sata).

With 2x4gb ram sticks, I'd be fine with 2 ram slots. If I can get 4 then better, but I won't be going the extra
mile for it. I also don't plan on upgrading this CPU. I'm sticking with this for the long haul.

So I'm going with H81/B85s then.
I saw the sticky on tom's Mobo tier list for H81 and B85s, and compared to what's locally available:

H81 (All roughly $55)
MSI H81M-P33
MSI H81M-E33
GA-H81M-S2PH
GA-H81M-DS2
ASUS H81M-C

B85 (All roughly $70)
Asrock B85M-HDS
MSI B85M-P33
GA-B85M-HD3
ASUS B85M-G

I've heard of this trepidation with cheaper MSI boards going around toms.
I'm not sure if 'cheap MSI boards' include B85s or just H81s.
Given the options I have, any recommendations?

Also, do you guys recommend paying a little extra for the case?
I'm not talking about modding or turning my case into a spaceship looking thing.
Just possibly upping my case budget from a CM N200 to something a little more.

Update:
I saw your recommendation for the S340, it looks great and all, but I'm trying to stick with
MicroAtx as much as possible. My current older build is an Antec300 and boy is it unnecessarily big for my needs.

 

[nikoli707]

that asus b85m-g has 4 ram slots and 6 sata ports. the gigabyte h81 has 2 ram slots and 4 sata ports. between what you listed those would be my options.

yes the cheap msi boards go all the way up to low end z97s. their higher end z97 boards are awesome though.

if you already have an antec three hundred then i would recommend to keep using it for right now and put the case money toward getting the quality parts you need. in a few months/half year you can save up and find an excellent deal on a better case after you have put some research into it. the case is very subjective and user personal preference. most of the rest of the parts are a make or break definitive choice.

do what you can to squeeze a 4460+gtx960 in there on a motherboard that gives you plenty of options. you can always change your case easily and its probably the cheapest part of your build. and also remember the s340 has no optical drive bay so it might not be the case for you if you need one.

 

[mching]

There's two H81 GA boards, wasn't quite sure which one you were recommending.

I would love to re-use my antec, but right now, it's missing a ton of stuff and is in really bad shape.
So re-using the case isn't really an option here.

With the help of the good citizens of tom, here's what I have right now:
(* - from older build)

PROC: i5-4460
BOARD: ASUS B85M-G / GA-H81M (not sure which between the 2)
PSU: *CX600M builder series
RAM: *GSkill Ripjaws 2x4GB 1600
HDD: *2Tb Seagate Barracuda
SSD: *Corsair M4 128gb
CASE: ???
GPU: Zotac GTX 960 2GB (ZT-90306-10M)
COOLER: Stock

Right now I'm looking at $100 left.

I can go a little cheaper on the case, get CM N200 (roughly $40 here) and
spend the extra on the board (Asrock H97M anniv, if you guys really think it's worth the money).
Or I can go a little crazy on the case and get Fractal Design Arc mini r2 (which is a gorgeous looking microATX)
Or I can step down on the GPU a bit, get a 950. Then get CM-N200 and a Crucial BX100 250gb.

What would you guys recommend? I won't be planning to build another pc anytime soon, so
I'm more than willing to invest in parts that would make this build last longer.

TBH I may well be able to live with 120gb, 250 is just for future proofing.
Also I'd like to note that I won't be using an optical drive, so no 5.25" is fine by me.
Though I'm looking specifically for microAtx.

Many thanks

 

[nikoli707]

sorry... i was meaning the gigabyte h81m-ds2. if you can go for the asus b85 though.