[Build Log] Mini-ITX PC - Middle School

[tiny voices]

Even a 260 will be bottlenecked by semprons. They are BOTTOM of the BOTTOM CPUs.

About 2x worse than a Celeron. They really are only for Bitcoin mining rigs.

I would NEVER use one for any kind of home PC.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Well I'm not proposing to do that, but what about my competition? We are scratching around trying to get to the $375 price-point and meet the claims of the flyer.

 

[tiny voices]

The claims of the flyer are very vague and you don;t even know what they mean.

Before you can even plan a system, you need to see what the flyer is really asking.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Well I know what it says. I have the text and have posted it. I'm not sure about the price, but I believe that the $375 is the cost of either the hardware, or the hardware and tuition combined. I believe that the flyer is in some and technical senses true.

I'm just having a problem working out what they did and how they did it. I cannot progress further with my plans until I solve this and can give answers to the management. As I get more information, I will let you know. I'm a bit OCD about this.

 

[tiny voices]

Its probably an APU system with a CHEAP-o case/PSU combo and a $30 motherboard.

 

[zeyuanfu]

''Modern dedicated graphics processor.''
I don't exactly call an integrated graphics chip ''dedicated''...

 

[tiny voices]

Yeah, but I honestly believe they are lying unless it is something cheap like a gt730 which won;t really play games at 1080p.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

What's the cruddiest GPU that would allow playing Minecraft at 1080p? That would qualify as a modern game. Could it be driven by a Sempron?

 

[tiny voices]

No not a sempron.

Even the cheapest modern GPU available on the market HD6450 ($15-$20)will play MC at 1080p with a proper CPU.

 

[zeyuanfu]

The worse GPU on the planet (okay, maybe not. Second worse?) can get around 25-30 FPS in Minecraft with everything set at Fast without details.

 

[tiny voices]

The worse GPU on the planet (okay, maybe not. Second worse?) can get around 25-30 FPS in Minecraft with everything set at Fast without details.

No way. Low end GPUs will do WAY better than that. I used to have an old GT620 as a backup and it would LOCK MC at 60fps at 1080p.

It is all about the CPU. There are plenty of people playing MC on youtube with prebuilt i5/i7 machines with a cheap-o GPU added in (gt610, hd5450) that lock the game at 60fps at 1080p with far/fancy graphics.

On the other side there are people who have GOOD GPUs like gtx660s but OLD Core2 CPUs that can't get 60fps.

Minecraft is 100% CPU based in every form.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

OK, so what is the cruddiest CPU to run on the least expensive GPU that will play Minecraft at 1080p?

 

[tiny voices]

A Pentium and a gt620. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhfG7pupJNg

It will max the game at 60fps at 1080p.

Will it ruin any other game at all? No, but it will max MC.

 

[zeyuanfu]

I don't think that maxing out Minecraft is the only thing students/computer buyers want, though.

 

[tiny voices]

I agree, but that is what he said he wanted. The Cheapest CPU/GPU to max MC. And the Pentium G3220 and Gt620 is it.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

So, if
G3220 and GT620 run MineCraft at 1080p CHECK
G3220 and GT620 run MineCraft at 60FPS CHECK

can G3220 and GT620 run anything on three monitors?
The flyer mentioned Eyefinity, so that means a Radeon GPU, right? Is there a Radeon equivalent for the GT620?

The cheapest GPU on pcpartpicker is the HD 5450. How does that compare to the GT620?

I was looking at Eyefinity and found this!

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5450,2549-3.html

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare picture is the one from the flyer, I'm pretty sure.

 

[zeyuanfu]

The HD 5450 would be better as it has around the same specs save for a higher clock speed.

 

[Jwh Wu]

This is the one I'm planning to build over this week it next week. It's for younger brother, and also my first time building a pc as well. So i want budget it around $300, i believe the outcome will be pretty cool... Here is the build:

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

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($57.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.48 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 250 2GB Core Edition Video Card ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01-450P MicroATX Mini Tower Case w/450W Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $265.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-07 19:04 EST-0500

Oh, I have an old hard drive with window 8 installed. I believe this build is a great budget build for around $300.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

That is a good ultra-budget system. I hope things go well. Let us know how it goes.

 

[zeyuanfu]

You're missing a power supply and the motherboard's not too good.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

It's OK for a $300 system.

 

[tsuneo6]

You're missing a power supply and the motherboard's not too good.

PSU comes with the case

 

[McDouble]

Love the child labor concept. Glad this worked so effectively!

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Thanks. Yes, it did work well, easy enough to result in a good product, but enough issues, all of which were solved fairly easily, to show how troubleshooting works, and how you need to proceed methodically to solve problems.

Had it worked perfectly, the first time in every case, they would have gotten a false sense of security.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Triumph today, photo to follow. Today was the Hour of Coding at school. One of the PC builders was coding on the machine he helped build. He has a gaming rig at home (Win 7) and was very impressed with the snappy 'feel' that the SSD give to the system.

We have the OS up, WiFi, Office 2007, and my Steam account and games on it. Some of the games do not run properly due to video glitches (KOTOR II)

It runs very quiet and cool.

Owing to unexpected auto expenses, I've had to scale back the GPU, my wife's disposable budget is shot for the rest of the year, so I'm buying her an EVGA GTX 750ti Superclocked for Xmas. It will run most of her games and I can still get a GTX 970 for myself within the budget for my computer.


I have confirmation that the other course was $375 for hardware AND tuition, so the system must be junk. I can't compete on price, so I need to go for features, benchmarks, and specific capabilities.