First PC build, around $500, for Fallout 4. Help would be rad.

[Super Mega Man]

I want to get my foot in the door in PC gaming and I need help. I had an Xbox One and sold it last year, and now that Fallout 4 is announced, I want to go PC and I heard the users on this site are very helpful, so hello!, I'm Super Mega Man.

I really don't know much about building a PC at all and I'm doing this solo (no PC friends to help me out). Any links on how to put the pieces together and whatnot would be helpful, but I also need help getting all the parts, basically I'm a complete newbie here.

I'm looking to spend about $500 or less on a build. Is it possible for FO4 to look close to the console versions with this budget? It's not a huge priority if it doesn't, I mainly just want to play a smooth version with acceptable graphics. 1080 is a must and at least 30 fps (60 preferred). Since I'm new and any upgrade is going to be huge for me, I'm not nitpicky on some of the finer details.

I'm not worried about the display currently, unless there is something I should really check out.

I figure you guys get a lot of newbies so thanks for helping one more

 

[jaguarskx]

It is too early to say how well or poorly Fallout 4 is going to run on an "budget" PC. I will say that traditionally games published by Bethesda runs much better with an Intel CPU compared to an AMD CPU. I recall seeing benchmarks of Skyrim when it was released. At that time rigs with Core i5-2500k and FX-8150 were benchmarked. The rigs had the same amount of RAM, storage and GPU (I forgot which GPU); the Core i5-2500k was the clear winner with 20%+ difference in performance. The problem is Intel CPUs are generally more expensive than AMD CPUs.

$500 is not much to work with. You already a monitor so that is one less thing to buy. But you need to buy Windows 8.1 which rips $100 - $125 out of your budget leaving you with $375 - $400 left for hardware. Do you have a keyboard and mouse?

 

[Super Mega Man]

Sounds like Fallout 4 is the biggest obstacle. The other games I really want to play are all steam based and stuff like MOBAs, Blizzard games. Is there a budget build that will work for all these and if I need more for Fallout 4 I can just replace a part or 2 this fall? The other problem is windows 10 has a lot of nifty features, maybe it's worth waiting for it to come out next month?

I have a keyboard and mouse so those are good. Fallout 4 is really the only beast to tackle, cause my friend has a new cheapo laptop and it looks to play the blizzard/moba games just fine... but fallout 4 is the reason I'm building, I just want to play it.

I have been looking at this site and some of these builds look promising but I just don't know.
http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/#X=0,51407&T=2

 

[anoori9000]

This might be the best you'll be able to get:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($108.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($28.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($92.99 @ Newegg)
Case: DIYPC MA08-BK MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($35.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $493.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-18 20:31 EDT-0400

The PSU is pretty junky, but with a budget like that, you have to make some cuts. It has a nice CPU, and the GPU should be OK for light games and such. FO4 will be hard though. Maybe on low youll get good FPS.

Guides:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIF43-0mDk4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zAdwedmj1M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bUghCx9iso

 

[James Mason]

Stretching your budget a bit, but this is what i got for entry level:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($108.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: *ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *G.Skill Sniper Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: *Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.90 @ Amazon)
Video Card: *EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($129.99 @ B&H)
Case: *Enermax Thorex ATX Mid Tower Case ($26.25 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: *LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: *Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $536.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-18 20:36 EDT-0400

If you can save 500, try and save a little more for something much more ideal:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *MSI H97M-E35 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: *A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: *Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.75 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: *Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($309.41 @ Amazon)
Case: *Enermax ECA3212-BL ATX Mid Tower Case ($30.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: *LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: *Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $872.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-18 20:39 EDT-0400

 

[jaguarskx]

Let's start real simple and work up from there.

The following link is for the Acer Desktop PC Aspire T ATC-605-UR19 which cost $380; there is a $20 off promo code, but it is only valid until 6/19/2015 which is tomorrow. It has a quad core Core i5-4440, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive with a 300w power supply (PSU). It is the least expensive desktop I can find with a Core i5 CPU that is not refurbished. The leaves you with $120 or $140 for a graphics card. If you can spend extra for another stick of 4GB RAM then do so, if you can't then not a big deal since you can always add more RAM later when you have the money.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103929

There is a limitation with the Acer PC though. It seems it only has room for one hard drive. You can always add an external hard drive or replace the DVD drive with a hard drive (you need to buy 5.25" mounting brackets since the hard drive is only 3.25" wide). Then again, this is the least expensive desktop with a Core i5 CPU.


I do not know if Fallout 4 will run better with a nVidia or AMD GPU. Also, the 300w PSU (made by FPS Group and is pretty good) will be more than enough to run any GPU that costs $120 - $140 especially with an Intel CPU since they consume less power than AMD CPUs. You can buy a nVidia GTX 750 Ti for $130 (after a $10 rebate) or the Radeon R7 260x for $93 (after a $20 rebate). The GTX 750 Ti is faster overall, but also more expensive.

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103929
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121898&cm_re=ASUS_R7260X-OC-2GD5_Radeon_R7_260X-_-14-121-898-_-Product


Ram is pretty cheap, $25 for a 4GB stick so upgrading to 8GB total is pretty inexpensive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231644


Note - The quad core Core i5-4440 by itself costs $190 so if you prefer to build your own PC, then you will need to settle for a dual core Core i3 CPU instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116942&cm_re=Core_i5_4440-_-19-116-942-_-Product

 

[Super Mega Man]

Thank you all! I'm going to dive into learning some of this stuff and take all your considerations into account. If it wasn't for Fallout, I could easily fill my other gaming needs plenty. Going to watch those youtube videos and hopefully get some parts ordered very soon.

 

[jaguarskx]

The above builds offered by anoori9000 and James Mason for around $500 are pretty decent builds. You will have to put the parts together and settle for a dual core Core i3-4160 CPU, but there is nothing inherently bad with their builds. The cases allows for additional hard drives later on. As I stated before, the only real limitation with the Acer desktop PC I recommended is the lack of expandability beyond one hard drive (two if you remove the DVD drive). However, that is easily taken care by simply buying a new desktop case later on. It is far cheaper to buy a new case to move all your hardware and install more hard drives for expanded storage than it is to buy a Core i5 CPU for more performance.


Regarding performance... Fallout 4 will likely be using an updated version of the Creation Engine which was created for Skyrim. While Skyrim performs better with a Core i5 CPU, the game can still run fine on a Core i3 CPU.

Just as a frame of reference here is a CPU performance chart for Skyrim from Techspot.com

http://www.techspot.com/review/467-skyrim-performance/page7.html

 

[cowboyjack]

I'd honestly wait until Tom's Benchmarks some kit and then you'll know for sure. It's a very popular game so I figure in less than a week They'll probably have extensive recommendations as to what to buy for the most bang.

Sounds like Fallout 4 is the biggest obstacle. The other games I really want to play are all steam based and stuff like MOBAs, Blizzard games. Is there a budget build that will work for all these and if I need more for Fallout 4 I can just replace a part or 2 this fall? The other problem is windows 10 has a lot of nifty features, maybe it's worth waiting for it to come out next month?

I have a keyboard and mouse so those are good. Fallout 4 is really the only beast to tackle, cause my friend has a new cheapo laptop and it looks to play the blizzard/moba games just fine... but fallout 4 is the reason I'm building, I just want to play it.

I have been looking at this site and some of these builds look promising but I just don't know.
http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/#X=0,51407&T=2