Question Guidance on building ultra budget pc

[sunfyre]

Hey,
I'm building an ultra-budget gaming pc for 250 USD.

Where I'm from it's difficult to find components & the components that I'm using are all 2nd hand.

I've following to options,
(1) i7-4790 + RX 590

vs

(2) Xeon E5-1620 v0 + GTX 1660 Ti

I know the processors might bottleneck but i don't know how much! What do you say?

 

[Eximo]

When you are building cheap bottlenecking can be completely ignored. No faster component is going to slow you down.

i7-4790 is a much faster CPU, so I would lean that way, vs the 1660Ti being only a little faster than the RX590.

 

[hotaru.hino]

The CPU will only be a bottleneck here if it doesn't meet your performance requirements for some game. But in a vacuum, "bottlenecks" are irrelevant.

But to start, I agree, get the i7-4790, as it performs better than the Xeon.

 

[sunfyre]

When you are building cheap bottlenecking can be completely ignored. No faster component is going to slow you down.

i7-4790 is a much faster CPU, so I would lean that way, vs the 1660Ti being only a little faster than the RX590.

Thanks for your answer.

When I check on userbenchmark site, i7-4790 is giving 6% better average-score than E5-1620. (https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E5-1620-0-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790/m2930vs2293)

On the other hand, GTX 1660Ti is giving 47% better average-score than RX 590. (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1660-Ti-vs-AMD-RX-580/4037vs3923)

Both deals are worth 250USD. So, wouldn't it be better if I moved forward with E5-1620 + GTX 1660 Ti deal?

What do you think?

 

[35below0]

I think the i7-4790 is the better choice.

 

[Eximo]

CPU performance dictates both minimum and maximum FPS.
The GPU sets the maximum detail level that FPS can be displayed at. If you set the resolution and detail level too high, then the GPU limits your maximum FPS. (Your CPU still sets the minimum)

Userbenchmark is a bit of a flawed tool. Like for like it is not a terrible tool. Comparing across generations of hardware is trickier. The benchmarks they use, and many of the comparisons, aren't directly related to the performance the cards will have in games on another system.

I would take the generational improvements in CPU technology over the GPU technology myself, not to mention the 4790's quite high clock speeds. Though I wouldn't myself be looking at 4th gen hardware at this moment.

GPUs are easier to replace later on as well. Replacing your core system components means a re-build.

Minimum viable build today, and while it is more expensive, it is far more upgradeable.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($94.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H610M-HVS Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($32.97 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte EAGLE Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $387.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-03 09:24 EDT-0400