Is This Good Enough For Light Gaming?

[FragapaneMas]

Hello,
I am using this computer for extreme light gaming, Minecraft, Terraria, things like that.
I have a budget of about $250, so this is a bit under budget. I make about $30 a week, so I can take some time to get some more to upgrade more.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/MaxToMinimum/saved/#view=tVbfrH

I have a big case so I can upgrade more, and I think that is a good enough motherboard to last me a while.
I won't be getting a Video Card for a while. because the games I currently want to play don't need good graphics, but alot of RAM. If you want, can you please tweak with my build and maybe, on a budget of ~$300, figure out if I can get it better?

I have read that AMD has the best on CPU video, so I wanted to keep that kind of processer if possible.

Thanks!!

 

[Archgaull]

Very, very light gaming, sure. The only change I would make is to absolutely get a better PSU, Raidmax has trash PSU's, even something like a super cheap EVGA.

 

[Rationale]

I agree with the PSU suggestion. EVGA and Antec both make some great low-cost PSUs. Using a PSU bundled with a case is rarely/never a good idea.

If you really need to save money you could always cut down to a 4GB RAM stick for the time being. You won't need more than that for the games you listed. The OS will take ~1GB of RAM, and Minecraft/Terraria will run fine on 2GB. I doubt you'll pass ~3GB of usage in real world performance in either game you listed, or in any PS3/360 ports. Then again, you probably won't save a significant amount of money cutting the RAM either.

 

[FragapaneMas]

Very, very light gaming, sure. The only change I would make is to absolutely get a better PSU, Raidmax has trash PSU's, even something like a super cheap EVGA.

I agree with the PSU suggestion. EVGA and Antec both make some great low-cost PSUs. Using a PSU bundled with a case is rarely/never a good idea.

If you really need to save money you could always cut down to a 4GB RAM stick for the time being. You won't need more than that for the games you listed. The OS will take ~1GB of RAM, and Minecraft/Terraria will run fine on 2GB. I doubt you'll pass ~3GB of usage in real world performance in either game you listed, or in any PS3/360 ports. Then again, you probably won't save a significant amount of money cutting the RAM either.

Am I able to take the PSU out of the case that has it pre-installed? If I can, should I pay the extra $10 to get a semi-modular 80+ bronze PSU? I heard that 80+ was more efficient in the energy bill, and that semi-modular is the best for beginners.

 

[yeskay]

Very, very light gaming, sure. The only change I would make is to absolutely get a better PSU, Raidmax has trash PSU's, even something like a super cheap EVGA.

I agree with the PSU suggestion. EVGA and Antec both make some great low-cost PSUs. Using a PSU bundled with a case is rarely/never a good idea.

If you really need to save money you could always cut down to a 4GB RAM stick for the time being. You won't need more than that for the games you listed. The OS will take ~1GB of RAM, and Minecraft/Terraria will run fine on 2GB. I doubt you'll pass ~3GB of usage in real world performance in either game you listed, or in any PS3/360 ports. Then again, you probably won't save a significant amount of money cutting the RAM either.

Am I able to take the PSU out of the case that has it pre-installed? If I can, should I pay the extra $10 to get a semi-modular 80+ bronze PSU? I heard that 80+ was more efficient in the energy bill, and that semi-modular is the best for beginners.

I suggest, you consider this value oriented solid Intel build that's ideal for light-medium with on-board Intel HD graphics and also provides a great future upgrade path:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($30.40 @ Amazon)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $311.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-14 13:31 EDT-0400

- For extreme budget gaming, the $64 Intel G3258 gaming beast with amazing overclocking room is the way to go.
- The default CPU cooler that comes with G3258 is a solid one, which will do a fine job even when you overclock it to 4.7Ghz. So no need for third party CPU cooler
- The Z97 Chipset based board not only allows you to clock the G3258 from its default 3.2Ghz to 4.7Ghz, but also provides great future upgrade path like moving on to Haswelll/Haswell Refresh/Broadwell i3/i5/i7 processors.
- The on-board graphics not only good for light-medium gaming, but also manages to play some heavy titles with low graphical fidelity at lower resolutions. Check the following video:

Shadow of Mordor - FPS test on Intel HD integrated graphics G3258 CPU for $70(£50)[No GPU!]

Cheers!

 

[James Mason]

Here's a version that's under/about $250, you can still OC the CPU to about 4.4/4.5 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-b81-cheap-overclocking,3888.html

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($24.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($22.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $242.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-14 14:21 EDT-0400