New Build....my first since Iraq circa 2005.

[Steve_51]

Last year my wife bought my son a desktop from Bestbuy to play his computer games. My wife knows my history of computer building...Being deployed brought my computer building to an end, probably the only positive for her.

As I warned her, that computer sucks and my son knows it. His buddy has a laptop that smokes it. ("Zac can play ARK on MEDIUM settings!!1!") Killing me.

So, he wants a laptop. I haven't built a comp in 11 years and know things have changed but...i doubt that laptops have surpassed desktops as gaming platforms in the past decade. Oh, and plus my older daughter is getting a laptop for whatever it is teenage girls do on a computer...netflix, I assume. I am not buying 2 gaming laptops...and I won't have them comparing whose is better.

My wife found a "gaming desktop" online for ~$700. It says "Radeon Graphics!" so I assume its an APU with R7. Just guessing. I balked about it and reminded her of last year's purchase.

So my wife is gritting her teeth and I am back in the desktop business. I have 2 mission constraints. 1) under $700, 2) legal software.

Damn number 2...if I could download hardware...

Anyway, I returned to the newegg. Here is what I config'ed.

Mobo = $38
MSI A68HM-E33 V2 FM2+ AMD A68H 4 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

APU = $130
AMD A10-7850K Kaveri Quad-Core 3.7 GHz Socket FM2+ 95W AD785KXBJABOX Desktop Processor AMD Radeon R7

RAM = $60
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL10D-16GBXL

Vid Card = $170
GIGABYTE Radeon R9 380 DirectX 12 GV-R938WF2OC-2GD 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready ATX Video Card

Storage = $70
Mushkin Enhanced ECO2 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDEC240GB

Power Supply = $58
850W Gaming 12CM Fan Silent ATX Power Supply SATA 12V (SaveMart)

Case = $23
XION Gaming Series XON-310_BK Black with Blue LED Light Steel / Plastic MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case

OS = $100
MS Windows 10 Home

DVD Burner = $11

A lot of the terminology has changed in the last decade but I think everything here is compatible.

I think the 850W PSU should be enough.

Is this a good CPU + GPU match?

Solid state drive...my first encounter. I think 240GB is plenty.

I think the GPU is max for this budget.

I like AMD and Radeon products. I guess they are the same now...I hope Radeon is better about their drivers now.

I am projecting in the 12000 3DMark score range which I assume should keep us from any major upgrades for a year or two. I made some $10 decisions here and there and went megacheap on the case. Don't judge.

So, this will be my son's XMas present and we will put it together on XMas day. I don't want any surprises. I appreciate your help.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Corey Martin]

If you'll be playing a lot of games, you might, just might, want to look into buying either another SSD in RAID, or a hard drive for your data. Also, I recommend in the near future buying a certified PSU, like a Corsair or Cooler Master.

 

[ComputerSecurityGuy]

You probably don't need 16GB of RAM. And get the Athlon X4 860K, you don't need an iGPU and it is $40-50 less then the A10.

 

[ComputerSecurityGuy]

And if you are feeling brave you could always just set up a VM and a thin client for your daughter... might upset gaming performance though. And you probably would want more RAM.

 

[Steve_51]

If you'll be playing a lot of games, you might, just might, want to look into buying either another SSD in RAID, or a hard drive for your data. Also, I recommend in the near future buying a certified PSU, like a Corsair or Cooler Master.

Thermaltake Toughpower TPD-0750M - SLI / CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Gold Certification and Semi Modular Cables Black Active PFC Power Supply Intel Haswell Ready (PS-TPD-0750MPCGUS-1) = $80

Is 750W enough?

WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD10EZEX - OEM = $45

 

[Steve_51]

And if you are feeling brave you could always just set up a VM and a thin client for your daughter... might upset gaming performance though. And you probably would want more RAM.

Dialed back a bit:

Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB Single DDR3 1866 MT/s (PC3-14900) CL10 @1.5V UDIMM 240-Pin Memory Module = $43

AMD Athlon X4 860K Kaveri Quad-Core 3.7 GHz Socket FM2+ 95W AD860KXBJABOX Desktop Processor (BLACK EDITION) = $71

These savings let me add a TB HDD and a certified PSU...and I am $15 under the previous build. I should just dump that money into a bigger PSU, shouldn't I?

 

[tiny voices]

That PSU is completely trash. Replace it with an Antec, XFX, Seasonic, eVGA (G2,B2,GS)

 

[Steve_51]

That PSU is completely trash. Replace it with an Antec, XFX, Seasonic, eVGA (G2,B2,GS)

XFX Core Edition PRO850W (P1-850S-NLB9) 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply = $55 !!

Perfect!

 

[tiny voices]

That is a much better unit. Why do you need 850w? 650w is more than enough for your PC.

Also, you are changing to the Athlon correct?

Why do you have 16gb RAM? That seems pointless. 8gb is plenty.

 

[Steve_51]

That is a much better unit. Why do you need 850w? 650w is more than enough for your PC.

Also, you are changing to the Athlon correct?

Why do you have 16gb RAM? That seems pointless. 8gb is plenty.

MSI A68HM-E33 FM2+ mobo
Athlon X4 860K 3.7ghz
8 gb Crucial DDR3 1866
Radeon R9 380
XFX PRO650W
Mushkin 240gb SSD
WD 1TB HDD

That puts me a $646 pre-shipping.

Call this ADVICE TAKEN! Thanks guys!

 

[Steve_51]

Thanks everyone!

My son is playing all his games from GTA5 to all of his Steam games on high settings. ANd that is without overclocking.