System Builder Marathon Q4 2014: Budget Gaming PC

[pauldh]

Paul Henningsen kicks off our System Builder Marathon with a stunning low-cost system that leans on Intel's Pentium G3258 processor, a Radeon R9 270X graphics card, and plenty of DDR3 memory. His hardware costs add up to just under $600, too!

System Builder Marathon Q4 2014: Budget Gaming PC : Read more

 

[airplanegeek]

Why is the PSU fan facing up instead of down? Doesn't that affect the cooling of the PSU?

 

[sea monkey]

Upon submission of the form:

The Sweepstakes opens on September 23, 2014 12 noon PDT and closes on October 6, 2014 12 noon PDT.

Umm...

 

[pauldh]

Yes it would. And it is facing down, just hidden from sight in the photo. The PSU fan's venting holes are flush with (and actually a part of) it's shell.

 

[Zeh]

Just a hint: you SHOULD be using an air conditioner so you can have the same room temperature over the year.
Preferably one with Inverter technology, which will decrease the temperature delta (it doesn't start-stop once it reaches a given temperature threshold).

 

[Onus]

Hmmm, I see some kudos for the VP-450 in here, being remarkably efficient despite not being 80+ (it is disqualified for 80+ for not having Active PFC).
Since the purpose of these SBM machines is (imho) to learn things, I would have liked to have seen a different mobo used, for comparison.
I appreciate the thoughtful approach to overclocking that was used here.
The only niggle I can't resist is the $18 for the optical drive. For months, I've been seeing one or another of them for around $13-$14. That seems a small thing, but that $4-$5 plus the leftover may have bought either a better cooler or a faster HDD.

 

[sea monkey]

totally disappeared from site

sight

while monitor temperatures

monitoring

to be sure it could bee done

be

none the less

nonetheless

it’s R9 270X graphics card

its

Yet, both machines share a similar weakness, they’re outfitted with a dual-core Pentium capable of juggling only two threads at a time.

comma splice

outputting to 3-panels

three panels

 

[codyleemanofaction]

Darn those moving prices! I was hoping to see the R9 280 make it!

 

[lesmore2222]

I agree with cody. I really wanted to see the difference a r9 280 would make as well. This was just too similar to the last build. Should have bought the r9 280 anyway and fibbed on the price a little.

 

[ingtar33]

A final thought to consider is at what point will the next big game on your radar force an early upgrade to Core i5? It might not be too far off, as Far Cry 4, which launched a week after we ordered this machine, completely lacks official support for dual-threaded processors.

same with the game of the year, Dragon Age Inquisition.

I suspect it's time to drop dual cores as a build suggestion.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Great build. I would probably never built it exactly like the article (more ram, sdd - etc), but it provides great bones to build upon.

 

[mitcoes16]

Why not Nvidia Maxwell GTX 750 Ti or better (from 120 USD and best price/performance at http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+750+Ti), and Manjaro Linux (free) with Steam and wine.

It would be even more budgeted than this machine, more like a console, and able to perform almost any AAA title at 1080p fast enough, and very fast at 720p

 

[ingtar33]

Why not Nvidia Maxwell GTX 750 Ti or better (from 120 USD and best price/performance at http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+750+Ti), and Manjaro Linux (free) with Steam and wine.

It would be even more budgeted than this machine, more like a console, and able to perform almost any AAA title at 1080p fast enough, and very fast at 720p

because a r9-270x is almost 50% faster then a 750ti.

 

[RedJaron]

I would have loved to see what the 860 would do. Shame they weren't available.

 

[Onus]

I believe I mentioned this in an earlier SBM cycle. Alternate builds are acceptable, but if they fail to follow the "rules" of the SBM (e.g. all Newegg prices) they will be deleted as off-topic.
That said, based on some of Damric's findings on how AMD APUs should be overclocked, an 860K would be an interesting choice. I think Paul said he wanted to try one, but it was not available. Oh well.

 

[envy14tpe]

I'm a little confused. This current build and Q3 2014 both have the same CPU and most other components about the same. However, the GPU in the current build is a 270x compared to 270 in Q3, yet both setups essentially game the same, differ only be 3fps, at 1080p. Anyone else surprised?

 

[damric]

I can't recommend the 860K because there are no motherboards that will let it even boot without first updating BIOS with an older FM2/+ processor. Also, it's such a poor clocker it can barely do above stock turbo frequencies. BTW, been testing 860K for about 3 weeks now.

Seeing that the Pentium chokes very hard when it comes to more modern games, I only would get 760K if on a budget. If budget permits then definitely get an i5, even a locked one on an H97 platform is pretty darn fast.

 

[RedJaron]

I'm a little confused. This current build and Q3 2014 both have the same CPU and most other components about the same. However, the GPU in the current build is a 270x compared to 270 in Q3, yet both setups essentially game the same, differ only be 3fps, at 1080p. Anyone else surprised?

Not really. The 270 and 270X share the same 7870 silicon, just different clock tweaks. The 270's GPU is clocked a little slower than the 7870, but VRAM is much faster. The 270X is clocked higher across the board. With good tuning and a little luck, you can get a 270 to perform almost the same as a 270X. You have a slightly faster GPU that's still occasionally held back by the dual-core CPU.

 

[Drejeck]

I think the CPU is too slow for the 270X, I'd rather have any 4 threaded CPU from Intel Sandy Bridge series, T, S and non K but not 2C/2T. I really appreciate the pentium unlocked but I think the graphics card must be paired with something costing 150% it's price and nothing more. I wish that 860K had more potential about overclocking. I saw a Kabini 5350 delivering FHD games quite nicely with a 750Ti (this card in particular does a beautiful job even on a 4x link) and suffering only on those extremely CPU bound. The whole platform didn't went over 100W of TDP.

 

[Onus]

I really want to see what that 5350 can do; so much so I'm tempted to buy one.

 

[Gain_Agin]

Why would they use LGA 1150? I heard Intel is discontinuing it? Does it mean when we need to upgrade the CPU we have to buy a new mobo?

 

[ingtar33]

I really want to see what that 5350 can do; so much so I'm tempted to buy one.

the benches put it close to the per core ipc of what a late model athlon x64 would do. so basically it's like a moderately slower version of an early model core2quad.

if the price on them went down a little bit they'd make world class business computers and family drivers. of course amusingly AMD priced it right out of the market.

 

[revanchrist]

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, Far Cry 4, Assassin' Creed Unity.
The above three titles initially doesn't support dual core cpus, but release patches later that allows dual core cpus to play the game, but buggy like s**t.

Dragon Age Inquisition.
You cant play the game, literally.

There's more and more titles coming in 2015 that will not support dual core cpus. If you want to play new games on a budget, either get x x860k or add a little more money for an i3. Yup, i3 is still a dual core but it has 4 thread which has no prob playing any new game at all.

Good luck with your G3258.

 

[damric]

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, Far Cry 4, Assassin' Creed Unity.
The above three titles initially doesn't support dual core cpus, but release patches later that allows dual core cpus to play the game, but buggy like s**t.

Dragon Age Inquisition.
You cant play the game, literally.

There's more and more titles coming in 2015 that will not support dual core cpus. If you want to play new games on a budget, either get x x860k or add a little more money for an i3. Yup, i3 is still a dual core but it has 4 thread which has no prob playing any new game at all.

Good luck with your G3258.

The problem with the 860K is that none of the good motherboards are compatible out-of-the-box. You got to flash the BIOS on these or they won't even POST. So while it's a good upgrade from an FM2 dual-core, I steer everyone else to the 760K so there is no compatibility issues.

G3258 still great for old games, mmorpgs and RTS though.

 

[ingtar33]

There's more and more titles coming in 2015 that will not support dual core cpus. If you want to play new games on a budget, either get x x860k or add a little more money for an i3. Yup, i3 is still a dual core but it has 4 thread which has no prob playing any new game at all.

Good luck with your G3258.

actually DA:I won't even boot on an i3. the box is very specific. it calls for a quad core cpu min. i3s don't count as true quad cores so it won't even boot on an i3. I don't know about the other games you listed, but i know DAI doesn't work.

[The problem with the 860K is that none of the good motherboards are compatible out-of-the-box. You got to flash the BIOS on these or they won't even POST. So while it's a good upgrade from an FM2 dual-core, I steer everyone else to the 760K so there is no compatibility issues.

not true but whatever keeps you warm at night. granted some of the early release fm2+ boards have this issue. particularly if you're looking at an asrock motherboard. but with asrock's issues on the whole APU platform i would have thought people would have stopped buying those boards for AMD chips a few years ago. Many fm2+ boards do work with kavari out of the box. you just have to do a little homework to figure out which ones.

that said considering how poorly kaveri clocks and considering how fantastic richmond overclocked i would steer people to the 760k just like you. Solves all your issues. you get a chip that will hit 5ghz without any real effort and it will work with any fm2+ board you can name.