A PC build and budget. (What do you think i should do?)

[Hexagoen]

So i want a PC setup that can actually play some games. (and one i can potentially stream and make videos on)

Some questions:

I have seen around the internet about how you can make a PC setup with little budgets like 50 dollars, etc.

Is it possible to do so? Can i actually make a PC with a budget smaller than what i pay for a nice hoodie? Can said PC run some conventional games like AC Unity, or Fallout, with a nice FPS (40-60) in 720-1080p?

And if so, what would you suggest i do with the budget? focus on a good processor and graphics card, and mediocre everything else, or get used parts?

(now realistically speaking obviously my budget is not just 50 dollars, however i would like to spend less than 500 dollars on a decent setup)

---

Now onto the grind work.

with a <500 budget in mind, and a decent gaming setup as a goal, lets get to the specifics.

Monitor: I have a 22" LED already (dad got it as a birthday present but never uses it) but i would prefer a new monitor on me as i can see that the monitor has a grainy texture on it. (its a couple years old)

Mouse: Have one already. A nice 90$ or so Logitech one, also have backups.

Keyboard: USED to have one, i have it physically, but its a wireless setup, and i lost the USB for it. :/ I dont need a pro setup keyboard with like a million extra buttons and rainbow lights, but i would like a keyboard that lights up (any color) and has 1-3 extra keys. (probably around 40-70$ range.)

RAM: I like the 8GB setup i have on my laptop, it runs things decently (maybe a 8-16 GB range)

Processor: Something that, like i said above, can run conventional games with ease. I heard Dell was a good brand. Idk about processor specifics so whatever comes to mind i guess.

Motherboard: Wtf is this even for? I know its important, but i dont know how much people spend on it. feel free to educate me.

Graphics: I seem to like AMD as a brand. No severe crashes with y AMD processor/video card on my laptop yet, but i always see people praising Nvidia and using it so im on the fence on what to use.

Cooling: anything that can cool my PC enough not to set it on fire.

Cables: anything that i can plug into the wall and use to give power to my setup (idc about wires and shit, but aslong as it wont explode on me, its good)

Case: anything that can hold this setup together and not fall apart. I'll even make my own using wood and nails if i have to.

---

So yeah. What do you think i should do? IS it possible to make a decent low-budget PC build?

Thanks for looking at this!

-Sini

[Jelly]

im no pro at building pcs BUT the guys over at /r/buildapc would be able to help you more than most anyone here i assume.

e: you could also try /r/buildapcforme!!

[Avatar of Grima]

So i want a PC setup that can actually play some games. (and one i can potentially stream and make videos on)

Some questions:

I have seen around the internet about how you can make a PC setup with little budgets like 50 dollars, etc.

Is it possible to do so? Can i actually make a PC with a budget smaller than what i pay for a nice hoodie? Can said PC run some conventional games like AC Unity, or Fallout, with a nice FPS (40-60) in 720-1080p?

And if so, what would you suggest i do with the budget? focus on a good processor and graphics card, and mediocre everything else, or get used parts?

(now realistically speaking obviously my budget is not just 50 dollars, however i would like to spend less than 500 dollars on a decent setup)

---

Now onto the grind work.

with a <500 budget in mind, and a decent gaming setup as a goal, lets get to the specifics.

Monitor: I have a 22" LED already (dad got it as a birthday present but never uses it) but i would prefer a new monitor on me as i can see that the monitor has a grainy texture on it. (its a couple years old)

Mouse: Have one already. A nice 90$ or so Logitech one, also have backups.

Keyboard: USED to have one, i have it physically, but its a wireless setup, and i lost the USB for it. :/ I dont need a pro setup keyboard with like a million extra buttons and rainbow lights, but i would like a keyboard that lights up (any color) and has 1-3 extra keys. (probably around 40-70$ range.)

RAM: I like the 8GB setup i have on my laptop, it runs things decently (maybe a 8-16 GB range)

Processor: Something that, like i said above, can run conventional games with ease. I heard Dell was a good brand. Idk about processor specifics so whatever comes to mind i guess.

Motherboard: Wtf is this even for? I know its important, but i dont know how much people spend on it. feel free to educate me.

Graphics: I seem to like AMD as a brand. No severe crashes with y AMD processor/video card on my laptop yet, but i always see people praising Nvidia and using it so im on the fence on what to use.

Cooling: anything that can cool my PC enough not to set it on fire.

Cables: anything that i can plug into the wall and use to give power to my setup (idc about wires and shit, but aslong as it wont explode on me, its good)

Case: anything that can hold this setup together and not fall apart. I'll even make my own using wood and nails if i have to.

---

So yeah. What do you think i should do? IS it possible to make a decent low-budget PC build?

Thanks for looking at this!

-Sini

Less than 500 is going to be difficult... Processor and Graphics cards are expensive. I have all my parts and with a sale on Newegg it turned out to be about $750... http://www.newegg.com/ <-- look here for what you may or may not want. Best of luck Sini

[AiedailEclipsed]

So i want a PC setup that can actually play some games. (and one i can potentially stream and make videos on)

Some questions:

I have seen around the internet about how you can make a PC setup with little budgets like 50 dollars, etc.

Is it possible to do so? Can i actually make a PC with a budget smaller than what i pay for a nice hoodie? Can said PC run some conventional games like AC Unity, or Fallout, with a nice FPS (40-60) in 720-1080p?

And if so, what would you suggest i do with the budget? focus on a good processor and graphics card, and mediocre everything else, or get used parts?

(now realistically speaking obviously my budget is not just 50 dollars, however i would like to spend less than 500 dollars on a decent setup)

Let's start here. So, the thing when you see stories about $50 PC builds, generally it comes down to people trading parts online or buying "used" (eg: presents that were never opened, etc). There's also the people who are building "PCs" that aren't what you'd necessarily think of as PC (eg: Raspberry Pi). So, I mean, yes, it is possible but it might not be something that you want to put the time and energy doing, with tracking down the parts, dealing with any issues that arise (lemons, fraudulent sales, etc), and so on. Ultimately, this is up to you.

Monitor: I have a 22" LED already (dad got it as a birthday present but never uses it) but i would prefer a new monitor on me as i can see that the monitor has a grainy texture on it. (its a couple years old)

Mouse: Have one already. A nice 90$ or so Logitech one, also have backups.

Keyboard: USED to have one, i have it physically, but its a wireless setup, and i lost the USB for it. :/ I dont need a pro setup keyboard with like a million extra buttons and rainbow lights, but i would like a keyboard that lights up (any color) and has 1-3 extra keys. (probably around 40-70$ range.)

For these things, if you really need to or want to get newer/fancier things, I'd recommend putting them on the back burner until you actually get the PC itself set up. Obviously you'll need to find something to work with for the keyboard, but it doesn't need to be anything particularly special. Borrow one from a friend or family member, they've probably got one lying around. This will allow you to devote your full budget to the computer itself, then you can concentrate on buying the other things as the funds become available.

Motherboard: Wtf is this even for? I know its important, but i dont know how much people spend on it. feel free to educate me.

Okay, so basically, your motherboard is what takes the various parts that run your computer and allows it to run. Without your motherboard, you really don't have a computer. The main thing to keep in mind when looking for motherboards is 1) RAM compatibility and 2) CPU compatibility. The form factor is also something to consider which influences the rest of your build (size -- so how big your case needs to be and how much physical space you have for components).

RAM: I like the 8GB setup i have on my laptop, it runs things decently (maybe a 8-16 GB range)

RAM is probably one of the easier things to talk about. The two main varieties you'll find today are DDR3 and DDR4. Basically, DDR4 is newer and faster. It was released in late 2014 as compared to DDR3 being around since 2007. While going with DDR3 might be somewhat cheaper, DDR4 allows you to future proof your build to an extent. However, RAM is probably the single most easily replaceable part of a computer, so going with a used set of DDR3 or what-have-you and upgrading down the line might be a good fit for you that will allow you to move your budget elsewhere. As I did say above, RAM compatibility is important to motherboards as you can't just plug whatever in.

Processor: Something that, like i said above, can run conventional games with ease. I heard Dell was a good brand. Idk about processor specifics so whatever comes to mind i guess.

Okay, so CPUs. Basically, there are two hats in this arena. Intel and AMD. Honestly, most of the time it just comes down to personal preference and what you need for your setup. There are some things to consider like the chipset architecture. For example, you might find people talking about Skylake processors, which are the newest generation of Intel processors (literally came out like the end of last year). This is similar to what I said above about future proofing, to an extent (eg: if you go with an older model of something, you're more than likely going to need to replace it quicker when the newest games come out that require the newer parts/what-have-you). I will say that to a certain extent processors for games become a bit redundant. Yes, you need a good processor/RAM if you want good overall performance, but graphical performance (eg FPS) comes from your graphics card.

Graphics: I seem to like AMD as a brand. No severe crashes with y AMD processor/video card on my laptop yet, but i always see people praising Nvidia and using it so im on the fence on what to use.

This is where things start getting a little cray. Radeon vs GeForce is another one of those it's mostly a personal preference thing. There are also different "levels" of graphics cards that you can get which make an overall difference. For example, if I said "Oh, I have an Intel i5 processor," you'd probably understand what I'm talking about. i5 is the second highest "level" retail consumer processor that Intel offers, right below i7 but above i3. Similarly, in graphics cards like GeForce for example, the 980 line is "higher" than the 960. But an added complication to this whole thing is that graphics cards aren't just like the CPU, they also have dedicated graphics RAM. Generally this ranges from 2GB up to 8GB. Another things to consider is the size (you can only fit something so big in your case). Lastly, graphics cards are tricky because they aren't just produced by one company. This is because while AMD/GeForce made the chipset that runs the whole card, different manufacturers can use that to produce their own cards.

Cooling: anything that can cool my PC enough not to set it on fire.

Cables: anything that i can plug into the wall and use to give power to my setup (idc about wires and shit, but aslong as it wont explode on me, its good)

Case: anything that can hold this setup together and not fall apart. I'll even make my own using wood and nails if i have to.

Your needs for cooling are very dependent on your case and how ventilated it is and the area you plan on storing your tower. There are advanced systems like water cooling, but honestly, that's a bit overkill for what you're going for probably. Fans are the main method of cooling most PCs, so make sure to check reviews to see how others' builds held up and the specs on the case to see how many fans it'll support. Cables aren't really important. Depending on how you buy, it'll come with the SATA cables and such needed to connect the components. What you need to worry about is your power supply. Basically, each part is going to draw a certain amount of power. You need a power supply able to create and push that much power to the parts. For the case, you can probably find a nice second hand one online if you don't want anything fancy. Just be sure that you know that everything will be able to fit and if it'll come with the necessary parts for you to be able to install everything.

A couple things I didn't notice you talking about:

• Hard drive - you'll need one of these to store your data and the games themselves. Regular hard drives are both cheap and plentiful in storage. Solid state hard drives are absolutely phenomenal for their quick loading of resources and super fast boot ups. The draw back is that they are both pretty expensive and don't come with a ton of storage space. If you are able to swing it, I'd recommend getting a SSD for your OS and programs (your games as well if possible) and an HDD for everything else (if you use Steam, you can actually set it up to where you have certain games in certain hard drives so you could put your most played ones on the SSD and the others on your regular if you don't have enough space).
• Operating system - you'll need this to do pretty much anything. Windows is pretty much your go to and I'll let you figure out how you want to wrangle this.

So that brings our crash course to a close. Now that I've stuffed your brain with a nice overview of the components, its time to actually be helpful! So, there are several AWESOME resources available on the web nowadays that help with PC building. The big one is PC Part Picker. Basically, this nifty tool allows you to choose components through a graphical interface while it tracks the nitty gritty (like component compatibility, size restraints, and wattage needed). It also finds the cheapest online retail places to buy the parts along with rebates that might be available (it isn't going to look at used parts listings on Craigslist or at ebay or the like though). There are also build guides and other peoples' builds they've designed as well. Here's the one I'm currently tinkering on, and here's what I started with like two weeks ago. So, with that one out of the way, there are also Reddit communities built around this, so you can definitely find help and support out there (/r/buildapc, /r/buildapcsales come to mind). The /r/buildapc Beginner's Guide is another great resource that will help you get a solid understand of what everything means. There was a really nice page that had some builds that the community had made that were tiered such that it was mid-range, high-range, and eat-anything-you-throw-at-it-range. I would have recommended the mid-range one as a nice place to start, but I can't find it. >.< I'll keep an eye out for it and if I see it, I'll link you to it!

If you need anything else, I'll provide the best help I can. (which admittedly isn't much tbh)

Edited May 1, 2016 by AiedailEclipsed

[Lostelle]

I built my computer on Black Friday as I saved a bunch of money (around 300$ to be exact), and have not looked back. Since this, I've built computers for friends and have learned a bunch from doing it.

If you want to learn things yourself, you could refer to Reddit as the people before me stated, or you could watch people such as LinusTechTips, (

video by Linus is an in-depth step-by-step tutorial on how to build a PC) or JayzTwoCents for example. When I was building mine, I watched tutorials on how to put them together piece by piece, and also learned the benefits and weak points of certain parts.

A big thing to factor in: are you playing hard-wired (Ethernet)? or wireless? If the latter, you're going to need a wireless card. They aren't very expensive, (around 40$,) but a motherboard you get must have an extra PCI slot for it, or you might run into some issues.

To put it out there, the best CPU for gaming would be the i5-4690k (220$ USD), and the best for rendering (that isn't drastically expensive) would be the i7-4790k (350$ USD). The extra cores in the 4790k assist you in literally everything. I like to make YouTube videos and render, so when I made my build, I picked out the i7.

Since you have a 500$ budget, try this for size: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z9yY6h (I recommend this one)

Or, for AMD: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GQBkGX

For these builds, I didn't bother adding an SSD. I don't have one, and my PC boots up in less than 15 seconds. If that is too slow for you, then my all means, buy an SSD. It's just extra money you have to spend that you don't really need.

A noticeable thing when comparing NVIDIA to AMD is that AMD uses much more electricity (watts) than NVIDIA does, (so this might not matter, but if electricity is expensive in your area, I'd go with the cheaper NVIDIA.)

Now, you stated you prefer AMD, although Intel CPU's are pretty much better in every way. The CPU in the build above is pretty much what you're going to work with for a 500$ budget, unless someone knows of a super crazy AMD processor I've never heard of. AMD processors are much cheaper and get you more bang for your buck, as the "more cores" that they have which in term are better for things like multitasking, although the Intel CPU's have better performance per core and are better for things like gaming, rendering, etc. (click me for a small example). You also aren't really going to need a CPU cooler that isn't the included stock one, unless you're going to do things like stream / render. Although at that budget, streaming isn't going to be very enjoyable for you to do, and rendering isn't going to take a short time to do either.

Basically, Intel > AMD for gaming, AMD < Intel for non-gaming, multitasking, etc.

However, if you still want to go for an AMD CPU, I really can't help you, as I don't know much about them other than the FX-8350.

For a GPU, a good budget Graphics card is a 750 Ti, as it's not /completely/ outdated yet, and can still run most games at a decent frame rate. I can tell you that my friend can play Arma 3 with 30FPS, and can run games such as GTA V perfectly fine, if that catches your attention. However, in this case I added a GTX 950. The 950 is a step up from the 750 Ti, so you should have to problem there. The AMD counterpart to the 750 Ti is the R9 270X (?) I honestly have no clue. I can't say they rival in price, as the refurbished ones on Newegg run for about 150, which, is much more than a 750 Ti runs for now, so someone needs to correct me there.

Keep in mind some games depend on either the CPU, or the GPU. For example, Counter-Strike: Global offensive is mainly a CPU based game, although that doesn't mean you can just use a crappy graphics card to pair with it.

Some CPU's and GPU's don't function well together, or bottleneck. Bottlenecking is when one component of the entire system holds back the performance of the whole... kind of like the weak link in the chain.

For gaming, usually the GPU is the bottleneck as the CPU and RAM are not taxed as much as the GPU. In some instances, the RAM can be the bottleneck.

A good example of a bottleneck is the i7-4790k and the GTX 960.

Even high resolution gaming is all about the GPU, the CPU is almost never at 100%. If you were trying to find out whether the CPU was the bottleneck then you'd want the best GPU so that the GPU wasn't the bottleneck, make sense?

here's what I started with like two weeks ago.

I'm not going to judge this since I have no clue on a majority of AMD parts, but why a 6300 over an i3-4160? Or a Pentium G3258? Like I said earlier, you get more bang for your buck with the Intel CPU's. Although the CPU's I just listed are more expensive than your AMD one, they're much better in every way. I also am curious on your case? Why a full tower case? Unless you're using DVD drives or something, a mid-tower case is perfectly usable for that build. There's also cheaper ones at that, so you could cheapen that and raise the price of something else, like your graphics card or CPU.

To summarize, building a PC isn't as hard as you think. Once you learn what you need and don't need, everything becomes much easier.

Also, I'm no genius by any means. Please correct me if I am wrong as I am always looking to learn more.

I'm tired at the moment, so I can come back to this thread later. If you were curious, here is the build I made over Black Friday & Christmas.

[Tomas Elliot]

How comes I have no understanding of all these things you people are talking about, I only own a laptop which is still exactly identical to how it was when I bought it, and all of my EXTREMELY numerous games run just fine?

[Lostelle]

How comes I have no understanding of all these things you people are talking about, I only own a laptop which is still exactly identical to how it was when I bought it, and all of my EXTREMELY numerous games run just fine?

Most people have no clue about anything myself and Eclipsed said, I knew absolutely nothing before I purchased my parts. My old laptop could run a bunch of games, but it couldn't run games like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, or GTA.

It also depends what kind of laptop, I had a Dell Inspiron. Nothing major, but not terrible.

[AiedailEclipsed]

I'm not going to judge this since I have no clue on a majority of AMD parts, but why a 6300 over an i3-4160? Or a Pentium G3258? Like I said earlier, you get more bang for your buck with the Intel CPU's. Although the CPU's I just listed are more expensive than your AMD one, they're much better in every way. I also am curious on your case? Why a full tower case? Unless you're using DVD drives or something, a mid-tower case is perfectly usable for that build. There's also cheaper ones at that, so you could cheapen that and raise the price of something else, like your graphics card or CPU.

I had asked a friend for help building a PC, because like Sini, I had no idea where or how to begin really. I didn't know about the tools like PC Part Picker, the Reddit communities, or anything like that, so I was just kind of scratching my head going "Hmmmm, how do I start? Should I start by finding the mobo and keeping track of the compatibilities, etc?" I have some friends who had built their own PCs before, so I asked for a spot of help. He gave me that build, I asked some questions, and things kind of went from there. The new build that I heavily edited after learning a bit more, doing research, forming my own opinions, asking for feedback, etc changed some of those things around. I went with the i5-6500 just to make sure I had something that would stay up-to-date for a while (plus, I'm a lazy son-of-a-gun and once I get that CPU in, I have little to no plans to change that for at least 3 years). *shrug* For the case, I did find a nice mid tower.

To echo Lostelle, things really do become easier once you've learned the basics and take advantage of the resources available. Further, definitely the same in not being a genius with this. I started with a solid general tech background, then less than a month ago I started asking questions and reading guides. I am always up for learning more too, so feel free to school me. xD

EDIT: To add on to what Lostelle said about your laptop Catherine, I know the main game that I like to play on PC (Skyrim) comes with different settings to make things run better/smoother on low-end machines. I can't remember if the game automatically does this or not (I know you can change it manually). To add to that, lots of games don't need top of the line parts to run well.

EDIT #2: Question for Lostelle: I saw your point about the i5-4690 and the i7-4790 for gaming vs rendering/general heavy-duty performance. You said the extra cores help, but those are both quad-core. Did you mean number of threads? Or possibly something else? Thanks for the explanation.

Edited May 2, 2016 by AiedailEclipsed

[Lostelle]

I had asked a friend for help building a PC, because like Sini, I had no idea where or how to begin really. I didn't know about the tools like PC Part Picker, the Reddit communities, or anything like that, so I was just kind of scratching my head going "Hmmmm, how do I start? Should I start by finding the mobo and keeping track of the compatibilities, etc?" I have some friends who had built their own PCs before, so I asked for a spot of help. He gave me that build, I asked some questions, and things kind of went from there. The new build that I heavily edited after learning a bit more, doing research, forming my own opinions, asking for feedback, etc changed some of those things around. I went with the i5-6500 just to make sure I had something that would stay up-to-date for a while (plus, I'm a lazy son-of-a-gun and once I get that CPU in, I have little to no plans to change that for at least 3 years). *shrug* For the case, I did find a nice mid tower.

To echo Lostelle, things really do become easier once you've learned the basics and take advantage of the resources available. Further, definitely the same in not being a genius with this. I started with a solid general tech background, then less than a month ago I started asking questions and reading guides. I am always up for learning more too, so feel free to school me. xD

EDIT: To add on to what Lostelle said about your laptop Catherine, I know the main game that I like to play on PC (Skyrim) comes with different settings to make things run better/smoother on low-end machines. I can't remember if the game automatically does this or not (I know you can change it manually). To add to that, lots of games don't need top of the line parts to run well.

We're all on the same page, then. I don't know anything about the new Skylake CPU's, I always knew about the 4790k and that it was a beast, and when I originally put my PC together on the website, the Skylake CPU's weren't really popular yet. I'd also prefer the quad-cores over the slower extra core CPU's (such as the 5820k) for gaming anwyays.