Cheap PC Build

• Fabian wrote on 2016-08-15 10:06
  Hello, everyone! I was hoping you guys could help me build a cheap computer. I'm hoping to spend $500 or less since I'm planning to build a high-end computer at some point. The only requisite is for it to be able to run Mabinogi without problems. I'm not too picky since I'm currently using a laptop with integrated intel graphics. :gloom3:
  
  I already have the monitor, mouse, and keyboard, so I'm just looking for a inner components and perhaps a nice PC tower. If it's recent, even better. I'm hoping to be able to use DDR3 or maybe DDR4 on it since older memory is getting more expensive nowadays.
  
  Thank you in advance for any help given! ^^
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2016-08-16 17:46
  The most important thing is graphic card, that will be around half your budget.
  
  This is a pretty good basic guide if you are looking to build something.
  http://lifehacker.com/5840963/the-best-pcs-you-can-build-for-600-and-1200
  
  My advise is go for a nividia card, amd card is on par but nividia has better support. You don't need a great processor, so don't go for the expensive ones, chances are your graphic card will be the bottle neck, not your cpu.
  
  Oh, and if you want your computer to boot up really fast, but a low volume SSD (120 GB, or 240 GB), and set that as your system's drive. It will set you back around 150 bucks but it is worth it, because you can boot in like 5 seconds.
• Money4Ninero wrote on 2016-08-17 13:53

  Quote from TLCBonaparte;1297611:

  The most important thing is graphic card, that will be around half your budget.
  
  This is a pretty good basic guide if you are looking to build something.
  http://lifehacker.com/5840963/the-best-pcs-you-can-build-for-600-and-1200
  
  My advise is go for a nividia card, amd card is on par but nividia has better support. You don't need a great processor, so don't go for the expensive ones, chances are your graphic card will be the bottle neck, not your cpu.
  
  Oh, and if you want your computer to boot up really fast, but a low volume SSD (120 GB, or 240 GB), and set that as your system's drive. It will set you back around 150 bucks but it is worth it, because you can boot in like 5 seconds.

  
  
  This hit all the marks. The article uses PC Part Picker, which is extremely convenient as it picks up compatibility issues. It also let's you share and view other builds, which could give you an idea of what your budget can work with.
  
  I would also recommend checking out this subreddit r/buildapcsales when you're going to buy. As the name implies, it provides current pc parts that are on sale. I would especially check this now considering the recent releases of the Pascal and Polaris GPUs, meaning that older graphic cards should drop in price.
  
  I built my pc back in april and these are the specs. I managed to build it for a little under a thousand.
  
  If I would recommend anything gpu wise, I would say keep on eye on AMD's Polaris cards (Rx 460, 470, 480). They're pretty impressive for the price imo.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2016-08-18 03:35
  I am planning on building one too, I am currently eyeing GTX 970, but if you want something a bit low spec and nividia, 960 is pretty good as well.
• Fabian wrote on 2016-08-18 04:55
  Thanks for the input, guys! I've actually read that article before (it's a year old, after all). I didn't know if to build around the GPU or the CPU, so I figured I might as well ask here. :P
  
  Regarding graphics card, I've read some reviews about the RX 480 and saw it compared to the GTX 1060 here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2016/07/19/crunching-the-numbers-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-versus-amd-radeon-rx-480/#77bb02f74166
  
  I'm thinking about building around either of those. I'm leaning more towards the 1060 since TLCBonaparte did make a good point about them handling better. As for the SSDs...I was actually thinking about buying a cheap 250gb or 500gb to install the OS and important applications on and pairing it with a 1tb hard drive (might go bigger if I find them for cheap). Would you guys have any other suggestions?
  
  I'm now debating on what CPU to get. I don't want to spend too much on it (I'm giving priority to the GPU), but also don't want to cheap out on it. Then there's also the motherboard, power supply, RAM, and tower. The more I look at it, the more it's starting too look around the $800 range. Who knows? I might end up spending some more and putting off buying a high end pc for a few more years. :)
  
  All suggestions are welcome!
  
  [Edit] Okay, just read this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3106426/components-graphics/the-best-graphics-cards-for-pc-gaming.html and the 480 is looking better, what with being cheaper, but also offering cheaper monitors with Freesync capability. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds like something you should aim for.
• Money4Ninero wrote on 2016-08-18 19:03

  Quote from Fabian;1297665:

  
  The more I look at it, the more it's starting too look around the $800 range. Who knows? I might end up spending some more and putting off buying a high end pc for a few more years. :)
  

  
  
  This is exactly what happened in my case. I originally set my budget at about $600 but I found the experience of researching parts to have a consumer drive because of all the options available. It's pretty easy to compare benchmarks and say "What's another $30?" for a better performing cpu, gpu, mobo etc.
  
  Ok so let me try to type my thought process. Originally I was thinking of going with an AMD FX series, like a FX8300. Sure it's an older cpu but that means older mobos and (what I thought at the time to be) cheaper ddr3 memory. Of course this will sacrifice any upgrades and that left a sour taste in my mouth, especially considering $500 is a respectable investment.
  
  So I thought, let's just use this build as a foundation build, something that you can easily upgrade down the line. I'm thinking the i3-6100 will be ideal for your cpu. Yes it's a dual core and checking out benchmarks, the i3-6100 noticeably bottlenecks on cpu intensive games like Skylines.
  
  Price wise, it tends to hover under $120. Since it's an LGA1151 socket, you can pick up an i5-6600k or better down the line. Add onto the fact that the faster DDR4 ram is nearly identical to DDR3 in price at this point in time, it only makes sense to utilize it.
  
  Now I'm gonna be completely honest, I feel like I'm unknowledgeable about mobos. But to ME, this seems fine for now. 2 ram slots that maxes out at 32gb, which is fine since most people run with 8gb or 16gb. 4 sata ports, since you're planning on an SSD and HDD it's fine.
  
  The cons:
  It only supports a single gpu, eliminating any sli/crossfire support down the road. I'm not a fan of multi-gpu setups cause I'd prefer not to worry about scaling, but hey it might your cup of tea.
  No RAID support. Lack of fan ports too. No sata express but express drives are nonexistent anyways.
  But hey, it's under $50 atm so whatever.
  
  For now I would pick either a single HDD or SSD. I survived fairly well with just a 480gb SSD. I didn't play too many games and Campaign games like Wolfenstein or Metro I would delete after I beat them. If you're like me and can manage well with less storage, I'd say SSD now and then an HDD later down the road. Otherwise, you can never go wrong with a WD Blue 1TB.
  
  The recent summer sale made me invest in an HDD for the extra storage. Granted it was a $20 2TB Hitachi I got from ebay that currently has 1029 days (24705 Hours) powered on.
  
  But hey, these are just my thoughts atm :smoke2:
• Osayidan wrote on 2016-08-18 22:10
  I would say build around your CPU as priority if your low budget is short term. It's more a pain in the ass to upgrade the CPU in a year or two than to upgrade the graphics card. For CPU you would need to (probably) change the motherboard, and with DDR3/DDR4 going on right now in that time frame you will also have to replace your RAM since new boards will be all DDR4.
  
  With a good CPU you can just pop in a better graphics card when you have more money and not worry for a while. Considering it doesn't take much to run mabi, it shouldn't be a huge sacrifice on gaming performance, if mabi is your priority.
• Fabian wrote on 2016-08-19 04:48

  Quote from Money4Ninero;1297680:

  
  Price wise, it tends to hover under $120. Since it's an LGA1151 socket, you can pick up an i5-6600k or better down the line. Add onto the fact that the faster DDR4 ram is nearly identical to DDR3 in price at this point in time, it only makes sense to utilize it.

  
  Okay, I said fuck it and going over budget. I'll just drop the extra $100 and get the i5-6600k. I'm going for it since both you recommended it and Osayidan mentioned to base the build around a CPU.
  
  

  Now I'm gonna be completely honest, I feel like I'm unknowledgeable about mobos. But to ME, this seems fine for now. 2 ram slots that maxes out at 32gb, which is fine since most people run with 8gb or 16gb. 4 sata ports, since you're planning on an SSD and HDD it's fine.
  
  The cons:
  It only supports a single gpu, eliminating any sli/crossfire support down the road. I'm not a fan of multi-gpu setups cause I'd prefer not to worry about scaling, but hey it might your cup of tea.
  No RAID support. Lack of fan ports too. No sata express but express drives are nonexistent anyways.
  But hey, it's under $50 atm so whatever.

  
  I looked at it, but after a few reviews mentioning the sound from it isn't very good and the fact that it only has a single port, makes it so you can't install your own sound card, plus, as you metioned, no sli/crossfire support. I found some more mobos for double the price, but full ATX and with plenty more features, so it might be worth it. https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Fn7CmG/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz170hd3
  
  

  For now I would pick either a single HDD or SSD. I survived fairly well with just a 480gb SSD. I didn't play too many games and Campaign games like Wolfenstein or Metro I would delete after I beat them. If you're like me and can manage well with less storage, I'd say SSD now and then an HDD later down the road. Otherwise, you can never go wrong with a WD Blue 1TB.
  
  The recent summer sale made me invest in an HDD for the extra storage. Granted it was a $20 2TB Hitachi I got from ebay that currently has 1029 days (24705 Hours) powered on.
  
  But hey, these are just my thoughts atm :smoke2:

  
  I think I'll follow your advise and start with a single drive. I'm going for this one after looking around for best speed/price: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/nsL7YJ/mydigitalssd-bp5e-slim-7-480gb-25-solid-state-drive-mds7-bp5e-0512g
  
  

  Quote from Osayidan;1297694:

  I would say build around your CPU as priority if your low budget is short term. It's more a pain in the ass to upgrade the CPU in a year or two than to upgrade the graphics card. For CPU you would need to (probably) change the motherboard, and with DDR3/DDR4 going on right now in that time frame you will also have to replace your RAM since new boards will be all DDR4.
  
  With a good CPU you can just pop in a better graphics card when you have more money and not worry for a while. Considering it doesn't take much to run mabi, it shouldn't be a huge sacrifice on gaming performance, if mabi is your priority.

  
  I was actually planning on making a PC that would run Mabi just fine, but not planning on upgrading it and just putting it to the side once I had enough money to build my dream pc. That is no longer the case. I'm going to settle for medium specs for the next 5 years or so with this build. I'm now planning on building around Money4ninero's i5-6600k suggestion, which seems to be solid enough and rated as "high-end" by several reviewers. Also going for DDR4.
  
  Mabi is indeed my priority, but now that I made the switch from "budget pc" to "fuck it, I'm going for something good, but not 4k 120fps gaming". So I'll probably end up using it for other MMOs like Blade and Soul, or maybe a heavily modded Skyrim, or No Man's Sky, etc.
  
  Here's the a build that came together after reading everyone's suggestions and looking around the net: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/YnRPVY
  
  Some of them were just picked to fill the slot for now and I'll give the reasons as for why:
  
  CPU Cooler: Great reviews, okay price, but I'm not sure if I'll even need it. PCs seem to run cooler than laptops and I don't think I'll ever overclock my cpu. Then again laptop getting hot is an ongoing problem so maybe.
  
  Tower: Great reviews, looks great, great cable management, and great at keeping everything cool, if a bit pricey.
  
  Power supply: One of the cheapest Platinum certified power supplies I saw with great reviews, if a bit overkill for the wattage consumption my pc will have.
  
  Optical drive: I'm not sure about this at all. I do have quite a few BDs I like to watch, but I'm not sure if it's worth the $50 price tag.
  
  Operating system: Windows 10 Pro (if it works with Mabi). Only reason I'm thinking of spending that extra $50 is because of the built-in Hyper-V which should, in theory, allow me to run several Mabinogi clients at once, right? If not, I'll just go with Home edition.
  
  I supposed I could make it go under $1000 if I remove the CPU cooler, downgrade optical drive since I won't have a big enough monitor to watch BDs in, go for Windows Home, and settle on a cheaper pc tower.
  
  Please feel free to give any input in regards to my so called "build" since this is my attempt at such a thing. Any and all advise is welcome!
• Money4Ninero wrote on 2016-08-19 16:21
  Whoa. Quite the jump there budget wise. The Build you have is actually REALLY solid!
  
  

  Quote from Fabian;1297711:

  
  I looked at it, but after a few reviews mentioning the sound from it isn't very good and the fact that it only has a single port, makes it so you can't install your own sound card, plus, as you metioned, no sli/crossfire support. I found some more mobos for double the price, but full ATX and with plenty more features, so it might be worth it. https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Fn7CmG/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz170hd3
  

  
  
  The motherboard is a great pick. I actually own a Gigabyte Z97 mobo and both share a lot features. Something to note is that it doesn't have integrated wifi but this usually isn't an issue. Most people game with ethernet, but you will need to invest in a wireless adapter otherwise.
  
  

  Quote from Fabian;1297711:

  
  I think I'll follow your advise and start with a single drive. I'm going for this one after looking around for best speed/price: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/nsL...ds7-bp5e-0512g
  

  
  
  Reviews are positive and the 3 year warranty is nice.
  
  

  Quote from Fabian;1297711:

  
  CPU Cooler: Great reviews, okay price, but I'm not sure if I'll even need it. PCs seem to run cooler than laptops and I don't think I'll ever overclock my cpu. Then again laptop getting hot is an ongoing problem so maybe.
  

  
  
  The cooler is nice, if anything underrated.
  
  I also just finished double checking the cpu, the 6600k doesn't come with a stock cooler. You might considering getting the i5-6600 instead if you don't ever plan on overclocking. The 6600 comes with a stock cooler that you could use instead of buying an aftermarket one, granted I'm not sure know how great they are. That could shave $50 off the build.
  If you do get the cooler, stick with the 6600k because it's literally about a $15 difference.
  
  

  Quote from Fabian;1297711:

  
  Tower: Great reviews, looks great, great cable management, and great at keeping everything cool, if a bit pricey.
  

  
  
  I considered the same tower before. I actually like the "gamer" look it has. I ended up cutting back on the tower to buy a wireless adapter.
  
  

  Quote from Fabian;1297711:

  
  Power supply: One of the cheapest Platinum certified power supplies I saw with great reviews, if a bit overkill for the wattage consumption my pc will have.
  
  

  
  
  It's cool, I overkilled my PSU too, 750 watt gold certified. Fully modular is a nice feature. You could save money here if you really wanted to.
  
  

  Quote from Fabian;1297711:

  
  
  Optical drive: I'm not sure about this at all. I do have quite a few BDs I like to watch, but I'm not sure if it's worth the $50 price tag.
  

  
  
  This is honestly just a personal preference. I don't use one if that helps.
  
  

  Quote from Fabian;1297711:

  
  Operating system: Windows 10 Pro (if it works with Mabi). Only reason I'm thinking of spending that extra $50 is because of the built-in Hyper-V which should, in theory, allow me to run several Mabinogi clients at once, right? If not, I'll just go with Home edition.
  

  
  
  I don't know about that, can't help you there.
• Fabian wrote on 2016-08-20 07:10

  Quote from Money4Ninero;1297723:

  
  The motherboard is a great pick. I actually own a Gigabyte Z97 mobo and both share a lot features. Something to note is that it doesn't have integrated wifi but this usually isn't an issue. Most people game with ethernet, but you will need to invest in a wireless adapter otherwise.

  
  I don't think I'll be needing a wireless adapter. I'm planning on setting the pc right next to the modem for l33t gaming lolol.
  
  

  I also just finished double checking the cpu, the 6600k doesn't come with a stock cooler. You might considering getting the i5-6600 instead if you don't ever plan on overclocking. The 6600 comes with a stock cooler that you could use instead of buying an aftermarket one, granted I'm not sure know how great they are. That could shave $50 off the build.
  If you do get the cooler, stick with the 6600k because it's literally about a $15 difference.

  
  I didn't know about this version without the "k". I might stick with it since the only reason I haven't thought about overclocking is because I know jack all about it. I might change my view of it in the future. :)
  
  
  

  I considered the same tower before. I actually like the "gamer" look it has. I ended up cutting back on the tower to buy a wireless adapter.

  
  Darn those adapters, keeping you from getting the tower you want. Are you unable to run an ethernet cable to your PC for any reason?
  
  
  
  

  It's cool, I overkilled my PSU too, 750 watt gold certified. Fully modular is a nice feature. You could save money here if you really wanted to.

  
  Phew, I feared going overboard might have been a problem, but seems like I'm in the clear. :D
  
  Thanks for the help, buddy! It appears I'm all set now. All that's left is for me to actually get the money. I have $800 that I can use, so I'll have wait a week or two (what with rent coming up) to be able to afford all the stuff at once. :gloom3:
• Money4Ninero wrote on 2016-08-20 23:11

  Quote from Fabian;1297738:

  
  Darn those adapters, keeping you from getting the tower you want. Are you unable to run an ethernet cable to your PC for any reason?
  

  
  
  There is this one spot in my room, I just didn't want it there. It looked a bit awkward Lol.
  
  Have fun building it when the parts arrive!
• Fabian wrote on 2016-08-21 02:49

  Quote from Money4Ninero;1297759:

  There is this one spot in my room, I just didn't want it there. It looked a bit awkward Lol.
  
  Have fun building it when the parts arrive!

  
  
  You ca always run a larger Ethernet cable. I myself run a 10ft one for my laptop. :D
  
  Thanks, buddy. You were of great help. ^^
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2016-08-22 01:07
  I found this one, what do you guys think?
  https://www.amazon.ca/Rosewill-Challenger-Gaming-Tower-Computer/dp/B00BV31QU8
  
  Question btw, what motherboard is good? Does it matter? Or as long as it fits the slot and compatible with your graphic card it's fine?
• Fabian wrote on 2016-08-24 00:20

  Quote from TLCBonaparte;1297779:

  I found this one, what do you guys think?
  https://www.amazon.ca/Rosewill-Challenger-Gaming-Tower-Computer/dp/B00BV31QU8
  
  Question btw, what motherboard is good? Does it matter? Or as long as it fits the slot and compatible with your graphic card it's fine?

  
  
  Looks great, specially for the price! I'll have to look it up to see what's the catch though. :)
  
  I don't know much (I was just asking for help), but apparently, you have to look at the form factor of the motherboard you are buying. Since the PC Tower you linked is an ATX, the motherboard can pretty much be any size you want. Then there's the amount of slots you need as well. Also don't forget it also has to be compatible with your RAM (DDR3/DDR4). Welp, I need to read more while getting ready to buy everything. :D