Desktop Computers

The i5-4690k is more than enough.

I've had this box for 3 years now, not sure if I want to just keep it as is and plan to rebuild from scratch down the road or replace the GPU and get another couple years out of it. Thoughts on new vid card vs not worth?

i5 2500K OC @ 4.4
Hyper 212 EVO
Asus 7850 2GB OC @ 1150 / 1375
8GB DDR3 1600

I play at 1200p, 24".

Yeah, a current-gen i5 might increase your gaming performance by 5% at best in some games. I wouldn't do a complete rebuild for that. Just upgrade the video card, that'll be the spot where you can make huge performance gains

Was putting a build together for a friend...goddamn RAM prices piss me off so much. Here is what I paid at Newegg the last time I bought RAM a little over 2 years ago



Same thing today is $270
G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 32GB Desktop Memory Model F3-1866C10Q-32GSR - Newegg.com

Isn't part of that the transition to DDR4 memory? When we went from DDR2 to DDR3, the DDR2 prices got higher and higher as supplies tapered out.

That said, I know DDR3 is still in 99% of household PCs.

$79 after rebate. If anyone here doesn't have an SSD yet, get this.

250GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5 SATA III Solid State Drive $90 or Less after $20 Rebate + Free Shipping - TigerDirect Deals, Coupons and Promos

Gaming Desktop Computer AMD Phenom II X2 3.4GHZ

8GB DDR 3 1333 Memory
80GB PNY SSD
1500GB Samsung Hard drive 1.5TB
Motherboard Gygabyte 990fxa-ud3
Video Card Radeon HD 7750 2GB
20X DVD/R/RW Optical Drive
575 Watt Logisys Power Supply
Wireless N 300 USB Adapter
Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3

Supports newest AMD AM3+ FX/AM3 PhenomT II series processors
Advanced 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design for AMD high-TDP CPU support
4 PCI-E 2.0 interfaces for 2way AMD CrossFireX and SLI multi-graphics support
AMD SB950 provides 6 native SATA3 ports with superfast 6Gbps link speed and RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support
Supports USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps
GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports
Ultra Durable 3 Classic Technology with copper cooled quality for lower working temperature
Turbo XHD technology accelerating hard drive performance with ease
Revolution energy saving design with Easy Energy Saver technology
Hi-def 108dB Signal-to-noise ratio Blu-ray DVD audio playback
Patented DualBIOS with Hybrid EFI technology for 3TB HDD support
Supports Dolby Home Theater audio
Radeon HD 7750 2GB



Software Included:
Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit (Authentic with License affixed to side of machine)
Microsoft Office 2003 Basic Edition (CD & License will be included)
Word 2003
Excel 2003
Outlook 2003
1 Year McAfee Antivirus subscription installed and activated to you.
Roxio HD CD Authoring software


Don't laugh. Is this system compatible with what I want to do: i.e. first player PC games, no multiplayer games. I think the most recent game I have that I can't play on my current laptop is Starcraft II. This particular system is on eBay for $499. I know, it's cheap, and that's not my ceiling on price, but I'm just wondering if it would work for me, or what options I would need to change or upgrade.

Gravy_sl said:

Don't laugh. Is this system compatible with what I want to do: i.e. first player PC games, no multiplayer games. I think the most recent game I have that I can't play on my current laptop is Starcraft II. This particular system is on eBay for $499. I know, it's cheap, and that's not my ceiling on price, but I'm just wondering if it would work for me, or what options I would need to change or upgrade.

Click to expand...

IMO the best 3 options to build a budget gamer around are: 1) Haswell i3 (2c/4t), 2) AMD 860/960 (2m/4t, no IGP), and 3) Anniversary edition Pentium G3258 (2c/2t, can overclock). The i3 and AE Pentium will allow for a drop-in Haswell i5 or i7 upgrade, and possibly a Broadwell one too. The AMD 860 is essentially a dead-end being limited to FM2+ APUs and no strong CPU upgrade path.

Something like the following will trounce that Ebay machine, but doesn't include a case (pick your own sub-$50 case), DVD burner ($20-25), HDD storage, WiFi, or OS, some of which you may already have and can reuse. Here's theAT Bench comparison of the 7750 in that Ebay machine vs the r9 280(which is really just a 7950b).

PCPartPicker part list/Price breakdown by merchant

CPU:Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor($104.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard:ASRock Z97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory:G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory($70.98 @ Newegg)
Storage:Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive($62.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card:HIS Radeon R9 280 3GB IceQ OC Video Card($164.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply:Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply($34.00 @ Newegg)
Total:$501.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-13 22:28 EST-0500

Gravy, if you are dead-set against building a PC, I'd probably buy something like this:

Dell Inspiron 3000 Series Desktop: Core i5 4460 Quad Core, 12GB DDR3, 1TB 7200RPM HDD, Windows 7 Professional w/ Win 8.1 Upgrade $479 with free shipping *Back Again* 02-13-2015 - Slickdeals.net

And then add in a good ~$200 video card like an Nvidia 960, and call it a day. Good gaming PC once it's said and done for under $700.

And yeah yeah, its a Dell, it'll have a lot of crappy software on it that you don't want that will probably slow you down a bit, but you're going to get that from just about anything that is pre-built, and good luck finding anything pre-built with an intel processor of that calibur, and more than 8GB of RAM for under $500. It's just not out there. This is a pretty solid deal while it's on sale.

edit - ah crap, coupon code is dead. I'll search around for something else comparable tomorrow

If you want a pre-built gaming PC on a $750 budget, sacrifices will have to be made. And while yeah, it sucks having a low-quality PSU, at least you can still game on the system as long as there's a decent video card there. If you get high-quality PSU, motherboard, etc, theres nothing left in the budget for a video card, and you have yourself a really reliable $750 Facebook machine.

Here's a decent pre-built bare-bones system. Same thing, slap a $200 video card in it and you're gtg, and at a total cost of around $700

Lenovo H530 | 57RF0617 | Lenovo Outlet | Lenovo Outlet (US)

I'm not dead set on a prebuilt, I just don't have the mental energy right now to sit down and build one. It's been about 20 years since I built a box, and my Mom is on hospice, so my last nerve is frayed. I can go up to $1000 probably, and maybe a bit more, but it gets harder and harder to justify it to the boss after that.

I'm trying to talk Joeboo into building me one, so I'll have an excuse to get out of town and over to KC to take Joeboo out for some BBQ.