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Want a budget gaming PC that's easy to put together and only costs ~$500? No problem.

This new Pentium barely runs faster than my stock phenom II 955BE (im pretty sure it's 7 years old) from 2 builds ago. Definitely a budget chip.
But the Phenom lacks new instruction sets and draws significantly more power since it's so old. Also I had the same cpu before changing it to a 4690k and the AMD was a bottleneck even with a modest 270X graphics card.
 
How many years will this PC go before it can't run the latest AAA well?

Whenever the PS4 Pro stops being able to essentially seeing as the Pro essentially uses a modified 470/480 GPU and this processor is better than the PS4's. I'd recommend the 8GB 480 for $200 instead though.
 

Rizific

Member
Or just a steam controller for $30, I set my friend up with one and he's able to do everything on his computer with that and his microphone for added convenience. He's pretty sick so it was the best option for him.

As I posted above you can get a OEM copy of windows 10 for $25 from Play Asia.

For added convenience if you really want it, you can get a cheap $18 Wireless M/K combo.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=KB-MK270&c=CJ



Honestly I just went to reddit software swap and got a key, checked with microsoft and they confirmed it was legitimate.

But there's always buying a legitimate windows 7 key too for cheap and upgrade to 10 using this

http://www.pcgamer.com/you-can-still-upgrade-to-windows-10-for-free-thanks-to-loophole/
thats all well and true, but the fact is the cost still isnt reflected in the op.

518 for the build
25 for win10
30 for controller
18 for m/kb

brings the total to $591. closer to $600 than it is to the titles ~$500 claim. on second thought, the threads title remains accurate since it is the cost of ONLY the pc. but you would have to already own all the extra stuff to actually use the pc. so the added cost comes in at some point or another.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Nice thread.

I squeezed in an SSD in my ~$500 budget build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($75.00 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-E/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($46.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($43.74 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 470 4GB Video Card ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($32.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($37.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $502.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-02 00:50 EST-0500

Some changes I made to yours -

H110m motherboard - need to double check if BIOS can be updated for Kaby Lake but seems like it should be able to.. if not replace with similar cheapy motherboard. I don't think you need to have 4 RAM slots for a single stick of ram.

Added 2 sticks of RAM for dual channel. Pretty sure a single stick only runs at half the speed? Correct me if I'm wrong.

SSD for fast OS loading

You can also shave about $70 off if you want to go with a GTX 1050 for a lower budget machine which would be ok to play 1080/30 for something like GTA V. An RX470 would get you close to 1080/60 and a GTX 1060 would def do that comfortably.

Also I find that in the other PC thread many people suggesting i5s and i7s, but I think for a budget build the Pentium or i3 seems to be absolutely fine from what ive seen on youtube in doing 60fps+ in most multi platform games. The PS4/Xbox One CPUs are really slow, so the budget PC CPUs can keep up easily. For PC exclusives like Planet Coaster where parks can get increasingly bigger, an i5 or i7 would definitely help in this regard, but for multiplat things like Battlfield 1 or GTA V, the budget CPUs seem to do fine.
 

sgjackson

Member
I agree with the assertion the 500 price point is kind of disingenuous and 600 is more realistic. I usually tell people doing these kinds of builds that 600 is a minimum and a couple hundred extra for an SSD/proper quad core/slightly nicer graphics card/16GB of RAM is highly suggested.
 

GLAMr

Member
$600 for a gaming PC build is still a steal. Plus you get cheaper games, no forced obsolescence, no sub for online features and other uses (such as email, desktop publishing, photo editing, video editing, software development).
 

laxu

Member
I agree with the assertion the 500 price point is kind of disingenuous and 600 is more realistic. I usually tell people doing these kinds of builds that 600 is a minimum and a couple hundred extra for an SSD/proper quad core/slightly nicer graphics card/16GB of RAM is highly suggested.

I agree. Hell, you can probably chop a few hundred off that if you go used as a few generations old Intel CPUs and motherboards are still perfectly fine and far more powerful than anything in consoles.
 

Garou

Member
This new Pentium barely runs faster than my stock phenom II 955BE (im pretty sure it's 7 years old) from 2 builds ago. Definitely a budget chip.

That's not how CPUs work...at all. GHz doesn't equal GHz across generations.
 
I agree. Hell, you can probably chop a few hundred off that if you go used as a few generations old Intel CPUs and motherboards are still perfectly fine and far more powerful than anything in consoles.

This is one of the best things about PC building: you have so much choice.
 

Jimrpg

Member
$600 for a gaming PC build is still a steal. Plus you get cheaper games, no forced obsolescence, no sub for online features and other uses (such as email, desktop publishing, photo editing, video editing, software development).

Cheaper games sure but the upfront cost is way higher.

For example for a $1000 build (about what most people spend) vs a $400 PS4 Pro - that's a $600 difference. If you save $20 a game - that's still 30 full price games you'd have to buy before you get your money back.

It's fine for people who buy LOTS of games, but not casual gamers who only buy a few titles a year.
 
Cheaper games sure but the upfront cost is way higher.

For example for a $1000 build (about what most people spend) vs a $400 PS4 Pro - that's a $600 difference. If you save $20 a game - that's still 30 full price games you'd have to buy before you get your money back.

It's fine for people who buy LOTS of games, but not casual gamers who only buy a few titles a year.

Well a PC is also a PC and serves numerous functions. Honestly if you're a physical gamer you do end up saving more money by using GCU and things like Visa checkout to load up a bit. Especially if you're like me and turn around and sell your games afterwards. It's not uncommon for me to turn a profit actually. But the options you get outweigh that for me usually. I have a Pro for exclusives and to test games I'm unsure about keeping long term.
 
Is a dual core really adequate? Some games don't even run on dual cores at all. I understand it has the ability to run virtual cores, but is that a reliable solution looking forward?
 

Malakai

Member
Cheaper games sure but the upfront cost is way higher.

For example for a $1000 build (about what most people spend) vs a $400 PS4 Pro - that's a $600 difference. If you save $20 a game - that's still 30 full price games you'd have to buy before you get your money back.

It's fine for people who buy LOTS of games, but not casual gamers who only buy a few titles a year.

I have Alienware Alpha R1 w/ i3 Haswell (4th Gen) w/ a GTX 860M (2 GB) that I paid $400 (including tax) for about a year and half ago. I came w/ Windows OS as well. You don't have to spend $1000 to game on a PC.
 
Is a dual core really adequate? Some games don't even run on dual cores at all. I understand it has the ability to run virtual cores, but is that a reliable solution looking forward?

It has hyperthreading so you won't have any compatibility problems. Since the current consoles have weak CPUs I think it's safe to say that the chip will be fine up to a couple of years into the lifetime of the PS5 if you are ok with 30 fps. If you want high framerates you'll need a better CPU.
 

FingerBang

Member
Cool, but "don't buy a PC until Ryzen and Vega are out" has become my mantra.

This summer I'm gonna build a beast for 4K gaming. And I'm going to sell my Xbox One.
 
Cool, but "don't buy a PC until Ryzen and Vega are out" has become my mantra.

This summer I'm gonna build a beast for 4K gaming. And I'm going to sell my Xbox One.

Not a bad strategy. But I doubt we'll be seeing a Ryzen CPU that matches this Price:perf. I could be wrong though. I'd like to be wrong.

This is more of a better alternative potentially for those who are on a console budget but was the vast increase in optionality and modular capabilities of PC.
 

Durante

Member
Yeah, the Pentium G4560 is a very interesting budget gaming chip.
I'd put 16 GB of main memory into the system though.

This PC is not going to be running HITMAN well at all at 1080p.
If you have a definition of "running well" that this system would not fulfill, then no console fulfills it either. In fact, this system will probably have no issue running Hitman at 1080p with 60 FPS, while it runs at 30 on consoles IIRC.
 
I approve of this thread.

For the UkGaffers out there, the Rx 480 4Gb is currently £169.99.

For those wanting something a bit cheaper, I really can't recommend the GTX 1050Ti which is going for £140 on Amazon. The RX 480 for £30 more is more better value performance wise, but if you're on a tighter budget then the 1050Ti really is a superb choice.
I've got it paired with an i5 2320, and I'm getting a solid performance out of them in pretty much every game I've played so far.


As for keyboards and mice. Don't be ashamed to go cheap. I've got a Logitech K120 that cost less than £10. My current mouse is from a Hori TAC4 (PS4 KB/M controller) but before that I just used a standard Microsoft mouse. Hell you could probably get a combo pack for less than £15.


Is a dual core really adequate? Some games don't even run on dual cores at all. I understand it has the ability to run virtual cores, but is that a reliable solution looking forward?

The key to it is the hyper threading. Games that wouldn't boot up on a standard dual core will work with that Pentium dual core because it has hyper threading.
 
I approve of this thread.

For the UkGaffers out there, the Rx 480 4Gb is currently £169.99.

For those wanting something a bit cheaper, I really can't recommend the GTX 1050Ti which is going for £140 on Amazon. The RX 480 for £30 more is more better value performance wise, but if you're on a tighter budget then the 1050Ti really is a superb choice.
I've got it paired with an i5 2320, and I'm getting a solid performance out of them in pretty much every game I've played so far.


As for keyboards and mice. Don't be ashamed to go cheap. I've got a Logitech K120 that cost less than £10. My current mouse is from a Hori TAC4 (PS4 KB/M controller) but before that I just used a standard Microsoft mouse. Hell you could probably get a combo pack for less than £15.

480 has just been getting such great performance because of optimizations for console though. Strongly urge people to go with the 470/480 instead. It's outperforming the 1060 in quite a few of the most recent releases.
 
That CPU is garbage, I wouldn't recommend a dual core in 2016 to anyone.

Wait for Ryzen in about 1 months time or a bit longer for the lowerend chips to release. Should be able to get a 4-core for pretty cheap.
 

Widge

Member
How many years will this PC go before it can't run the latest AAA well?

If you're jumping in at a 480 card, I'd say you'd go for a about 3 years before notching down sliders makes you want to upgrade. Staying at 1080p is a benefit though.
 
25$? Pff

I raise you 7$ Win 10 Pro OEM

https://twed.com/product/windows-10-pro-global-cd-key/

And yes those are legit keys, not MSDN/Dream keys

You have no way of telling.

I bought the same then 3 months later MS notification in corner of PC said my copy of Windows was not genuine and my desktop had a black wallpaper. Had to completely uninstall my computer (which I use for work) and buy a genuine Windows OS for £90/$120.
 

Lkr

Member
Did intel include HT in a budget CPU or does it just perform as well as one with HT?
I've been waiting to see when we would get major performance under $100. My second most recent build used a phenom II that was around that price
 
Did intel include HT in a budget CPU or does it just perform as well as one with HT?
I've been waiting to see when we would get major performance under $100. My second most recent build used a phenom II that was around that price

It has Hyper Threading.
 

EctoPrime

Member
Did intel include HT in a budget CPU or does it just perform as well as one with HT?
I've been waiting to see when we would get major performance under $100. My second most recent build used a phenom II that was around that price

It is a two core cpu with hyperthreading, basically a slightly crappier version of an I3 with slower graphics.
 

ISee

Member
Did intel include HT in a budget CPU or does it just perform as well as one with HT?
I've been waiting to see when we would get major performance under $100. My second most recent build used a phenom II that was around that price

It has less cache, runs slower and has no avx instruction sets compared to an i3, but yes it supports HT.
For that price it is the best budget CPU out there, great for office, internet and even 4k streaming.
 

Raysoul

Member
I just want to chime in, and the discussions on this thread is one of the reasons why console gamers aren't keen to getting a PC. Even PC gamers argue what is best and what is not.

Don't get me wrong, I also have a PC, but it is hard to convince console gamers specially when they just want a plug and play system (baring system updates). Those technical PC terms won't also help.
 

Neo_Geo

Banned
Of course there are a bunch of useless posts complaining about the OS. Use it unactivated, use the Insider program or pay $20-$30 to get a valid key online.
 

IC5

Member
Yeesh, DDR4 prices have gone up a lot. It was commonplace to get 16GB of DDR4 3000 for about $65, last June. Running single channel will noticeably hurt this build. I would wait around for a deal on 2x8GB of RAM.

Also, the 480 and 470 video cards are actually very nice. I wouldn't call them "budget". They are considered "Mid-range" cards. They just so happen to be some of the best price/performance ratio seen at the mid-range price area, in some time.Those are cards for maxing all settings, at 1080p. They will blow a PS4 away. and are better than PS4 pro.
You could easily drop down to a lower card and still have a very enjoyable experience at 1080p. I still use a 7870, which is 5+ years old, now. Is a little better than a PS4. I run Battlefield 1 at all high settings, 1080p, with 60fps average. That game has a very optimized engine. But I still have a great time with other games. I'm also using an i3-6100.

SSD are not necessary and are not yet cheap enough, to be a de-facto replacement for outright storage capacity.
Yeah, windows boots faster. and most games load faster. But once you are in-game, performance difference is zero. and you will fill up a 250GB SSD very quickly. Windows install, everyday windows use, and a couple of games later-----no more hard drive space. I still put most of my games on a 3TB 7200rpm drive. I only put a couple of games on my 500GB SSD, where load times are important. Something such as Battlefield.

This new Pentium barely runs faster than my stock phenom II 955BE (im pretty sure it's 7 years old) from 2 builds ago. Definitely a budget chip.
https://youtu.be/SW_e_m89j-c

The AMD FX 6300 is a 6 core 3.5 ghz (4.1ghz boost) AMD processor btw.

As seen in this video, the new Pentiums and the i3-6100, are strictly better than older AMD stuff. Additonally, their MUCH newer motherboards, will have a lot of modern ports and features, which the Phenon II and FX lines just don't have. If you are doing a new build, buying new products makes a ton of sense.

Both the Phenom II and FX lines are still viable processors for gaming, however. So, if those platforms still give you the features you need, you could simply drop in a newer GPU and be ok. Although you would see some bottlenecking.

With my own recent experience, last June I upgraded to a an i3-6100, from an Phenom II X6 (with hefty core and northbridge overclocking. Phenoms love northbridge overclocks). The i3 is way better. Every single game simply runs noticeably better.

Is a dual core really adequate? Some games don't even run on dual cores at all. I understand it has the ability to run virtual cores, but is that a reliable solution looking forward?
Yes, hyperthreading is a viable solution. Intel's cores are so good, the dual core processors can run games quite well. Hyperthreading doesn't really offer a big performance gain. Your Skylake or Kabylake i3 with two real cores + 2 hyperthreads, won't match an recent i5 with 4 real cores/threads, in games where more than two cores matters (although, an i3-6100 with DDR3000, makes a pretty good case against a Haswell i5). And it is important to understand that some games run just as well, with only two cores. You'd be surprised at how many games, actually don't need a 4 core CPU to run at basically full blast.

But, hyperthreading allows you to run games which require more than two threads, to even boot up. I ran Far Cry 4 very well, on my i3-6100. That game requires 3 threads and is pretty CPU intensive.
 

li bur

Member
Why use 2666 ddr4 while the system only able to run 2400 DDR4? Is there any noticable difference from faster ram speed?
 
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