Budget gaming pc suggestions

[SAWYER]

I am looking to piece together a budget gaming pc, I will probably buy most parts used. I do not need a mouse, keyboard, monitor or OS. I want to be able to play pretty much any game but it doesnt have to be be at the highest settings. What would be at the bare minimum some of the oldest videocards and cpus I should even consider? I dont have a preference between , Intel, AMD, Nvidia etc

 

[Kalmah]

I am looking to piece together a budget gaming pc, I will probably buy most parts used. I do not need a mouse, keyboard, monitor or OS. I want to be able to play pretty much any game but it doesnt have to be be at the highest settings. What would be at the bare minimum some of the oldest videocards and cpus I should even consider? I dont have a preference between , Intel, AMD, Nvidia etc

You might have better luck with this in one of the hardware forums.

Here is some food for thought...

My outdated desktop has 3.0ghz core2duo, 4gb ram, and an nvidia 460gtx. Here is a breakdown on its performance:

Mass Effect 2: ~30fps with slowdowns on highest settings. The slowdowns are bad enough to break immersion and cause minor episodes of fury.

Skyrim: I can't remember the framerate, but I played it on max settings and remember being annoyed with framerate at times. It wasn't as bad as mass effect though.

Company of Heroes: Max settings, good framerate

Battlefield 3: max settings, ~30fps, annoying slowdowns and hiccups.

-----------

I'm not really happy with that machine anymore. The processor is holding it back and my cheap mobo wont allow any overclock.

I would suggest looking at an i3 or an i5 if you can find a good price and something better than a 460gtx. I wouldn't go less than 6gb ram.

 

[SAWYER]

The i series is on 3rd or 4th gen isnt it? Any of them would be fine or what gen should be them minimum? I also will not be overclocking

 

[DaveSimmons]

I have an i5-2500 at stock speed in my gaming PC and it's fine for all current games I've played. I have 8 GB RAM and a GTX 680.

That's the minimum I'd recommend for CPU and RAM. For the video card a GTX 750 ti is a pretty good choice for around $150 new.

 

[Kalmah]

From my understanding, somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, 4th gen has a small performance increase 5-10%, and is a bit better at graphics processing which is only useful if you aren't using a dedicated graphics card. In a laptop it would be beneficial.

I don't think that I would worry about it either way.

 

[werepossum]

I have an i5-2500 at stock speed in my gaming PC and it's fine for all current games I've played. I have 8 GB RAM and a GTX 680.

That's the minimum I'd recommend for CPU and RAM. For the video card a GTX 750 ti is a pretty good choice for around $150 new.

That's what I have except my GPU is an HD6950 1GB and so far I've not had to drop below maximum settings in anything. Is that really budget though?

 

[HitAnyKey]

Quad core CPU is non negotiable. 8GB RAM. Graphics wise. Anything faster than an nVidia 660/670. Make sure your Power supply is decent quality but don't over spec it. If you build with it a larger case with decent air flow, skip the expensive cooling systems and just get a decent CPU fan and pay for decent thermal paste but don't over apply it either.

One last tip. SSD drives are great for OS booting but really not needed for gaming on a budget. Don't fall into that trip of blowing the budget on a big SSD drive.

 

[SAWYER]

If a $150 card can play all the games, why in the world are people paying much higher prices?

 

[escrow4]

If a $150 card can play all the games, why in the world are people paying much higher prices?

Because if I wanted to play games at 720p on maximum ugly with no AA or AF I'd buy a console. You want to jack up all those PC settings $150 won't cut it.

 

[BSim500]

If a $150 card can play all the games, why in the world are people paying much higher prices?

Higher end cards make the difference between running on Ultra vs Medium at same resolution (or 120Hz vs 60Hz gaming). The 750Ti card is a great budget card for 1080p medium settings in many games (roughly the same equivalent "horsepower" to a PS4 console), and will run many slightly older games (eg, Bioshock Infinite / Skyrim on High at 1080p at 60fps). Whether or not "Ultra" matters to you is entirely down to personal preference (and obviously differs from one game to another). Some people have a "thing" about turning GFX settings down, others don't.

As for your rig in general, try and get a quad-core i5 (doesn't have to be a "K" if you're not overclocking or even a Haswell if you can find an older i5-3470/3570 + Z77 board at a bargain price), plus 8GB RAM plus a mid-range 750 Ti / 7850 / 7870 GFX card, and you'll have a neat budget gaming rig.

 

[BrightCandle]

The $150 750 ti puts you roughly around current generation console performance, a little lower but its there abouts. People pay more because on PC we play at least 1080p with more antialiasing and higher settings, those extra graphical options require quite significantly faster cards and the sweet spot for price performance is higher than that card.

 

[MeldarthX]

what is your budget? first and foremost. Second what games do you want to play at what resolution?

those are main questions that need to be asked; once you have provided we can honestly then properly answer you.

 

[Denithor]

Look at my gaming rig - I built it for under $400 by buying used parts either in the FS forum here or off eBay. Handles most games just fine. Spend a bit more for GPU if you prefer, or pick up a newer generation CPU if you can find a great deal.

But basically, from the i5 750 forward there is little difference in CPU power once you OC to 3+ GHz. I would definitely stick with a quad but Hyperthreading is not necessary.

 

[davie jambo]

Tech report have just done there system builds

They suggest the Pentium K in the budget as the CPU and a R9 270 graphic card

They are a bit intel/nvida biased mind you but that would be a good budget system I think

 

[SAWYER]

I am not concerned with having max settings and am not obsessed with resolution, I mean I am happy with Xbox One so that should tell you. It is actually a family member who will be mainly using it but they play shooters mainly

 

[DaveSimmons]

That's what I have except my GPU is an HD6950 1GB and so far I've not had to drop below maximum settings in anything. Is that really budget though?

Some games are starting to list quad-core as the minimum, and console games are now written for 4+ cores, so I think an older used i5-2xxx makes sense over an i3. Someone in FS/FT who has upgraded might have a decent price on a CPU + MB + RAM combo.

 

[DigDog]

budget .. nowadays you can play anything (you might have to accept some lowered setings) with a Pentium and a basic GPU.

so, the shopping list is:

a ATI 260
a i5 with the cheapest OC mobo.
stock heatsink. see how high it will go on stock voltage.
450W PSU from a good brand.
60Gb SSD.
any case.
2x4Gb ram, any brand.

it doesnt get cheaper than this.

 

[v8envy]

I was pleasantly suprised by the performance of a $170 cpu/mboard microcenter bundle for the AMD 8320 and Asus a5a97. It's $10 more today, but still not terrible. Unlocked multiplier, so I notched it up to 4 ghz, threw in 12GB of ram and a R270. About $500 in total parts if sourced new including PSU. If I didn't tell anyone (including myself) it's a cheapie AMD as opposed to a say i7 3770 they'd never notice. If you could get this used at 20-30% discount to new it'd be unbeatable. http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-3770K-vs-AMD-FX-8320 agrees, at least for the OC comparison. It even came with a decent heatpipe cooler.

 

[SAWYER]

Well I have bought everything besides an ssd for my OS install and so far I am only in it at 302.60!

Intel Pentium G3258 and MSI B85M $102.65
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM HD $30
Rosewill Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case CHALLENGER $29.95
Tt 850w PSU, CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) and R9 270x for $140

 

[dmoney1980]

Well I have bought everything besides an ssd for my OS install and so far I am only in it at 302.60!

Intel Pentium G3258 and MSI B85M $102.65
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM HD $30
Rosewill Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case CHALLENGER $29.95
Tt 850w PSU, CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) and R9 270x for $140

Nice, especially the PSU / RAM / GPU combo you got there! This should play games smoothly at 1080p. Maybe not maxed out, but still better IQ than a console can give you.

 

[werepossum]

Well I have bought everything besides an ssd for my OS install and so far I am only in it at 302.60!

Intel Pentium G3258 and MSI B85M $102.65
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM HD $30
Rosewill Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case CHALLENGER $29.95
Tt 850w PSU, CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) and R9 270x for $140

Sounds like a pretty sweet system for the bucks.

 

[mmntech]

Wonder how a single R9 270X would compare to two HD 6850s in crossfire.