Light Gaming Desktop

Be realistic, the budget is $600. for that you aren't getitng much of a GPU, and the GPU in the current Gen Intel CPUs is pretty darn good compared to what you'd get at that price anyway.

thwr

I would choose a midend AMD GPU, like the new Polaris RX470 (not yet available). Most bang for the buck. CPU-wise, this might be a problem. A good Core i5 is $200+, most consumer boards won't run a Xeon. Basically the same, it's just a software lock in UEFI. You could get a serverboard from SuperMicro for example, not much more expensive. Because it's only for gaming, you could also go for some AMD AM3+ socket CPU, should be enough for this.

About the case: Well, whatever you like. I've added $50 in the below calculation, but this may be incorrect in your case. Try to get something portable maybe.

So lets boil that down:

55$ mainboard (ASRock 970M Pro3)
120$ CPU (AMD FX-8300, 8x 3.30GHz, boxed)
50$ RAM (Kingston HyperX Fury DIMM Kit 16GB, DDR4-2133, CL14-14-14, single rank)
85$ SSD (Samsung SSD PM871a 256GB, SATA)
200$ GPU (PowerColor Radeon R9 380X PCS+ Myst. Edition V2, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort)
50$ power supply
50$ case
0$ OS (SteamOS Linux)
============
610 $ total

maybe a bit more or less, depending on the components and price changes, but this should make up for a good enough gaming machine. If you are going for an Intel machine, you'll need to spend at least $150-250 more.

PS: Don't buy your PC based on this list, this is just for information. Don't blame me if you can't enjoy your favorite game in 10^4K UltraSuperMegaHD with this machine.

wirestyle22

www.pcpartpicker.com IMO. Very easy to find good hardware for your build within your price range.

scottalanmiller

@thwr said in Light Gaming Desktop:

I would choose a midend AMD GPU, like the new Polaris RX470 (not yet available). Most bang for the buck. CPU-wise, this might be a problem. A good Core i5 is $200+, most consumer boards won't run a Xeon. Basically the same, it's just a software lock in UEFI. You could get a serverboard from SuperMicro for example, not much more expensive. Because it's only for gaming, you could also go for some AMD AM3+ socket CPU, should be enough for this.

About the case: Well, whatever you like. I've added $50 in the below calculation, but this may be incorrect in your case. Try to get something portable maybe.

So lets boil that down:

55$ mainboard (ASRock 970M Pro3)

120$ CPU (AMD FX-8300, 8x 3.30GHz, boxed)

50$ RAM (Kingston HyperX Fury DIMM Kit 16GB, DDR4-2133, CL14-14-14, single rank)

85$ SSD (Samsung SSD PM871a 256GB, SATA)

200$ GPU (PowerColor Radeon R9 380X PCS+ Myst. Edition V2, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort)

50$ power supply

50$ case

0$ OS (SteamOS Linux)

============

610 $ total

maybe a bit more or less, depending on the components and price changes, but this should make up for a good enough gaming machine. If you are going for an Intel machine, you'll need to spend at least $150-250 more.

PS: Don't buy your PC based on this list, this is just for information. Don't blame me if you can't enjoy your favorite game in 10^4K UltraSuperMegaHD with this machine.

Has to be Windows, almost nothing that she plays will run on Linux currently. With the FX-8300 would we need a discrete GPU or would most things run with the software GPU onboard for now?

scottalanmiller

@Jason said in Light Gaming Desktop:

@scottalanmiller said in Light Gaming Desktop:

@Jason said in Light Gaming Desktop:

Why don't you get an Intel Nuc for light gaming.

Doesn't fit a GPU.

Be realistic, the budget is $600. for that you aren't getitng much of a GPU, and the GPU in the current Gen Intel CPUs is pretty darn good compared to what you'd get at that price anyway.

That sounds like a pretty decent idea. And she does not need an SSD, a 7200 RPM 2TB SATA drive will be fine for her. That delay won't be an issue.

thwr

@scottalanmiller said in Light Gaming Desktop:

@thwr said in Light Gaming Desktop:

I would choose a midend AMD GPU, like the new Polaris RX470 (not yet available). Most bang for the buck. CPU-wise, this might be a problem. A good Core i5 is $200+, most consumer boards won't run a Xeon. Basically the same, it's just a software lock in UEFI. You could get a serverboard from SuperMicro for example, not much more expensive. Because it's only for gaming, you could also go for some AMD AM3+ socket CPU, should be enough for this.

About the case: Well, whatever you like. I've added $50 in the below calculation, but this may be incorrect in your case. Try to get something portable maybe.

So lets boil that down:

55$ mainboard (ASRock 970M Pro3)

120$ CPU (AMD FX-8300, 8x 3.30GHz, boxed)

50$ RAM (Kingston HyperX Fury DIMM Kit 16GB, DDR4-2133, CL14-14-14, single rank)

85$ SSD (Samsung SSD PM871a 256GB, SATA)

200$ GPU (PowerColor Radeon R9 380X PCS+ Myst. Edition V2, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort)

50$ power supply

50$ case

0$ OS (SteamOS Linux)

============

610 $ total

maybe a bit more or less, depending on the components and price changes, but this should make up for a good enough gaming machine. If you are going for an Intel machine, you'll need to spend at least $150-250 more.

PS: Don't buy your PC based on this list, this is just for information. Don't blame me if you can't enjoy your favorite game in 10^4K UltraSuperMegaHD with this machine.

Has to be Windows, almost nothing that she plays will run on Linux currently. With the FX-8300 would we need a discrete GPU or would most things run with the software GPU onboard for now?

FX line doesn't feature CPU embedded GPUs, but A8 and A10 (Radeon R7) lines do. For example:
http://geizhals.de/amd-a10-7860k-black-edition-ad786kybjcsbx-a1389138.html (German, but you'll get the idea. Popular price comparsion site). Take care, it's another socket (FM2+ vs. AM3+)

Not sure about the performance...

thwr

Just found this: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/best-cpu-apu-processor-july-2016/

According to this, AMD A10-7890K should give you "ok" performance for non 2016-AAA titles. Approx. 150 USD, but you can save on the dedicated GPU. Maybe search for a prebuilt system with that CPU?

You could also go for an Intel APU (CPU and GPU on the same chip), but really, Nvidia and AMD both are veterans here, Intel is more or less a newcomer in 3D gaming.

scottalanmiller

@thwr said in Light Gaming Desktop:

Just found this: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/best-cpu-apu-processor-july-2016/

According to this, AMD A10-7890K should give you "ok" performance for non 2016-AAA titles. Approx. 150 USD, but you can save on the dedicated GPU. Maybe search for a prebuilt system with that CPU?

You could also go for an Intel APU (CPU and GPU on the same chip), but really, Nvidia and AMD both are veterans here, Intel is more or less a newcomer in 3D gaming.

Intel GPU cause non-stop crashes, too. Totally unstable from what I've seen. I'd be more comfortable setting her up with an AMD APU. This looks like a good option to me.

thwr

@scottalanmiller said in Light Gaming Desktop:

@thwr said in Light Gaming Desktop:

Just found this: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/best-cpu-apu-processor-july-2016/

According to this, AMD A10-7890K should give you "ok" performance for non 2016-AAA titles. Approx. 150 USD, but you can save on the dedicated GPU. Maybe search for a prebuilt system with that CPU?

You could also go for an Intel APU (CPU and GPU on the same chip), but really, Nvidia and AMD both are veterans here, Intel is more or less a newcomer in 3D gaming.

Intel GPU cause non-stop crashes, too. Totally unstable from what I've seen. I'd be more comfortable setting her up with an AMD APU. This looks like a good option to me.

Would be the best option on a budget system. The A10's R7 isn't bad at all. Plus, you can upgrade to a dedicated GPU if required.

thwr

@scottalanmiller You could invest the saved money in a better cooling system (and case), maybe a closed-loop watercooler. You can get them for around 50-80$

bbigford

Definitely agree with @thwr ...

AMD's APU is far superior to Intel's iGPU. You can game a fair amount on their integrated graphics unit. You get about 4 cores of CPU, and 8 cores of GPU. An A10 is about as high as you can go. You'll save yourself from having to buy a graphics card since you aren't doing AAA. The flexibility will come in the future if she decides she does want to play AAA, she won't need a whole new PC, she can just buy a graphics card that can keep up. Something like an AMD R9 390 would suffice. Sapphire makes a real good one for $300.

I prefer AMD graphics for budget gaming, and Intel CPUs. But Intel is spendy and you're talking about ultra low budget at $600. AMD can get that done and she could grow into the card if need be. If not, then there is no loss.

bbigford

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113402&cm_re=a10-7890k--19-113-402--Product

thwr

@BBigford said in Light Gaming Desktop:

Definitely agree with @thwr ...

AMD's APU is far superior to Intel's iGPU. You can game a fair amount on their integrated graphics unit. You get about 4 cores of CPU, and 8 cores of GPU. An A10 is about as high as you can go. You'll save yourself from having to buy a graphics card since you aren't doing AAA. The flexibility will come in the future if she decides she does want to play AAA, she won't need a whole new PC, she can just buy a graphics card that can keep up. Something like an AMD R9 390 would suffice. Sapphire makes a real good one for $300.

I prefer AMD graphics for budget gaming, and Intel CPUs. But Intel is spendy and you're talking about ultra low budget at $600. AMD can get that done and she could grow into the card if need be. If not, then there is no loss.

But there's one drawback: The A10's CPU isn't very fast and you can't upgrade to a FX series CPU because it's another socket (FM2+ on A8/10 and AM3+ on FX83xx). On the other hand, the total price for a FX8320 and a new board is way below the price of a Core i5 without a board.