I've had a few friends ask me for the bare minimum PC to move away from console gaming and it got me to thinking. I grew up playing games on first an iMac G3 then a Mac Mini G4, so I got along with low settings on relatively poor resolution monitors. However I want to figure out what the least you can spend for, say, at least medium settings on 1080p games for a few years, and all from one website for convenience. Here's what I've come up with: [url]http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vFpQLk[/url]
[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vFpQLk]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vFpQLk/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url]
[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646g1840]Intel Celeron G1840 2.8GHz Dual-Core Processor[/url] ($46.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-h81mk]Asus H81M-K Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] ($52.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31600c11s8gnt]G.Skill Value 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] ($70.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te250bw]Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] ($128.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx750tioc2gd5]Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card[/url] ($119.50 @ Newegg)
[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-cc9011069ww]Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case[/url] ($79.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx430m]Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply[/url] ($44.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615]Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] ($99.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Monitor:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/aoc-monitor-i2267fw]AOC i2267Fw 60Hz 22.0" Monitor[/url] ($119.00 @ Newegg)
[b]Keyboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/logitech-keyboard-920002719]Logitech K200 Wired Standard Keyboard[/url] ($19.98 @ Newegg)
[b]Mouse:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/logitech-mouse-910003533]Logitech G100s Wired Optical Mouse[/url] ($31.87 @ Amazon)
[b]Speakers:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/logitech-speakers-980000058]Logitech LS21 7W 2.1ch Speakers[/url] ($29.00 @ Amazon)
[b]Total:[/b] $844.28
[i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i]
[i]Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-13 02:49 EDT-0400[/i]
Basically a Celeron G1840 and a GTX 750 Ti with 8GB of RAM in a Corsair Air 240 and an SSD. Includes Windows 8.1 and an AOC IPS 1080p monitor, Logitech KB200 and G100s, as well as a set of Logitech speakers. All in all it comes down to $845 or so.
Now obviously a few things like the SSD could be dropped, the RAM could be changed to 4GB, but I think this is around the bottom end for a pleasing gaming experience. However I haven't built a PC for gaming in quite a while, so what do you guys think?
For not much more you could bump it to a G3258, which while the H81 probably can't hit it's top clock speed, it should be able to handle a sizable bump. Say high 3's or 4.0ghz. That would definitely net some increase in performance. 8gb is also really not absolutely necessary right off the bat. Another thing to consider is depending on the games to be played, the r7 265 is an excellent card for the price when paired with mantle.
[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZcFm7P]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZcFm7P/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url]
[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646g3258]Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor[/url] ($69.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-h81mdplus]Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] ($54.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-hx316c10f4]Kingston Fury Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] ($36.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm003]Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive[/url] ($53.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp43751kr]EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card[/url] ($134.99 @ NCIX US)
[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcacore1000usb3bl]Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case[/url] ($29.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx430]Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply[/url] ($39.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-885370635690]Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] ($90.26 @ OutletPC)
[b]Monitor:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/aoc-monitor-i2267fw]AOC i2267Fw 60Hz 22.0" Monitor[/url] ($119.00 @ Newegg)
[b]Keyboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-keyboard-gkforcek3]Gigabyte Force K3 Wired Gaming Keyboard[/url] ($17.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Mouse:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/logitech-mouse-910003533]Logitech G100s Wired Optical Mouse[/url] ($26.99 @ NCIX US)
[b]Speakers:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cyber-acoustics-speakers-ca3001wb]Cyber Acoustics CA3001WB 14W 2.1ch Speakers[/url] ($21.56 @ Mwave)
[b]Total:[/b] $696.73
[i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i]
[i]Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-13 03:07 EDT-0400[/i]
[editline]13th October 2014[/editline]
Ah, didn't read the all from one website
Too be fair neither did I, I have both amazon and newegg but I don't think that's too bad. It's when it comes to having to go to give different websites that it becomes a pain. Remember, console gamers are simple minded folk :v:
And you're right, I didn't consider AMD simply because I forgot about them. Same with the newer and better CPU. Overall yours does look like a much better build.
Half of me wishes I had the capital to order in those parts x10, assemble, configure with steam, overclocked, etc, and sell them. But what would really happen is I'd have 7 or 8 systems then sitting around doing various server tasks because I couldn't sell them.
Although getting all the parts from one site is better for convenience, considering you can easily cut 30-40% of the costs by using still-under-transferable-warranty parts from eBay, Slickdeals deals and splitting up your build by the cheapest components from the cheapest websites, I'm not sure if spending unified shipping is convenient or getting a computer $200-300 cheaper is.
Deals come and go, so you pay the price of having stable prices.
If the idea is gaming AND for at least let's say three years not needing an expensive upgrade, I think I'd skip the SSD and anything more than 4gb of memory. Instead put that money into a slightly faster videocard and maybe a slightly more powerful PSU.
This is because the videocard is still the number one limiting factor for PC gaming, even at 1080p. You can always add an SSD and/or memory later if it turns out you need it. What's cheaper, buying a videocard now and buying a better one again in a couple of years if the 750 TI can't handle the games, or buying a videocard now that is slightly overkill for 1080p but will be useful a lot longer because of that extra power?
You can just get a refurbished $490 [url=http://outlet.dell.com/]Dell Outlet Inspiron 3847[/url] and fit it with a connector-less $125 [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp43751kr]Nvidia 750 Ti[/url] if you want to keep things simple and cheap for your friends. It comes with: 8GB RAM; Core i3-4150; 1TB HDD; Windows 8.1.
Total cost brings this to around $615 with 1 year warranty.
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