• Hardware

  • Future first build (Gaming PC on a budget)

So after giving it some deep thought, I've decided to build an affordable gaming PC instead of purchasing a console. I watched a handful of tutorials, read dozens of reviews and looked through hundreds of components on the pcandparts website. Initially I had a budget of a 1000$, then I stretched it out to an extra 100-150$ for shipping and taxes. The components I chose and am planning to order from pcandparts are:

1- CPU: Haswell 3.2 Ghz i5-4460 (The 4690 is unavailable, do you know where I can get my hands on it and how much it's going to cost me?) 188$

2- Mobo: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition 144$

3- GPU: MSI N750 TF 2GB 165$

4- Cooler Master Elite 350 + 500w PSU 59$ (I have my eyes on a ThermalTake H21 mid-tower for 45$, but the problem is I can't find a PSU for less than 90$ on pcandparts)

5- Ram: Kingston HyperX savage white series 8GB 65$

6- HDD: WD 1 TB 59$ (planning on getting an SSD after a couple of months)

7- Monitor: LG 22MP55HQ 21.5" LED IPS Full HD 139$

8- Keyboard and mouse: Lenovo KM4800 17$ ( It should do the job until I can save up for a real keyboard)

9- DVDRW: LG GH24N595-24x 23$

10- UPS: PCE 1500VA (600 watts) 71$

Pretax total: 930$
VAT: 93$
-------------------------
Total: 1023$

I still have a maximum of 100$ to spend, it will probably go for the i5-4690 CPU in case I buy it from another store or the Case and PSU. I'm also willing to drop an extra 20$ on some basic speakers like the Star 120W Speakers Black USB (does anyone how much it costs?)

I'm open to your suggestions and please feel free to post any comments, insights or recommendations.
For a gaming pc you need to focus on graphic card , you choose the N750 which is terribly bad gpu.
if you have low budget go for Radeon, they offer great graphic cards for low prices , A Sapphire Radeon R9 270x would be a great choice for your extra 100$ which run Ultra graphics smoothly.
Moreover , for a gaming pc , of-course you need a Power Supply other than PSUs that come with Cases, PcandParts Offer Corsair CX600 W PSU 80 PLus Bronze for 90$
My advice to you to wait a little bit and get a Wonderful rig that you'll not edit after, wait for ssd and search inside stores for the dvdrw and ups (Usually their prices are lower than pc and parts)
You should throw that extra 100$ on the GPU, 750 is so entry level in my opinion, go for the GTX 960, it will have a huge leap of performance.
Or maybe an AMD equivalent but I like Nvidia more that's why I recommended the 960.
I can squeeze the MSI GTX 960 4GB in the budget, but that's the most I can pay. Will the 500 watt PSU be able to handle it? And will the i5-4460 bottleneck the performance?
Get a second hand graphics card. R9 280 or GTX970 should great
in theory 500 watts is plenty enough for 960 and i5 4460. but the psu should be 80% + efficient doesn't have to be gold or silver.

you are spending too much on motherboard z97 is for overlocking your cpu is not unlocked. get the ASUS H81M-C for half the price and save the reset towards a better GPU.

the 4460 should not bottleneck even a Titan X.
haidcar wrotein theory 500 watts is plenty enough for 960 and i5 4460. but the psu should be 80% + efficient doesn't have to be gold or silver.

you are spending too much on motherboard z97 is for overlocking your cpu is not unlocked. get the ASUS H81M-C for half the price and save the reset towards a better GPU.

the 4460 should not bottleneck even a Titan X.
I'll go with the H81M-C mobo you suggested for 69$ and a GTX 960 4GB for 288$. I still have one more issue, do you know a place that sells good, but cheap PSU's because pcandparts are only offering a 90$ Hexa at the moment?

The deal breaker with the cooler master 350 is that it doesn't have 3.0 USB ports, so I'm contemplating the thought of buying a Cooler Master N300 KKN2 case plus a PSU of your suggestion.
MrClass wroteGet a second hand graphics card. R9 280 or GTX970 should great
I prefer not to buy used electronics, what about the MSI GTX 960 4GB for 288$?
I appreciate your help, but damn dude the costs are adding up. There's no way around it I guess, but can we cut the costs some more or is this the most bang to the buck setup?
you could opt for the i5 4440, the difference is 100mhz. ditch the optical drive if not needed, and go with lower end case and lose front usb 3.0 (btw make sure that the motherboard you are getting supports front usb 3.0 to begin with).
random-username wroteThe deal breaker with the cooler master 350 is that it doesn't have 3.0 USB ports, so I'm contemplating the thought of buying a Cooler Master N300 KKN2 case plus a PSU of your suggestion.
you can always get a usb hub (4ports 3.0 and 6ports 2.0 usb hub) for about 60$ from pc and parts and you can find cheaper ones if you search for smaller ones.
The motherboard you suggested has 2x 3.0 USB ports on the backside. I'm going to pump the budget a hundred dollars more and get myself a proper case and PSU. No more cutting corners.

So here's my updated setup:

1- CPU: Haswell 3.2 Ghz i5-4460 188$

2- Mobo: Asus H81M-C 69$

3- GPU: MSI GTX 960 4GB 288$

4- Ram: Kingston HyperX fury 8GB 65$

5- HDD: 1TB WD 59$

6- Monitor: LG 24MP56HQ Wide 23.8" LED IPS Full HD / Wide Viewing Angle 168$

7- Case: Cooler Master N300 NSE-300-KKN2 Mid Tower ATX Dual USB3.0 53$

8- PSU: Gigabyte Power Supply 500W 57$

9- Lenovo Keyboard and mouse 17$

10- LG GH24NS95-24X DVDRW - Dual Layer SATA 23$

11- PCE 1500VA (600watts) 71$

12- Star 120W Speakers Black USB Maybe 20$?

Total Before VAT----------1078$
VAT-----------------------------108$
Shipping-----------------------20$ (At least I hope it's gonna cost me this much)
_______________________

Grand Total------------------1206$

What do you think?
NAM wrote
random-username wroteThe deal breaker with the cooler master 350 is that it doesn't have 3.0 USB ports, so I'm contemplating the thought of buying a Cooler Master N300 KKN2 case plus a PSU of your suggestion.
you can always get a usb hub (4ports 3.0 and 6ports 2.0 usb hub) for about 60$ from pc and parts and you can find cheaper ones if you search for smaller ones.
I'd rather spend that money on a nice looking and practical case; there's no other way around it.
i think the asus board has only 2 usb 3.0 and at the back. I am checking the specs now, and i don't see front usb 3.0 only 2.0
this is the cheapest board that i found on pcandparts, it has 2X USB 3.0 on the rear and 2X USB 3.0 for front

Gigabyte GA-P85-D3 (rev. 2.0) (DDR3) (LGA1150) Link $109.00
You're right, I misread the specs, it has 2x 3.0 ports in the rear. Guess it's back to the cooler master 350+ 500w PSU. I still have that extra 100$ to spare, should I spend it on an SSD or a better mobo?
that's true. a bad PSU could easily go down and take your entire system with it.

as for the motherboard, if you were to spend 110$ might as well get a good brand. I dont have the best experience with gigabyte to be honest their BIOS is buggy at times. ASUS and MSI are the two top choices and worth the extra $35 for sure.
I have a generic chinese 650 VA (360watt) UPS on hand, will it be able to power the PC for a couple of minutes until I switch to "ishtirak"?

Just to clear things up:

Mobo: MSI Z97S SLI KRAIT Edition (DDR3) 144$

PSU: Gigabyte Power Supply 500W 57$

Case: Cooler Master N300 NSE-300-KKN2 Mid Tower ATX Dual USB3.0 53$

Looks good?