Cheap Gaming PC Under $600

[vincenexus]

Hi I’m planning a build for a friend wants it to be as close to $500 AUD as possible $550 Hard Limit

he has an os

I’m happy with this build so far not going to break benchmarks but also not going to break the bank

It’s for Skyrim mostly

He wants medium to high setting with a solid 30 fps (no or low aa/af)

With the high res texture pack DlC and possibly the mod high res 2k no enb but hundreds of mods

 

· How will the build I have stated handle Skyrim?

· Can or will it run arma 2 day z

· Will it be able to get good average fps 30+ in medium – high?

· Can I save money on the build using ONLY!! pccasegear.com

· Are there any problems that this build will have i.e bottleneck/underpowered

Thermaltake V4 Black Edition Case with 500W USB3.0 $75

Samsung SH-222BB SATA DVDRW Drive OEM $19

Intel Core i3 3220 $129

ASRock B75 Pro3-M Motherboard $62

EVGA GeForce GTX 650 2GB $139

Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 $55

Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST500DM002 $59

$538

Edited July 9, 2013 by vincenexus

[Thor.]

Your cpu is underpowered even for todays standards, i recommend going amd if you want cheap and future proof.

 

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1308191&CatId=7341

 

And motherboard puts you under 300$

 

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1963472&CatId=7248

Little more expensive but it has 2gb ram :smile:

 

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19849

 

i could go cheaper if you want, but if you want mid range and performance.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Thor.

[Rennn]

An i3 is underpowered by today's standards, but a CPU does not need to be very strong. Games are relying on them less and less.

The CPU you (Thor) listed would be much better, but it doesn't justify the increased cost given that his budget is $550 max.

 

And if he's getting the i3 (which I think he should) then the motherboard you listed also would not be an option. I don't mean to undercut your suggestions, but at his price limit with his video card, the changes are simply not large enough to notice a difference, and therefore don't justify an increased cost. His video card will still limit him in games, with either CPU.

 

@vincenexus

That rig should easily put Skyrim on medium without dropping below 30 fps. There's a very good chance it'll reach high (or above) settings at 30 fps, in fact.

My GTX 660 puts Skyrim on ultra with the Official HD Texture DLC at 50-60 fps at 1080p (2x MSAA, 16xAF), so you shouldn't have a problem on medium or high. I couldn't find much information on your model of GTX 650, but a GT 650m, which is weaker than the one you picked, can supposedly put Skyrim on high at playable framerates.

 

Now, for a suggestion. Do NOT use HD texture packs unless you use at least 4x Anisotropic Filtering. AF is a tiny performance drop, and it greatly improves texture quality. HD textures are wasted unless you use 4x Anisotropic, preferrably 8x. I use 16x on my 660 and only get a 1-2 fps drop from it.

You were right to decide not to use ENB. A 650 wouldn't run a decent ENB at a tolerable framerate.

You might be able to use HD textures, I'm not sure with a 1GB video card. At least the worst textures could easily be replaced, even if you can't run a full HD pack.

 

4GB of RAM is not great, but the RAM you've picked is fast and at an average price. It does say it's for Intel i5/i7 CPUs though, so I don't know about using it with an i3.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Rennn

[vincenexus]

thanks for the reply god of thunder

does tiger direct ship to australia?

also i prefer to use pccasegear i trust them and have rma'ed loads of stuff easily

i think i will stay with intel best to stick to what you know

 

thanks for your reply rennn

ok so it may even reach high setting even with the hiresdlc and aax4 af? sweet

he is upgrading from a 2.2 dual core 2 512mb gfx 4gb ddr2 laptop from 2004 so this will destroy that

 

also thanks for the tip about aa af i was a little lost

 

would it be worth making the gfx card EVGA GeForce GTX 650 2GB $139 i have heard that skyrim runs better with more video memory especially when modding like crazy

 

some review that says the rams fine with an i3

http://gcworkshop-mem.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/corsair-cmx4gx3m2a1600c9-xms3-4-gb-pc3.html

another

http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-product-family/xms-classic/cmx4gx3m2a1600c9.html

quote Guaranteed to work on all dual channel Intel and AMD platforms

Edited July 9, 2013 by vincenexus

[Rennn]

thanks for the reply god of thunder

does tiger direct ship to australia?

also i prefer to use pccasegear i trust them and have rma'ed loads of stuff easily

i think i will stay with intel best to stick to what you know

 

thanks for your reply rennn

ok so it may even reach high setting even with the hiresdlc and aax4 af? sweet

he is upgrading from a 2.2 dual core 2 512mb gfx 4gb ddr2 laptop from 2004 so this will destroy that

 

also thanks for the tip about aa af i was a little lost

 

would it be worth making the gfx card EVGA GeForce GTX 650 2GB $139 i have heard that skyrim runs better with more video memory especially when modding like crazy

 

some review that says the rams fine with an i3

http://gcworkshop-mem.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/corsair-cmx4gx3m2a1600c9-xms3-4-gb-pc3.html

 

A 2GB card will be much better for HD textures. Beyond that, I doubt there will be a difference. Skyrim is limited to 3.2GB of total RAM and VRAM anyway, so it's unlikely to increase general game performance.

Antialiasing is much different from Anisotropic Filtering, btw. Antialiasing should not be put above 2xMSAA on a GTX 650. Anisotropic Filtering should be fine at 4x or 8x.

 

Antialiasing smooths jagged edges.

Anisotropic Filtering makes textures more crisp and clear.

 

Here's an example of Antialiasing in action. Note the jagged edges in the left image. Antialiasing gets rid of those jagged edges.

http://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/comparisons/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide/Skyrim-Tweak-Guide-AA-Comparison.html

 

Here's an example of Anisotropic Filtering in action. Drag the slider left and right to compare the two extremes posted here.

http://international.download.nvidia.com/geforce-com/international/comparisons/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide/Skyrim-Tweak-Guide-AF-Comparison.html

Edited July 10, 2013 by Rennn

[vincenexus]

ok well thats a no brainer then i will go with the 2gb version thanks

that comparison is pretty awesome but i found myself switching between the 2 and not really noticing much difference up close but at a distance past a point everything looks crisper sharper more pretty

thanks for those links now i can see that the af is heaps better than i thought

 

 

ok so with the build as is can i expect the following please confirm

 

high settings 2xmsaa 4x or 8xaf

hi res dlc

lets say 200 mods

with a solid fps of 30+ maybe dipping down to 25+ when in a mod warzone stress test

 

also i was asked to find out if this had a chance at playing day z even if it was a little laggy lets say 25+ fps??

i generally think if it will play skyrim on high it should do more demanding games at medium

 

oh and ps your awesome rennn thanks

 

i just remembered i have $55 in store credit from a faulty soundcard im going to look and see if i can get to a 660 and stay under budget

Edited July 9, 2013 by vincenexus

[Rennn]

It really does depend on the mods. Some mods eat performance, but many don't noticeably affect performance.

 

Yes, you should be able to hit those settings at that framerate. That's in the vanilla game though, based on the specs and my experience. With certain mods (like Warzones, or Birds of Skyrim), the performance is much less predictable however, and I can't confirm anything with a lot of mods. A 650 is fine for vanilla Skyrim and plenty of mods, as long as you avoid certain mods that really damage performance.

 

Apparently a GTX 460 performs almost the same as a GTX 650, and I ran Skyrim for a long time with a GTX 460 at high settings at 40-50 fps, with 2x MSAA and 16xAF, at 1080p, with about 75 mods.

 

I've never played DayZ or Arma 2, so I have no idea about that. :(

 

Also, one more tip. Don't limit Skyrim's framerate at 30 fps. It's fine to let it run at 30 fps, but if you use a program to actually set a hard limit for the framerate, Skyrim's load times can bug.

And whatever you do, don't set Skyrim's shadows to Ultra on a GTX 650. Go with high or medium shadows. Ultra shadows in Skyrim are a ridiculous performance killer on medium grade video cards.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Rennn

[vincenexus]

awesome that all i needed to hear im happy im sure he will be happy dam good price i might get one for myself

im sure he will find the right balance between settings mods and fps

you are a great help thanks is there a kudos system on this site?

also if you ever get a chance to try day z DO IT its amazing soo worth $25

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/4639/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPJ37khFJWI

 

i wont be limiting the fps cheers for the heads up

thanks for the sHADOWS* tip i will resist the temptation

 

hehe i got lo learn to read slower

Edited July 9, 2013 by vincenexus

[Rennn]

I've heard of DayZ, but I never got around to buying Arma 2 Combined Ops and installing it.

Maybe next time it's on sale on Steam.

 

Skyrim has curious optimization. It's pretty easy to reach medium or even high settings in Skyrim, but when you try to go to Ultra settings it starts to eat performance with very little visual gain.

 

Edit: I said "shadows" btw. :) There's not a separate shaders option, there's a 'shadow' option.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Rennn

[vincenexus]

the actual game arma 2 itself is amazing it a billion times more true to war than mw3((cant stand it) or bf3(love it)

its amazing setting up on a hilltop with a thermal m108 zeroing in the scope and taking out every thing in sight than go jump in a heli or a tank,jet,boatand move in to take the town i urge anyone who has not played it to youtube it and see if its your thing it is pretty hard to get used to the awkward controls but very fun

once again thanks mate have a good day