Budget Gaming Rig

[Gilles]

Needs to be as cheap as possible, but it's for gaming.
Prices need to be done in Canadian.
I'm open to other sites, but I only use NCIX since it's a local company and has always been good to me.

Here is my build.

Case: Xigmatek MachIII
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K
Mobo: ASUS a68hm mATX
GPU: MSI Radeon R7 370
RAM: g-skill 2x4gb 1600
PSU: Cooler Master Elite V2 550w
HDD: Toshiba 1tb
Optical: Does it matter?
OS: Windows 10

Edit: Wtf. I posted this on another website with links to the parts. When I tried to copy the post here, it doesn't include the links. Super lame.
Here is the other website. Computer Forum

 

[The_wand_mirror]

Seems fine to me, I know this basically applies everytime you make a build but AMD is coming with a new GPU series with GDDR5x, I would just wait for some benchmarks and buy a low end one of those. They have better performance per watt, might also draw less watts.

Also, it might be a budget thing but you shoud consider an SSD for your OS it really speeds things up overall (ie workflow). But don't get a 64GB just get a 128GB instead you run out of space faster than you think.

Also I can't tell wether that PSU has a certification, I would recommend to get at least a bronze certified PSU if you plan to do CPU/GPU intensive things. I had a 950 Watt PSU that failed me on ArmA3 and replaced it with a 750Watt Gold Certified one and now it has never crashed on me anymore.

 

[Gilles]

Are the new AMD cards going to be under $200?

This build isn't for me, and it's done on a really low budget. I have 2 SSD in my PC.

You're right. I also see that the sale price was/is a MIR. Don't want that, so I'm going to switch the PSU for something on sale and certified.

 

[The_wand_mirror]

I can imagine they will be a little more expensive but the low-end cards might be better than what you are planning right now. There have been no details on pricing yet.

 

[Velmarshal]

Seems like a solid build. Though might wanna consider picking up a single stick of 8Gb instead of going for 2x4Gb as that mobo has only two RAM slots, allows some expansion in the future if the PC ever gets re purposed for a NAS, media server and such.

 

[Gilles]

Yeah good idea Velm, thanks!

Wandy, I was looking at a GTX 960, but my friend needs this to be as cheap as possible and he's wanting to play SWtoR on it, so I figured the R7 370 would do fine.

 

[Velmarshal]

I was looking at a GTX 960, but my friend needs this to be as cheap as possible and he's wanting to play SWtoR on it, so I figured the R7 370 would do fine.

TBH, the 960 is a pointless card with the 950 around, as the 950 sacrifices barely 5~10% performance for a significant price drop. Not to mention 960 didn't even improve on the 760.
The 370 will be fine. At this point the differences are minor and personally I'd go with AMD cards, as nvidia is really going nuts lately with shafting their customers in a variety of ways, ranging from drivers that hinder performance on older cards to blatant false specs.

 

[The_wand_mirror]

Wandy, I was looking at a GTX 960, but my friend needs this to be as cheap as possible and he's wanting to play SWtoR on it, so I figured the R7 370 would do fine.

Heh, that card is almost as good as my 7950 and I still play things like project cars on 2560*1080 so you should be fine with that one.

 

[Deleted member 212788]

Yeah good idea Velm, thanks!

Wandy, I was looking at a GTX 960, but my friend needs this to be as cheap as possible and he's wanting to play SWtoR on it, so I figured the R7 370 would do fine.

The 380 usually beast the 960 by quite a bit and is generally cheaper but the 370 should also be fine.

Get a different PSU tho - CM Elite series are crap. Go for a SeaSonic S12II 520W

 

[Velmarshal]

7950 was roughly matched by the GTX 670. 7950 later got rebranded into R9 280 and GTX 670 got rebranded into GTX 760. GTX 960 failed to improve on the 760 (primary reason I do not suggest this card to anyone as it simply isn't worth the money) and actually was a step backwards in some aspects, so the fact that it matches a 7950 isn't a surprise at all, it is actually sad that they neglected their mid range offering so badly.

Anyway, the timeline of the 7970 which was matched by GTX 680 went like this: 7970 => 7970 Ghz edition => R9 280X => R9 285 (actually a lot of issues with the 7970 were resolved with this one) => R9 380. So in this case it is not a surprise either, the 380 handily beats the 960 as the 380 is essentially a rework of the 7970, which was a step up from the 7950.