RESOLVED: am thinking of getting this PC, for both gaming and developing

General Discussions
#1

Edit: This has been resolved. I now have a new computer, built from parts, described in the post reply #23. Thanks again for the help from everyone!

Any warning flags that more savvy of you have spotted?
Or is this decent upgrade from what I have for the $$?

I like that it is running lots of cores, and has room for upgrades (to 16MB). I’m guessing I’ll have headaches moving my older software over, but if nothing else, there are probably 32-bit emulators in existence. Will have to upgrade the software piecemeal.

My current PC is XP and very obsolete. Budget is very tight.

#2

Honestly, if you asked my brother, he would just say build your own PC

  • not very hard, many tutorials
  • easy to fix (don’t need to buy complete new pc, just replace broken part)
  • very cheap compared to buying a pre-build pc
  • you can always improve it by replacing old parts with new up-to-date parts

I would have to wait for him to come home to ask about sites where you can buy PC parts tho
I’ll edit this post when he tells me…

Just a few notes tho:

  • make sure you get a good motherboard and CPU card. As they are harder to replace then others
  • u don’t need a graphics card first up, like my brother, you can make your computer without a graphics card then save up for a graphics card later
  • for a CPU card… I would suggest Intel over AMD… Intel is much better

EDIT: my brother said to just google ‘PC parts’.
Also check reviews for parts to see how they are good, even the worst reviews to also see how they are bad

I use a laptop, as I find them more portable. I use a Lenovo and I want to get a Razer Blade…
But every1 has their own opinion…

#3

With such a small budget you are not going to get much I am afraid, with games being designed and coded around next gen consoles anything recent from a non indie publisher will melt that spec over and over again.

See if your currently rig works and does what you need it to do, tuck your money away in a savings account and keep saving. Try to get above 500, ideally 600.

Look up how to build your own, it is not difficult and can often save you a small fortune.

You want to be aiming at an i5, 8GB of RAM and a decent motherboard, most Gigabyte boards at around £60 are decent (about $90) and will leave you room to upgrade. You can score all this for around $400. Intel comes with built in GPU’s that can tie you over until you get $150-250 for a future proof and solid GPU that will last several years, if not, you can swap it out in the future again.

You can transfer your HDD over until you have money for a new one, a decent Powersupply will only cost you about $75 and a case is again, cheap at around $30-40 for one that is not terrible.

Bringing the entire thing to around $600, give or take 50 depending on luck (sales, second hand parts, resusable from old rig).

#4

I would wait too, saving between $100-$200 USD more, and you could get a way better computer, in pretty much all areas.

an FX 8320 CPU (3.2ghz (or 3.6?) 8 core CPU)
8gb RAM
GTX 750TI (or could go for the r7 260x which would save you around $30 depending on which one you get)
1tb HDD

which would cost around about $600, maybe little more / little less.

but if you are able to I would hold off to get a better computer that will last a bit longer.

#5

Was seriously considering building own, but even with cost savings (debatable) there’s the matter of buying software for OS. Otherwise, it could be very fun and interesting.

I wish I could “wait a couple months and save” but that is just not happening. Am at 50-50% odds on whether a given month will earn or lose money! Making do within limits is the reality. I’m more concerned with Indie level games than cutting edge. Being a year or two behind the times is acceptable, and a cost that unfortunately must be paid. (Helps keep development programming tight, having to run on slower machines?)

Reviews for the processor are overall pretty positive. Thanks for the suggestion to check that out. I will probably pull trigger on this deal Tuesday, unless something better at same price shows up or some bad news about this gear appears.

Thanks!

#6

You should definitely build your own. Better price + you get some good experience. That being said, it requires more research but it’s definitely worth it. If you want that computer for gaming you’re going to be disappointed. Sorry to pop your bubble, but it isn’t really even semi good. For little stuff like Minecraft or whatever it’ll do just fine but for anything even slightly demanding it’s not going to be amazing. As you said you want to only run indie games, but even those could potentially stress that machine depending on the game.

Tl;dr we suggest building your own, do research, come back and ask again! We’re here to help you :slight_smile:

#7

Linux is free, and Windows 8 is around 35-55€

#8

If this is for gaming, I would suggest getting Windows and maybe dual booting with Linux since many popular games (like Watch_dogs) do not support Linux. But if you are getting Linux, I suggest Xubuntu because it looks nice. ::slight_smile:

#9

Nein! Arch > *. But let’s not start this now.

#10

I currently dual boot my PC: XP and Ubuntu. I assume I will go that route again, but with a newer Windows OS.

I’m looking at kits from Google, TigerDirect and NewEgg. It is a little overwhelming!

I have an external HD that could serve in a pinch? I do NOT want to cannibalize the existing system, as there is software that will probably have to continue to be run from the old system, at least for a few months.

I like the idea of multi-core. I don’t need cutting edge games, am a moderate game player, tend to buy games that are a couple years old, if at all. Ability to run an emulator for Android & iOS would be nice, if the performance is enough to make sure something like an Avian or RoboVM (still deciding whether to try these) build isn’t going to have an obvious crash before I send it to the friend with the Mac systems for further tests.

Maybe I can’t do what I want for the money I have available.

On this system (recommended by @Phased, estimated $500 to $600):

[quote]an FX 8320 CPU (3.2ghz (or 3.6?) 8 core CPU)
8gb RAM
GTX 750TI (or could go for the r7 260x which would save you around $30 depending on which one you get)
1tb HDD
[/quote]
The FX 8320 CPU has a comment that says it can function as a Minecraft Server! That is overkill. I have no ambitions to run a server.

What about this in its place: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo)
Socket AM3+ 95W Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=19-113-286 $110

GTX 750TI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-125-510 $140
How much is lost if this is substituted?
GIGABYTE GV-N750OC-2GI G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 750 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-125-510
$110

I see @Gibbo3771 recommending i5, but I’m thinking again, save a little and go with something like this i3 instead?
Intel Core i3-4130 Haswell Dual-Core 3.4GHz LGA 1150 54W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4400 BX80646I34130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116946 with integrated GPU, $120
(But one user says this is more like a Minecraft - level games, is awaiting a GTX-750 TI.)

What can be done for under $450 (reserving some $$ for Windows OS)?
Not much?
Not much better than the earlier PC I linked?

#11

I went through similar hand-wringing last year and didn’t pull the trigger on anything. Riven gave some advice on going through a friend (checked, none are upgrading at the moment) or CraigsList (I think he said eBay, actually).

I am going to give that idea another go. It is scary buying from strangers not in an actual business. I don’t like the idea of dealing with illegal software copies (often the case). But at least, with the research and advice, I’m starting to get a better idea of what sort of cpu and graphics capabilities…

#12

I recommend you use: PC Part Picker

All CPU’s can be a minecraft server really, im sure the Intel Pentium G3258 at $60 could probably run one.

the Intel Pentium G3258 dual core CPU may be a good option if you really don’t want a good CPU, at around $60 and can be easily overclocked up to about 4.5ghz if you get the motherboard that allows overclocking. People compare it to the Intel i3 or i5 (cant remember which one) when its overclocked and it gives a great fight for its really cheap price.

That 750 TI, I saw one for like $128 on pcpartpicker, and it came with a $15 rebate, so it was even cheaper.

If you want the i3 dual core, I would seriouesly maybe take a look at the G3258 if you want to overclock it to get the best for your money, there should be a lot of tutorial or even videos for overclocking it, just do a little research before you buy it.

#13

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xpyPYJ

That should be a lot better, and probably the best you can get for $450 (well, $490, but $45 in rebates).

That motherboard I think lets you overclock, I believe a lot more motherboards got updates to allow for overclocking to use for the G3258, but you may have to update the BIOS to get it to overclock.

if it is to much, you could scale down a little on the GPU, and save a little bit.

EDIT: Oops, looks like I forgot to put a case, you could either reuse your case on your current PC to save some money, or press Edit on the page, and choose a case, you can sort by cheapest to find one. probably be about $500 after rebates, so you may want to scale down on the GPU to something like a Radeon r7 260x, or down to the GTX 600 series (where you could get a GTX 650 for like $60).

#14

Almost anything you get will be an upgrade over what you have, I imagine. You could transform your current desktop (I’m assuming it is a desktop) by adding an SSD running a recent version of Windows*. You could also get a GT750Ti video card - this is currently the fastest graphics card that needs no additional power leads, it gets all it’s power from the PCIe slot. That means it is friendly to your current power supply.

  • Get a retail version of Windows so that you can change the motherboard and CPU down the line - if you get a cheaper OEM Windows version, it is locked to the first motherboard it is installed in.

Plug alert! Hop over to my Headline Benchmark thread and download my benchmark - lets see how your current rig runs :slight_smile: Somebody uploaded an Android result yesterday that beats my 2007 laptop :’(

#15

@philfrei

I’ve got a spare rack-mount case I haven’t used in ~7 years if you’d like to grab it. From my quick reading of this thread I can also help you put together a box too as it seems like you might not have done this before. Besides we chatted previously about hanging out at some point. Not too many JGOers have historically been near SF Bay Area as far as I’m aware.

It looks like what @Phased posted is a good build out: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xpyPYJ at that price range. I’d switch to an ATX motherboard as that is what the case is unless you wanted to buy a microATX case. I guess you can put a microATX board in an ATX case; it’d look empty with the case I have…

I live close by to Central Computers in SF, so if there by chance is a missing cable it’s easy to pick it up. If you decide to pull the trigger on ordering those parts PM me…

#16

@Catharsis - Yes, am interested. I sent a PM.

Here’s a question.

Suppose we start with the purchase of the computer I listed earlier, and add another 4MB RAM for 8 total (16 possible):

[quote]CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2203 Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-6300 (3.50GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB HDD Windows 8.1 64-bit
[/quote]
How do I find out if it is possible to upgrade the graphics card to the recommended GT750Ti? (I’m thinking this should be no problem.)

How do I find out if it is possible to upgrade the CPU to the recommended FX 8320 CPU (3.2ghz 8 core)? (I know much less about how interchangeable CPU’s might be.)

I’m tempted to try and build, but I think my “angel” may be more comfortable with going with the existing pre-built unit.

#17

Upgrading the graphics card should be no problem. They all fit into the same standard PCIe x16 slot, and I think almost every motherboard has at least one of those.

Upgrading the CPU might be more tricky as some FX motherboards do not support 125W chips (like the 8320) but only 95W chips (like the 6300).

Anyway, here are some links comparing the FX6300 to various i5s… the FX is a nice chip.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/359/AMD_FX-Series_FX-6300_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-4440.html
http://www.headline-benchmark.com/results/9cc0682e-c722-4ff9-b345-278845182aa8/826c8d55-650e-46b7-bd51-8a1e2869dae8

#18

Typically you want to have matched RAM. These days 8GB min; preferred 16GB.

The CPU will have a socket type the FX-6300 and 8320 are AM3+.

The PCPartPicker site is nice because it lists all the details you need to mix and match parts.

I’d recommend it for similar reasons folks above have mentioned: better quality parts, easily exchange / upgrade parts due to a case with space, plus then there is just having the satisfaction of knowing you had a hand in building what you are using daily and know exactly what to do to upgrade a part. Once you build one you’ll never go back to pre-built. It’ll take ~30 min to put it together.

#19

In such circumstances I’d keep that $400 close to my chest, just in case, say, the washing machine breaks… :-\

#20

Nah, fuck that.

Things humans want > things humans need.