$650 Gaming PC (Intel Version)

I made a $600 the other day but then I though could I fit an i5 into a build and still get good performance. It is a little more expensive than the other one but the answer is yes. You most definitely can fit an i5 and still get 1440p performance through the r9 380x. This build will be for those solely intent on gaming. If you want to do any kind of content creation or streaming you might be better with the fx 8320 in the other $600 build. Either way both are powerful and can suite your every need. The description wont be different except for ram, cpu , motherboard, and heatsink.  Oh on that matter of heatsink I did not include an aftermarket one as you can't overclock the i5 4460 so it was cheaper to just use stock cooling. Nothing bad or wrong should happen as a result.

•CPU: Intel Core i5- 4460: This is the cheapest i5 processor but for under $200 it’s a really good choice. It’s a quad core processor which games love and has just about the same performance as the other i5s’ on the haswell line. I don’t have too much to say about this piece except that it is a good deal for an i5 considering the current prices of others like the 4690k or the 6600k. It delievers good performance in games and can handle some light to medium content creation but overall you’ll enjoy this processor a lot.

•Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX: At first I had a cheaper MSI motherboard here but when i went over the specs for it again, it just irritated me. I think this motherboard wil just be a better fir overall as it has 4 ram slots, supports crossfire, and it has 3 chassis fan headers. A point i think i should make though is that I am not trying to be bias and only get boards that feature Crossfire.  Its just that motherboards with sli are typically more expensive and in a budget build it makes very little sense to pay that extra price premium unless the person is absolutely sure that they will need or use sli.

•Ram/ Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600: A reliable pair of 2x4gb sticks running in dual channel. This does leave some upgrade room to 16gb but imo, I would just replace both sticks so it can run in dual channel instead of have 4x4gb sticks but that is irrelevant. This should be enough to run any game no problem. In fact, most games don’t even use the full 8gb they come in close at about 5 to 6. Following that there should not be too much to worry about as these are reliable like I said and the company is known for making good ram. A solid choice in a build like this. These ram sticks are blue also so that it matches with the motherboard easier.

•Storage: Segate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM: Simple and straight 1tb of hdd space. Runs at 7200rpm and can hold all your files. It’s not as slow as 5400rpm (I know firsthand so don’t ask) but it is not ssd fast. Load times are still there in battlefield but should not be too long but that also depends on your network connection. Essentially, just like ram it gets the job done. For an upgrade however if you have a little more money to spend either get a better gpu which is like an $80 stretch but you can also get an ssd. I would get 256gb but 120 will work as well.

• Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380X 4GB NITRO: This is the power house of the build. The r9 380x is a beast of gpu and can handle some 1440p gaming. However, because the AMD cpu is not the greatest for gaming and its performance is not as high as it could be with an intel i5 or i7 so the details cannot be maxed. So do not take this the wrong way the fx 8320 is good and should be perfectly fine paired with the R9 380x. It should be perfectly feasible to get 30+ fps at 1440p with some settings tweaks. On another note though 1080p should be a breeze and any game should be playable with exceptions to the highest demanding ones. In other words, even though there are 4gb of vram do not try to push max details in demanding games it won’t work.

• Case: Fractal Design FD-CA-CORE-3300-BL ATX Mid Tower Case : This case has room in the back for cable management and has a vented side panels for some air to get to the gpu and cpu. Besides that, airflow looks great and should be decent and not as hard to work in compared to other cases in the price category. Also for about $40-$50 this case is very competitive. Also you get some external drive bays in case you want to install an optical drive or something. A cool feature that helps with airflow is the vertical drive mounting location. A nice addition also to this case is that there is some flexibility to in terms of upgrades. For around $40-$50 you might be able to fit in a a 280mm aio liqud cooler.

• Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze: For the psu I needed something with at least 500w to hold all the hardware in the build. This psu can handle  the r9 380x and still spare about another 100w. Even though I really wanted a semi modular psu this should do and because there is some cable management room in the back it should make working with this easier. Also another benefit is the 80+ bronze certification. I usually like to get a psu with it because I just can’t stand not having it. I can't explain it but it irritates me not to have an efficiency rating. But in short, 550w and 80+ bronze certification, nothing too wrong there unless someone does see something then please leave a comment.

Here is the link to the pcpartpicker pag:
http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/4pWG3C/650-intel-gaming-pc-1440p-1080p-definitely

$1000 Multipurpose build or a really great $1000 build

This build was designed to be used for multiple purposes not just gaming. Although this would make a great gaming pc if you want to use it for that also. But anyways, this build should be great for whatever task you can throw at it. Whether it is streaming, video editing, programming, gaming, content creation, this should be able to rise to the challenge.

·         Cpu: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor: Before anyone has anything to say about the cpu that is negative hear me out. Yes, this cpu cannot be overclocked and it’s no i7. However, the performance it gives puts it right on par with the i7 and oc i5. There is not too much I can say about this processor besides the fact that it will over performance similar to the 4770(k), 4790(k), and even the 6700(k). Also this has support for Ecc memory so if you want to make a server for instance just make sure you get a motherboard that supports it because the motherboard in this build does not. This processor should be good for content creation, streaming, video editing, gaming, and possibly anything else you can think of. It depends but good chances stand.

·         Cpu Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler: This cooler in my opinion (imo) is the slightly better hyper 212 Evo. It is not based on performance but actually based on appearance. Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of the appearance of the hyper 212 EVO. It is not a bad cooler by any means but the way it looks doesn’t appeal to me. Then here comes the cryorig h7. I decided to get this cooler as even though you won’t be overclocking at all with this, I felt as it was a good investment. If you feel as if getting this cooler is not required take the extra $30-35 and use it towards something else. The performance here should be around the level of the hyper 212 EVO, so expect cool temperatures on the cpu.

·         Mobo: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard: Because there won’t be any overclocking there was no need to go to a z97 motherboard. I settled on this board because I did not want to cheap out on the motherboard but still get good features. Anyways, this motherboard will the support the Xeon processor no problem and all the other parts. An interesting feature I found on this motherboard though is the fact that is supports crossfire X and quad crossfire X.  For those of you who are unaware what crossfire is, it is similar to Nvidia’s sli where more than one gpu is utilized in supported applications. Crossfire is only supported by AMD video cards as a reminder. It is also part of the reason why an AMD video card is utilized. The only caviat that I have with this motherboard like many others is that there are only 2 fan headers. If anyone sees this and finds a motherboard that has at least 3 and cost $70 or less let me know. Besides that, I think this motherboard will fit in just well.

·         Memory(RAM): A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB): There is nothing extremely special about this ram unless you count the fact that it is blue. However, I opted for 16gb because the purpose of this build was to be multipurpose so it isn’t just only good for gaming but can handle video editing, some content creation, and more. If you don’t think you 16gb save some money and downgrade to 8gb.

·         Storage: Mushkin ECO2 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive, Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive:  Simply an SSD for 512gb for certain application and a 1tb hard drive for mass storage. I wanted to fit in a 2tb hard drive but I decide that it’s more of an optional thing than a requirement. Anyways having the os on the ssd will decrease boot times and some key applications can be put on it to decrease boot times. The hard drive is a standard 7200rpm so its decently fast but it’s just going to be where a mass majority of files are stored. Both the Mushkin and Segate drives are reliable and everything should go smoothly here.

·         Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390 8GB Nitro Video Card: The r9 390 is one of the most powerful cards right now and before a fan war starts if you want an Nvidia card get the gtx 970, it performs marginally less than the r9 390 and suffers more at higher resolutions. The r9 390 has 8gb of vram and the sapphire cooler will keep the temps down on this card. There may even be room for an overclock. This card comes with the standard features other AMD cards come with such as free sync and eyefinity. Another great feature is this card should be ok for virtual reality. I say ok because I have not looked into that much and I am not that hyped for vr either but this card does support it. Anyways just expect great performance at 1080p and decent at 1440p. Don’t try 4k because the odds are it will struggle at that resolution.

·         Case: Fractal Design Define S: The fractal design s has an open interior which makes this case ideal for water-cooling. It comes with two fans so the two fan headers on the motherboard can be used. It has great airflow as there are no restrictions and also it is silent. Just like the define r5 and other it specializes in silence and is considered one of the most silent cases. It supports the longest of the video cards and looks cool. The side panel without the window is cheaper and comes with a moduvent on the side which should help with noise reduction. It has 2 ssd mounts and 3 hard drive mounts so no problems in storage. I will leave a link to the specs list because the amount of stuff that can be fit into this case is amazing. If you don’t like this case the nzxt s340 is a decent option. I had trouble deciding between the two because they are both amazing cases within the price range. The nzxt s340 cost about $10 less though but I think the value and features on the define s makes the $10 worth it.

·         PSU: Rosewill 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply: When I calculated the wattage for the psu it was recommended that there is at least 650w. I also wanted to go with a modular psu because even though the cable management is good in the define S with cable tie down points but it will make the build process extremely easier. It is 80+ bronze to help with the efficiency but it only makes so much of a difference but still great to have.  It is rated with a 4out of 5 on both newegg and pcpartpicker also. 

Thank you for checking out this page as always and please share with friends and others. If you have any questions, comments, criticism, or constructive criticism, and or recommendations  please let me know. The links for the case specs and the pc part picker build page are below.

·             http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-s

·             https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/2hBD4D/edit/

$600 Gaming Pc (AMD version)

Second build I have made and I think this will appeal to those who want a lot under a restrictive budget or don't have a large one. This build should be able to do some 1440p games in newer titles as long as the details are turned down. With that being said 1080p should not be as much of a problem in fact you'll be pretty solid. Before I start rambling on I’ll go into the parts list and justification. I decided to increase the budget to between $600- $650 as this allows for a little more power to be drawn. If you want to keep the price down though without sacrificing too much power, switch the cpu out for a fx-6300 and don't buy the cryorig h7 cooler. That should bring the total price to around $600. Also check out the other $650 build I made that uses an intel processor instead vs an AMD processor. The link is at the bottom.

• CPU: AMD FX-8320: The AMD FX-8320 is a solid processor and gives a good price to performance. Before complaints show up and the fan wars begin, no, it’s not as powerful as an i5 but for slightly over $100 this at least in my opinion is a good deal. Also because of the eight cores it can handle content creation and some game streaming if you are in to that. Overall the processor is solid and works fine. There should not be any bottlenecks and the cooler and mobo should allow for an overclock of at least 4ghz.

• CPU Cooler: Cryorig H7: Personally my favorite air cooler but I am not going to be bias about it just because it is my favorite. When i decided to choose a cooler it was between this or the cooler master hyper 212 evo. The Cryorig H7 actually performs better than the 212 EVO. That really sums it up. It performs better and looks better to the eye imo.

• Motherboard: ASRock 970A-G/3.1: This Asrock board looks new but should allow for a good overclock. . It supports all the hardware in the build and has a popular color scheme of black and red. At least my favorite part of this board is the 8+2 power phase design and the 4 Chassis fan headers along with 2 cpu fan headers. I don't see too many motherboards at this price point or at even higher price points have this many fan Chassis fan headers. Besides these features everything else looks good. It comes with some features only on asrock boards and usb type c and 3.1 on the rear ports.

• Memory: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 : This ram should be a solid choice. The mobo natively supports 1333 ram natively so the theses ram sticks will tone down to that speed. However ram speed does not really make to much of a difference in gaming. It may be between a few frames or fractions of a frame. Anyways its ram does what is supposed to do and gets the job done, can’t ask for too much more after that. It comes in red which will match the motherboard. It was rated mostly postive by buyers on newegg so I think that partially speaks some of the story. But when it comes down to it, its just ram. If it works, it works.

• Storage: Segate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM: Simple and straight 1tb of hdd space. Runs at 7200rpm and can hold all your files. It’s not as slow as 5400rpm (I know firsthand so don’t ask) but it is not ssd fast. Load times are still there in battlefield but should not be too long but that also depends on your network connection. Essentially, just like ram it gets the job done. For an upgrade however if you have a little more money to spend either get a better gpu which is like an $80 stretch but you can also get an ssd. I would get 256gb but 120 will work as well.

• Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380X 4GB NITRO: This is the power house of the build. The r9 380x is a beast of gpu and can handle some 1440p gaming. However, because the AMD cpu is not the greatest for gaming and its performance is not as high as it could be with an intel i5 or i7 so the details cannot be maxed. So do not take this the wrong way the fx 8320 is good and should be perfectly fine paired with the R9 380x. It should be perfectly feasible to get 30+ fps at 1440p with some settings tweaks. On another note though 1080p should be a breeze and any game should be playable with exceptions to the highest demanding ones. In other words, even though there are 4gb of vram do not try to push max details in demanding games it won’t work.

• Case: Fractal Design FD-CA-CORE-3300-BL ATX Mid Tower Case : This case has room in the back for cable management and has a vented side panels for some air to get to the gpu and cpu. Besides that, airflow looks great and should be decent and not as hard to work in compared to other cases in the price category. Also for about $40-$50 this case is very competitive. Also you get some external drive bays in case you want to install an optical drive or something. A cool feature that helps with airflow is the vertical drive mounting location. This is not the ideal way to mount storage devices but it does work. Because the hard dive cages are not in the way of the front fan mounts it allows for more air to get through. Also this case comes with ssd mounts if there is a future plan to get one.

• Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze: For the psu I needed something with at least 500w to hold all the hardware in the build. This psu can handle the r9 380x and still spare about another 100w. Even though I really wanted a semi modular psu this should do and because there is some cable management room in the back it should make working with this easier. Also another benefit is the 80+ bronze certification. I can't explain it but I am automatically attracted to power supplies with at least 80+ rating. It is sort of like a requirement imo. But anyways this psu will get the job done and is rated well. There may be room to overclock but I am not too sure about that. Perhaps a 600w would be better in that case but there should be some headroom in here for it anyways.

$650 intel gaming build: http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/4pWG3C/650-gaming-pc

Thank you for checking this out and please share with others

Here is the link for the build: 

http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/jWj48d/awesome-600-650-build-some-1440p-and-definetly-1080p

Quite possibly the best $400 gaming pc you can build (Possibly)

I don't know how this build will actually perform but the parts inside should do just fine. The build itself came out to just about $400 which I found surprising for what I could fit into it. Without rambling on too much I'm just gonna finish up the build guide and go through the reasoning and such.

• For the cpu I went with the x4 860k. In a budget build most people go with the Pentium g3258 or whatever the model is but it’s only a dual core and no hyper threading. However, going with the x4 860k you have 4 cores and should not run into any problems handling games. To be brief there have been some occurrences where games do not run on a dual core processor.

• For the motherboard I went with the ASRock FM2A68M-DG3+. It looks like a great budget board and supports everything needed. On the downside though it does not have a usb 3.0 but to compensate it has a flexible usb 2.0 which is compatible with usb 3.0 so the usb 3.0 port on the case can be utilized. Besides that is supports all the hardware and should work just fine.

• The ram kinda killed me when making this build but it will work nonetheless. The ram is a simple 1 8gb stick and doesn’t hold any special features. It is just ram and will get the job done. I wish I would have gotten 2 4gb sticks but it would have raised the price a little bit and I wanted to keep it to as close as $400.

• The storage was an easy choice. Simply a 1tb hard drive to store files and such. I went with this one so a few dollars could be saved instead of going with the Western Digital. Its 7200rpm and will be good for the build. Essentially this is a slightly cheaper 1tb hard drive and will give great performance.

• Now the important part the video card. For this build I was able to fit in a gtx 950 which is a fairly strong video card and rivals the AMD r7 370 and in most cases beats it. It will handle 1080p just fine and can play most if not all games at or higher than medium settings. I say medium settings as some games are really demanding and can’t be pushed that far. However, I can say that the gtx 950 is a good card for about $150 versus the r7 370 which is less but you will gain more performance in games with the Nvidia counterpart. Also the Zotac gtx 950 was the lowest price at the time. The cooler is good and if there is enough room in the psu an overclock might be possible but I highly doubt it. Overclock or not this card will do the job. Word of warning though, sometimes take my words with a grain of salt because their could be other option that you could find better or more favorable. Check the latest prices of these things because they change frequently. In the case of video card brand does not matter that much so the general rule of thumb is unless you are going for a certain theme get the cheapest one that still features the same chipset. In this case the gtx 950 

• The case was not too much of a hard choice as much of a choice I just had to accept. The Fractal Design Core 1000 and is okay except for cable management. Besides that, though this case will be just fine. It can house all the components and looks like it has decent airflow because there are no drive cages and the storage drives are mounted on the side. I can’t speak for how easy it is to work in but it’s a budget case and it made the budget of this build work so that’s at the bare minimum that’s good.

• For the psu there was nothing special about this. I wanted to get a good enough psu that had at least an 80+ rating and a decent wattage. So the EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply fit the description. It really is not anything special. However, it is a good value though for being only $30. On the downside no modular cables but that’s where cable management will come in. You are going need some decent cable management skills for this so be prepared.

Thanks for checking out my build.

Please share with others and leave some constructive criticism to tell me what I can do to improve. I am going to be uploading at least another build today so check back later.

Here is the link to the build I made using pcpartpicker which is use for all of my builds.: https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/jdv6Mp/quite-possibly-the-best-400-gaming-pc-you-can-build-possibly

Introduction

      I guess this introduction will be brief so I wont go into so much detail. The purpose of this blog is to share the awareness of PC not just on the gaming side but also on the productivity side of things as well. The main content on this blog will be pc builds guides that I have created using a certain budget. Before I go on i have to issue a warning to some people who consider this copying. Yes, I already realize the fact that other people have done this before and especially on youtube, but the intention is not to copy at all. Furthermore i would like to say that if you do have to stumble across this site by some random chance I would like you to share to this other people if you can. If you don't however, nothing against you at all. Thank you for reading and I will be posting the first build very soon.