Feedback on Possible Computer Build

Lkvngyn on 28/04/2015 - 21:16
Last edited 28/04/2015 - 23:14

I'm getting a computer custom built for my brother. He will be using the computer for school work and light-medium gaming. He tells me the games he will be playing include: CS GO, League of Legends, Reign of Kings, HearthStone and other Steam games. Here are the specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5 4460
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2
Memory: DDR3 8GB Crucial 1600MHz
Hard drive: 1TB WD 3.5"
GPU: MSI NVIDIA GTX750 2GB
PSU: 650 Watt Cougar RS650
Case: Cougar ATX MX300

Feedback will be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: my budget is around $1000 as my brother is quite young and for an 8th grader probably doesn't need something more high end

Computing

Comments

  • M0RGAN on 28/04/2015 - 21:36

    Good budget build. If you're not looking to upgrade, you could probably get away with a cheaper case + PSU combo considering that card can be powered by the motherboard (its marketed as an add-on for budget PCs for this reason). If you are, just get a better card now. The GTX 960 comes with a free copy of The Witcher 3, which makes up for most of the price difference anyway.

  • cypher67 on 28/04/2015 - 22:32
    +1

    Id always make room for an SSD

    • Gnostikos on 28/04/2015 - 22:48

      No difference to gaming, pitifully small space compared to a cheaper-priced HDD; it doesn't make sense for a strictly budget build.

      • cypher67 on 28/04/2015 - 23:20

        But just for general use, load times and overall user experience. I was about to replace my machine 3 years ago but with just an SSD its still going strong and I don't even feel the next to replace it anymore. Best $100 you could spend on an PC imo

  • Gnostikos on 28/04/2015 - 22:35

    It's fine and I'm guessing the budget here is at a maximum $800 (probably less), so for that money there's really no better combination of parts. An R9 280 would be the most value-for-money GPU, but the budget probably can't stretch that far.

    Some people would argue in favour of an Intel Pentium Anniversary Edition G3258 for a lot less than the i5 4460, but in my opinion, the i5 4460 leaves you a lot of room for upgrading in the future, where as a G3258 already drops somewhere in the region of 4-8 frames per second against Quad-Cores and that'll only increase with time.

    In the future, a beefier GPU paired with an i5 4460, 8GB of RAM and an SSD will easily breathe another 2 years of life into that rig, whereas that might be money squandered on a G3258's bottleneck (depending on the games in question).

    You certainly don't need the 650W PSU (a 500W would be more than adequate), but the Cougar RS650 is pretty damn cheap as it is; I can't really suggest anything more rock-bottom.

    I take it the GTX 750 is non-Ti? Depending on the model you've got, you may be about $10 dollars away from a GTX 750 Ti. More Texture Units, CUDA cores and a higher stock OC will give you about 10% more FPS in most games (at 1920x1080).

    Ideally, I would personally switch that extremely basic motherboard (no USB 3.0 headers for front panel, only 2 USB 3.0 ports, only 2 x SATA III ports, no PCI-E 3.0) if the budget could allow it for an ASRock H97M Pro4 but the GA-H81M-DS2 is about as low as you can go for a quasi-gaming machine.

    All in all, there's not much room for negotiation in this price-bracket and this will handle lighter gaming workloads like CS:GO, LoL and HearthStone fairly well.

    Even the case isn't half-bad for $50 dollars. Tool-less bays, removable dust filters, room for a 310mm GPU and a 160mm CPU cooler, mostly steel construction; good choice.

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