Any opinions on this $450 build?

[RickJM]

Intel Core i5-4460, Rosewill Blackbone - System Build - PCPartPicker

I need a computer for college plus I am going to do some gaming and watching blu rays. Also, is the power supply powerful enough for the rest of this build? In the future, I may do some upgrading and overclocking. Anyone have an opinion on my build or can think of switching out parts for something better while staying in budget? Thanks.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Favorable review of the power supply here:

Corsair CX430 430W power supply Review

Not sure you are going to get far overclocking a B85M motherboard.

At any rate, you need a K series processor to do any overclocking worth mentioning. As far as I know, they are all i5s and i7s and begin around $230 (i5-3570K). You might be able to find a used one.

Or you could just give up on the idea of overclocking with this board/processor combination. Probably a decent idea given your budget and experience.

At your budget, I'd go with 1600 speed RAM for 35 to 40 bucks and use the saved money on CPU, motherboard, or video card. You're not likely to notice that you have 1866 rather than 1600.

Many would point you away from the Seagate drive, but all brands have random and unpredictable failures, so no major issue with your choice.

I'd read reviews on that case and find out what the complaints are. Good price if it's tolerable.

Your list does not include video card, so tough to say how much power you need. Without videocard, that PC isn't likely to use 100 watts most of the time.

 

[Layback Bear]

Same question in this thread by RickJM.

http://www.sevenforums.com/pc-custo...et-build-w-some-gaming-watching-blu-rays.html

 

[boogieboy]

Hi... with that budget I would suggest you to get an i3 processor and add a gpu too as the built-in gpu wont do good. Adding another $50 might help you a bit more.

 

[RickJM]

Well it seems like most people would recommend me getting a smaller CPU and use the extra money towards getting a GPU. Any good options out there that will keep me in budget? Also, if I do this, will my PS be enough? Should I maybe downgrade the RAM I listed and go with 1600 to save about $10?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

With your limited budget and needing all of those parts, there's not much chance you could afford a video card powerful enough to tax that power supply.

At your budget, you aren't going to do any overclocking as you can't afford a $230 processor.

I'd do this:

Decide on everything except the processor and video card.

Add up the price for those other parts and subtract the total from the absolute top dollar you can spend.

That'll give you a number. Then ask gamers on this forum how to split that number up between processor and video card. 50 percent to each? 60 percent CPU? 60 percent video card? Most likely, you are looking at some type of i3 processor.

Mention what games you need to play, at what settings, and on what resolution/monitor size.

 

[RickJM]

I updated my build from my original link and I changed the memory, case, and motherboards. How does it look now compared to my original post? My plans are to wait til after the school semester to buy a video card and upgrade the PC a bit.

Intel Core i5-4460, Rosewill FBM-01 - System Build - PCPartPicker

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I updated my build from my original link and I changed the memory, case, and motherboards. How does it look now compared to my original post? My plans are to wait til after the school semester to buy a video card and upgrade the PC a bit.

Intel Core i5-4460, Rosewill FBM-01 - System Build - PCPartPicker

That's in the ballpark if you are going to delay the video card. The CPU has integrated HD4600 graphics, which might surprise you.

Couple of points:

You have a non-overclocking processor (4460) and a chipset (Z97) capable of overclocking. Nothing"wrong" with that, but since you won't be overclocking a 4460, you might instead save a few bucks by finding a board with an H97 chipset.

I'd at least consider using the money saved by dropping back to an H97 on another case. If you can spend $40 on the case, you might be able to get an NZXT or Antec. Nothing seriously wrong with the Rosewill, but you might find it flimsy. Pay attention to sales and email offers.

If you think there is some chance of having enough money to buy a rather powerful video card, you might consider overspending on the power supply now--boosting it up to 500 or 550 watts, which would be enough power for pretty much any single video card system. If, on the other hand, you plan on buying a mid level video card, the PSU you have now is fine, particularly if you won't be overclocking. You can easily research online the power consumption of any video card.

I'd still get try to get opinions now from gamers. I don't game. It may be that you want to play some games that need a powerful video card but don't need an i5 processor. If that's true, you could save some money by dropping back to an i3 and maybe using the saved money to kick up the power supply a bit. No sense in buying a power supply now and then buying another in 6 months. Ideally, all you want to do after the semester is buy one piece: video card.

That all depends on what games and settings you use and whether or not gaming is of more importance to you than general PC performance.

But I think you are on the right track by buying the strongest processor you can possibly afford if general performance is at least as important as gaming performance.

Try to buy it all at once and not until you actually are ready to immediately build it. Might save some shipping costs.

 

[Phill3990]

Hey,

Personally I kept my CPU/GPU balance ratio 50/50 mainly because I play everything. Practically all genres of games my build plays very good at high-ultra settings with my 50/50 balance. What I mean to say is that it really does depend on what games you want to play. Newer games will naturally require a lot more resources to play on higher settings. As for actual parts it is hard for me as I live in the UK and you are of course not making prices etc different because of conversion rates.

This is my own opinion on this topic and I like to think of myself as a good gamer

Thanks,

Phill3990

 

[AstaLaVista]

+100 on what everyone has said already... also, if you give us an idea of what types of games you are thinking on playing and on what monitor, you may be able to do better.

I just looked at the image so sorry if I am totally wrong on this... the memory stick looks like a low-value stick and not really a gaming stick but again, with your budget and not knowing how much you are thinking on pushing your rig with the games.

Perhaps not your thing but I have done Pre-Owned before with good results, more so when you are itching to play and on a strict budget... hardforum.com has a Used forum and there you may be able to find good components at a much lower price.

Perhaps these two may help as well... http://www.newegg.com/Special/Shell...-item-_-19-117-372&et_cid=10145&et_rid=104128

http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemai...dex-_-E0-_-Started&et_cid=10143&et_rid=104128


Good Luck