What is the best possible and versatile gaming rig you can build for 800$?

[Master Guns]

^see title. My buddy is taking the step into PC gaming and he has an absolute maximum budget of 800$ US. He doesn't need a mouse, but sadly he needs everything else.

The games he plans on playing might play a crucial role in the hardware.

DayZ
H1Z1
WoW
Arms 3

So, based on those criteria what's the best rig you can buy with 800? Thanks guys. We will be building ourselves and we do have a micro computer center 14 miles away.

[Kagthul]

Microcenter is good, though some parts its not worth buying there unless they are on steep discount (while they always have discounts on CPUs and MoBos, their GPUs tend to be HIGHER than MSRP, for instance).

Keeping that in mind, though..

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sysT23
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sysT23/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($29.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380X 4GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card ($233.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $640.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-23 19:38 EDT-0400

When you add a monitor (Micro Center has some decent AOC offerings in the ~100-130 range) itll put you close to 800$.

Microcenter has the RAM and HDD for about the same prices as above, and they have the EVGA 500B PSU for about that price or cheaper and its pretty solid for the cost.

[Fascinate]

Microcenter total: $144.81 (once you add both to cart you will see bundle discount)
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...oxed_Processor
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...MD_Motherboard

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($50.15 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.56 @ Mac Mall)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($88.80 @ Amazon)
Other: Windows 10 ($29.69)
Total: $661.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-23 19:45 EDT-0400


Total: $806.37

Wont get any better than this.

To see where to get windows 10 for that price click the PC part picker list and click on windows 10, its legit key from kinguin that is a global key.

[moremana]

Microcenter total: $144.81 (once you add both to cart you will see bundle discount)
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...oxed_Processor
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...MD_Motherboard

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($50.15 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.56 @ Mac Mall)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($88.80 @ Amazon)
Other: Windows 10 ($29.69)
Total: $661.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-23 19:45 EDT-0400


Total: $806.37

Wont get any better than this.

To see where to get windows 10 for that price click the PC part picker list and click on windows 10, its legit key from kinguin that is a global key.

This is not a good setup for gaming.

OP stay away from AMD cpus and motherboards, the intel setup kagthul posted is a much better system.

[Fascinate]

This is not a good setup for gaming.

OP stay away from AMD cpus and motherboards, the intel setup kagthul posted is a much better system.

My system would destroy kagthuls because i fit a 390 into the budget....as well as 16 gigs of ram, a monitor, quality cpu cooler and windows 10. Go for an i3 combo at microcenter if you wish, but personally id take a 8 core AMD over an i3. Also you cant really bash motherboards as a generality, the board i linked is a good quality 970 chipset board by MSI.

[Lathais]

My system would destroy kagthuls because i fit a 390 into the budget....as well as 16 gigs of ram, a monitor, quality cpu cooler and windows 10. Go for an i3 combo at microcenter if you wish, but personally id take a 8 core AMD over an i3. Also you cant really bash motherboards as a generality, the board i linked is a good quality 970 chipset board by MSI.

Except that one of the games listed is WoW. In WoW, a 390 will not perform any better than a 950 which is far far cheaper and you will notice the difference from AMD to intel.

[Fascinate]

Except that one of the games listed is WoW. In WoW, a 390 will not perform any better than a 950 which is far far cheaper and you will notice the difference from AMD to intel.

No, you really wont. I came from a athlon x4 when i got my 2500k i noticed zero difference. Sure if you open the FPS meter you will tell, but gameplay wise you really cant. Like i said if he wants to go i3 route go ahead, he will have better wow fps. But if were talking gaming rig you really gotta start with the GPU and sacrifice elsewhere imo. 8 core amd while slower in some games like MMO's, most games dont care what cpu you have in your rig......but care a lot what gpu you have.

The kicker and reason selected the fx cpu is cause he lives so close to microcenter. 144 bucks for a 8 core unlocked CPU and a quality motherboard (not some entry lvl trash board with no features) is just too good to pass up.

[Karon]

My system would destroy kagthuls because i fit a 390 into the budget....as well as 16 gigs of ram, a monitor, quality cpu cooler and windows 10. Go for an i3 combo at microcenter if you wish, but personally id take a 8 core AMD over an i3. Also you cant really bash motherboards as a generality, the board i linked is a good quality 970 chipset board by MSI.

Your system won't even WORK.

I don't know about the others, but I wouldn't trust a guy who tries to sell me SO-DIMM RAM (LAPTOP RAM THAT DOESN'T FIT INTO NORMAL MOTHERBOARDS!)

Also I could easily double the desktop performance of that joke setup by adding an SSD.

The 30$ for Win 10 is a lie too. Let me guess, 30$ on G2A.com which will sell you a Windows 7 key that can be used to upgrade to win 10, right? LOL.

[Vash The Stampede]

Your system won't even WORK.

I don't know about the others, but I wouldn't trust a guy who tries to sell me SO-DIMM RAM (LAPTOP RAM THAT DOESN'T FIT INTO NORMAL MOTHERBOARDS!)

Honest mistake that doesn't matter. Ram is cheap nowadays.

Also I could easily double the desktop performance of that joke setup by adding an SSD.

Wouldn't do a damn thing to frame rates. Would load games faster, but zero to frame rates.

The 30$ for Win 10 is a lie too. Let me guess, 30$ on G2A.com which will sell you a Windows 7 key that can be used to upgrade to win 10, right? LOL.

Actually, it does work. Been proven.

Getting back to the CPU, $144.81 for the 8320E plus motherboard is a pretty good deal. And while WoW does prefer Intel CPUs over AMD, it won't make that much of a difference in WoW. On the other hand the faster GPU will benefit DayZ, H1Z1, and Arms 3 much more so. And if games move to DX12 or Vulkan, then the 8320E might not be bad at all?

Also, you only spend $144.81 for a CPU+board. Lets say you thought the 8320E wasn't cutting it, then later on you can upgrade to a 6600K or AMD Zen. The loss of $144 for that combo isn't bad. A G3258+board would cost more than that. The i5 4460 costs more than that.

[Fascinate]

Whoops my bad didnt notice i had laptop memory in there, pcpartpicker usually has those farther down on the list.

This just went on sale a buck cheaper
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/team-me...16g1600hc9dc01

[BetrayedOf52]

^see title. My buddy is taking the step into PC gaming and he has an absolute maximum budget of 800$ US. He doesn't need a mouse, but sadly he needs everything else.

The games he plans on playing might play a crucial role in the hardware.

DayZ
H1Z1
WoW
Arms 3

So, based on those criteria what's the best rig you can buy with 800? Thanks guys. We will be building ourselves and we do have a micro computer center 14 miles away.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B150M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($77.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($38.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card ($206.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 Blackout with Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($88.80 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($11.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $761.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 01:59 EDT-0400


I know I didnt add an operating system, I would use different site, like kinguin, for cheap international key. or if you have an old laptop either of you or crappy PC laying around with a key you dont use. but there are sites that sell OEM for much much cheaper.


Also http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G230-...2%3A2661618011 is a nice cheap good quality headset if he needs one, might have to wait to get it though by the sounds of the budget.

[Master Guns]

Microcenter is good, though some parts its not worth buying there unless they are on steep discount (while they always have discounts on CPUs and MoBos, their GPUs tend to be HIGHER than MSRP, for instance).

Keeping that in mind, though..



When you add a monitor (Micro Center has some decent AOC offerings in the ~100-130 range) itll put you close to 800$.

Microcenter has the RAM and HDD for about the same prices as above, and they have the EVGA 500B PSU for about that price or cheaper and its pretty solid for the cost.

Great build. My only concern is the warning it gives: The Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case supports video cards up to 350mm long, but video cards over 210mm may block drive bays. Since the Gigabyte Radeon R9 380X 4GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card is 221mm long, some drive bays may not be usable.

[TaintedOne]

Great build. My only concern is the warning it gives: The Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case supports video cards up to 350mm long, but video cards over 210mm may block drive bays. Since the Gigabyte Radeon R9 380X 4GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card is 221mm long, some drive bays may not be usable.

https://youtu.be/wfwrubJC3II?t=6m43s

[Artorius]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($196.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($58.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.97 @ Directron)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 390 8GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.11 @ Mac Mall)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.56 @ Mac Mall)
Total: $748.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 09:25 EDT-0400

Do something like this and use Windows Insider for Windows 10

[Vash The Stampede]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B150M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($77.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($38.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card ($206.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 Blackout with Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($88.80 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($11.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $761.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 01:59 EDT-0400


I know I didnt add an operating system, I would use different site, like kinguin, for cheap international key. or if you have an old laptop either of you or crappy PC laying around with a key you dont use. but there are sites that sell OEM for much much cheaper.


Also http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G230-...2%3A2661618011 is a nice cheap good quality headset if he needs one, might have to wait to get it though by the sounds of the budget.

Took your list and replaced the CPU for a i5 4460. It's about the same price. In this day in age, the i3's should be dead and buried. Right next to the G3258.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($56.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($38.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 Blackout with Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($88.80 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($11.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $768.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-24 11:56 EDT-0400

[Master Guns]

Pretty much everyone is suggesting the 380 4GB. Any reason why? I don't know much about the card.

[Artorius]

Pretty much everyone is suggesting the 380 4GB. Any reason why? I don't know much about the card.

We'll always recommend GTX 950 -> R9 380/X -> R9 390/X -> Nano/Fury -> Fury X CF in this particular order due to reasons, in this case most are fitting a 380 even if I find it possible to fit a 390.

[Fascinate]

Pretty much everyone is suggesting the 380 4GB. Any reason why? I don't know much about the card.

I am an nvidia fanboy through and through and ill suggest a 390 over a 970 all day, but if it was my rig its 970 all the way.

Hypocrite? Maybe.

[BetrayedOf52]

Pretty much everyone is suggesting the 380 4GB. Any reason why? I don't know much about the card.

Because your budget allows for a 970/390x if you choose to sacrifice other areas, but the games you listed do not need that high end of a card.

So the next best thing for your budget while keeping all the other nice parts would be a 960, or a 380. and currently the benchmarks and test for a 960 and a 380 are sooooo close, with a 380 winning just slightly, it comes down to price. And AMD almost always beats Nivida in prices.

So pretty much at top end gaming atm simply put
NIV AMD
980ti or NANO / FURY at 500+
970 or 390x at 300+
960 or 380 at 230+

And since the 960 and 380 are so close together just pick based off price, and 380 is 40-50 dollars cheaper most of the time.


and 4GB version over the 2GB because its getting to a point where higher end games require much more dedicated memory on your GPU, playing black desert they didn't even let me go past medium without 3GB of memory. 1-2gb cards are not going to last you very long.

[Master Guns]

What are the possibilities of adding the smallest SSD for just the OS? I feel that's really worth it.