Building on a budget

[Deleted]

Hai all,

I'm gonna start of with a bit of context. I'm looking to buy a 'new' pc for my gf, so she will be able to run legion. Right now she is lagging on low even. Thing is, I found out yesterday, and would like to surprise her, but I'm a student and on a bit of a budget on this short notice. I am willing to buy used parts (for example a GPU) to try and get the most out of it, and even though I have been looking through benchmark after comparison after benchmark, I'm still not really sure.

So yeah, I know the budget is thight, sorry 'bout that. I also know my expectations are high, sorry 'bout that too . Don't be afraid to tell me I'm being stupid, because I honestly don't know what to expect atm from Legions desires. Any input is more than welcome.

Budget
350- 400
Resolution
1920x1080
Games / Settings Desired
WOW , ultra
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc)
Nope, none at all
Country
Netherlands
Parts that can be reused
HDD
4GB DDR3 Ram
Do you need an OS?
Nope
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?
Nope

At this moment I have been looking into builds, and comparison as good as possible. At this point I am considering the following:

Intel core I3 6100 121.90
Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2H DDR3 61.90
Corsair Value Select 4GB DDR 3 21.95
Xigmatek Aeos (Case) 30.90
Ewent EW3903 600W (PSU) 39.81

TOTAL: 276,46

Which would leave about 75-100 for a GPU. This would give the possibility to buy -for example- a Radeon r9 270x, or a GTX 750. In which the R9 would be better than what Blizz is recommending. Does anyone have any insight/ advice etc. to offer?

PS. I would post the benchmarks and comparisons, but I am not allowed yet

[hellhamster]

This is as high as you can go:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (€118.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€63.44 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card (€128.67 @ Mindfactory)
Case: Antec GX500 ATX Mid Tower Case (€42.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: XFX TS 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€47.84 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €401.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-28 22:29 CEST+0200

I'd ditch the 4 gb ddr3 memory and pump an extra ~45 euros to get a Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 memory, that system should achieve 50 fps @ 1080p no problem. The 270x is like 200 euros. The R7 360 is somewhat cheaper than the 750, but it offers ~10 less fps in WoW.

[Deleted]

Thanks a lot for your answer and input!
The cards I mentioned are available at around 100€ 2nd hand (not overclocked etc.), otherwise they would be straight outa my pricerange. I will definately look into the DDR4, especially as the DDR 4 version of the mainboard is a few euro's cheaper, so it would only put me down 25 euro more.

If I could ask you, which GPU would you advise? The comparison on GPU Boss gives a slight advantage to the 750, but the benchmarks point towards the 270x. Which is leaving me a bit riddled. I'd have to admit, tho I read quite a bit about it by now (haha), this isn't something I do on a regular basis, so I might miss some essentials.

And, without wanting to be rude, or asking to much, do you think the i3 is a viable pick for WOW? It has less cores than the i5 series ofc, but the singlecore, and multithreaded performance is quite high in comparison.

[hellhamster]

Thanks a lot for your answer and input!
The cards I mentioned are available at around 100€ 2nd hand (not overclocked etc.), otherwise they would be straight outa my pricerange. I will definately look into the DDR4, especially as the DDR 4 version of the mainboard is a few euro's cheaper, so it would only put me down 25 euro more.

If I could ask you, which GPU would you advise? The comparison on GPU Boss gives a slight advantage to the 750, but the benchmarks point towards the 270x. Which is leaving me a bit riddled. I'd have to admit, tho I read quite a bit about it by now (haha), this isn't something I do on a regular basis, so I might miss some essentials.

And, without wanting to be rude, or asking to much, do you think the i3 is a viable pick for WOW? It has less cores than the i5 series ofc, but the singlecore, and multithreaded performance is quite high in comparison.

The 270x is roughly two times faster than the 750, it should be a good buy if you can get a used one for 100 euros.

BTW, don't forget you can't put DDR3 memories on DDR4 motherboards.

[Deleted]

Thank you, you have been a great help . And I will keep that in mind, but if the DDR4 performs a lot better, I'll go with the ddr4, with an eye on the future, might be a good investment.

[hellhamster]

Thank you, you have been a great help . And I will keep that in mind, but if the DDR4 performs a lot better, I'll go with the ddr4, with an eye on the future, might be a good investment.

You physically can't use your DDR3 stick. So to conclude and to avoid confusion, your build should look like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (€118.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€63.44 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (€42.01 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card (€100.00)
Case: Antec GX500 ATX Mid Tower Case (€42.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: XFX TS 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€47.84 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €415.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-28 23:29 CEST+0200

[Doomislav]

I was reluctant to upgrade my my because I'd have to get new memory, but I went ahead and did it. Turned out to be money well spent. I don't know if recent architecture takes advantage of ddr4 better or what, but the rate at which cached data loads and general fps is noticeably improved. Well worth the $40 I spent!

[Deleted]

You physically can't use your DDR3 stick. So to conclude and to avoid confusion, your build should look like this:

Thanks a lot!

And DOomislav, thanks for your input too, I will go with the DDR4 version of the mainboard (they have 2 versions) and will buy new DDR4 RAM

[Denpepe]

Even if you bought a DDR 3 board you would need new DDR 3 ram as Skylake uses DDR3L (low voltage)

[Evildeffy]

@Widar:

I actually suggest you check out Tweakers.net in the "Vraag & Aanbod" section.
They are in general trustworthy if you correctly read through the ratings.

There is some cool stuff in there, probably your best bet... and no it's not a Marktplaats.nl disgusting copy.

[krunksmash]

Hai all,

I'm gonna start of with a bit of context. I'm looking to buy a 'new' pc for my gf, so she will be able to run legion. Right now she is lagging on low even. Thing is, I found out yesterday, and would like to surprise her, but I'm a student and on a bit of a budget on this short notice. I am willing to buy used parts (for example a GPU) to try and get the most out of it, and even though I have been looking through benchmark after comparison after benchmark, I'm still not really sure.

So yeah, I know the budget is thight, sorry 'bout that. I also know my expectations are high, sorry 'bout that too . Don't be afraid to tell me I'm being stupid, because I honestly don't know what to expect atm from Legions desires. Any input is more than welcome.

Budget
350- 400
Resolution
1920x1080
Games / Settings Desired
WOW , ultra
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc)
Nope, none at all
Country
Netherlands
Parts that can be reused
HDD
4GB DDR3 Ram
Do you need an OS?
Nope
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?
Nope

At this moment I have been looking into builds, and comparison as good as possible. At this point I am considering the following:

Intel core I3 6100 121.90
Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2H DDR3 61.90
Corsair Value Select 4GB DDR 3 21.95
Xigmatek Aeos (Case) 30.90
Ewent EW3903 600W (PSU) 39.81

TOTAL: 276,46

Which would leave about 75-100 for a GPU. This would give the possibility to buy -for example- a Radeon r9 270x, or a GTX 750. In which the R9 would be better than what Blizz is recommending. Does anyone have any insight/ advice etc. to offer?

PS. I would post the benchmarks and comparisons, but I am not allowed yet

is her current system desktop or laptop, if desktop what are its specs?

[Wildpantz]

Just save more youll be wasting money. 2 gb vram youll be struggling playing any new games. Also wow needs cpu speed mostly an i5 k version is minimum you should buy also anything lower the a 1060 6gb / rx480 is wasting money

[Shadowygoodness]

What do you guys think of this build for his budget?

http://www.xtremegaminerd.com/build-...ler-gaming-pc/

[Evildeffy]

What do you guys think of this build for his budget?

http://www.xtremegaminerd.com/build-...ler-gaming-pc/

That's not going to work as American prices are considerably lower than European prices.
Not to mention that we pay more in Euros (numerical value) than you in USD and that the USD is worth less than the Euro is a double whammy to the face.

Simply put: Not going to happen.

[hellhamster]

Just save more youll be wasting money. 2 gb vram youll be struggling playing any new games. Also wow needs cpu speed mostly an i5 k version is minimum you should buy also anything lower the a 1060 6gb / rx480 is wasting money

Considering I can play wow with a Pentium g4400 and no gpu right now, no.

[Lathais]

Just save more youll be wasting money. 2 gb vram youll be struggling playing any new games. Also wow needs cpu speed mostly an i5 k version is minimum you should buy also anything lower the a 1060 6gb / rx480 is wasting money

What new games struggle on 2GB VRAM? I play The Witcher 3 just fine on my 960 and it only has 2GB. Sure, I'm not pushing max settings or anything, but I kinda knew when I bought the card I wasn't going to be pushing max settings. However, on somewhere between Medium and High settings at 1080p, the card performs well.

For the CPU, since IPC matters most to WoW, barring any massive multitasking, there will be very little difference between a Pentium/i3/i5/i7 of the same generation. For other single player games that make use of more cores yeah, the i5 is better, but for WoW, an i3 is just fine.

Not everyone cares about getting 60+ FPS all the time on Max settings. Sometimes, just being able to play is much preferable to not being able to play. An i3 with budget GPU like that get someone able to play, and then they can upgrade from there. It's a good starting point.

[Denpepe]

What new games struggle on 2GB VRAM? I play The Witcher 3 just fine on my 960 and it only has 2GB. Sure, I'm not pushing max settings or anything, but I kinda knew when I bought the card I wasn't going to be pushing max settings. However, on somewhere between Medium and High settings at 1080p, the card performs well.

I would not use the Witcher 3 as a reference for vram usage as it is one of the most optimized games around and actually uses very little vram
see here http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages...-review,9.html

[Wildpantz]

What new games struggle on 2GB VRAM? I play The Witcher 3 just fine on my 960 and it only has 2GB. Sure, I'm not pushing max settings or anything, but I kinda knew when I bought the card I wasn't going to be pushing max settings. However, on somewhere between Medium and High settings at 1080p, the card performs well.

For the CPU, since IPC matters most to WoW, barring any massive multitasking, there will be very little difference between a Pentium/i3/i5/i7 of the same generation. For other single player games that make use of more cores yeah, the i5 is better, but for WoW, an i3 is just fine.

Not everyone cares about getting 60+ FPS all the time on Max settings. Sometimes, just being able to play is much preferable to not being able to play. An i3 with budget GPU like that get someone able to play, and then they can upgrade from there. It's a good starting point.

Thats true im abit weird maybe i run 1440p and max settings thats how i like to play so im abit biased i guess. If you dont care how games look you cant really go wrong. If i cant max out settings at 1440p and 60fps minimum i upgrade.

[Lathais]

Thats true im abit weird maybe i run 1440p and max settings thats how i like to play so im abit biased i guess. If you dont care how games look you cant really go wrong. If i cant max out settings at 1440p and 60fps minimum i upgrade.

For myself, personally, I agree. I heartily prefer getting 60+ FPS and playing on Max settings. However, having a 6 year old daughter has hurt my upgrade budget the past several years, along with getting a house and the costs associated with that. Some things are just more important than 60+ FPS at Max settings. Just being able to spend a couple hours gaming after my daughter goes to bed makes me happy though. I haven't even been able to join the world of 1440p yet. Just being able to upgrade from my AMD Phenom II 965 BE and 6850 early last year was great. Luckily, at the time the 960 was still enough to get me 60 FPS in most games, though it is already starting to struggle with some current games. Hopefully I'll be able to upgrade early next year as planned.

[Deleted]

Hey Guys,

First of all, with the risk of repeating myself, thanks a lot for all your input.

I just went and ordered the build suggested by Hellhamster, with a slight difference in PSU (was sold out unfortunately), so I went with a 550W Corsair. So mad Props go out to him for spending this ammount of time on a random forumperson! I can't wait till the box arrives tomorrow, you really are a hero!

That being said, everyone who took time out of their day to help me, suggest things etc., you are great people, thanks to every one of you!


Some answers to unanswered stuff:

@Widar:

I actually suggest you check out URLREMOVED in the "Vraag & Aanbod" section.
They are in general trustworthy if you correctly read through the ratings.

There is some cool stuff in there, probably your best bet... and no it's not a Marktplaats.nl disgusting copy.

I noticed indeed, It's where I am looking to get the GPU from. Great overall public out there.

Just save more youll be wasting money. 2 gb vram youll be struggling playing any new games. Also wow needs cpu speed mostly an i5 k version is minimum you should buy also anything lower the a 1060 6gb / rx480 is wasting money

I'd love to, and if Legion wasn't here already I might have had the time to save. But although she deserves a pc made of pure gold*, I can't afford it right now. What I can afford is a PC with more fps than her current wopping 12, so I'll go with that. Maybe I will feel the need to upgrade it for her in the future, but now I want to have her walk around the map instead of lagblinking.

*as a matter of speaking, i understand that a pure gold PC would be totally useless.