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General discussion

Advice on buying budget gaming PC

Aug 30, 2013 11:12PM PDT

Hello! I'm trying to choose the best configuration for a PC, that will be used for everyday stuff (internet, Office, ...) and mainly, for games (by a 14 year-old kid. He plays Minecraft and LoL, but I'm guessing he'll be wanting to run more advanced games in near future), which will be sufficient for at least 3 years or more.
I asked for advice on another forum, where a heated debate started and, since I'm not following the development of PC hardware over the past few years as closely as I did, I am more lost than I was to begin with.

The budget is limited - 650eur for a computer and a monitor together. I figured the monitor with decent viewing angles (the cheapest with IPS matrix) is about 150EUR, so I have about 500eur for the computer.

The dilemma on that other forum is between these two configurations:

1.Motherboard GIGABYTE, LGA1155, B75 (GA-B75M-D3V) 54,67 €
2. Intel Pentium G2020 BOX processor 53,95 €
3. Hard Drive WD 1TB SATA 6Gb/s, 64/7200 -Black- (WD1002FAEX) 79,10 €
4. Memory Crucial DDR3 4GB 1600MHz CL11 SR CT51264BA160BJ 32,13 €
VTX3D RADEON HD 7850 X-Edition, 1024 MB VX7850 1GBD5-2DHX 150,18 €
6. DVDRW LG GH24NS95 SATA (GH24NS95.AUAA10B) 17,17 €
7. Casing Xigmatek Asgard Midi-Tower USB 3.0 34,15 €
8. SSD disk Kingston 60GB V300 B 7mm (SV300S3B7A/60G) 69,11 €
9. Power Supply Corsair 430W CX430 V2 45,98 €

TOTAL: 536,44 €

,This one:

Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2
[GA-H81M-DS2] 54,00 €
+
Intel Core i5 4430 (3.00Ghz, 6MB) BOX
[BX80646I54430] 168,00 €
+
Patriot Signature Line 4GB 1333Mhz cl9 - 1.50V
[PSD34G133381] 31,20 €
+
MSI Radeon HD 7790 1GB OC
[R7790-1GD5/OC] 115,20 € MSI Radeon HD 7790 1GB OC
+
Toshiba DT01ACA Series 1000GB 32MB
[DT01ACA100] 60,00 €
+
Rasurbo BC-07 460W
[BC-07] 39,60 € Rasurbo BC-07 460W
+
LG Electronics GH24NS
[GH24NS] 16,80 €

TOTAL: 484,80 €

And this one:

Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2
[GA-H81M-DS2] 54,00 €
+
Intel Core i5 4430 (3.00Ghz, 6MB) BOX
[BX80646I54430] 168,00 €
+
Patriot Signature Line 4GB 1333Mhz cl9 - 1.50V
[PSD34G133381] 31,20 €
+
MSI Radeon HD 7790 1GB OC
[R7790-1GD5/OC] 105,60 €
+
Toshiba DT01ACA Series 1000GB 32MB
[DT01ACA100] 60,00 €
+
Rasurbo BC-07 460W
[BC-07] 39,60 €
+
LG Electronics GH24NS
[GH24NS] 16,80 €
+
SanDisk ReadyCache SSD 32GB
[SDSSDRC-032G-G26] 45,60 €

Total: 520,80 €

So basically, what's better, to take Pentium processor with slightly better Graphic card and with that SSD, or the newest i5 processor without SSD, or the third option with both (claims were, that SSD there is a bad one, also, graphic card was slower, and IMO, 32GB is just not enough for a partition with Windows and all other programs). I'd very much like to hear your opinion on these configurations.

Discussion is locked

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Gaming rig
Aug 31, 2013 12:44AM PDT

If I was serious about gaming here's my core.

Cpu...... top of the line I5.
Ram.....2x4GB@1600.
Gpu.....as high up this list as my budget allowed.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

Don't build a gaming rig with a micro-mobo.
Don't build a gaming rig with a small case.

Forget the ssd......your budget won't allow one that's big enough.
Don't forget to price in an OS.

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thanks
Aug 31, 2013 1:17AM PDT

Thanks. But isnt 60GB SSD enough for Windows and other essential/ most used programs?
Any other opinions?
I don't need to buy an OS, I can get it for free at my university...

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Just make sure the PSU provides enough power
Aug 31, 2013 2:00AM PDT

for the video card (GPU) and system you decide on. The more robust the GPU...the more PSU you need.

VAPCMD

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60GB ssd
Aug 31, 2013 2:31AM PDT

For windows......yes.
Other progs.....maybe
For games....no.

Some games want a big chunk of storage space.
Ssd's don't like getting full.
Load a few games on that thing and your ssd might turn into a rat.

Bin the ssd and spend your limited budget elsewhere.
Looks like you have about 650 bucks to spend on the pc.
Your going to have a problem building a mid-range gaming rig.....sans ssd....with that budget.