This build would make the guys at r/pcmasterrace weep

dosbox

This is the build I'm slowly working on. For the parts that were already purchased, I had to make a guess. I recently ordered the RAM and power supply, and I am waiting for them to arrive.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (Purchased For $56.99)
Motherboard: ECS H81H3-I/HDMI (V1.0) Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $39.00)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GT 740 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($90.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec VSK-3000 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $29.99)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $350.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 14:47 EST-0500

garirry

Interesting. However, don't you think a more powerful processor would be a better choice for a computer with a decently powerful GPU and stuff like that? I mean, I don't think that Pentiums are a bad choice, it's just that they're probably not very powerful, and including a 100$ GPU along with that seems a bit of a weird decision.

calvinb

An SSD is great to have, but it's a luxury. Cut back to a mechanical disk.

For graphics, I strongly recommend getting a 750ti. I got mine for ~130 CAD, so shouldn't be too much more.

For the CPU, upgrade to the G3258 for not much more, it's overclockable for cheap.

PSU and RAM look good. Board I am slightly suspicious of.

garirry

ampharos wrote:

An SSD is great to have, but it's a luxury. Cut back to a mechanical disk.

They're not that expensive nowadays. A 128GB SSD is cheaper than a 1TB HDD most of the time. If he doesn't need that much storage, why not invest a bit for plenty of read/write speed?

dosbox

I actually already have 500GB mechanical drive I'll be putting in. I really can't afford a better CPU or GPU. My budget is really not flexible. I bought the case and motherboard back in December 2014/January 2015, and CPU a couple months later.

TCPMeta

I'm building my step son a gaming PC and it's a tad bit cheaper then that. Also much faster but we're going with a AMD APU. Right now were waiting for the motherboard and CPU to show up.

BOD

Those lower end Pentium CPUs are not *that* bad, I've been using one in my fileserver for a couple of years now, and whilst I could have gotten a couple of generations old i3 chip for the same cash, the heat generation and power usage of the newer Pentium chips is way, way better.

Skora

Overall the build isn't bad for someone on a budget (which seems very tight) the things that make me cringe slightly however are the motherboard (haven't heard great things about ECS) and the case.

Personally i'd have looked into a case like this. Much better quality and isn't even $10 more than the one you chose and perhaps this for the motherboard.

i see that you've already purchased those two however so hopefully it goes smoothly for you.

TCPMeta

I've never had issues with ECS myself. I use to use them before switching to Gigabyte and MSI.

dosbox

I decided to say fuck it and skip buying the ssd. My ram and power supply should arrive today. In a couple of months I intend to buy the graphics card.

dosbox

The parts arrived yesterday and I got installed the parts when I got home. I decided to to instal Windows 7 on it. The only part I need to buy now is the graphics card. Compared to previous computers I had, this thing is a fucking beast.