$400-$500 super low budget PC

[arisaka99]

Hey guys, I am looking to build a PC on a very low budget for FH2, PR, ArmA II and the upcoming Rome II. I want to be able to play FH2 and PR on high settings and ArmA II smoothly on low. Rome 2 is supposed to have the same requirements as Shogun 2, so that should be able to give you some ideas. I already have a pretty decent video card that meets the the requirements for all games listed, an AMD that fits into a PCI Express slot, so I won't be needing a new video card yet. This is just going to be something to build off of, the processor is the number one priority.

[Daniel]

Quad-core:
How bout "Intel Xeon E3 1240V2" or - 1245V2 ? Intel Xeon E3-1240V2 vs Intel Core i7 3770K

PassMark - Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 @ 3.40GHz - Price performance comparison

-1245 has integrated graphics, check here: ARK | Intel? Xeon? Processor E3-1245 (8M Cache, 3.30 GHz)


bit weaker quad core: Intel Core i5-3470

PassMark - Intel Core i5-3470 @ 3.20GHz - Price performance comparison

[other reviews/benchmarks: Intel Core i5-3470 Review & Rating | PCMag.com

Intel Core i5-3470 Processor Review - Performance

Intel Core i5 3470 review | Processors Reviews | TechRadar

Intel Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge Quad-Core CPU Review - HotHardware ]

or dual core Intel Core i5-3470T
PassMark - Intel Core i5-3470T @ 2.90GHz - Price performance comparison

Just what I had on my mind, if you read those reviews you know much more...

[LITOralis.nMd]

Would help us help you if you told us exactly what video card you have.
Also, what peripherals do you have? Monitor, keyboard, mouse, headphones, ?
what internals you can swap over: DVD drive, hard drive, SSD, etc.??
With that info we'd know what to look at for you.

Here is a general reply I give people, and especially since you seem to have a PC running at the moment, you can save serious money by only buying items found on sale, one at a time...

LITOralis.nMd;1867815']

My general reply to those in the US asking for websites:
Quote:
My suggestion is based upon finding the best prices, not on specific hardware...

start checking online deals websites daily:
my personal preferred bargain hunting websites:
slickdeals.net
fatwallet.com
bensbargains.net
dell.com outlet deals in conjunction with coupons I find on the web.
amazon.com Gold box deals
email subscription to newegg.com for their daily deals
email subscription to us.ncix.com for their weekly deals

others I check from time to time:
techbargains.com
subscribe to tigerdirect.com email daily deals.
subscribe to buy.com email daily deals.

Sign up for accounts on slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com
You can create keyword searches that are instantly emailed to your email address you sign up with,
set up email deals alerts for "Radeon" "gtx" "psu" "i5-2500k" "ssd"
set up a filter in your email to put all those alert emails to a single folder.
you'll get some desktops and notebooks mixed in the emails, but it's a pretty good otherwise.

depending on where you live,
microcenter.com
frys.com
hhgregg.com
ncix.com
All run deals for brick and mortar retail stores. Micrcocenter is the best in the country for pricing.

I'd suggest going to the Build Log forums of various websites, I generally use this one:
Intel Build Logs

[SnipeHunt]

Just an off chance: If you live in the Bay Area I've got an old PC that I just replaced. It is waiting for a new home.. I ran PR high, BF3 medium/high.

[40mmrain]

just use the guide

"very good" will run arma 3 alpha on a high setting reliably by the way. "Good" will run most games at max, or high, and only the most intensive games at the very least a medium.

[DesmoLocke]

I just helped a friend order the parts below for his budget build. He needed a GPU, but if you think yours is up to snuff, just disregard the GTX 650Ti Boost.

All for under $500 before shipping.

[Daniel]

This would be the best passive cooled card for PR (dunno though if maxed out settings on Full HD would bring decent fps with good cpu and enough RAM, maybe you get around 25-30 fps but I didn't test it )...

Zotac GT 630 ZT-60406-20L NVIDIA GeForce GT 630: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubeh?r
[ 58 Euro ]

And this would be the cheapest decent one (more performance)...

2048MB ZOTAC GeForce GTS 450 ECO Edition Aktiv PCIe 2.0 x16 (Retail)
[ 67 Euro ]

Have no experience though with those cards but according to this crazy nice list (no german language knowledge needed)

Grafikrangliste?-?Alle Grafikchips samt Informationen nach Leistung aufgelistet.?-?PC-Erfahrung.de

the GT 630 is between 8800 GT & 9800 GT performance wise (At least the "OEM"-variant in that list...
I have 9600 GT in my 2nd pc which is about 6 years old atm. and ran PR just not on max settings but bit lowered and CPU core overclocked by 30-50 MHz I got ~30 fps)

And the GTS 450 is in between 8800 Ultra/9800 GTX and GTX 260...



Maybe even these configurations could become the "new" (I doubt there are any official ones even though atm... ) minimum hardware requirements for PR 1.0...

[PLODDITHANLEY]

They still have the 9800 for sale in US a great cheap choice.

EVGA 01G-P3-N988-TR GeForce 9800 GT Video Card - 1024MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0, DVI, HDMI, VGA at TigerDirect.com

[Daniel]

Not sure though if 9800 GT handles max. settings on Full HD with at least 30 fps minimum average... (60 would be best)

Since it is dollars, you could get this one: Amazon.com: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1536MB/1.5 DDR5 PCIe Dual DVI Video Card mini-HDMI & HDCP: Computers & Accessories

As I said, the GTS 450 is even better than the 9800 GTX...
[GTS 450 on place 75, 9800 GTX on No. 86 and 9800 GT on N. 97... on that list (Grafikrangliste?-?Alle Grafikchips samt Informationen nach Leistung aufgelistet.?-?PC-Erfahrung.de) ]

So I'd go for that one (Amazon.com: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1536MB/1.5 DDR5 PCIe Dual DVI Video Card mini-HDMI & HDCP: Computers & Accessories) instead of the 9800 GT...

[Vicious302]

Using 1333 Memory and $65 mobo isn't going to do that cpu justice. You need to be using 1600 memory at least and a mobo with a better northbridge that isn't going to limit the cability of your video card or any future video cards. Also where is your SSD? PSU? Case? DVD?

[Daniel]

Afaik 1333 or 1600 makes no real difference...

[Vicious302]

When you go to overclock if the memory isn't rated high enough you won't be able to or you'll have to set the 1333 down to 1200 or 800 inorder for it to not go over what it's rated.