185db

Epic Skial Regular
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883266535

That is what I have. I got it for $450 (normally $550) about a year ago so the price has probably gone down. This is out of stock, but I highly recommend you search around and try to find one. I did hours upon hours of research for a good pc in your (and mine) price range, this is what I came up with. It's premade too, and has windows 7, which you can upgrade to windows 10.

You will need to get a graphics card though, and probably a new power supply because the stock one only has like 220 watts or something. The power supply is not too big of a deal though, and a new graphics card is pretty standard for pre-built.
 

Chance

Australian Skial God
Contributor
I'd recommend an Nvidia card over AMD as AMD users seem to get screwed over a lot of times with optimization.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KCcFvK

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883266535

That is what I have. I got it for $450 (normally $550) about a year ago so the price has probably gone down. This is out of stock, but I highly recommend you search around and try to find one. I did hours upon hours of research for a good pc in your (and mine) price range, this is what I came up with. It's premade too, and has windows 7, which you can upgrade to windows 10.

You will need to get a graphics card though, and probably a new power supply because the stock one only has like 220 watts or something. The power supply is not too big of a deal though, and a new graphics card is pretty standard for pre-built.
He should not look around for one, that's overpriced for what comes in it.
Buying the parts yourself is always cheaper and gets you more power for price.
 
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Chance

Australian Skial God
Contributor
I don't really understand the disparity between AMD cards' specs and their benchmark performance
There really isn't a huge difference in the 6300 and 8350 performance wise, but the 6300 will bottleneck the 960 in some games while the 8350 doesn't. Of course there aren't a lot of games that the cpu will bottleneck it but it's something most people just like to try and avoid. In fact I still need to upgrade to an i5-4690k because the 8350 bottlenecks the fuck out of my 980 is a bunch of newer games.
 

185db

Epic Skial Regular
I'd recommend an Nvidia card over AMD as AMD users seem to get screwed over a lot of times with optimization.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KCcFvK


He should not look around for one, that's overpriced for what comes in it.
Buying the parts yourself is always cheaper and gets you more power for price.
Well, he did say he was a noob, so putting together a pc can honestly be a pretty daunting task. I like the pre-built just because you don't have to worry about all the little things like the sound card or internet box or whatever it is.

It's up to him though, I got that pc for $450 and the processor, hardrive, ram and os alone cost $350 so $100 for the rest and being pre-built was a pretty good deal in my eyes. I don't know how much they run for now.
 

Chance

Australian Skial God
Contributor
Well, he did say he was a noob, so putting together a pc can honestly be a pretty daunting task. I like the pre-built just because you don't have to worry about all the little things like the sound card or internet box or whatever it is.

It's up to him though, I got that pc for $450 and the processor, hardrive, ram and os alone cost $350 so $100 for the rest and being pre-built was a pretty good deal in my eyes. I don't know how much they run for now.
Yeah, it's up to him, but building a pc is actually fairly simple once you watch a few tutorials.
 
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MouseCake

Uncharitable Spy
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883266535

That is what I have. I got it for $450 (normally $550) about a year ago so the price has probably gone down. This is out of stock, but I highly recommend you search around and try to find one. I did hours upon hours of research for a good pc in your (and mine) price range, this is what I came up with. It's premade too, and has windows 7, which you can upgrade to windows 10.

You will need to get a graphics card though, and probably a new power supply because the stock one only has like 220 watts or something. The power supply is not too big of a deal though, and a new graphics card is pretty standard for pre-built.

I appreciate the suggestion but one of the main reasons why I wanted to ask for help with parts and construct my pc is the actual learning process of a computer. I really want to actually build one by myself and learn about it.

But I still appreciate you recommending that product


I'm very skeptical about the AMD processor. Or, at least, I think you'll be getting what you're paying for.
Consider this: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-3220-vs-AMD-FX-6300
Though with that motherboard, pretty much your only choice seems to be AMD.

I was looking around and people seemed to be really happy with the performance of the cheap but efficient processor.
In my case, I don't particularly enjoy playing any games that are single player focused (basically games that require a shitload of graphics)
I mainly try to focus on TF2 so I thought this would be enough for my desire.

Your opinion?


I'd recommend an Nvidia card over AMD as AMD users seem to get screwed over a lot of times with optimization.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KCcFvK

Can you elaborate on optimization? I'm not quite sure I understand (still a noob)
 

185db

Epic Skial Regular
Are you playing with a 60 hz or 120 hz+ monitor? This is the refresh rate of the monitor. If you don't know what it is, then if the monitor is under $200, chances are it is 60 hz. This makes a big difference in the parts that you want.

I also suggest nividia.
 

Chance

Australian Skial God
Contributor
I appreciate the suggestion but one of the main reasons why I wanted to ask for help with parts and construct my pc is the actual learning process of a computer. I really want to actually build one by myself and learn about it.

But I still appreciate you recommending that product




I was looking around and people seemed to be really happy with the performance of the cheap but efficient processor.
In my case, I don't particularly enjoy playing any games that are single player focused (basically games that require a shitload of graphics)
I mainly try to focus on TF2 so I thought this would be enough for my desire.

Your opinion?




Can you elaborate on optimization? I'm not quite sure I understand (still a noob)
A lot of newer games sometimes end up running worse with AMD GPUs than Nvidia, not sure if it's just the devs being lazy or deals made with either company but it sucks for AMD users.
 

Katpolice

Somewhat Threatening Sniper
That's not a bad built you got there..

Bit confused, you going to sell your mac THEN buy the pc?
Or you going to keep the Mac and buy the pc? Er. I would buy a Nvidia over AMD because their alot better overall and can last longer.
 
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MouseCake

Uncharitable Spy
Are you playing with a 60 hz or 120 hz+ monitor? This is the refresh rate of the monitor. If you don't know what it is, then if the monitor is under $200, chances are it is 60 hz. This makes a big difference in the parts that you want.

I also suggest nividia.

Looked up a little on it.

Would a 60hz be significantly worse than a 120hz or 144hz? Like is it noticeable to the point where I should just break the 60hz monitor?
 

Chance

Australian Skial God
Contributor
Looked up a little on it.

Would a 60hz be significantly worse than a 120hz or 144hz? Like is it noticeable to the point where I should just break the 60hz monitor?
60hz is just fine, unless you already use 120hz or 144hz you won't notice. If you have used it for a while before it could be difficult going back.
 

185db

Epic Skial Regular
Looked up a little on it.

Would a 60hz be significantly worse than a 120hz or 144hz? Like is it noticeable to the point where I should just break the 60hz monitor?
It's noticeable without a doubt. I owned a labtop for about a year when I started to play tf2, when I got a 144 hz monitor I instantly got way better. A 60 hz will handicap you, there is no way around it. You can play well without it, but a 144 will make so much difference. If you are interested, I can give you a few ideas, just start a conversation. The game plays better, it looks nicer, and it makes aiming so much easier. It's kind of hard to explain, but it goes beyond just making it look nicer.
 

Chance

Australian Skial God
Contributor
It's noticeable without a doubt. I owned a labtop for about a year when I started to play tf2, when I got a 144 hz monitor I instantly got way better. A 60 hz will handicap you, there is no way around it. You can play well without it, but a 144 will make so much difference. If you are interested, I can give you a few ideas, just start a conversation. The game plays better, it looks nicer, and it makes aiming so much easier. It's kind of hard to explain, but it goes beyond just making it look nicer.
more than 60hz won't make you better at the game, aiming won't get much easier, if you're shit you're not getting good just because of higher hz. It's just a smoother feeling.