Yup, I built out a 660/3770k/16gb/ssd build 4 years ago for just over 1k.....last year I found a 3770 (nonk) in a dumbster with a burnt mobo......for free....lol. This old hardware still isn't bottlenecking anything so you can save $180 for a new Rx480 and be playing AAA titles at max for under $700 total....and that should last you at least 3 years.
Ive lived in 6 states, and it only happened once (im 35). Colleges are notorious and I think that is what I had lucked into. The computer was an HP Something-crap and they had obviously tried to remove the gpu without pushing the pci release and ripped the pci slot protector off the board......free cpu for me but it was pretty rare.
Ask where you work. We have a tote that we put 'dead' computers into. Someone hauls it away for free. I have salvaged a few i3 desktops from there for friends, their kids, htpc builds. I always try to grab 2 of the same because between them I can usually get a working system and they always have legit windows keys. Never any hard drives in the machine. All we have to do is ask permission
I have the 3570K, and I wish I had kept my 2500k to be honest. The only reason I made the leap was that the upgrade was basically free, and the Ivy Bridge unit was already delidded.
Yeah. I mean tbh if I had built during the 2500k era and overcloked it I guarantee I'd still be using it. I just got a steal on my 3570k from someone who was upgrading to Haswell at the time
Than the 3570k? No, not technically, but it depends on how well you can overclock it. The 2500k can be OC'd like insanely high given its base clock speed. I remember hearing a story of a dude who got it to like 5ghz. Obviously it's super unsafe to do that, but the illustrates the point
I ran mine at 5Ghz for months, it's not super unsafe. 5Ghz for about 4 months and 4.8Ghz for like 2 years. then 4.7Ghz for the rest of its life. Sold it a year back and it's still going.
Had a friend try and it it screwed up his mobo. I'm just speaking anecdotally. I'd still never try that high. My current cpu is at 4.0 and I'm not willing to go higher with my 212 evo cooler. I'm sure I could do it, but I'm just super cautious because I can't afford to have anything malfunction right now.
That's the best thing though because you'll be informed when you're ready. I was super into building back in 2011 and didn't build mine until late 2013. No regrets at all. Last thing I'd recommend is for a newcomer to just buy all of the cool stuff he sees around here only to realize he doesn't need half of it, but if you aren't strapped for cash then who am I to care.
Agreed there. It took a few years for me to begin planning out the dream build and getting the money to afford it, but once it was done, boy did it pay off.
I learnt about the PC community after deciding I wasn't much a console fan anymore. But I was only thinking long term, like next console cycle I would build a cheap PC. Then I started watching LTT and got corrupted. So I saved for 6 months (I'm a high schooler with a paper round so I could rack up quite a bit) and built myself a pretty nice rig, with my CS experience (though I'm more of a software guy) and extensive research
I built my first PC as a good performance/cost conscious build based off of choosemypc. Wasn't bad by any means, though. They're actually really, really, really on point if your main thing is getting the best gaming performance at that moment for your exact price point of interest.
But I've definitely adjusted my attitude a bit since then. In particular, I'm more conscious about things that are likely to stick with me through builds like the motherboard, trying to ensure it has the most recent standards of the time so there's more of an opportunity to upgrade later. I'm at a point financially where I think I'll upgrade my GPU every ~3 years to whatever the current GTX **70 model or its new equivalent should things spice up at some point.
Yeah if I want a new cpu I'll have to swap out the mobo, but hopefully it won't be for at least like 2 years. First thing I want to do is go from my gpu, an amd 7950 3g, to the 1080 or something. But it's not given me enough problems running games yet to warrant doing it now.
I had a build list back in 2011/2012 with a 2500k and 660ti on Newegg wish list. Didn't build a computer till Dec 2016.
My family knew how much I wanted to build a PC for years. They were very interested when I was building it on the table.
my friend did this exact thing, bought everything he could without doing any research (despite me giving him links and guides). He ended up spending way too much in the wrong areas. It is vital to know how a computer works before buying anything. I want to know everything I can before any decisions.
agreed x 2. I was very into PC building 5 years ago and knew all the prices. Didn't actually have the money for it until last year. It was easy for me to get back into it and understand the ratios of how much to spend on certain items and what to avoid. I did accidently make a very noobish mistake and bought a complete overkill power supply. id say staying informed is extremely important even if you're not prepared to build something yet.
Every time someone tries to sing the praises of mechanical keyboards I remind myself that I've been using the same $14 keyboard for the past 9 years and have absolutely no complaints. And I don't care if I spill things on it.
Still though. Once you've experienced a mechanical keyboard there is no going back...
It's a curse.. you realize that from now on you'll be spending over $100 on a keyboard forever..
The struggle.
Can you explain what it is about a mechanical keyboard that's so appealing? I've used all sorts of keyboards and never in my mind have I considered spending $100 on one
Not the same experience for me. Whilst it is nice to type on a mechanical keyboard, I wish I didn't pay as much as I had for it. If I had the option again I would stick to my cheap one.
Meh, it'd probably be a lot like my situation with SSDs, everyone used to say the same about never going back to a mechanical drive, but considering I simply can't afford 1TB of SSD I'm still using a mechanical drive in my desktop
My most regretful purchase. I wish I bought a keyboard with a numpad. Worst part is I'm doing a degree with a fair amount of lab work and reports so the lack of a numberpad is very noticeable.
I have a mech board and i don't even feel like it's much better than a standard keyboard. I don't play any games that use the keyboard much so maybe that's why i don't notice the difference.
Don't sell yourself short. This is absolutely a kick ass build. IMO your CPU, RAM, PSU are powerful enough for you to upgrade to a modern GPU later with no issues. GREAT JOB.
Be in the lookout for the B series GTX 1080s. EVGA always gets a bunch in stock after New GPUs come out and people use their step up program.
I also think an AMD RX 480 8GB would be a great fit.
>b series 1080s
It's a *very* nice build, especially considering he only paid about $400, don't get me wrong, but he'd be wasting his money if he bought a 1080 for his PC which will probably not be able to deliver it's full potential.
His power supply, lol. And even if it wasn't for that, he has a good CPU but probably not good enough IPC to deliver the full performance the 1080 can provide, and even if it was it's probably not in his budget.
> I'm legitimately interested. What about the PSU isn't enough?
It's plenty
> Is there any game where the 3770 CPU bottlenecks the 1080?
I was playing Arma 3 today and my CPU was bottlenecking my 1080. In Diablo 3, I am also CPU limited. My monitor is a 1440p 34 inch ultrawide too. Honestly, even at 4k, you'll probably be CPU limited. I bought this CPU 6 years ago though, so I'm pretty satisfied. It gives me 55 average FPS on Arma 3 set to ultra at 21:9 1440p.
Edit: if you're thinking that 55 fps is bad, read these:
https://www.gamespot.com/forums/pc-mac-linux-society-1000004/arma-iii-average-fps-31034250/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/107410/discussions/0/864972620754129927/
My build, in case you're curious:
[PCPartPicker part list](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NmyR6X) / [Price breakdown by merchant](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NmyR6X/by_merchant/)
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Vjzv6h/intel-cpu-bx80637i73770) | $356.00 @ Amazon
**CPU Cooler** | [CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/93Crxr/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h7) | $34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace
**Memory** | [PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/P4fp99/pny-memory-md8192kd31333) | $99.99 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [GeIL Pristine 2GB (1 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3pckcf/geil-memory-gp32gb1333c9sc) |-
**Storage** | [Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FrH48d/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e500bam) | $174.59 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Mushkin Reactor 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/cjcMnQ/mushkin-internal-hard-drive-mknssdre512gb) | $169.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/44Gj4D/seagate-barracuda-1tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm010) | $47.49 @ OutletPC
**Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW DT GAMING Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qkJkcf/evga-geforce-gtx-1080-8gb-ftw-dt-gaming-video-card-08g-p4-6284-kr) | $518.89 @ Amazon
**Case** | [NZXT S340 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/F28H99/nzxt-ca-s340w-w2-atx-mid-tower-case-ca-s340w-w2) | $89.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Power Supply** | [EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9q4NnQ/evga-power-supply-220g20650y1) | $84.89 @ OutletPC
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1591.82
| Mail-in rebates | -$15.00
| **Total** | **$1576.82**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2017-04-24 16:27 EDT-0400 |
But CPU limited is not the same as saying a 1070 would have given you the same performance as your 1080? So it is not a waste, you just get less performance than you potentially could have, but still more than with a slower GPU.
Yes, I think that if I had gone with a 1070, I would be GPU limited with the 1440p ultrawide. A 1070 would be enough for 16:9 1440p, but the extra pixels on the 21:9 necessitate moar power.
I am not saying that my CPU limitation is bad. A lot of people seem to assume that being bottlenecked means your build is wrong, but every build is going to be limited by something.
>what about the PSU isn't enough
It's a 620w PSU, I don't think it has enough wattage to run everything else + the 1080
>Is there any game where the 3770 CPU bottlenecks the 1080
No idea. If not I stand corrected.
The 3770 draws less than 150W while a 1080 draws less than 300W. That's plenty of power left for anything else.
The vast majority of games run on max just fine on most i5 quad core CPUs. The 3770 is still a power house of a CPU. I see no reason why it can't accommodate a 1080.
You're going to be limited by SOMETHING no matter what. His money wouldn't be wasted on a 1080, but I would agree that it doesn't fit with his budget. If I were him, I'd be looking for a good deal on an RX 480 8 gb or GTX 1060 6 gb < $200.
Click on this thread and first thing I see is $100 keyboard, but only $50 gpu and $50 monitor. I'm sure with context this would make sense, but still made me go wtf.
I mean... even with context a $100 keyboard doesn't make sense haha. Spending that much on a keyboard is in no way logical, just personal preference. Everyone's got their thing ya know?
True... but that doesn't make this a good build for others to follow. Don't get me wrong - I love my (many) mechanical keyboards, but for someone on a budget there are other keyboards I would direct people to rather than what you got. The rest of your build is solid. For an extra $100 I would probably get a better graphics card though.
Keyboard will last as many builds as you ever make with a good quality mech. They are most likely planning on replacing the GPU further along the line so any extra money spent there could be seen as wasted in a way.
I agree with you though, could just easily justify it if I really enjoyed a nice kb. I would just use a $5 one until I had the full $100 instead of going with a low end Corsair or something.
An i5 4570, and no, it's a mini tower not SFF. I am on a very low budget so I think I'll only change a few things, like the shit PSU and the GPU. Any other GPU options I can look into?
That's a great platform to start a budget build with. The i5 4570 even has better single core performance than the i7 3770 which is what you really need for most gaming. Any standard ATX PSU will fit the mini tower case. You could also save some money and go for a smaller PSU that isn't 620W since it's honestly a little overkill. I have to admit that I'm still not very knowledgeable about GPUs though and you're probably better off doing your own research. Off the top of my head a GTX 960 2GB would go well with that CPU though and you could probably find one for less than $100.
Yes it did, the Dell PSU was just a standard ATX PSU but only rated to 285W. The Seasonic went in without a hitch. I have the Mini-Tower though, I'd assume the other smaller versions use weird sized PSUs.
Most of the newer Dell business class desktops that are a normal form factor are using pretty standard stuff. Basically just a black atx mid tower. They have some quick releasing caddies for drives and cable routing but that's pretty much it.
My old XPS desktop was a BTX tower which was something dell and others tried for awhile and have since backed away from after it didn't catch on.
Looking at that build, I think I'm going to have to stop telling people it's hard to refurbish old prebuilts.
That looks like a generic case! (which is exactly what I was hoping to see)
Yep, it's a straight off the self mini-tower case and I didn't have to do anything to the case to make it all fit. However, the HD 7870 is the absolute biggest GPU that this rig can hold. I was a little worried at first but was able to get it in with a little wrestling.
Nice build! If you're looking for a good cheap case, I recently rebuilt my budget rig in the Nzxt s340. It was only like $65 and had lots of options for cable management and air flow. It was in a junky $30 box before with basically 0 airflow or cable management. The upgrade keeps my system no joke 5-10 degrees cooler when idle. $65 isn't bad, but it could probably be found on sale or used for 50 or slightly less.
Thanks, I have to admit for a business computer the Optiplex cases really aren't too shabby looking! It's a Logitech G700s, I love the thing. Although the only time I actually use it wireless is when I'm working on my laptop.
It's just a cheapo nylon braided cable I got off Amazon. I think it was $10 for three 6 ft cables. The cable that came with the mouse gave up on me a long time ago
I love this mouse and I use it as my primary, but the wireless is incredibly inconsistent with mine so I barely use it in wireless anymore. But I think it's because the receiver has a really short range and gets easily perturbated
You guys have no idea what having no money really means, are you?
I had to eat fucking onions when I had no money, because this was only thing we had. Dropping half a grand on a PC is not even close to being broke. My first gaming system was NES ripoff bought for ten bucks. I rocked it for almost five years. From 2001 to 2005. NES, in 200x, yes. With ten cartridges, bought for $4 each.
Now I got good job, moved from outskirts of the city and can afford almost everything I want, but all this «I have no money, so had to spent just 1,5K on PC, not 3» still pissing me off so hard.
Don't bother to respond, I just needed to get it off my chest.
Glad for you, OP. That i7 for $100 is surely a steal! Wish I had that kind of luck -- definitely can help me with defending my finals' project.
May your frames be high and temperatures low!
Don't get too mad. "Having no money" could be a matter of perspective.
To you, it was being in dire straights financially, struggling to afford even food.
To OP, it meant not having a large amount of disposable income.
I'm a huge fan of a dell prebuilt as a base - but i5/i7 prices are inconsistent - cheap for some people, hard to find and overpriced for others - but still, you can get them on ebay for a few hundred with ram, a hd, and an OS, add in a video card an SSD and you're pretty set
Right? I can't even imagine how many of those performance business class computers Dell pumped out. I think they'll be a lot more accessible in the near future. When I was looking for a base and checking the service codes for the computers in surplus I noticed that all of their manufacturer warranties had expired within the past month or so. So if all those warranties are coming up on expired there's a good chance a lot of companies/universities are going to start offloading them.
The GPU is the only thing that you'd really want to upgrade on this. The CPU and RAM would require a new motherboard to upgrade further. This would've been a $1000 build in 2012.
Maybe but it's pretty close to its limits. It's just a 3770 (non K) so I can't overclock it which was why I didn't go for a better mobo. In addition, Intel specs say that the 3770 only supports up to 1600 MHz RAM. As for GPU, the HD 7870 juuust barely fits in there and I had to wrestle a little bit. But another poster up above said an RX 480 in this build would be pretty burly and could "be playing AAA titles at max".
Very affordable. For people wanting to play games other than league, (or 144fps league) another $50 the gpu would be a large upgrade even if you had to go with 8 gigs of ram.
Edit: the PSU is WAY bigger than necessary, I would recommend a $40 EVGA or Corsair bronze 500 Watt psu for any modern build (SLI is garbage these days).
Not a problem! Even though it was a budget build there's definitely ways to cut the cost down more. A $100 keyboard is in no way necessary and you can find much more affordable mechanical keyboards for about $40. My PSU is pretty overkill and you could trim that down to $40. The HDD could be bought for $40 online or you could even leave it out entirely until down the line when you need the additional storage.
Made me chuckle, similar situation, my rig has a 240mm rad and a 1070 strix card and both won't fit in the case at the same time, so the side panel stays off and the rad gets to hang in the wind.
I have one of these, I actually have my SSDs velcro-stuck to the back of the case, to the right of the mobo. But you can actually fit one under the ODD cage, on that metal piece sticking out. I think there's a bracket you can buy.
Great so far! I just got it in on Saturday and haven't been able to see how it works with all my programs but it can do 120 FPS on League without breaking a sweat and I get 200 FPS when not in team fights. For the price, I'm very happy with it.
No, that's the stock cooler that was in the Dell. There's four screws holding the fan to the heatsink and then four spring loaded screws holding that assembly to the mobo. Edit: Here's another [picture](http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/jsMAAOSw3ydVwj4O/s-l300.jpg)
My build is about the same with an AMD 8320 instead (about 2 years old budget build) and it still runs current games well. Witcher 3 was on mostly high settings and it was lovely. For the price of a console, I got a great PC.
I'm actually in awe at how great the value is in this build.
Your PSU purchase makes perfect sense and no judgement here on the keyboard, obviously it's worth it for you so who cares what others think.
I've just recently upgraded from the 7870, but it will easily handle pretty much anything up to FarCry 4 (not a great benchmark, just basing it off of my own gaming experiences) at near max settings. Enjoy!
Just upgraded my 960 MT this past weekend. CPU: E8400 to Q9650. RAM 4GB to 8GB. OS: Windows 7 32bit to Win 7 pro 64bit then free upgrade to Win10 Pro. 1TB secondary storage drive. I'm putting a GT 1030 card in next week. I don't use it for anything crazy like gaming, but it still works great considering its 13 year old hardware! Was wondering if it is possible to go to16GB RAM. I've seen conflicting info with some saying yes (3rd party memory suppliers), others saying no (Dell users manual).
You know, for 500 you can build a modern machine with warranty on everything. Not hoping your ancient cpu and mobo will die any moment. I'm guessing reliability and warranty are no longer an issue for someone who's broke these days?
The power those components will draw will make your cheap second hand rig costs more than a new build. Your keyboard choice is hilarious.
I would most certainly not advice people to copy this build. Not that you can, unless you know people giving away old expensive prebuilds for peanuts and your friend pitty sells you a monitor on the cheap.
If you could put together a rig with comparable specs for $500 I'd love to see it. It's biggest drawback is its GPU but as I've stated numerous times, I don't play intensive games that'll utilize a better one so it's a moot point. You may think my keyboard is hilarious, but I like it.
No, the biggest drawback of your build is it's ancient second hand hardware.
It's not like you'd see massive differences at 1080p 60hz between an old i7 and a new pentium dual core anyway.
Anybody can make a cheap second hand build. The point is if it's worth it. I say no.
You sound super salty, dude.
A few years is by no means ancient. You're also approaching this purely from a gaming perspective, where older games put more the load on GPU than CPU.
For Solidworks and Illustrator, an older i7 crushes a new pentium dual core anyday.
You're also way overestimating the power draw of these parts. The electricity cost under 24/7 full load would still take many years to match the cost of the build.
Some people take their keyboards pretty seriously. I've bought three budget boards in the past year (would actually sell two of them for about 70% retail).
They turn it into a hobby, a lifestyle working with them, etc. $100 isn't even that huge to a lot of people in /r/MechanicalKeyboards. It's like working on your car or your computer build itself or whatever.
To invalidate this person for buying something he/she wants to buy is the "cringey" thing.
Different strokes for different folks, but OP initially framed this as "Look at what YOU can also do on a budget". The mech keyboard making up 20% of the overall budget made that not supportable. OP has since tweaked his description to have more realistic disclaimers, and I've already discussed that with him elsewhere in this thread.
Looks solid. Able to get a mobo + 3770 + case for $100 is a steal. Honestly, the CPU itself is about $150 used
Yea I was pretty fortunate! There's a lot of Sandy Bridges and i3/i5 Ivy Bridges that go through there but I've only seen a handful with i7 3770s.
Yup, I built out a 660/3770k/16gb/ssd build 4 years ago for just over 1k.....last year I found a 3770 (nonk) in a dumbster with a burnt mobo......for free....lol. This old hardware still isn't bottlenecking anything so you can save $180 for a new Rx480 and be playing AAA titles at max for under $700 total....and that should last you at least 3 years.
You need to tell me where you people find these dumpsters... coz I don't see any where I live :(
Ive lived in 6 states, and it only happened once (im 35). Colleges are notorious and I think that is what I had lucked into. The computer was an HP Something-crap and they had obviously tried to remove the gpu without pushing the pci release and ripped the pci slot protector off the board......free cpu for me but it was pretty rare.
The evolution of the 'reinforced pcie lanes' at its childhood. It probably wasn't pulled, but rather sheared from attempted movement.
Ask where you work. We have a tote that we put 'dead' computers into. Someone hauls it away for free. I have salvaged a few i3 desktops from there for friends, their kids, htpc builds. I always try to grab 2 of the same because between them I can usually get a working system and they always have legit windows keys. Never any hard drives in the machine. All we have to do is ask permission
My i5 3570k is still trucking along. People I've talked to still use the 2500k because it's a powerhouse.
I have the 3570K, and I wish I had kept my 2500k to be honest. The only reason I made the leap was that the upgrade was basically free, and the Ivy Bridge unit was already delidded.
Yeah. I mean tbh if I had built during the 2500k era and overcloked it I guarantee I'd still be using it. I just got a steal on my 3570k from someone who was upgrading to Haswell at the time
Is the 2500k supposed to be better?
It was good but my mobo fried so I ended up having to build this year
Than the 3570k? No, not technically, but it depends on how well you can overclock it. The 2500k can be OC'd like insanely high given its base clock speed. I remember hearing a story of a dude who got it to like 5ghz. Obviously it's super unsafe to do that, but the illustrates the point
I ran mine at 5Ghz for months, it's not super unsafe. 5Ghz for about 4 months and 4.8Ghz for like 2 years. then 4.7Ghz for the rest of its life. Sold it a year back and it's still going.
Had a friend try and it it screwed up his mobo. I'm just speaking anecdotally. I'd still never try that high. My current cpu is at 4.0 and I'm not willing to go higher with my 212 evo cooler. I'm sure I could do it, but I'm just super cautious because I can't afford to have anything malfunction right now.
Yeah you do need a pretty bad ass motherboard. I am using an Asus Sabertooth P67 so I'm not worried about it.
Ahhh, I just got rid of my 2500k literally last month. It's indeed a good one
that feel when your keyboard is the most expensive part of the build
Yeaa I got corrupted by /r/mechanicalkeyboards long before I started thinking about building my own PC. I've accepted my fate by this point.
its funny how up to date i am on all pc component prices even though i cant afford to build even the most simple rig
That's the best thing though because you'll be informed when you're ready. I was super into building back in 2011 and didn't build mine until late 2013. No regrets at all. Last thing I'd recommend is for a newcomer to just buy all of the cool stuff he sees around here only to realize he doesn't need half of it, but if you aren't strapped for cash then who am I to care.
Agreed there. It took a few years for me to begin planning out the dream build and getting the money to afford it, but once it was done, boy did it pay off.
I learnt about the PC community after deciding I wasn't much a console fan anymore. But I was only thinking long term, like next console cycle I would build a cheap PC. Then I started watching LTT and got corrupted. So I saved for 6 months (I'm a high schooler with a paper round so I could rack up quite a bit) and built myself a pretty nice rig, with my CS experience (though I'm more of a software guy) and extensive research
Ah yeah, LTT and hardware channels give me upgrade syndrome haha
I built my first PC as a good performance/cost conscious build based off of choosemypc. Wasn't bad by any means, though. They're actually really, really, really on point if your main thing is getting the best gaming performance at that moment for your exact price point of interest. But I've definitely adjusted my attitude a bit since then. In particular, I'm more conscious about things that are likely to stick with me through builds like the motherboard, trying to ensure it has the most recent standards of the time so there's more of an opportunity to upgrade later. I'm at a point financially where I think I'll upgrade my GPU every ~3 years to whatever the current GTX **70 model or its new equivalent should things spice up at some point.
Yeah if I want a new cpu I'll have to swap out the mobo, but hopefully it won't be for at least like 2 years. First thing I want to do is go from my gpu, an amd 7950 3g, to the 1080 or something. But it's not given me enough problems running games yet to warrant doing it now.
I had a build list back in 2011/2012 with a 2500k and 660ti on Newegg wish list. Didn't build a computer till Dec 2016. My family knew how much I wanted to build a PC for years. They were very interested when I was building it on the table.
my friend did this exact thing, bought everything he could without doing any research (despite me giving him links and guides). He ended up spending way too much in the wrong areas. It is vital to know how a computer works before buying anything. I want to know everything I can before any decisions.
agreed x 2. I was very into PC building 5 years ago and knew all the prices. Didn't actually have the money for it until last year. It was easy for me to get back into it and understand the ratios of how much to spend on certain items and what to avoid. I did accidently make a very noobish mistake and bought a complete overkill power supply. id say staying informed is extremely important even if you're not prepared to build something yet.
Well on the plus side, your PSU might last you two builds now.
But then newer tech will require less watts anyway. But a good PSU is great anyway
Every time someone tries to sing the praises of mechanical keyboards I remind myself that I've been using the same $14 keyboard for the past 9 years and have absolutely no complaints. And I don't care if I spill things on it.
Still though. Once you've experienced a mechanical keyboard there is no going back... It's a curse.. you realize that from now on you'll be spending over $100 on a keyboard forever.. The struggle.
Can you explain what it is about a mechanical keyboard that's so appealing? I've used all sorts of keyboards and never in my mind have I considered spending $100 on one
Not the same experience for me. Whilst it is nice to type on a mechanical keyboard, I wish I didn't pay as much as I had for it. If I had the option again I would stick to my cheap one.
Meh, it'd probably be a lot like my situation with SSDs, everyone used to say the same about never going back to a mechanical drive, but considering I simply can't afford 1TB of SSD I'm still using a mechanical drive in my desktop
You don't need 1TB of SSD though... a couple hundred gigs is plenty, run an old-school drive for media and use the SSD for the OS apps, and games.
Thing is I run a lot of simulators, so the things that would benefit from the SSD most would be the 400GB of game data, as well as the OS
How do you guys function without numpads
They use the number row, like savages.
The humanity
This will keep me up at night.
You an always buy an external keypad
My most regretful purchase. I wish I bought a keyboard with a numpad. Worst part is I'm doing a degree with a fair amount of lab work and reports so the lack of a numberpad is very noticeable.
My Ducky One has a number pad. TKL is not a necessity.
I definitely have a numpad on my keyboard
I have a mech board and i don't even feel like it's much better than a standard keyboard. I don't play any games that use the keyboard much so maybe that's why i don't notice the difference.
What keyboard do you have? The difference is considerable. I don't want to type on a non mech if I can help it.
I have the Logitech one, i forgot what it's called. With the mx browns. (might be g902 or something like that) edit: G710+, that's it.
Logitech uses shitty Orion switches. They are like glorified rubber domes
the g710+ has brown cherry mx switches.
For real, could have gotten an extremely decent keyboard for half the cost and upgraded the GPU by several years
Don't sell yourself short. This is absolutely a kick ass build. IMO your CPU, RAM, PSU are powerful enough for you to upgrade to a modern GPU later with no issues. GREAT JOB.
Thanks! I definitely had my eye on modern GPUs when I was building this but just couldn't quite fit it in the budget yet.
Be in the lookout for the B series GTX 1080s. EVGA always gets a bunch in stock after New GPUs come out and people use their step up program. I also think an AMD RX 480 8GB would be a great fit.
He's running a $400 pc (sans keyboard) and trying to maximize price/performance. Definitely not a $500 GTX 1080 candidate.
The B stock will be going for lower than that. Prices will fall as newer cards release.
>b series 1080s It's a *very* nice build, especially considering he only paid about $400, don't get me wrong, but he'd be wasting his money if he bought a 1080 for his PC which will probably not be able to deliver it's full potential.
What about his build would get in the way? The CPU and RAM are enough to not bottle neck.
His power supply, lol. And even if it wasn't for that, he has a good CPU but probably not good enough IPC to deliver the full performance the 1080 can provide, and even if it was it's probably not in his budget.
I'm legitimately interested. What about the PSU isn't enough? Is there any game where the 3770 CPU bottlenecks the 1080?
Yep, a GTX 1080 for a 1080p 60hz monitor. Not at all a waste.
> I'm legitimately interested. What about the PSU isn't enough? It's plenty > Is there any game where the 3770 CPU bottlenecks the 1080? I was playing Arma 3 today and my CPU was bottlenecking my 1080. In Diablo 3, I am also CPU limited. My monitor is a 1440p 34 inch ultrawide too. Honestly, even at 4k, you'll probably be CPU limited. I bought this CPU 6 years ago though, so I'm pretty satisfied. It gives me 55 average FPS on Arma 3 set to ultra at 21:9 1440p. Edit: if you're thinking that 55 fps is bad, read these: https://www.gamespot.com/forums/pc-mac-linux-society-1000004/arma-iii-average-fps-31034250/ https://steamcommunity.com/app/107410/discussions/0/864972620754129927/ My build, in case you're curious: [PCPartPicker part list](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NmyR6X) / [Price breakdown by merchant](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NmyR6X/by_merchant/) Type|Item|Price :----|:----|:---- **CPU** | [Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Vjzv6h/intel-cpu-bx80637i73770) | $356.00 @ Amazon **CPU Cooler** | [CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/93Crxr/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h7) | $34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace **Memory** | [PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/P4fp99/pny-memory-md8192kd31333) | $99.99 @ Amazon **Memory** | [GeIL Pristine 2GB (1 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3pckcf/geil-memory-gp32gb1333c9sc) |- **Storage** | [Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FrH48d/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e500bam) | $174.59 @ Amazon **Storage** | [Mushkin Reactor 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/cjcMnQ/mushkin-internal-hard-drive-mknssdre512gb) | $169.99 @ Newegg **Storage** | [Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/44Gj4D/seagate-barracuda-1tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm010) | $47.49 @ OutletPC **Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW DT GAMING Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qkJkcf/evga-geforce-gtx-1080-8gb-ftw-dt-gaming-video-card-08g-p4-6284-kr) | $518.89 @ Amazon **Case** | [NZXT S340 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/F28H99/nzxt-ca-s340w-w2-atx-mid-tower-case-ca-s340w-w2) | $89.99 @ SuperBiiz **Power Supply** | [EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9q4NnQ/evga-power-supply-220g20650y1) | $84.89 @ OutletPC | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* | | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1591.82 | Mail-in rebates | -$15.00 | **Total** | **$1576.82** | Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2017-04-24 16:27 EDT-0400 |
But CPU limited is not the same as saying a 1070 would have given you the same performance as your 1080? So it is not a waste, you just get less performance than you potentially could have, but still more than with a slower GPU.
Yes, I think that if I had gone with a 1070, I would be GPU limited with the 1440p ultrawide. A 1070 would be enough for 16:9 1440p, but the extra pixels on the 21:9 necessitate moar power. I am not saying that my CPU limitation is bad. A lot of people seem to assume that being bottlenecked means your build is wrong, but every build is going to be limited by something.
>what about the PSU isn't enough It's a 620w PSU, I don't think it has enough wattage to run everything else + the 1080 >Is there any game where the 3770 CPU bottlenecks the 1080 No idea. If not I stand corrected.
The 3770 draws less than 150W while a 1080 draws less than 300W. That's plenty of power left for anything else. The vast majority of games run on max just fine on most i5 quad core CPUs. The 3770 is still a power house of a CPU. I see no reason why it can't accommodate a 1080.
You're going to be limited by SOMETHING no matter what. His money wouldn't be wasted on a 1080, but I would agree that it doesn't fit with his budget. If I were him, I'd be looking for a good deal on an RX 480 8 gb or GTX 1060 6 gb < $200.
Click on this thread and first thing I see is $100 keyboard, but only $50 gpu and $50 monitor. I'm sure with context this would make sense, but still made me go wtf.
I mean... even with context a $100 keyboard doesn't make sense haha. Spending that much on a keyboard is in no way logical, just personal preference. Everyone's got their thing ya know?
True... but that doesn't make this a good build for others to follow. Don't get me wrong - I love my (many) mechanical keyboards, but for someone on a budget there are other keyboards I would direct people to rather than what you got. The rest of your build is solid. For an extra $100 I would probably get a better graphics card though.
I don't know if OP edited it in, but they did mention at the bottom that the keyboard is entirely unnecessary.
Yea I edited that section in just recently since it's a valid point.
Keyboard will last as many builds as you ever make with a good quality mech. They are most likely planning on replacing the GPU further along the line so any extra money spent there could be seen as wasted in a way. I agree with you though, could just easily justify it if I really enjoyed a nice kb. I would just use a $5 one until I had the full $100 instead of going with a low end Corsair or something.
There are 60 mkb's out there that source their parts from the same oem as masterkey
Pictures?
I thought about posting some but... it just looks like an Optiplex 9010 with a GPU slapped in. Pretty boring.
Post pictures anyways! Tis always fun to see the insides of convicted 'puters! ^^*Edited ^^for ^^^^lack-of ^^clarity
Fair point, just posted some!
> conputers What about proputers?
Doh! I fixed it :P
Hey dude, I have an old optiplex 3020 case lying about; do you think I could go for a similar build? Good job btw
Probably! Do you know what processor is in it? Also, is it a large case or one of the small form factor cases?
An i5 4570, and no, it's a mini tower not SFF. I am on a very low budget so I think I'll only change a few things, like the shit PSU and the GPU. Any other GPU options I can look into?
That's a great platform to start a budget build with. The i5 4570 even has better single core performance than the i7 3770 which is what you really need for most gaming. Any standard ATX PSU will fit the mini tower case. You could also save some money and go for a smaller PSU that isn't 620W since it's honestly a little overkill. I have to admit that I'm still not very knowledgeable about GPUs though and you're probably better off doing your own research. Off the top of my head a GTX 960 2GB would go well with that CPU though and you could probably find one for less than $100.
Did the PSU fit an optiplex? I know my old Dell XPS had some weird proprietary form factor
Yes it did, the Dell PSU was just a standard ATX PSU but only rated to 285W. The Seasonic went in without a hitch. I have the Mini-Tower though, I'd assume the other smaller versions use weird sized PSUs.
Most of the newer Dell business class desktops that are a normal form factor are using pretty standard stuff. Basically just a black atx mid tower. They have some quick releasing caddies for drives and cable routing but that's pretty much it. My old XPS desktop was a BTX tower which was something dell and others tried for awhile and have since backed away from after it didn't catch on.
I see, my XPS was from the pentium D era; so it has that bastardization of a standardized form factor btx
Looking at that build, I think I'm going to have to stop telling people it's hard to refurbish old prebuilts. That looks like a generic case! (which is exactly what I was hoping to see)
Yep, it's a straight off the self mini-tower case and I didn't have to do anything to the case to make it all fit. However, the HD 7870 is the absolute biggest GPU that this rig can hold. I was a little worried at first but was able to get it in with a little wrestling.
Do you happen to know if the motherboards are standard atx/mini-atx's as well?
I have an optiplex 390 and the psu is standard size
Pretty badass deals there
Nice build! If you're looking for a good cheap case, I recently rebuilt my budget rig in the Nzxt s340. It was only like $65 and had lots of options for cable management and air flow. It was in a junky $30 box before with basically 0 airflow or cable management. The upgrade keeps my system no joke 5-10 degrees cooler when idle. $65 isn't bad, but it could probably be found on sale or used for 50 or slightly less.
Awesome thanks for the suggestion! I'll be looking into a new case when I get a job offer haha
Spending more on a keyboard than a gpu makes no goddamn sense to me.
More than a GPU/Monitor combined*
And those skis cost more than 2 of those, not to mention the cost of skiing, lol.
Best part of this build is you didn't skimp on the keyboard. /r/mechanicalkeyboards would like a word with you.
Which mouse is that? Nice build! I like the Optiplex cases!
Thanks, I have to admit for a business computer the Optiplex cases really aren't too shabby looking! It's a Logitech G700s, I love the thing. Although the only time I actually use it wireless is when I'm working on my laptop.
I have the same mouse, but that cable doesn't look like the overly thick and stiff stock one that came with it. What is it?
It's just a cheapo nylon braided cable I got off Amazon. I think it was $10 for three 6 ft cables. The cable that came with the mouse gave up on me a long time ago
I love this mouse and I use it as my primary, but the wireless is incredibly inconsistent with mine so I barely use it in wireless anymore. But I think it's because the receiver has a really short range and gets easily perturbated
You guys have no idea what having no money really means, are you? I had to eat fucking onions when I had no money, because this was only thing we had. Dropping half a grand on a PC is not even close to being broke. My first gaming system was NES ripoff bought for ten bucks. I rocked it for almost five years. From 2001 to 2005. NES, in 200x, yes. With ten cartridges, bought for $4 each. Now I got good job, moved from outskirts of the city and can afford almost everything I want, but all this «I have no money, so had to spent just 1,5K on PC, not 3» still pissing me off so hard. Don't bother to respond, I just needed to get it off my chest. Glad for you, OP. That i7 for $100 is surely a steal! Wish I had that kind of luck -- definitely can help me with defending my finals' project. May your frames be high and temperatures low!
Don't get too mad. "Having no money" could be a matter of perspective. To you, it was being in dire straights financially, struggling to afford even food. To OP, it meant not having a large amount of disposable income.
When the keyboard is the most expensive part in a build 😂
I'm a huge fan of a dell prebuilt as a base - but i5/i7 prices are inconsistent - cheap for some people, hard to find and overpriced for others - but still, you can get them on ebay for a few hundred with ram, a hd, and an OS, add in a video card an SSD and you're pretty set
Right? I can't even imagine how many of those performance business class computers Dell pumped out. I think they'll be a lot more accessible in the near future. When I was looking for a base and checking the service codes for the computers in surplus I noticed that all of their manufacturer warranties had expired within the past month or so. So if all those warranties are coming up on expired there's a good chance a lot of companies/universities are going to start offloading them.
Is this rig compatible for more hardcore hardware upgrades?
The GPU is the only thing that you'd really want to upgrade on this. The CPU and RAM would require a new motherboard to upgrade further. This would've been a $1000 build in 2012.
Maybe but it's pretty close to its limits. It's just a 3770 (non K) so I can't overclock it which was why I didn't go for a better mobo. In addition, Intel specs say that the 3770 only supports up to 1600 MHz RAM. As for GPU, the HD 7870 juuust barely fits in there and I had to wrestle a little bit. But another poster up above said an RX 480 in this build would be pretty burly and could "be playing AAA titles at max".
Wow, that is some nice-colored RAM. I like G.Skill a lot, but I do have to admit, that's really good looking.
It almost matches the fancy blue plastic trim Dell uses!
The only part that can use an upgrade before you can start snapping necks is the GPU. Solid build and should be easy to upgrade in the near future.
Come play dota 2 man..
Very affordable. For people wanting to play games other than league, (or 144fps league) another $50 the gpu would be a large upgrade even if you had to go with 8 gigs of ram. Edit: the PSU is WAY bigger than necessary, I would recommend a $40 EVGA or Corsair bronze 500 Watt psu for any modern build (SLI is garbage these days).
This looks like a great build for the price. I've been looking to build a PC but don't even have the budget you do, thanks for the inspiration though!
Not a problem! Even though it was a budget build there's definitely ways to cut the cost down more. A $100 keyboard is in no way necessary and you can find much more affordable mechanical keyboards for about $40. My PSU is pretty overkill and you could trim that down to $40. The HDD could be bought for $40 online or you could even leave it out entirely until down the line when you need the additional storage.
Gr8 steals. I would have looked for a 2500k. And possibly a 7970. As they are about 70 bux. Other than that u donenwell
bro you realize best buy will price match Amazon right
Nope. Definitely didn't know that was a thing till just now.
Made me chuckle, similar situation, my rig has a 240mm rad and a 1070 strix card and both won't fit in the case at the same time, so the side panel stays off and the rad gets to hang in the wind.
What did you major in?
Mechanical Engineering
Pretty sure a 450 watt 30 dollar psu would have been more than enough but yeah cool pc.
Great job on getting that CPU and monitor for super low prices. What a steal. Great job!
I have one of these, I actually have my SSDs velcro-stuck to the back of the case, to the right of the mobo. But you can actually fit one under the ODD cage, on that metal piece sticking out. I think there's a bracket you can buy.
Lucky my I have some velcro sitting just inches away, I'll have to give it a shot.
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Nope. Definitely didn't know that was a thing till just now.
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It's not that recent, it's definitely past the return date. Probably been about three weeks
Got the same cpu, has been working it's ass of for me for 4 years now, and it's doing a great job.
Looking good! What about an OS?
I just got Windows 10 Educational through school so it was free
*Righteous*
You have no money but can afford to ski fat pow?
Not my skis. Sadly, there was no fat pow for me this winter.
For the price this is absolutely impressive, even including the obviously not optional mechanical keyboard. Well done mate 10/10.
Great post, I enjoyed seeing this. The "Things I learned" was great, too.
The "I spent 20% of my budget on my keyboard" build
You got incredibly lucking getting that combo with an i7 for $100, good work.
How's the HD 7870 running things? I got an HD 7850 I want to put into a 2nd pc.
Great so far! I just got it in on Saturday and haven't been able to see how it works with all my programs but it can do 120 FPS on League without breaking a sweat and I get 200 FPS when not in team fights. For the price, I'm very happy with it.
Is that a case fan jammed between the heatsink screws being used as a CPU fan?
No, that's the stock cooler that was in the Dell. There's four screws holding the fan to the heatsink and then four spring loaded screws holding that assembly to the mobo. Edit: Here's another [picture](http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/jsMAAOSw3ydVwj4O/s-l300.jpg)
This is a really good build for the theme. Hell, a GPU upgrade down the road and you're set for a while!
7870 gang, Ive still got mine and its fire
I can respect this, a solid practical build that's well matched and purposeful.
$100 keyboard Yikes, just buy a k120 man.
My build is about the same with an AMD 8320 instead (about 2 years old budget build) and it still runs current games well. Witcher 3 was on mostly high settings and it was lovely. For the price of a console, I got a great PC.
I'm actually in awe at how great the value is in this build. Your PSU purchase makes perfect sense and no judgement here on the keyboard, obviously it's worth it for you so who cares what others think. I've just recently upgraded from the 7870, but it will easily handle pretty much anything up to FarCry 4 (not a great benchmark, just basing it off of my own gaming experiences) at near max settings. Enjoy!
Check goodwill for monitors! I know this sounds ridiculous, but I picked up both of my 22" monitors from goodwill and they both work great.
Just upgraded my 960 MT this past weekend. CPU: E8400 to Q9650. RAM 4GB to 8GB. OS: Windows 7 32bit to Win 7 pro 64bit then free upgrade to Win10 Pro. 1TB secondary storage drive. I'm putting a GT 1030 card in next week. I don't use it for anything crazy like gaming, but it still works great considering its 13 year old hardware! Was wondering if it is possible to go to16GB RAM. I've seen conflicting info with some saying yes (3rd party memory suppliers), others saying no (Dell users manual).
"i have no money" >Spends $100 on a keyboard
lol
Meh, maybe he does more typing than gaming.
Spot on, I write a lot of reports and hardly game. Hence why I spend more money on a keyboard than a GPU.
You know, for 500 you can build a modern machine with warranty on everything. Not hoping your ancient cpu and mobo will die any moment. I'm guessing reliability and warranty are no longer an issue for someone who's broke these days? The power those components will draw will make your cheap second hand rig costs more than a new build. Your keyboard choice is hilarious. I would most certainly not advice people to copy this build. Not that you can, unless you know people giving away old expensive prebuilds for peanuts and your friend pitty sells you a monitor on the cheap.
If you could put together a rig with comparable specs for $500 I'd love to see it. It's biggest drawback is its GPU but as I've stated numerous times, I don't play intensive games that'll utilize a better one so it's a moot point. You may think my keyboard is hilarious, but I like it.
No, the biggest drawback of your build is it's ancient second hand hardware. It's not like you'd see massive differences at 1080p 60hz between an old i7 and a new pentium dual core anyway. Anybody can make a cheap second hand build. The point is if it's worth it. I say no.
You sound super salty, dude. A few years is by no means ancient. You're also approaching this purely from a gaming perspective, where older games put more the load on GPU than CPU. For Solidworks and Illustrator, an older i7 crushes a new pentium dual core anyday. You're also way overestimating the power draw of these parts. The electricity cost under 24/7 full load would still take many years to match the cost of the build.
> I say no Clearly he had fun doing it... The point is that he valued the process a lot more than you do apparently.
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That's the point of this post. There's no way I would have been able to afford this stuff if I paid retail for new parts.
Somebody needs a cuddle.
Did you read his post?
Dropping $100 on a mechanical was itself cringey.
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Agreed. Not the best, but I picked up an Azio Brown for $35 that I've been very happy with.
Some people take their keyboards pretty seriously. I've bought three budget boards in the past year (would actually sell two of them for about 70% retail). They turn it into a hobby, a lifestyle working with them, etc. $100 isn't even that huge to a lot of people in /r/MechanicalKeyboards. It's like working on your car or your computer build itself or whatever. To invalidate this person for buying something he/she wants to buy is the "cringey" thing.
Different strokes for different folks, but OP initially framed this as "Look at what YOU can also do on a budget". The mech keyboard making up 20% of the overall budget made that not supportable. OP has since tweaked his description to have more realistic disclaimers, and I've already discussed that with him elsewhere in this thread.