Budget Gaming Computer - Help with suggestions please

My son plays Dota and Warframe. He has been using an ancient HP Workstation running Win XP, until a recent upgrade to the Dota game and now the ancient video card will not support the game.

My budget is very limited but want to know what I can get away with specs wise to support these two games. He thinks he needs an Alienware laptop for $1k. I don't have $1k for a laptop.
EG:
http://www.ecrater.com/p/23271535/dell-brand-remarketed-13-alienware-i5?gps=1&id=80959773019

Need to know if a modern desktop or laptop with integrated intel graphics will work. Say i3, 4-8GB ram, etc?

Any info from expereinced folks will be appreciated. Only a few more days to order, thinking of a Dell or a refurb of some sort.

thanks and happy holidays

 

I don't think desktop or laptop with integrated intel graphics is powerful enough for Warframe. Dota is ok but only in minimum settings.
To run both of them properly, you need something minimum like core i3, 8GB RAM (Dota need only 4GB but Warframe need more to run), video card is Geforce GTX 650.
If I were you, I would consider build an new PC for him. Firstly, laptop has less efficient than desktop. You need to spend much more on laptap than desktop to have the same power. Secondly, when building a PC, you can buy used component to reduce cost. Apart from PSU and Chipset, which are very important and must be new, everything else (RAM, case, mainboard, HDD) can be bought "used" on ebay with half the price of the new one.
I build my PC with core i7, 16GB ram, GTX560, 1 SSD, 1HDD, mainboard Z87 with only 600 Euro (I live in europe, when almost everything is expensive than in US), so I think you can build one to satisfy your son with 400-450 USD.

 

Second for building own desktop. Its like a Kinex set where components are put together

Have him pick out a case. A good case is about $50 - $80 these days.

Integrated GPU on the i3 is still very bad. Intel, in its very strange wisdom, put their best iGPU in their highest end CPU's. People who buy an i7-E will be running top of the line GPU's and will never use the integrated silicon...Tom's Hardware has a decent guide on price vs performance of GPUs. Currently, AMD and Nvidia are neck and neck. AMD's newest is just a bit above Nvidia's, but that will change again next year. Also AMD CPUs are much cheaper, but run slower and hotter than Intel.

I would stay away from used HDD's, though. They have a limited lifespan, which is lower than a PSU (power supply unit)'s capacitors.

 

You guys are great. Very helpful suggestions. I may have to get my friend who is into building PCs to help. I like the used idea for lots of it. I buy $1500 laptops to use for everyday computing and my headphone listening computer for about $250-$300 ea. Lots of life left in them.

If someone really wants to go overboard and list out a few "ususal suspects" for the components, I would appreciate that as well.

thanks a bunch!

 

I am building a PC for my parents this Xmas after building my own gamiing PC last winter, and it would cost <$500 for a very nice system with an i5, 8GB RAM, and 250GB SSD. For a gaming PC sans new monitor and OS it would have cost about $600-$700 for a very good system with an i5 and GTX970, probably cheaper if you bought the parts around BF.

 

Here's some starting point for you. About 685++ USD in this configuration, hopefully it is 'budget' enough.
I highly advise to find a secondhand GPU and/or processor to lower the spending further, or you could allocate the saving from it to fund an additional 120gb-ish SSD such as Crucial MX series or Samsung EVO series and make it the primary OS drive.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($104.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ Video Card ($269.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $631.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-20 10:12 EST-0500

To give you an idea, you can go near "end-game" for about 630$ Add another 40$ and you're knee-deep in diminishing returns, while being able to play anything on High/Ultra on 1080p+.

We can even go a good bit lower with a little bit lesser GPU.

 

Here is my parts list. Plays games at 1080p but not as well as SKirings, but mine is more future-proof by dropping in a new GPU. As listed, mine requires a 500W PSU, but the 650W one is for future-proofing. No case on mine, but has a CPU cooler. Notice, we are all picking pretty much the same RAM, HDD, and PSUs,

Price: ~$630

 

Keep in mind that this isn't my build!

I just build one via PCPartPicker based on the best price/performance I could find, all new parts including rebates.

 

Well, I assumed it wasn't. Just like my list is to help bixby and is not for any of the computers I own. My gaming rig was built almost 5 years ago and still perform strongly today. It just needs a new GPU and I'm waiting for Nvidia's Pascals next year.[/QUOTE]

 

Ah I read that wrong.

Though keep in mind the R9 390 was released only a few months ago, after the 960. Also it performs better than a 970. To have comparable NVIDIA performance you'd need a 970/980 in there.

I too am waiting for Pascal, my 780s are still doing good enough, no need for upgrades just yet...

 

None of you guys put an SSD in there. A 240gb SSD is $100 or less and would provide a huge boost to any game installed on them. An i3 would be fine, but since a CPU is a pain to replace I'd spend more money on that and get a budget video card for the time being.

IMO on a budget the best way to spend the money is CPU=Motherboard>>GPU as replacing an outdated motherboard or CPU is highly recommended to also reinstall Windows which can be a pain. Getting a modest GPU and upgrading that down the line is cake.

SSD should be in every build imo, even budget builds.

 

I'd agree instantly but since there was no budget indicated, I didn't necessarily put it in. Especially since the 390 was 270... IMO if it comes up to a 390 or SSD, I'd weigh in that a card of that level would serve much longer and get better performance for the latest and greatest games. But yes considering you can get this: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct240bx200ssd1, I'd say go for it @bixby!

Overall, yes, even if it's a budget laptop for every day usage: get an SSD. Your overall experience will outweigh any minor extra expenses.

 

Agree which is why I said your GPU would perform better, but I feel an i3 is not going to scale well in the next few years. An i5 with everything listed should last 3+ years for gaming. So, I comprised: a little less GPU performance now for a system that can last many years with just a GPU upgrade.

SSD is good for load times and is highly dependent on the game (how it implements loading), but once the game is up and running the GPU will be the supreme judge of framerate and image quality. An SSD may eek out an extra 2-5 fps depending on the game. Certainly replacing the HDD with a similar price SSD would be a great comprise considering only 2 games DOTA & Warframe were listed. A 120GB Samsung 850 EVO is about $79 from Newegg, $10 more than the WD Black 1TB. The should leave about 60-80GB free.

I feel an i3 is a stop-gap and an i5 should be the basis of most gaming computers. So, get the i5 now and not the i3 since, as you said, upgrading a CPU is a pain.
Since we enjoy measurements so much, here is a volumetric pain unit in PITA^3: Case > Motherboard(+CPU) > CPU only > PSU >> pretty much everything else.

The budget suggested was for around $600. Now, my recommendation is about $640 without a case but with an SSD.

 

My mom has 2 of those Crucial drives. No idea why she bought them given that all of her computers, she has many, are junk. She doesn't ever get rid of technology until it's absolutely unable to be used in any way. She has 2 of those cheap Dell business desktops and 3 really old laptops, 1gb of ram, 40gb hard drives, and ancient dual core processors.

She asked me to install the SSDs onto the aging laptops, both of which don't even support 64bit OS btw. I did so for her and they're the only reason those laptops are even worth turning on! I love SSDs and am so happy they're affordable now. I can't wait for 1tb options to be available at a reasonable price.

 

Yeah GPU is definitely huge here, but replacing a GPU is cake, replacing a boot drive is a pain in the butt. A 240gb Crucial SSD are under $100 now and IMO there's no reason to not get one of those and pair it with a 1TB HDD or so for storage imo.

Definitely agree on getting an i5 over an i3 for sure. A good case is cheap so that's no biggie.

 

OP, how much future proofing and/or perforumance overhead do you want? A computer that can play games today on reasonable settings at 1080P and with comfortable framerates can cost you as little as $500. Should probably last you a couple years before something like the GPU would need to be upgraded to keep up with new games. You can easily start upgrading each component up front to get you some marginal improvements or future proofing and easily find yourself several hundred more dollars out with not much to show for it. Based on Tomshardware, HardOCP, and my own building/gaming, you could build a very nice budget system with a fast i3 (clock rate seems to count more than cores or even execution instructions for most games), 8gb ram, a GT950 or 960 depending on current pricing and a standard spinning disk HDD. SSDs are awesome and amazing, and make everyday computing much snappier, but for gaming, it doesn't do anything for framerates, and only a little bit for level loading. I filled up my 250GB ssd with games so had to get a 1TB spinner to offload them. I honestly didn't notice any change in gaming performance (I play slightly older games, though). The beauty of the Nvidia cards that I suggested are that they give you very solid performance at 1080P and only require a single connection to a smaller power supply than some of the other cards, especially the AMD ones. I think at this level, the difference in a couple hundred dollars won't really show up on most games, so I personally say save cash where you can to buy games or upgrade down the road when you actually need it.

 

Yes, I believe it is Dota2. He leaves out these details and I am clueless when it comes to games.

Thanks for the tips on graphics. The other odd thing is he is using an old NEC Multisync display which is not high resolution either., so yes not a great graphics demand. Maybe a new monitor sometime in the future.

thanks, I guess I better get going on deciding.