Okay, so this build is all about the Radeon R7 240. This is AMD's lowest range card available, and ranges from $70 to $90, and if you pay more than $90, you're just silly. Let's get started, shall we?
Graphics Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 240 - $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125482
So, let's talk about the main thing we're building this rig around. The R7 240 is as low end as you can get from AMD's modern line of cards. It had 2 GB of RAM... DDR3 RAM. This card really isn't suitable for 1080p gaming, and maybe not even 720p gaming. You could probably play Battlefield 3 on low settings on low resolution, so I wouldn't expect much from this card. And at $80, believe it or not, we can find something better. But that's another day and another build.
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 340 3.2 GHz - $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113330
As dual core CPUs go, this one is pretty good. It's the dual core version of the Trinity 740, using pretty much the same architecture but only two cores instead of four. It gives a nice 3.2GHz, with the Trinity architecture, which is a really good architecture (not just because I use a Trinity APU). This will do some good framerates with a better card.
Mobo: Asus A55BM-A FM2+/FM2 - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132050
I really like a few things about this mobo. The look is nice, as if that matters, it's FM2+, which means it will work with future APUs until AMD scraps it, which doesn't look like it'll happen soon, and it appears to allow 2133MHz RAM. That means a lot, because if you are going to upgrade the CPU in the future to an APU, high speed RAM is a definite must. This will definitely hold everything nice and snug, and at a really good price point.
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB - $33
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148539
I use this RAM in a lot of my builds, because it's inexpensive, effective, and Crucial. This RAM is 1600MHz RAM, so if you upgrade to an APU, you won't have to upgrade this RAM right away, unless you want to add another 4GB of RAM. It's on sale now, too, so if you're building a different rig right now, I highly recommend it.
HDD: Western Digital Blue 500GB - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769
This is adequate storage for your system. I doubt you'll be playing 20GB games with this rig, so this will definitely be enough until an upgrade. There are great indie games that you could stuff your Steam library with.
PSU: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze - $35 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438012
I want to give you guys a lot of headroom to upgrade. This is a good power supply for that, and you could go all out if you wanted to. Always get an 80+ certified PSU, and if you can, get 80+ Bronze. I don't recommend going 80+ Silver or higher until you start really going crazy with your graphics card and processor.
Case: SilverStone PS08B Black - $30 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163223
This is a case that fits all the regular criteria; 3.0 USB, audio, fan in the front for cooling. Cases are subjective as always and you can go with what you want if you don't need 3.0 USB. It's up to you.
Final Price: $343 before tax
There you have it. A nice build for the R7 240. It's not a beast gaming rig, but it'll play Quake amazingly. Stay tuned for when we check out the 240's bigger brother, the R7 250.
Also, I'm going to start doing game recommendations each build at the bottom in this area. My recommendation for this week is Papers Please. Set in a Cold War-era country, you play a border inspector who lets people go through the country. Never has paperwork been so fun. I highly recommend it, and it is a seriously addicting game.
Happy gaming, everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment