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Here’s a build, will this all fit together and run fine? Is there any other part I forgot/need?
CPU – Intel i3 3220 $130
GPU – Gigabyte Geforce Gt640 $75
MoBo- Asus P8H77-V LE $105
PSU – Corsair CX500 V2 – already have
RAM – 8gb Corsair Veng $60 Black vs Blue
Case – Antec 302 $70
ODD – LG DVD writer $18
OS – Windows7 home premium 64-bit $100
SSD/HDD – Crucial M4 256GB $179
Total - $737 disregarding any shipping/tax/other fees
Some questions:
GPU – What is the difference between the Gigabyte GT640($75) (linked above) and the ASUS GT640 ($95) . The specs seem very similar but the $10 retail difference and $20 after-rebate difference makes me wonder.
Also, how does the Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7750 ($100) compare to the two above? The GTs are 2GB but are DDR3, while the 7750 is 1GB and DDR5 – I don’t know what any of that means.
RAM – Is the only difference from the 2 linked above the colour? And, is that the type of RAM I should be purchasing?
SSD/HDD – I’m completely unfamiliar with the Crucial brand, how trustworthy are they? I’d be willing to spend the extra $10 for the comparable size Samsung840, however reviews had the Samsung malfunctioning pre consumer release which makes me uneasy as well. If Crucial is a fine substitute for the 840, then I’d stick with that.
Also, is the SATA3 capable SSD(above) worth it compared to the SATA2 counterpart. I know the SATA3 is faster, but is it $20 faster or could I do without?
Offtopic – How do mail rebates work? If the rebate ends on Jan. 15 and I purchase the parts on Jan. 14 would I need to rush to complete the rebate forms and send them by Jan. 15? Would I still be eligible if I sent out the rebate on say Jan. 20 since I purchased it before the rebate ended? This isn’t a deal breaker, just curiosity.
Thanks for reading.
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What are you using this computer, those are GPUs are not very good at gaming?
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On April 25 2013 02:25 syzygy wrote:Here’s a build, will this all fit together and run fine? Is there any other part I forgot/need? CPU – Intel i3 3220 $130 GPU – Gigabyte Geforce Gt640 $75 MoBo- Asus P8H77-V LE $105 PSU – Corsair CX500 V2 – already have RAM – 8gb Corsair Veng $60 Black vs BlueCase – Antec 302 $70 ODD – LG DVD writer $18 OS – Windows7 home premium 64-bit $100 SSD/HDD – Crucial M4 256GB $179 Total - $737 disregarding any shipping/tax/other fees Some questions: GPU – What is the difference between the Gigabyte GT640($75) (linked above) and the ASUS GT640 ($95) . The specs seem very similar but the $10 retail difference and $20 after-rebate difference makes me wonder. Also, how does the Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7750 ($100) compare to the two above? The GTs are 2GB but are DDR3, while the 7750 is 1GB and DDR5 – I don’t know what any of that means. RAM – Is the only difference from the 2 linked above the colour? And, is that the type of RAM I should be purchasing? SSD/HDD – I’m completely unfamiliar with the Crucial brand, how trustworthy are they? I’d be willing to spend the extra $10 for the comparable size Samsung840, however reviews had the Samsung malfunctioning pre consumer release which makes me uneasy as well. If Crucial is a fine substitute for the 840, then I’d stick with that. Also, is the SATA3 capable SSD(above) worth it compared to the SATA2 counterpart. I know the SATA3 is faster, but is it $20 faster or could I do without? Offtopic – How do mail rebates work? If the rebate ends on Jan. 15 and I purchase the parts on Jan. 14 would I need to rush to complete the rebate forms and send them by Jan. 15? Would I still be eligible if I sent out the rebate on say Jan. 20 since I purchased it before the rebate ended? This isn’t a deal breaker, just curiosity. Thanks for reading.
GT 640 is really terrible for its price. The 7750 is a much, much, much better buy.
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PC will be for everyday normal use and gaming. I realize the GPUs I seIected may not be very good, however I think they meet the requirements to play the games(SC2,Dota2 and NS2) I wish to at max levels (I don't particularly care if they run at max settings but it they can, great!). I don't know about requirements of newer release games, but I don't plan on having a large library of modern games -- I've been playing BW/WC3/HalfLife1 and its mods for over a decade and I'll likely follow that same trend with SC2/Dota2/NS2, and potential WC4/Half-Life3+mods titles in the future. I wouldn't mind upgrading the GPU in the future to meet the demands of the potential games that appeal to me. Would the $100 7750 still be the better option than the $75GT640 under my circumstances? I would consider reasons not pertaining to games as well such as power consumption, etc.
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Yes, the only difference between the twwo RAM is colour. If you don't care about aesthetics than just get whatever is cheaper.
As others have mentioned, you don't want a GT640 for gaming. Though it'd work for such a low resolution, it's a terribly priced card at $95. 7750 is significantly better at the same price. The GT 640 is $95, mail in rebates are not instant discounts that are applied to your checkout total. You need to fill out a form and mail in the rebate to get the $20 back in the form of a cheque or prepaid credit card.
Since you're not overclocking and probably won't use any features of the more expensive boards, you should aim to get a H77 or B75 board that is less than $100.
Antec 302 not a spectacular case at $70. The Fractal Design Define R4 is only $10 more right now for a few more hours: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=75044&promoid=1021
Crucial is the consumer brand of Micron, one of the big memory manufacturers. Crucial V4 is newer but it's their value SSD so it is slower than their older M4. Crucial is very popular among the SSD world as their C300 and M4 were among the few reliable SSDs on the market at the time SSDs started gaining popularity. It's probably how you arrived to the Crucial M4? The Crucial M500 is the successor to the M4 though a little pricey since it was just released.
Reviews of the Samsung 840 also mentioned that it was a pre-release firmware and that the bug would not be found on retail firmware. Samsung 840 is faster than the Crucial M4.
For mail in rebates, your invoice has to be dated before the mail in rebate expiry date and generally you are required to mail it in within x dates of purchase to qualify.
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On April 25 2013 02:25 syzygy wrote:Here’s a build, will this all fit together and run fine? Is there any other part I forgot/need? CPU – Intel i3 3220 $130 GPU – Gigabyte Geforce Gt640 $75 MoBo- Asus P8H77-V LE $105 PSU – Corsair CX500 V2 – already have RAM – 8gb Corsair Veng $60 Black vs BlueCase – Antec 302 $70 ODD – LG DVD writer $18 OS – Windows7 home premium 64-bit $100 SSD/HDD – Crucial M4 256GB $179 Total - $737 disregarding any shipping/tax/other fees Some questions: GPU – What is the difference between the Gigabyte GT640($75) (linked above) and the ASUS GT640 ($95) . The specs seem very similar but the $10 retail difference and $20 after-rebate difference makes me wonder. Also, how does the Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7750 ($100) compare to the two above? The GTs are 2GB but are DDR3, while the 7750 is 1GB and DDR5 – I don’t know what any of that means. RAM – Is the only difference from the 2 linked above the colour? And, is that the type of RAM I should be purchasing? SSD/HDD – I’m completely unfamiliar with the Crucial brand, how trustworthy are they? I’d be willing to spend the extra $10 for the comparable size Samsung840, however reviews had the Samsung malfunctioning pre consumer release which makes me uneasy as well. If Crucial is a fine substitute for the 840, then I’d stick with that. Also, is the SATA3 capable SSD(above) worth it compared to the SATA2 counterpart. I know the SATA3 is faster, but is it $20 faster or could I do without? Offtopic – How do mail rebates work? If the rebate ends on Jan. 15 and I purchase the parts on Jan. 14 would I need to rush to complete the rebate forms and send them by Jan. 15? Would I still be eligible if I sent out the rebate on say Jan. 20 since I purchased it before the rebate ended? This isn’t a deal breaker, just curiosity. Thanks for reading.
I would pick a radeon 7770 instead (or 7750), I think a z77 chipset is fine imo as you'll be able to upgrade the CPU later for a big boost in performance, 20$ more today will allow a big upgrade later for just the price of a CPU and a modest and easy overclock.
A friend has a 7770+i3 3220 combo and he plays every game very fine. If money is tight, 4go ram and a 7770 is imo way better than 8go and a 7750.
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United Kingdom20275 Posts
Think it's a little more than $20, but good z77 board for OC'd 3570k upgrade path is good, though that will be obselete in 6 weeks, it will still be a ton better than ivy bridge i3 (1.3-1.5x the clock speed, twice as many cores)
CPU – Intel i3 3220 $130
GPU – Gigabyte Geforce Gt640 $75
MoBo- Asus P8H77-V LE $105
PSU – Corsair CX500 V2 – already have
RAM – 8gb Corsair Veng $60 Black vs Blue
Case – Antec 302 $70
ODD – LG DVD writer $18
OS – Windows7 home premium 64-bit $100
SSD/HDD – Crucial M4 256GB $179
Total - $737 disregarding any shipping/tax/other fees
It's really hard not to reccomend obtaining windows in some other way and cutting SSD to 128gb though (unless you have no other hard drive?) to make money for the step to i5, locked or unlocked
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I've recently been stuttering every 10 seconds in SC2, and a lot of other people on the bnet forums are too.
I want to buy a new video card that's below $200, and can run SC2 on low with constant 60 fps.
Currently using GTS 450.
I really can't afford much else because I'm so dirt poor 
Is buying a used video card worth it?
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On April 25 2013 10:09 iiAreJordan wrote:I've recently been stuttering every 10 seconds in SC2, and a lot of other people on the bnet forums are too. I want to buy a new video card that's below $200, and can run SC2 on low with constant 60 fps. Currently using GTS 450. I really can't afford much else because I'm so dirt poor Is buying a used video card worth it?
You don't need a good video card to run SC2. What is your current setup?
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United Kingdom20275 Posts
Stuttering is 99% down to loading the game properly (run preloader in arcade, x8 some replays start to finish every time you load the game before you play, because otherwise it does not load most stuff and stutters like a bitch until everything is cached)
and with a gts450, you can run the game on low no problem. Passmark says it's a ton better than 260, which is enough for me to benchmark the same FPS on min vs max graphics settings on 1920x1080 (not counting physics, effects and reflections as graphical settings) and have >100fps early game on max settings, ~450 on low in some places on some maps
You probably have a shitty CPU, to go along with the old, low tier GPU - not that it really holds you back in important for sc2 especially at a lower resolution than 1920x1080, but it's unlikely you have a strong system paired with a card like a gts450, which could mean you have half as much or less performance of the best mainstream CPU's in sc2
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On April 25 2013 10:55 Cyro wrote:
Stuttering is 99% down to loading the game properly (run preloader in arcade, x8 some replays start to finish every time you load the game before you play, because otherwise it does not load most stuff and stutters like a bitch until everything is cached)
and with a gts450, you can run the game on low no problem. Passmark says it's a ton better than 260, which is enough for me to benchmark the same FPS on min vs max graphics settings on 1920x1080 (not counting physics, effects and reflections as graphical settings) and have >100fps early game on max settings, ~450 on low in some places on some maps
You probably have a shitty CPU, to go along with the old, low tier GPU - not that it really holds you back in important for sc2 especially at a lower resolution than 1920x1080, but it's unlikely you have a strong system paired with a card like a gts450, which could mean you have half as much or less performance of the best mainstream CPU's in sc2
I don't know... I ran this game decently at 40-60 fps about a week ago, then this issue started occuring and there's a whole thread on bnet forums about it too, so I'm not sure if it's the servers or my internet or something.
My processor is a pentinum(r)dual-core cpu e5300 @2.6 ghz and I have 4 gb of ram.
My screen resolution is at 1366 x768 because I can't afford a good monitor either, lol... TT
I also play terran at a high masters level.
Do you think it would be worth it to buy either a used video card or processor? or is it not safe?
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I had some really bad stuttering issues on xcom, but found when I went into task manager that Windows Media Player was sucking up all available RAM. Browsing the web, found others with the exact same problem and resource consumption. Disabled that crap and my pc is running smooth as silk now. :D
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/fix-wmpnetwk-exe-in-windows-7/
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On April 25 2013 11:59 iiAreJordan wrote:Show nested quote +On April 25 2013 10:55 Cyro wrote:
Stuttering is 99% down to loading the game properly (run preloader in arcade, x8 some replays start to finish every time you load the game before you play, because otherwise it does not load most stuff and stutters like a bitch until everything is cached)
and with a gts450, you can run the game on low no problem. Passmark says it's a ton better than 260, which is enough for me to benchmark the same FPS on min vs max graphics settings on 1920x1080 (not counting physics, effects and reflections as graphical settings) and have >100fps early game on max settings, ~450 on low in some places on some maps
You probably have a shitty CPU, to go along with the old, low tier GPU - not that it really holds you back in important for sc2 especially at a lower resolution than 1920x1080, but it's unlikely you have a strong system paired with a card like a gts450, which could mean you have half as much or less performance of the best mainstream CPU's in sc2 I don't know... I ran this game decently at 40-60 fps about a week ago, then this issue started occuring and there's a whole thread on bnet forums about it too, so I'm not sure if it's the servers or my internet or something. My processor is a pentinum(r)dual-core cpu e5300 @2.6 ghz and I have 4 gb of ram. My screen resolution is at 1366 x768 because I can't afford a good monitor either, lol... TT I also play terran at a high masters level. Do you think it would be worth it to buy either a used video card or processor? or is it not safe?
It's usually not worth it to upgrade the CPU. Something that would make a serious difference also needs a new motherboard and RAM. Changing your graphics card does not make any difference on low graphics. Your current graphics card is also fine on high graphics with your screen resolution. You should hold onto your money until you have enough for a serious upgrade, and you shouldn't upgrade your graphics card in any case without a higher resolution monitor.
Try thinking about what changed since last week and see if you can revert that change. Did you fiddle with some settings somewhere in SC2, some program or Windows? Did you update any program? Installed a newer driver for something? You can look around in the Control Panel under the Programs category (at least in Windows Vista, 7, 8, no idea about XP). There are various places showing updates and installed programs with their date. Sort by date and look if you find something suspicious for the date where you started seeing problems.
In general, if you think your PC is not good enough, research about optimizing Windows by stopping services you don't need, stop (or uninstall) programs that run in the background that you don't need, try different drivers, etc. Next time you format and install Windows, don't install strange software that came with the PC, motherboard or graphics card or anything else that you don't use. Perhaps don't even install drivers if everything works fine without them. Stuttering does not need to have anything to do with a slow PC, it's more about background programs or drivers behaving badly.
Also listen to Cyro and try to see if the stuttering goes away after going through some replays and the unit preloader arcade map before doing anything else.
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On April 25 2013 11:59 iiAreJordan wrote:Show nested quote +On April 25 2013 10:55 Cyro wrote:
Stuttering is 99% down to loading the game properly (run preloader in arcade, x8 some replays start to finish every time you load the game before you play, because otherwise it does not load most stuff and stutters like a bitch until everything is cached)
and with a gts450, you can run the game on low no problem. Passmark says it's a ton better than 260, which is enough for me to benchmark the same FPS on min vs max graphics settings on 1920x1080 (not counting physics, effects and reflections as graphical settings) and have >100fps early game on max settings, ~450 on low in some places on some maps
You probably have a shitty CPU, to go along with the old, low tier GPU - not that it really holds you back in important for sc2 especially at a lower resolution than 1920x1080, but it's unlikely you have a strong system paired with a card like a gts450, which could mean you have half as much or less performance of the best mainstream CPU's in sc2 I don't know... I ran this game decently at 40-60 fps about a week ago, then this issue started occuring and there's a whole thread on bnet forums about it too, so I'm not sure if it's the servers or my internet or something. My processor is a pentinum(r)dual-core cpu e5300 @2.6 ghz and I have 4 gb of ram. My screen resolution is at 1366 x768 because I can't afford a good monitor either, lol... TT I also play terran at a high masters level. Do you think it would be worth it to buy either a used video card or processor? or is it not safe?
It can be safe to buy used video cards/CPUs but it's a very complex thing to do, that I wouldn't recommend if you don't know what you are doing. Generally, there are so many sales and deals going on from so many retailers that you should never really have to buy anything used, because brand new sale prices are better.
Most manufacturers cover warranty by serial number or simply don't care to ask (it's odd that 'other' products really don't get the warranty and support that computer components do, gotta remember that with other products if it breaks you are screwed, we are quite spoiled) so if you buy used, you are still covered under warranty just as if you bought used, but this is something that differs manufacturer to manufacturer (ie AMD and EVGA is very adamant about seeing receipts, while Intel will never ask, Mushkin and Noctua will always ask but are okay with an ebay receipt or a forum PM), and takes time and effort on your part to contact the company in question or talk to people who tried to RMA second-hand hardware.
When you get down to it, buying used is very rarely worth it, and generally for older gen stuff, niche hardware, and non-electrical heatsinks only. When you compare it to the fact that with buying new, you can risk buying from kohls, or staples, or office depot, and get ripped off so hard in price, it's not as dangerous as people make it out to be - but it's a lot more complicated than the already complicated process of trying to figure out what new components are the best performance/price with prices changing hourly.
However CPUs are basically never worth buying used unless you are buying an older gen CPU for a low end or budget build. GPUs, you can find high end-older gen GPUs on great prices that stomp new gpus in performance/price (often with other drawbacks though) but at the moment, there's a lot of insanely good deals on mid-range, new-gen GPUs that wasn't around a week ago.
Doesnt really matter because in your case, you don't really need a new gpu or cpu lol. I mean you could really use a CPU upgrade but your current issue is definitely not your CPU. Your hardware doesn't just suddenly degrade in performance (it might degrade in stability and you get random crashes, but that's like after a decade, if not much more). You got good enough hardware my friend, if you were happy with your computer a few weeks ago then you don't need an upgrade.
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Hey guys, hoping y'all can send me in the right direction on my hunt for a new computer, because I know absolutely nothing when it comes to this stuff. And when I say nothing, I mean... nothing. Never really been much of a gamer, never had a PC, but I've been playing SC2 recently on my roommates PC and think it's about time I cough up some cash and get one of my own. I have a macbook I use for everything else, so essentially all I need is something that will effectively run SC. Eventually I'd like to stream, so I don't know how much that changes what I need.
So in short, interested in a PC that will run Starcraft and allow me to stream. Nothing more. If it could do a bit more, that'd be nice, but absolutely not necessary.
Considering how little I know about computers, I don't feel like I can properly answer the questions in the OP. I can't really come up with a budget, considering I don't know if I'm going to be looking at a $500 bill or a $1000 bill.
Hopefully you guys can still help me out considering my dire lack of knowledge. Thanks a ton.
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United Kingdom20275 Posts
I don't know... I ran this game decently at 40-60 fps about a week ago, then this issue started occuring and there's a whole thread on bnet forums about it too, so I'm not sure if it's the servers or my internet or something.
My processor is a pentinum(r)dual-core cpu e5300 @2.6 ghz
Where are you comparing FPS? Because 40-60 is very high. Did you make sure to make it ABSOLUTELY a consistent test? Because there's so inconsistent performance even on some maps, different types of units, hell just by playing different strategy you can see average framerates around twice as high playing the game
On a relatively cpu light 2v2 benchmark (not maxed, mostly 6 supply units so low unit count) i have numbers for core 2 duo @3ghz, i7 950@3.8 and a 3570k@5ghz, and the performance is literally less than 10 fps on the core 2, 19fps on the 950@3.8 and 32fps on the 3570k (physics on effects maxed) so it's not small at all. 50-100% higher on all of the numbers on all 3 systems, though, with physics off and effects low-medium
So in short, interested in a PC that will run Starcraft and allow me to stream. Nothing more.
Well, do you want something like a cheap, old CPU (phenom II x4) and a little graphics card to play on low settings 1280x720, or do you want a CPU literally twice as good? The capability to max settings on 1920x1080 is not really expensive, the difference between max and min is really just a $~110 card, a hd7770.
CPU on the other hand, it's a massive deal for sc2, look at my response just above this - and you generally lose FPS further with streaming too. Well, "generally" does not mean it will always happen, you lose a ton of FPS from streaming in any normal build (actually capture card setups are so rare that i have not actually seen any data on them aside from one persons numbers a long time ago)
www.speedtest.net
www.pingtest.net
What's your upload and ping? Prerequisite for both to be at least decent
Are you trying to scrape by with the game on low and being able to count frames in worst performance cases, or just build something cheap? effective/cheap? powerful/affordable?
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Hey guys, hoping y'all can send me in the right direction on my hunt for a new computer, because I know absolutely nothing when it comes to this stuff. And when I say nothing, I mean... nothing. Never really been much of a gamer, never had a PC, but I've been playing SC2 recently on my roommates PC and think it's about time I cough up some cash and get one of my own. I have a macbook I use for everything else, so essentially all I need is something that will effectively run SC. Eventually I'd like to stream, so I don't know how much that changes what I need.
So in short, interested in a PC that will run Starcraft and allow me to stream. Nothing more. If it could do a bit more, that'd be nice, but absolutely not necessary.
Considering how little I know about computers, I don't feel like I can properly answer the questions in the OP. I can't really come up with a budget, considering I don't know if I'm going to be looking at a $500 bill or a $1000 bill.
Hopefully you guys can still help me out considering my dire lack of knowledge. Thanks a ton.
Streaming can potentially change things a lot, depends on what kind of stream you are talking about. If you strictly mean a build for sc2 only (dota, etc games would be great, crysis, bioshock not as great but still very playable on decent settings)...
phenom x4 (go for a C3 revision, google it). microcenter, newegg, ebay, whatever, the cheaper you get this old cpu the better, frankly.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=M4A88T-M-PB-R&cat=MBB
asus matx motherboard, good enough. better quality than the other am3 boards listed to warrant the $5 price increase
2x2gb of cheapest DDR3 RAM you can find, or 1x4gb. I dont think it's worth you spending money for 8gb of ram unless you like to go dual monitor, throw up tons of tabs simultaneously while gaming on dual screen kind of thing. you can always add ram in the future if you really need it. Just buy it from newegg. There'll always be a cool, decent ram that has some sort of sale or discount on it. You can also just buy 2x4gb and sell one of the sticks on ebay.
corsair cx430 or cx430m, whatever is cheaper, newegg. You dont really need a higher quality psu unless you plan to stick a lot of lights and fans and peripherals in your case. xfx pro450w, 550w, are higher quality but not necessary, and corsair's support really is good for a new system builder (xfx has good support but not corsair good).
rosewill ranger, coolermaster elite 430, or nzxt source 210 in order of quality and price, all very cheap cases. zalman has good cheap cases too, you can check them out. check out amazon, walmart.com, and newegg for prices.
There's a 650 1gb for $71 on newegg, super low price, especially given it comes with a $75 coupon of some kind. not a gpu that's recommended, ever, but at that price it's great. It'll just be enough to max out sc2 graphics no problem, it'll play crysis, bioshock, etc, although it will struggle and have to be on medium, high. Note that graphics settings dont affect streaming at all, you can stream low just as hard/easy as streaming ultra graphics. There's the 7790 on really good price on newegg right now (something like $124 + games you can sell off) which will play modern games like crysis, bioshock on better settings but overkill for sc2.
zalman lq-310 on newegg. lq-315 if you can spare an extra $5. the lq310 will be enough to get a phenom x4 to 4-4.2ghz and that's all you need.
samsung 840 pro 128gb ssd on newegg, i believe it's like $115? it's a bit pricey but so worth it. Although if you can't afford that, I think there's a samsung 840 for like $70 on newegg, somewhere (840 pro >>> 830 > 840 in terms of speed).
$433... if you'd like we can find you a intel x25-m g2 80gb or 320 80gb for like $50, that'd drop you under $400. It's slower, less storage, but still a million times faster than a HDD. It's more fitting to this budget honestly but the samsung 840pro is on such a good deal, and the 840 at that price ain't bad either.
You will need to overclock it to get a good value out of it, plenty of guides out there, it's extremely easy. Stay away from tomshardware.com forums and realize their reviews are often very, very bad - they are okay for a general picture but be aware that they cater to uninformed people, and are intentionally misleading (they make money off reviews, how ethical do you think they are? it's a quandry every review site faces but TH and AT are really bad). Anandtech, all the 'big' review sites almost always give really bad reviews, so be careful. Go to forums like overclock.net, overclockers.com, for good advice. When comparing stuff, google stuff like "X vs" and let autofill complete it and see what someone who's used the item you are interested in, and the competing product (ie want to know how good the 650 is? google "650 vs" and results will come up of 650 vs 7770).
And newegg reviews, idiots, tons of bad hardware gets 5 star because people buy a computer, it works, it may very well even be fast, but it's terrible compared to the competition but not many people buy 2 computers at the same time, and furthermore 2 different ones. Always look for the quality of a review, not the quantity. You want to read for people who sound they like know what they are talking about, who you can't understand (lol), who clearly state they've tried both X and Y, and who abuse the stuff and put it to the limit (extreme overclocks, took it apart, etc).
With computer components, price dictates everything. Anything can be awesome at the right price. This build will max out sc2, it'll stream 720@45-60fps, it'll struggle to do much more but it'll be smooth streaming sc2 single player. Team games will be noticeably, but not unplayably, slow when streaming. During single player max battles during streaming it'll slow down a bit but not so much that you can't micro (ie ~25fps+).
Very simply, if you can afford it, there's a $179 i5-3570k from tigerdirect which is the god of gaming and will easily stream 720@60fps sc2 with 40+ fps, overclock way better, much higher quality, and throw in a $125 Z77X-D3H from newegg. That would put your price at $605 for basically more than twice the SC2/streaming speed and quality, so a great value even at a higher price tag, but it's necessary if you just want what works.
If you plan to play a new game in the future you can always buy the i5 and motherboard then for less than you could buy it today, there are computers that play and even stream sc2 on less. But this phenom x4 build is really a cheapo computer that'll stream smoothly, definitely a focus more on saving money than performance, as per the tone of your post. I've listed options for you.
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EPT
