Top 3 GPU's under $250 (REAL PRICE)

 3. EVGA GeForce GTX 1060

For just over $200 this is a very capable card. It can play 'all' games at 60fps on a 1080p mode (also great for 1440p). It comes from a reputable seller and Gigabyte are known for their supreme ultra durable build quality.

2.EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

No I'm not sponsored by EVGA but they do make good Graphics cards. This is the beast in the buget world. It has a sweet spot performance that seems to be perfect for most games. This is is cheapest on the list at under $150

1. MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

 This card can often be picked up for $250 on a good deal. This is similar to the third ranked card but it has an extra 2 GB of VRAM. This GDDR5 memory is high speed and will lead to better performance in games where textures are important. This also makes the card a better option for 1440p and 4k gaming as more memory is required.

 AMD...

Yes. Sadly AMD do not feature on this countdown. I currently believe they do not offer a card in this price range that competes with any Nvidia option. Sorry fanboys!

Goal Line Technology

Football/Soccer is the most played sport in the world. People can be found playing it on every Continent. All you need is two temporary goals and a football. Or do you need a £200,000 system to determine whether a ball crosses a line?

Goal line technology is a cutting edge field where either cameras or magnetic sensors are used to determine when all of the football is over the 'line'. One of the systems uses Hawk Eye which is a network of cameras that can precisely determine the location of the ball using trigonometry. This is a very expensive system and requires fine tuning by highly trained engineers. The benefits of Hawk Eye are that it is highly accurate and it can work even if some players are blocking the goal. The other technology used magnetic sensors and a special ball to measure when the ball is a set distance away from the back of the goal. This is a system that is far cheaper and can be set up for roughly £40,000. This magnetic sensor technology also has to be set up by skilled professionals but it is slightly simpler as no calculations have to be done for the balls position to be located.

Some people believe all you need is a pair of officials that stand by the goal to see if the ball fully crosses the line. Other people realise that the tiny margin a ball can cross or not cross by is so small that a pair of humans probably won't see it. this leads me to believe that as the years go on more and more goals and tournaments will be using goal line technology to make sure all goals are awarded correctly.

Threadripper

AMD has released specification for their new Ryzen based "Threadripper" monsters. These are huge CPU's and are equal to two Ryzen 5/7 chips. The manufacturing process allegedly just 'glues' two other zen silicone cores together (visible in the image below) and then 'bins' the lowest performing cores. Binning is when a manufacturer turns off cores on a CPU that are not up to standard. This leads to a range of core count models but it means they are all high-performance cores.

Threadripper is a CPU line that has a very high core count. Their top end 1950x model will have 16 cores and 32 threads meaning a huge number of tasks can be executed at once. You can even run multiple sets of multithreaded workloads. For example, you can render, stream and encode at the same time. No blue team CPU currently offers this many threads. Due to such high core counts, Threadripper CPU's have a very high TDP (Thermal Design Power) going all the way up to 180W. This means an extremely beefy air cooler or a water cooling loop will definitely be required to run the CPUs without any thermal throttling. This is definitely the biggest downside to any high core count CPUs. Another negative of high core count models is that they generally have lower operating frequencies. The models discussed here have a base frequency of 3.4gHz. This offers a plenty high enough per core performance but adding some RGB LED strips to your case should help by tripling all computing performance 😀.


If I was a high-end content creator planning on building a new system in the next year I would definitely choose AMD over any core i9 processors. (If real world performance is equal to what AMD claims).

AMD is back

For over a decade the world has been covered in a blue shroud of Intel dominance. Ever since 2006 Intel has been growing its CPU market share dramatically. In Q3 of 2016 Intel had 84% of the market share for CPU sales. This had led to huge problems for consumers. Innovation was slowed, prices rose and Intel no longer had to care about being good to customers as they had no other choice. They were easily smashing Vishera and the Fx series out of the water with their core i5 and i7 CPU skews. The main problem for AMD CPU's was single threaded workload. AMD had learned to fit lots of cores in for a little cost but their CPU's had awful single threaded performance. This led to big losses in areas such as gaming. This was a big loss for AMD as in the late naughties and early twenty-tens gaming exploded (largely in e-sports games) and the demand for desktop CPU's went up. Intel took most of the profit from this. AMD was in a sticky situation and they knew they had to change something drastically...

Finally, the Ryzen circle is complete with 7,5 and 3. (similar to core i7, i5, and i3... I wonder why!!?!?). This means that AMD has officially made its comeback firing a broadside of new great value processors. AMD is now back in the favor of all PC enthusiasts. All of their new RYZEN architecture CPU's are full overclockable, come with heaps of L1, 2 and 3 caches, are low TDP and also have loads of threads. All this combined leads to in my opinion the best lineup of CPU's the world has ever seen. AMD's range of CPU's all hit a specific audience and they hit it perfectly. Going from the value of the Ryzen 3 end to extreme performance in the 1800x. Has a list of CPU's ever been easier to understand?

Build a Budget PC - #7

Summary

What have we learnt?

In general finding compatible PC parts is not an extremely taxing task. Due to helpful tools like PcPartPicker: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ and manufacturers websites, it is fairly easy to select compatible parts. The hard part is choosing which set of compatible parts fit your budget best. I will be covering both full compatibility and also balancing/budgeting proportions in another post. 

How do you put all these parts together?

Don't worry! Next weekend I am starting the Blogs new weekly series. This will be a step by step picture/video based guide on how to actually build any computer. We will do a part of the PC each week much like the previous series and this should help you learn in a gradual way! 

Feedback

I am completely open to all feedback so please use the comment section below to say anything about my budget PC series. I would also like all of my readers to complete this poll: http://www.strawpoll.me/13045727

Build a Budget PC - #6

Choosing a Case

What is a case?

This one is fairly simple because it is the least technical piece of hardware on the parts list and is also the most easily seen! InCASE you didn't know the case is the external box that all hardware fits into. They usually come with some front panel I/O and a power/reset button.

So does it matter which one I get?

Do not let the simplicity of the case fool you. It is still deadly important that you purchase one that is compatible with your current and future parts. Quite handily the names for a PC case size correspond with motherboard sizings. This is the most important compatibility point you must get right. Cases are either ATX, MicroATX or Mini-ITX. This corresponds with motherboard sizings. It is likely that a larger case will have support for smaller boards as well as the largest size. This can be checked on the Case manufacturers website.

What else matters?

There are many features available on different cases. For example, some come with power supplies, extra fans, dust filters, LED's, glass windows and USB 3.0 front panel support. When buying a PC Case it is a good idea to think about what you want out of the case before even looking on any website for one. I would recommend not getting a case with a built-in PSU because they are not usually up to normal standards. In this day and age, I would recommend front panel USB 3.0 because it has faster data transfer speeds and it also helps to future-proof your case. I would also look for a case with at least two fans because this should ensure an airflow that is fast enough. Furthermore, dust filters are a must need for any case. If a case you are looking at does not have them then look for a different one. The lack of dust filters will mean your PC will become clogged with dust which can lead to overheating and even fires. Both LED's and windows are aesthetic choices and it is up to you.

Which one did I get?

I chose the Phanteks eclipse p400. This is a case that comes with two fans, dust filters all around, front panel USB 3.0, RGB lighting and a side panel window. The case is also an ATX size so I could upgrade in the future. This case looks very nice as well so overall I am extremely happy. I did not pay an extra £15 for the s (silent) version because I do not believe that a small amount of padding will make my system silent... Furthermore, I do not care that much about the noise my computer makes. 

Build a Budget PC - #5

Choosing the GPU/Graphics Card

What is a GPU?

A GPU is the silicone based chip found on the graphics card in your computer. Like a CPU it is a unit that does sums to provide information for your computer. A CPU is like a utility knife, It has a wide range of capabilities and can do many different tasks. This is needed in a modern PC because the tasks we undertake on them are very varied. A GPU is more like a surgeon's scalpel. It has one specific task, and for a GPU this is doing a huge amount of maths calculations to normally post pixels onto your screen. A GPU has thousands of almost identical cores that do almost identical tasks during their use. A GPU can also be used for other intensive maths tasks (like video editing) but we will mainly be talking about how they are used to calculate the positions of pixels on thew computers monitor. 

What are Graphics Cards?

A graphics card is the place where the GPU is housed. The graphics card contains; the GPU, VRAM and a cooling solution. The data that is about to be used by the GPU is stored on the VRAM (VideoRAM). This is much like how the standard RAM stores quick access data for the computers CPU. These components are mounted on a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and connect to the MOBO usually via a PCI-e x16 connection. This gives it very close access to the CPU so it can be controlled easily. All parts of the graphics card give off heat which needs to be dissipated to ensure components do not overheat and therefore break. This means that heat sinks usually with fans attached are used to help the cooling process.

Who makes GPU's and Graphics Cards?

There are only two main companies that are currently manufacturing high-end GPU's. These are Nvidia and AMD. In my opinion (and also most computer enthusiasts) Nvidia is the superior brand. This is because they manufacture better chips for the same price as AMD. Although I say that I prefer Nvidia chips this is a massive generalisation and there are many Radeon (AMD) cards that are very competitive with GeForce (Nvidia) cards.

This is just the start of the story. There are many companies that then take these GPU's and put them onto different cards with different VRAM, cooling, aesthetics and also special add-ons (linked to games for example). There is a minimal performance difference between the different card manufacturers but it is always good to look out for different manufacturers of cards.

Which GPU/Graphics Card did I get?

What I decided to do is a very common PC building tactic. I planned all of my components with costs and then put the rest of it towards buying a GPU. I had £145 left over so this meant I didn't have quite enough for an AMD Rx470 but I had plenty for a GTX 1050ti. After I had selected my GPU I started to look at Video Cards as well. I decided that I wanted a card with 4Gb of VRAM with a small one fan cooling solution. This led me to purchase a Zotac GTX 1050ti. This is a small form factor card so it could be used in a smaller case in the future. It is also well known to be very quiet and also Zotac is a well known Video Card producer so I know it should last a long time.

Build a Budget PC - #4

Choosing the Storage

What is Storage?

Storage is the place inside a PC where larger amounts of less frequently visited data sets are kept. This includes anything that is either too large or not needed often enough to be allocated space in the RAM.  This includes data such as the operating system, games, photos and videos. Almost everything is stored outside of the RAM in this storage. Storage has slower access speeds compared to RAM but it has higher capacities and also lower costs. 

What does storage look like?

Storage comes in two almost polar opposite forms. Solid State Drives (SSD's) and Hard Disk Drives (HDD's). The image further up the pager is an HDD with its front panel off. As you can see it has a series of magnetic metal disks with arms sliding between them. There is also a lower portion where there a controller to manage the movement of the lever arm. The tip of the lever is highly sensitive and can both detect and write data onto the disk as it spins at 5200 RPM. Small sections in the drives can be left either 'on' or 'off' (a binary storage system). 

Pictured below the HDD is an SSD. This is a NAND storage flash drive. It composes of a set of storage chips and a microcontroller to manage the data storage. SSD's have no moving parts but they still use the same on/off system as an HDD for storing data from your PC. Both HDD's and SSD's both generally use the same connectors as well. SATA power and data cables have to be plugged in for both drives to work. The power cable comes directly from your PSU and the data cable plugs into a connector on your MOBO.

Which should I get?

There are pros and cons of both SSD's and HDD's.

SSD's are good because:

• They have faster read and write speeds both sequentially and in 4k chunks.
• They will last longer and are more reliable due to a lack of moving parts.

SSD's drawbacks are:

• They are much more expensive.
• Poorly manufactured drives can experience more 'data drops' than HDD's.
• Some cases don't have support for them

HDD's are good because:

• They are much cheaper per Gb and start at lower price points.
• Cases usually have support for multiple hard drives.

HDD's drawbacks are:

• They are prone to breaking after several years of constant use.
• They have slower sequential and 4k speeds. 

Which did I get?

I decided from an early stage that the superior £/Gb ratio of an HDD took my fancy. If you buy a HDD from a reliable manufacturer you should not have to worry about horror stories of hard drives breaking soon after purchase. My particular hard drive came with a 2 year warranty which is good. I will be careful though when the end of this period is coming up because it could be a time the drives are prone to loosing data. I am happy with my Western Digital caviar blue 500Gb HDD but it does only operate at SATA 2 speeds which is half the bandwidth of SATA 3. In the future I plan to buy a 250Gb SSD for the OS and frequently opened applications.

Build a Budget PC - #3

Choosing the RAM

What is RAM?

RAM is Random Access Memory. This is where the data that is currently in use by the CPU is 'stored'. You can look at RAM as your computer's short-term memory. This is a very fast access data storage solution and holds data that is likely to be needed soon. It is normally 100x faster for your CPU to communicate with the RAM then compared to even a very fast SSD. This makes it ideal for storing a few Gb of data that is in frequent use. The higher capacity your RAM is the more data can be stored in this 'SUPERFAST' solution.

How can I make sure my RAM is compatible?

Ram compatibility is one of the easiest things to do when building a budget PC. All you have to do is see what DDR your MOBO supports (DDR3 in my case), and install it making sure it is 240pin DIMM. The 240 pin means it is desktop RAM rather than laptop RAM. Do not worry too much about the frequency of the RAM because it is mainly just a selling point. Higher frequency does not always offer a performance boost. In some cases, super high-frequency RAM can be 4-5% slower than 1600MHz RAM.

How much RAM do I Need?

You can have anywhere from 1Gb to 128Gb on a modern PC so how can I work out how much RAM I need? For most PC users I would recommend 8Gb of RAM. This seems to be the sweet spot. 8Gb gives you enough headroom to render objects in 3D, use photoshop, play almost any AAA rated game. You could probably run on 4Gb but you would be wanting more headroom very soon. As you can see from my memory stats when browsing the web with 3-4 tabs open there is about 3Gb of memory usage. For this reason, if you are not doing anything intensive on your PC then 4 should be enough, but for gaming, I would recommend 8 or even 16. I would recommend getting any RAM in a dual channel set (if your MOBO supports it).

Which RAM did I Choose?

When I first started looking for RAM I thought RAM was just RAM. This is what a lot of people will tell you saying that if sold as it actually is it does not matter what RAM you buy. After my experience of buying RAM off the internet for half the price as is on newegg.com, you would think differently. I purchased a 2x4GB kit from a seller online with over 4,000 5 star reviews. It seemed too good to be true and it was. The ram didn't work! I had to send it back and get my money back so be careful what you buy. Eventually, I got two 4Gb sticks of Integral RAM at 1600MHz. This works perfectly and as you can see from my graph gives me plenty of headroom and speed.

Build a Budget PC - #2

Choosing a Motherboard

What is a Motherboard?

The Motherboard or MOBO is the main hub of every PC. This is the place where all the components connect together physically and through software. The MOBO have lots of I/O (input/output) connectors and ports on them and it is key to choose the right ones for your parts. For example if you want USB 3.0 on your computer you need a USB 3.0 header on your Motherboard. The MOBO also contains the chipset. The chipset manages the transfer of data between all parts of a PC. You can now probably tell that compatibility between components is a key factor to consider when purchasing a MOBO.

How can I ensure my MOBO is compatible?

Firstly you need to ensure the socket type is the same as the CPU you purchased. In my case this is an AMD AM3+ socket. This might sound a bit confusing but you simply need them to be the same on both of the parts. Different socket types are essentially the same things but with a certain number of pins for the CPU to physically connect to.
The size of the MOBO is also important. For example if you want a smaller build you could use a Mini ITX board or a Micro ATX. A full size ATX board will have more connectors and ram slots. When building a budget PC size doesn't really matter so a large MOBO can be good. With more ram and PCIe slots it leads to better upgradability in the future. But on the other hand an extra £20 saved here can be spent on a better GPU for example. Also a smaller board can often offer everything a budget build needs. For example a budget build is unlikely to have more than one GPU so less PCIe slots are needed.

How can I get USB-3?

USB 3.0 is a relatively new standard in data transfer. If you are ever planning on transferring data from a camera for example to your PC I would highly recommend getting a USB 3.0 system. This means you will require one or more USB 3.0 headers on your MOBO. The company selling the Motherboard is likely to use the USB 3.0 headers as a selling point so it is normally easy to see which ones have them.

Which MOBO did I choose?

Photo from Gigabyte website.

I purchased the Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3. This is a mATX form factor board. This means it has all the necessary headers and connectors but no more. With four RAM slots, two PCIe connectors, and a regular PCI slot. This provides the minimum requirements to fit all my components and also has room for more expansion in the future. For example the four ram slots are a place where I can easily upgrade my RAM capacity at a later date. Gigabyte are also a well known brand and are known for building durable long lasting boards.









Come back next week for part #3 of our budget PC series.

Build a Budget PC - #1

Choosing the CPU

What is a CPU?

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the main brain for your computer. This is where most of the mathematical calculations happen within your PC. This ultimately means it converts input code to output code for the rest of your PC to use. From this you probably now see how important choosing the right CPU is. 

Who makes CPU's?

There are two main producers in the world of processors or CPU's, AMD and Intel. Generally Intel create more expensive processors focused around performance per core and on the other hand AMD manufacture processors with more cores but lower per core performance rates. Other companies do make CPU's but none have the same wide range of components to go with the CPU that AMD and Intel have.

What are Cores?

CPU's have different numbers of cores varying from one to eight (in normal desktop CPU's). Inside a single core one task can be performed. This means a CPU with more cores has better multitasking ability. The processing power of each of the cores also determine the processors computing speed.

Which CPU did I choose?

I chose an AMD FX-6300 CPU for my build because I believe that it has the best performance in the price range I am focusing on. The FX-6300 is a CPU with 6 cores so there will be a good level of multitasking compared to dual or quad core CPU's. This means programmes that have multiple tasks such as editing tools or rendering software will run faster due to the relatively high core count. I also got the black edition CPU which means the chip can be overclocked with the correct chipset motherboard.

Come back next week for part #2 of our budget PC series!