Php20,000 Intel Gaming Build Guide 2016

2016 has been so far an extremely intriguing year for technology. Virtual Reality is expanding tremendously, Nvidia and AMD’s latest architecture is in demand, Samsung releases it’s Gear VR Headset, and Microsoft’s HoloLens is becoming known more and more each day. That being said, technology is expanding rapidly every single day.

What does that mean for PC? Well frankly because of the release of Nvidia’s and AMD’s Pascal and Polaris architecture, many people have been asking for a new build guide, and since older generations of hardware are now cheaper, we can now build a capable PC without breaking the bank. Hence, we have our Php20,000 Intel PC Gaming Build Guide 2016. Through this guide we hope that you’ll have a reference and encourage you in building your own PC.

Take note that this build is not VR Ready and don’t expect to play AAA games in high settings at 1080p. Php20,000 will not suffice when used for VR Gaming. The Prices that we list here are from Dynaquest.com and PCX.com.ph as of July, 29, 2016.

 

Build 1:

Part	Name	Price
CPU:	Intel Core i3-6100 3.70 GHz	5,450
GPU:	ZOTAC GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB GDDR5	5,200
MOBO:	MSI H110M PRO-VH	3,200
RAM:	Kingston HyperX FURY4GB DDR4 2133MHz (1×4)	1,130
HDD:	Western Digital 1TB	2,290
SSD:	N/A	N/A
PSU:	Huntkey Green Power 500 Max (500Watts)	1,700
CASE:	Tecware Infinity	1,240

PRICE: PHP20,210

For our first build we utilize the Intel Core i3-6100, a dual-core 6th Gen Skylake processor (which is currently Intel’s latest Gen as of this writing) that clocks at a very fast speed of 3.7Ghz with Hyper-threading enabled. For our graphics card we use the Zotac Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB GDDR5 Edition, despite its old age, the GTX 750Ti is perfect for our budget and is more than capable in playing competitive online games in High Settings at 1080p, while also has the power to drive AAA games in mixed settings at 1080p.

This build is perfect if you’re a gamer who is looking for a cheap but decent setup that is capable in running any game right now with decent frame-rates. While the GTX 750Ti can’t max out AAA games, it can handle them smoothly when you turn down settings and the resolution a bit (depending on the game). If you have around Php2000 more to spare, buy a GTX 950 rather than a 750Ti as it will give around 10+ more FPS. Below we have videos of benchmarks of the GTX 750Ti’s performance and the Core i3-6100’s performance as well.

Overwatch

Battlefield 4

GTA V

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9FEmEffM3A

Star Wars Battlefront

Build 2 (Pentium) :

Part	Name	Price
CPU:	Intel Pentium G4400	2,700
GPU:	Palit GTX 960 OC 2GB 128Bit DDR5	8,790
MOBO:	MSI H110M PRO-VH	3,200
RAM:	Kingston HyperX FURY4GB DDR4 2133MHz (1×4)	1,130
HDD:	Western Digital 1TB	2,290
SSD:	N/A	N/A
PSU:	Huntkey Green Power 500 Max (500Watts)	1,700
CASE:	Tecware Infinity	1,240

PRICE: PHP21,050

If you want a significantly better gaming performance than the i3 and the i5 build below, choose this. Here, we utilized Intel’s Pentium G4400, which uses the same Skylake Micro-architecture as the one used on the i3-6100 and the i5-6500.

Performance-wise, this is slower than the i3-6100 due to its slower clock speed of 3.3Ghz and no hyperthreading at all (hyper-threading is exclusive for the Core series excluding desktop i5). Though gaming wise, this is the fastest build between the three for raw gaming performance thanks to the GTX 960. Since our budget only calls for Php20k, we can’t have a more powerful CPU nor a better GPU such as the GTX 1060 (which is equivalent to a GTX 980).

The major drawback of this build is upgradeability. If you plan on buying a higher end GPU such as the GTX 1080 in the future, the Pentium will no doubt bottleneck the performance of the 1080. In our case (GTX 960), the processor will also bottleneck the card when placed on certain AAA games that required multi-core processing. Despite that the Pentium G4400 is dual core, it has no hyper-threading which means each core only acts as one, unlike the Core i3 series.

Overall, this is still a good build if you plan on gaming directly at 1080p in high settings on selected AAA games (that is not CPU intensive) and casual competitive games. Below are videos of benchmarks of the GTX 960 paired with a Pentium G4400.

GTA V

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3

Doom

CS:GO

Tomb Raider

Dying Light

Build 3 (Intel HD 530 iGPU) :

Part	Name	Price
CPU:	Intel Core i5-6500 3.20-3.60GHz	9,370
GPU:	N/A	N/A
MOBO:	MSI H110M PRO-VH	3,200
RAM:	Kingston HyperX Fury 8GB Single DDR4 2133	2,150
HDD:	Western Digital 1TB	2,290
SSD:	N/A	N/A
PSU:	Huntkey Green Power 500 Max (500Watts)	1,700
CASE:	Tecware Infinity	1,240

PRICE: PHP19,950

In our second build we used the Core i5-6500. Same as the i3-6100, the i5-6500 is a Skylake CPU that features 4 cores with no hyper-threading whatsoever. This means that there are no virtual cores and each core will only act as one instead of two. This is better in performance compared to the i3 since that the i3 it only has 2 physical cores and each core is acting as if it was two, while the i5 has 4 physical cores, which means it can handle simultaneous data better.

This is best suited to those who are looking to upgrade in the future since we only use the i5-6500’s Integrated Graphics. This is NOT RECOMMENDED to those who wants to game instantly out of the box. Since there’s no dedicated graphics card present, gaming performance will be significantly slow compared to the build above. The point of this build is for those who are looking to upgrade in the future and don’t want to spend more on the processor.

The i5-6500 is a very good processor that can handle high-end GPUs with little to no bottlenecks (depending on the game). Unlike the first build, if you upgrade the GPU of the first build to a high end GPU (i.e. 1060, 1070, 1080), it will definitely bottleneck the card to the point where GPU utilization might be even below 50% while playing AAA games (though playing casual competitive games will be pretty the same with only a 5-10% difference when compared to higher end CPUs). Thus delivering a significantly lower FPS, and sometimes a delay in controls/movement (latency).

The i5-6500 while not as good as higher end processors, still has a a better performance compared to the i3, and will most likely lessen the bottleneck issues that you may encounter when upgrading to higher end graphics cards.

Gaming performance of this build out of the box is generally good, and it can definitely handle casual and competitive games. If you have more than 20k as a budget, I’d suggest you pick this one and buy a dedicated graphics card. Below are videos of the Intel HD530 iGPU:

Metal Gear Solid V

Overwatch

GTA V

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPYSX_vffI8

Bottomline:

For Intel’s side there are many options. Whether its the Pentium G4400, i3 series, or the i5 processors, Intel has a very good CPU range that in most cases, beats AMDs processor even when they are on the same line.

• Build 1 – i3-6100 and a GTX 750Ti
  
  • A balance between two mediums. The i3-6100 won’t bottleneck the 750Ti, and gaming and computing performance is good.
  • Best build to start at. If you have a bit more money, buy a GTX 1060 instead. That way you’ll have a decent PC that’s capable of cranking most AAA games to high.
  • Choose this build if you want a balance between gaming, and raw computing performance (application processing).
    
• Build 2 – Pentium G4400 and GTX 960
  
  • Best build out of the three in terms of gaming performance out of the box.
  • The Major drawback of this build is for long term upgrades. The Pentium G4400 will no doubt bottleneck the card. If you plan on upgrading, be sure to buy a newer Skylake CPU (LGA1151)
  • Choose this build if you want a good gaming experience out of the box.
• Build 3 – i5-6500 (integrated graphics)
  
  • Weakest build in terms of gaming.
  • Do not choose this build if you plan on gaming instantly with high settings. It is capable enough in playing at low settings at a low resolution.
  • This build is faster in computing power compared to the other two thanks to its i5-6500 processor and larger RAM(8GB). Just buy a graphics card in the near future and you’ll have a decent setup that beats both of them.
  • Only choose this build if you plan on buying a higher end card in the near future. Gaming performance is not good out of the box.

Wondering if AMD is a better choice? Check out our Php20,000 AMD Build Guide.

Are you looking for a cheaper rig? or a new laptop? Check out our:

• Php10,000 Brand New Build Guide 2016
• Php10,000 Secondhand Build Guide 2016
• Php10,000 Hybrid Build Guide 2016 (Brand new and old components)
• Laptops around Php30,000