>>331376528
Go with SteamOS instead of Windows 10, it will save you $100 and it is literally what its designed for. Just make sure you install Kodi, Retroarch, and the other 10 foot stuff you want to have. As a bonus it will never randomly update when you want to use it for something and break shit.

You'd probably be better getting an i3 and bumping up to a 950 or a 960 in a budget build your GPU is a lot more important than your CPU.

Also you probably don't need to bother with the optical drive.

>>331377234
Windows will allow me to play any PC game on steam and yea I could drop the optical drive.

Is the i3 good for the latest games coming out?

>>331377448
If you must use Windows you should probably go with a legacy version, but if you do keep in mind that Microsoft is going to attempt to force you to upgrade and it may do it without your permission or consent. Windows just isn't a good fit for a home built living room appliance. SteamOS may have only around 2000 games right now, but what it lacks in library it makes up for in convenience and piece of mind.

Upcoming games using modern APIs like Vulkan are less dependent on single thread performance which means that the ability of chips like the i3 to run additional threads on untaxed cores will come into play more.

I'd probably go with something like this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/H9GHYJ for $500 + disk drives + OS

But only if I had to build today. With AMD's new drivers (Linux exclusive) and the new hardware coming this year I'm waiting on doing a build like this. Next years Zen/Polaris APUs will probably be the best thing ever for this type of build.

I would say you should cut down on that i5, seems to good for GPU and too expensive

isn't that the newest generation? but defiantly not get an i3

>>331376528
>GTX 750 Ti 2GB
fampai....

>>331378520
Could I lay this case on its side? Or has to be upright?

>>331379131
It can be oriented either way. There are other similar cases like that which are all fairly similar. Keep in mind you'll be paying a bit more for small form factor and appearance.

>>331378520
>this guy

Get the non-OEM 6100 for a dollar more which comes with a cooler already, and use the savings on the cooler to bump up the PSU, which along with the single-stick RAM gives a better upgrade path, and which allows you to switch the GPU to a 380, which is better than the 960. Like so:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QsLjP6

Also I addeded an HDD.

>>331380807
Thanks. I'm trying to decide whether the Alienware Alpha is better or not. I saw an i7 model on Amazon for $550 so is it better just to buy that or settle with this build that's a $100 more?

>>331376528
You're better off buying a console than a 750ti senpai

>750 Ti meme
Hello old friend

>>331383106
I changed it too a GTX 960.

>>331376528
With a PSU of less than 500 watts you can go with a single-rail design, no problems.

If it saves money, buy an older CPU with DDR3, with this budget you will not get much benefits from the new gen. Especially with games and video playback you don't need fast memory. The 2011 i7 can be overclocked to 4 ghz easily, later i5s will perform quite well too.

personally I wouldn't spend money on a case either, running it naked is fine unless you have small children or pets

>>331383050
Hmm? I'm not seeing it. I only see a $650 i7 and $550 i5 model. Not sure where you're getting $100 more from either, since the build I posted is $567. Maybe you meant the cost of Windows? But those Alphas are Steam OS models, so you'd have to factor that in for them as well, unless the one you saw somehow also has Windows.

In any case, all Alpha models come with essentially a GTX 750ti for the GPU. The R9 380 pisses all over it, and will do so even more on DX12.

>>331383929
Yes the Windows version. Is it still better then the 960 or about the same?

Oh and this is the cheapest I could find. Honestly I hate that you can't upgrade the GPU.

>>331384289
http://www.amazon.com/Alienware-ASM100-1580-Console-i3-4130T-Processor/dp/B00MA7AMKY