$500 Budget PC Build

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

chrislipa

Junior Member
Jan 20, 2010
11
0
0
Hey everybody, I'm building a simple box for mostly productivity apps, watching movies, and some occasional light gaming such as with World of Warcraft. I want to make sure that my prospective build is ok. I welcome any other comments or suggestions.

BUDGET RANGE: $450 - $550 including tax and shipping
SYSTEM USAGE: MS Office, Internet, playing movies, light gaming
PARTS NOT REQUIRED : keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: It is a design goal that when not playing games, the computer should be inaudible.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 925 2.8 GHz
Mobo: Biostar A785GE AM2+/AM3 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Memory:PQI POWER Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
GPU:Zotac ZT-20401-10L GeForce GT 240 512MB 128-bit GDDR5
HDD :Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA
Optical: LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model
Wireless: GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS PCI Wireless Adapter
Power:Rosewill RV350 350W ATX 1.3
Case:Apex TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower

These items total $528 on Newegg, including shipping. Price is a major concern, but I'll spring for more if it's really worth it. There are a few specific things I want to make sure of:

1) The power supply (350W) is enough.
2) All of this fits into the case, which is a largish microATX case.
3) There will be little to no noise when watching movies.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
lifeblood

lifeblood

Senior member
Oct 17, 2001
999
88
91
350W should be enough but you have no elbow room with that. Also, I would hold off getting the video card until I see how well the onboard video works. If it's lacking (which it probably will at 1920x1200) then spring for the video card.
 
C

chrislipa

Junior Member
Jan 20, 2010
11
0
0
I took out the video card and upgraded a few of the other components to companies with better reputations.

So now, I'm thinking about:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 925 2.8 GHz
Mobo: MSI 785GM-E5
Memory: OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
Optical: LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model
Wireless: GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS PCI Wireless Adapter
Power:OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W
Case: Apex TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower

I got a power supply that is overkill for this build, but I want to leave the option open for buying a low-end discrete GPU, probably just enough to play WoW at medium video settings with decent FPS. What do you guys think?

(I looked around the rest of the Anandtech website, and it seems that certain links but not all get those redirects. It's a little sketchy.)
 
C

chrislipa

Junior Member
Jan 20, 2010
11
0
0
Do you mean it looks better because the parts are from manufacturers with better reputations?
 
Bobsy

Bobsy

Member
Jan 5, 2010
166
41
101
I encourage you to read this thread: "Need your input on building a fast productivity-only PC (no gaming)". I posted it a couple of weeks ago since I had the same question as you (and a similar budget). The only difference with your goals is the light gaming part. Honestly, I think that machine could be used to play games quite nicely. Your "upgraded" config is close to what I ended up putting together last weekend, as you will see.
 
Last edited:
I

IDontKnowWhat

Junior Member
Jan 20, 2010
7
0
0
Hmm... I think the CPU is over-kill. The Phenom II X4 is designed for high-res gaming, and you're gonna be using it for office (productivity) software, movies, and some gaming. None of these tasks are particularly CPU intensive. You'd be better off with an Athlon II X4 630. OCZ DDR3 RAM has been known to crap out on many people and to not be over-clockable at all; I suggest you go with G.Skill Ripjaws. The PSU you mentioned is very good and modular and can be had in a combo deal with the DVD Burner you also mentioned. This way you save $15.

If you decide to go this route, the price would come down by a total of $49. With that, you can get a better case or something like a Radeon HD 4650 or perhaps a GeForce 9500GT
 
B

betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
0
0
In what way is the Phenom II X4 "designed for high-res gaming"? Isn't that primarily the role of the graphics sub-system?
 
I

IDontKnowWhat

Junior Member
Jan 20, 2010
7
0
0
betasub said:
In what way is the Phenom II X4 "designed for high-res gaming"? Isn't that primarily the role of the graphics sub-system?
Click to expand...

In the way that it has 6MB of L3 cache, which boosts performance in games quite a lot. And no, the GPU isn't the only important thing in games. If you have a slow CPU, it'll become a bottleneck in your system and will prevent you from achieving higher frame-rates.

Try to use a Celeron Dual-Core E3200 and a Core 2 Duo E8400 at the same clock-speed and see if you'll notice a difference in gaming frame-rates.
 
C

chrislipa

Junior Member
Jan 20, 2010
11
0
0
After taking IDontKnowWhat's combo suggestion, I was able to add back in a relatively decent low-end video card and still make the total $531, shipped. I also swapped out the motherboard for a less expensive one because I didn't need the onboard video.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 925 2.8 GHz
Mobo: ASUS M4N68T-M
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 2x2GB DDR3 1600
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
Optical: LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model
Wireless: GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS PCI Wireless Adapter
Power:OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W
 
B

betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
0
0
IDontKnowWhat said:
In the way that it has 6MB of L3 cache, which boosts performance in games quite a lot. And no, the GPU isn't the only important thing in games. If you have a slow CPU, it'll become a bottleneck in your system and will prevent you from achieving higher frame-rates.

Try to use a Celeron Dual-Core E3200 and a Core 2 Duo E8400 at the same clock-speed and see if you'll notice a difference in gaming frame-rates.
Click to expand...

I'm not dismissing the importance of a strong-enough CPU to drive the system, but you specifically mentioned "high-resolution gaming". Isn't the CPU-effect most noticeable at low-res, whereas at high-res the balance shifts largely towards the graphics?
 
C

chrislipa

Junior Member
Jan 20, 2010
11
0
0
The consensus seemed to be that my CPU was overpowered, so I dropped the CPU down from the X4 to the X2 BE. I would like to try to unlock the other cores on the X2, but I can't figure out if the M4N68T-M supports it. I guess I'm happy with the setup, regardless of whether I can unlock the other cores or not; the X2 BE is a fine chip. I won't be overclocking because of the increased heat and noise.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz
Mobo: ASUS M4N68T-M
Memory: OCZ Gold Edition (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1066
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
Optical: LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model
Wireless: GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS PCI Wireless Adapter
Power:OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W
Case: Apex TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower

(The PSU and optical drive come in a combo for $57, which is hard to beat.)

The shipped total is $517, which is more around where I'm shooting for. I think this build looks good. My original spec wasted money on the CPU, and this spec transferred some of that cash to the video card, where I think I'm getting more bang-for-the-buck, even though I won't be gaming that much.
 
C

chrislipa

Junior Member
Jan 20, 2010
11
0
0
You linked to a good deal, but that motherboard uses DDR2 memory and the processor is a step down, all for $7 total difference.

Is there some other compelling reason I shouldn't use that nForce motherboard?
 
J

jchu14

Senior member
Jul 5, 2001
613
0
0
you would be able save a decent chunk of money by going with one of these two cases for $20 shipped.

http://www.chiefvalue.com/product-_-...00157494010060
http://www.chiefvalue.com/product-_-...00157483010060

unfortunately neither of those cases provide 120mm exhaust fans. It might pay for you to look through Newegg's inventory to see if you can swing a case with 120mm exhaust fan.

The best you can do to reduce noise is to setup speedfan to reduce your case/cpu/gpu fan speed while idling. You might need to purchase some after market fans to really reduce the noise. For 120mm fans, I find fans that has been undervolted/pwm to spin at 600rpm or less to be inaudible (so fans that are approx 1200rpm at 12v). I am not sure if there's a similar rule of thumb for smaller fans.

Yate loon makes some great really quiet low cost 120mm fans.
http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm-Case-Fan-D12SL-12-pr-3009.html

I don't know enough about the power supply to make a comment, but a psu and optical drive for $57 sounds like a great deal!

One other thing you should consider is to elastic suspension your hard drive. Elastic suspension uncouples the hd vibrations with the case. It sounds ridiculous, but it actually makes more difference than I thought it would when I uncoupled my hd/case. Browse SPCR's silent storage forum to see pictures of elastic suspension.
 
H

heyheybooboo

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2007
6,278
0
0
chrislipa said:
You linked to a good deal, but that motherboard uses DDR2 memory and the processor is a step down, all for $7 total difference.

Is there some other compelling reason I shouldn't use that nForce motherboard?
Click to expand...

The NVIDIA Geforce 7025/nForce 630a is simply a rehash of old tech dating back to the s939 days. The IGP has no digital HDMI or DVI ports, only 2 DIMM slots, no firewire and no eSATA.

The Gigabyte 785g wins those battles 'hands-down'. It also has the AMD sb710 which provides for 'Advanced Clock Calibration' or ACC. This is the BIOS setting which will allow you to experiment with unlocking the Phenom dual-core into a Phenom quad-core processor.

You will see no difference between the 550 and 545 in performance. Additionally, the DDR3 1066 you selected will be slower than the performance offered by DDR2 1066 (and most likely DDR2 800 for that matter).

The other issue is with the unlocked multiplier of the 550 versus the 545. The 550 has an unlocked multiplier --- meaning you may simply raise the cpu multiplier to overclock the processor.

When you overclock by raising the cpu multiplier of the Phenom 550 you will disable the power-saving feature of the CPU (called 'Cool & Quiet' or C&Q). So ... when you seek greater productivity with an OC you will lose the " ... little to no noise ..." gained from effective power management.

Also --- the Gigabyte mobo will under-volt while still providing for an effective OC with the Phenom 545. (BTW --- the possibility of unlocking to a quad will not effective these features.) Purchasing DDR2 800 will save you a little cash and the 4 DIMM slots provide for the future expansion of your RAMs.

And here is a WD 'Blue' 640Gb for $60 with code EMCYZNN25.





--
 
S

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
heyheybooboo said:
When you overclock by raising the cpu multiplier of the Phenom 550 you will disable the power-saving feature of the CPU (called 'Cool & Quiet' or C&Q).
Click to expand...

Is this true for all AMD processors? My Phenom 9600 has the multiplier changed and it doesn't seem to throttle down.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom