$500 system build advice

[Zorander]

Hi all,

I have been asked by a friend to help upgrade his 'slow' system and we did a quick selection of components that he could go with. Of course, I won't miss the chance to have the AT experts help us out here. 😉

I don't have his current machine specs nor his specific usage patterns. He is not techie enough (nor a power user) to know them. He would like it to last for at least 3 years though. I suggested that he goes for at least an i5 as I'm sure within that period quad-core utilisation will be optimised already. An 8GB RAM kit and Samsung 830 128GB are within consideration too.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
A: Typical webbrowsing activities (FB, YouTube, etc), media playback and Office. I don't believe they play games (outside the occasional CS).

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
A: No more than AUD$/USD$500. The lower the better. It will be spread between motherboard, CPU, RAM, SSD and OS license (see 5).

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
A: Australia (will use this price list as guide)

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
A: No preference, as long as the components are reliable and good value.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
A:
External peripherals (Monitor, KB+mouse),
PSU (Vantec Ion 2)
Casing (Antec P180),
Optical drive,
Video card (HD5750 or HD5770),
Harddrive (for storage purposes - He will be getting an SSD)

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
A: I doubt he knows how to overclock nor intends to.

8. What resolution will you be using?
A: 1920x1080.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
A: Within a few weeks time

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
A: A Windows license. Should he go straight for Win8, considering the cheaper price?


Thanks!

 

[Ken g6]

Well, with that surprisingly decent price list, $500 for the listed parts is possible.

ASRock B75M: $65 or B75-Pro3-m ($70)
i5-3550: $200
8G Single 1333 Patriot-S: $35 - this leaves one slot to upgrade - or 8G G-Skill kit with the Pro3-m above.
Samsung 830 128G: $100
Win7HP64: $93
Total: $493-$498

However, I don't see an i5 being more useful than an i3-3220 ($123) for his purposes. I would be particularly interested to know what PSU and video card he has, as it might be wise to replace one or both.

 

[Zorander]

Thanks for the list. I am unsure what CPU and, especially, motherboard to go for this build so that really helps.

Is there any reason not to go for a 34xx CPU? The difference seems to be 100MHz in nominal & turbo CPU speed and 50MHz in turbo iGPU speed for about $10. Is there something else I'm missing or is it simply a toss-up between more MHz or $$$ savings?

I will try to find out what video card and PSU he has. Judging that he bought them each for around $100 quite recently (within 1-2 years), they likely are still ok to use. This build likely will use less wattage than whatever he's using too so I think he's ok power-wise. The only issue he may face is whether the PSU cable is long enough for the P180 case I will be giving him.

Cheers!

Update:
PSU = Vantec Ion 2
GPU = Radeon HD5750 or HD5770 (he can't be sure which)
Resolution = 1920x1080

 

[riversend]

You are right about the power, that should only go down, so he should be fine there.

For his usage scenario, You could bump him down in CPU cost and probably see no ill effects as ken stated since gaming and other CPU intensive apps do not appear to be a priority. That said, if he is willing to spend the money and keep the power to enable future gaming or other uses then that is probably ok. You know him better than we do, so that would be a good discussion to have. Sounds like pretty light use to me, I'd advise an i3.

 

[Zorander]

I'll check again if he has any specific plans but I don't believe the intended use will stray far from the initial description.

It is possible he will pick up a game to play within the system's lifetime. That will be time to pick whatever GPU is current by then. The HD57xx series won't cut it for today's games @1080p anyway. Going for an i5 chip should avoid the hassle of upgrading the CPU (and selling the old one) for just $60-70 difference. Is that fair thinking?

Cheers!

 

[mfenn]

I think the original list that Ken posted is quite good since gaming isn't a current priority.

 

[Zorander]

I think the original list that Ken posted is quite good since gaming isn't a current priority.

Glad to have your endorsement to the list as well.

Should I actually use 2x4GB sticks? He is unlikely to be adding more memory given his usage so it might not be beneficial to put him on single-channel (which will be quite a while).

Thanks.

 

[mfenn]

In all honesty, it doesn't much matter either way. You would get theoretically higher performance by having dual-channel memory, but the tasks he's performing aren't going to be memory bandwidth intensive in the first place. I'd lean towards the 1x8GB because it doesn't really cost you anything today and it leaves more flexibility for the future.