Attention Low Range System Builders: Updated 6-15-14

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NewYorksFinest

Senior member
Mar 27, 2014
455
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6/22 Update:

AMD Athlon X4-760K + Samsung Optical Drive Combo: $102
ASRock FM2A75M Pro 4+: $60
Powercolor Radeon R9 270X: $160
4GB G.Skill DDR3-1866Mhz RAM: $43
Corsair CS450 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply: $30
Western Digital 1TB Blue: $60
Corsair 200R: $50

Total: ~$505.00

-If you have a lot of photos, games, etc, you can upgrade to a 2TB Seagate Barracuda Hard Drive for $85.
-If you have extra money for an upgrade, a PNY 240GB SSD costs $90.
-If you need an OS, you can pick up either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 for $100.
-The R9 270X can play most games on Ultra at 1080p (Battlefield 4), some at 1440p (Grid 2). If you want to be able to play most games on High-Very High settings that costs less, this MSI GTX 750 Ti costs $120. If you have an extra $50, this Powercolor Radeon R9 280 that costs $210 is good. The R9 280 will have little bottlenecking on the Athlon.
 
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Ken g6

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
16,234
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Nice $500-ish build. :) Here's one with an OS for about $500 with only a few compromises elsewhere.

Update 6/21:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H81 Pro BTC ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.00 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec VSK-2000 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $496.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Now with 2GB VRAM and a deal on a gold PSU.
 
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Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
62
91
piasabird said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139026
This link seems to be working. $20 rebate card.

I used a CX340M in my ITX build. They must sell a lot of power supplies.
Click to expand...

Just understand, as far as a gaming build goes, the CX430 and CX430M only have 1 6+2 PCIe power connector... if you upgrade the GPU at a later date, you may have to replace the PSU as well.

I just ran into that problem with my new build... trying to reuse my old GTX560ti. :\ Don't get me wrong, I have 3 CX430s running in rigs right now, my suggestion would be the CX500 or 500M (if needed.)
 
vailr

vailr

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,365
54
91
If one were interested in an ultra-low cost Haswell build, simply using the i3-4130's onboard Intel HD 4400 video would also lower the system cost.
 
E

escrow4

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2013
3,339
122
106
You are actually wasting money on an H81 board. If you keep that box for years you'd want a board with more USB 3, more SATA, more ports . . . . . more everything. Basically B85 minimum, if not H87.
 
Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
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mfenn said:
A GTX 560 Ti is only a 170W (14A) card whereas the CX430M have 384W (32A) available on the 12V rail. I'd feel perfectly comfortable adding a Molex to PCIe power adapter and running the GTX 560 Ti.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Mfenn... I'm always nervous about adapters. I'll give it a try... much cheaper than another PSU!

You are actually wasting money on an H81 board. If you keep that box for years you'd want a board with more USB 3, more SATA, more ports . . . . . more everything. Basically B85 minimum, if not H87.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. For example, my new build, with an H81 board, only has 4 SATA ports... but I'm only using one, now and in the foreseeable future. But you are correct, if you believe your demands may increase it's better to upgrade and pay the slightly higher cost for B85 (my next favorite, but sometimes the low-end B85's are as featureless as the H81's...) or H87.
 
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NewYorksFinest

Senior member
Mar 27, 2014
455
1
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New build posted! A little expensive but the 2 free games is worth it! Also, the 270X is factory overclocked and can play most games on High-Ultra Settings at 1080p. It comes with 2GB of GDDR5!
 
N

NewYorksFinest

Senior member
Mar 27, 2014
455
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Ken g6 said:
Nice $500-ish build. :) Here's one with an OS for about $500 with only a few compromises elsewhere.

Update 5/11: Prices went up, so costs had to drop somewhere. I finally had to drop the CPU to a Pentium.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3420 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($32.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $501.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-11 17:52 EDT-0400)

If you think you'll be playing lots of games that use four cores, or plan to overclock, I have an AMD alternative.
Click to expand...

Personally, I stand by my build. You shouldnt use an H81 board when gaming. Also, the R9 270X not only comes with two free games, but also crushes the GTX 750 Ti in almost every game.
 
M

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
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www.mfenn.com
NewYorksFinest said:
Personally, I stand by my build. You shouldnt use an H81 board when gaming. Also, the R9 270X not only comes with two free games, but also crushes the GTX 750 Ti in almost every game.
Click to expand...

You would expect to get a better video card because you spent $207 (50%) more on the system. Ken's is $502 with a $90 OS license. Yours is $619 AR without an OS license.

And why would you not want an H81 while gaming? There is no performance difference between the chips.
 
N

NewYorksFinest

Senior member
Mar 27, 2014
455
1
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mfenn said:
You would expect to get a better video card because you spent $207 (50%) more on the system. Ken's is $502 with a $90 OS license. Yours is $619 AR without an OS license.

And why would you not want an H81 while gaming? There is no performance difference between the chips.
Click to expand...

H81 has PCIe 2.0. B85 & above has PCIe 3.0 and a above. The B85 has more usb 3 ports and more sata ports. The H81 costs ~$50 while the B85 costs ~65-70.
 
Essence_of_War

Essence_of_War

Platinum Member
Feb 21, 2013
2,650
4
81
H81 has PCIe 2.0
Click to expand...

Eh, but right now there isn't a meaningful performance difference between pcie 3.0 and 2.0. In a $500 build, I think you could make a case for either depending on how the build's total budget looks. If that $20 diff can you a slightly better GPU, snap-keep-H81, if it can't, do whatever.

Generally speaking, the tighter the budget, the more careful you have to be about those $10-20 price deltas, because they do add-up. Making 2-3 slightly sub-optimal choices like that can easily add up to almost 10% of your total build cost.
 
Charlie98

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
62
91
Essence_of_War said:
Generally speaking, the tighter the budget, the more careful you have to be about those $10-20 price deltas, because they do add-up. Making 2-3 slightly sub-optimal choices like that can easily add up to almost 10% of your total build cost.
Click to expand...

Ya. My uber budget pick for my last build (DESK3 in sig) was Ken g6's H81M-A mobo... except it doesn't have a USB3.0 header. Should have checked the specs more closely before I jumped on that good price. :'(

Being thrifty is good, being careful you are getting all the features you need... priceless.
 
M

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
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Burpo said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...bo1622504-LM2A

AMD FX-8320 Vishera 3.5Ghz CPU, BIOSTAR AMD 970 MOBO, PowerColor 260X 1GB, HyperX Fury 8GB MEM, Seagate 1TB HDD, LEPA 500W PSU, & ENERMAX OSTROG Case. $499
Click to expand...

The builds posted here are better due to having more powerful GPUs. Ken's build gets a GTX 750 Ti into $400, and of course the R9 270X in NYF's build just blows both of the alternatives out of the water.
 
N

NewYorksFinest

Senior member
Mar 27, 2014
455
1
0
Burpo said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...bo1622504-LM2A

AMD FX-8320 Vishera 3.5Ghz CPU, BIOSTAR AMD 970 MOBO, PowerColor 260X 1GB, HyperX Fury 8GB MEM, Seagate 1TB HDD, LEPA 500W PSU, & ENERMAX OSTROG Case. $499
Click to expand...

mfenn said:
The builds posted here are better due to having more powerful GPUs. Ken's build gets a GTX 750 Ti into $400, and of course the R9 270X in NYF's build just blows both of the alternatives out of the water.
Click to expand...

Mfenn is right. The 260X only has 1GB. While the CPU might be faster than the i3 in my build and the Pentium in Ken's, the bulk of the money should be going toward the GPU. The 270X can play most games at Very High-Ultra Settings with no anti-alising at 1080p.
 
Burpo

Burpo

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2013
4,223
473
126
I just saw it on newegg & passed it on. 8Gb RAM, Seagate 1Tb & I know the video card could be swapped out for what you want.
 
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monkeydelmagico

monkeydelmagico

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2011
3,961
145
106
Great builds

3220 is $57.- at Amazon. Shouldn't cause too much difference in peformance but is a bit cheaper
powercolor 7870 ghz is $140.- AR at newegg
Antec g500 case is $30.- AR at the egg
 
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