Budget Build (400).. opinions wanted

gorion · Mar 23, 2014

Hi everyone,
i need to build a budget system for my gf's uncle.

He will do just some web surfing, hd video playback, backups from smartphones, p2p.
The budget would be below €400. (with Windows).
I'm buying from Italy (feel free to suggest anything from amazon.it)

I didn't see the monitor yet, but given the description it should be a 4:3 monitor around 17-19", so I guess the resolution would be 1280x1024 probably.

I put together this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (€52.00)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€55.00)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (€58.94 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€48.98 @ Pixmania DE)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (€49.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€40.00)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer (€16.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (€60.00)
Total: €381.72
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-23 21:54 CET+0100)

I think it's a decent build, but my only fear is that perhaps the IGP on the g3220 is a bit slow even for his needs.
Perhaps the best thing to do is to focus on that system and eventually add a discrete gpu later if he needs to. With a 430w PSU my choice would be a GTX 750 (non ti version) even though it might be a bit of an overkill.

I'm also toying with the APU version, but I like Haswell more so far.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-6600K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor (€86.90 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (€50.99 @ Pixmania DE)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (€58.94 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€48.98 @ Pixmania DE)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (€49.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€40.00)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer (€16.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (€60.00)
Total: €412.61
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-23 22:08 CET+0100)

Any tip?

mfenn · Mar 23, 2014

The IGP on the G3220 is sufficient for your future uncle-in-law's needs. About the only thing it would be used for is acclerating H.264 video decode. The G3220 can even do that completely in software if need be.

Your first build looks pretty good, I looked around on Amazon.it and it was cost competitive with the prebuilts there. If you'd rather not support the PC, then you could point him at something like this and call it a day.

gorion · Mar 26, 2014

What do you think of the Celeron G1820?
Graphics should be the same and I don't think the performance drop is noticeable in everyday computing..

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/15...e_G1820_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G3220.html

That could mean saving another 10 perhaps..

DigDog · Mar 26, 2014

my suggestions:
1) drop the HD altogether and use an SSD only. You can fit the OS on a 60Gb and still have 30Gb for stuff. i know its not much, but the improvement is incredible and with a little discipline 30Gb can go a long way.
2) W7 instead of W8.
3) 2x4Gb instead of 1x8 .. but it's not really that big of an issue.
4) imho, since this build could be expanded, the 430W psu is too small.

in roma we used to get stuff from http://www.romacc.com/cms/ (because forza maggica) or Mac2023 S. R. L @ via lungotevere di pietra papa.

5) 400 bags for a pc is really too little. for a couple hundred more you can get a much better machine .. i'm at work right now on a 1280 monitor and its making me cry.

gorion · Mar 26, 2014

Romacc is from the guys of tiburcc?

The budget is that.. The guy couldn't care less of the PC.

The SSD is too small.. He will store movies and pics.

That PSU is enough for the 750 non ti so i guess it is OK for its needs.

Insert_Nickname · Mar 26, 2014

DigDog said:
3) 2x4Gb instead of 1x8 .. but it's not really that big of an issue.

Depends. If you're using the IGP, you're chopping bandwidth in half with one DIMM. IGP's really like that second channel, but in this case I doubt that it'll be an issue.

Another thing you might want to look at is getting a mainboard with four RAM slots. Never know if it'll come in handy one day, it can be useful in extending the life of the system. Depending on how long you're going to keep it around. I usually reckon with a service life of 8-10 years for the F&F segment.

gorion · Mar 26, 2014

I put there the single dimm because of the better price (20€ less).
I missed the number of slots in that MB, I'll check for something in that price range with 4. Thanks!

mfenn · Mar 27, 2014

gorion said:
What do you think of the Celeron G1820?
Graphics should be the same and I don't think the performance drop is noticeable in everyday computing..

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/15...e_G1820_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G3220.html

That could mean saving another 10€ perhaps..

The Celeron loses 300 MHz and 1 MB of L3 cache compared to the Pentium. It's slower, but your girlfriend's uncle will never notice the difference.

gorion · Mar 31, 2014

Still toying (waiting for an answer from the guy).
Could this build be better?
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (€42.00)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€55.00)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€45.00)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (€50.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€48.98 @ Pixmania DE)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (€49.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€40.00)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer (€16.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (€60.00)
Total: €407.78
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-31 14:38 CEST+0200)

I was also thinking to "advertise" this build. A bit higher, but probably much better.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor (€52.00)
Motherboard: Asus H87M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€70.00)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€69.00)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (€72.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€48.98 @ Pixmania DE)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (€49.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€40.00)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer (€16.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (€60.00)
Total: €478.78
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-31 14:39 CEST+0200)

Insert_Nickname · Mar 31, 2014

gorion said:
Still toying (waiting for an answer from the guy).
Could this build be better?
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (€42.00)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€55.00)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€45.00)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (€50.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€48.98 @ Pixmania DE)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (€49.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€40.00)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer (€16.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (€60.00)
Total: €407.78
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-31 14:38 CEST+0200)

Seems solid enough, but I'd change two things: add the RAM and SSD from the second build, and loose the harddrive. A 60GB SSD is likely cutting it a bit thin, and the 8GB will help with multitasking going forward. Its a lot easier adding a HDD later, weather internal or external, then having to reinstall everything to change the SSD. If he's willing to spend on the HDD now, fine, no worries...

mfenn · Mar 31, 2014

Insert_Nickname said:
Seems solid enough, but I'd change two things: add the RAM and SSD from the second build, and loose the harddrive. A 60GB SSD is likely cutting it a bit thin, and the 8GB will help with multitasking going forward. Its a lot easier adding a HDD later, weather internal or external, then having to reinstall everything to change the SSD. If he's willing to spend on the HDD now, fine, no worries...

Agree on the SSD and RAM. The upgraded motherboard in the second build isn't worth the cost difference for an undemanding user. The CPU probably isn't, but that's a less cut-and-dry argument.

gorion · Apr 1, 2014

This should be the version to promote..
I'll try to look for a cheaper case and maybe to save some € with offers on HDD..

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (€42.00)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€55.00)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€66.00)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (€76.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€48.98 @ Pixmania DE)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (€49.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€40.00)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer (€16.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (€60.00)
Total: €454.78
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-01 12:18 CEST+0200)

flatty · Apr 1, 2014

maybe wait a bit for some Easter promo's

mfenn · Apr 1, 2014

That looks pretty solid to me. If he doesn't need the mass storage of the 1TB drive, then you can shave that off the build.

gorion · Apr 4, 2014

In our last conversation he came up also with the chance of doing occasional work on Autocad (mainly 2D).

Would this configuration be enough? I looked a bit in their site and it seems so (but they ask for a Pentium IV, so I think that's the kind of requisite to the starting of the software) but I'd like to be sure that the pc would be snappy enough for completing these tasks in reasonable time.

mfenn · Apr 5, 2014

Pretty much anything is fine for 2D AutoCAD work as long as you have enough RAM to load up the suite (8GB is enough). 2D honestly hasn't changed much at all in the past decade. Hell, you could probably do 95% of what you wanted on the DOS version of ACAD10 (not that you'd want to).

gorion · Apr 6, 2014

Great news.
Thanks mfenn!

Search

Budget Build (400).. opinions wanted

gorion

Member

mfenn

Elite Member

gorion

Member

DigDog

Lifer

gorion

Member

Insert_Nickname

Diamond Member

gorion

Member

mfenn

Elite Member

gorion

Member

Insert_Nickname

Diamond Member

mfenn

Elite Member

gorion

Member

flatty

Member

mfenn

Elite Member

gorion

Member

mfenn

Elite Member

gorion

Member

TRENDING THREADS

Budget Build (400).. opinions wanted

Member

Elite Member

Member

Lifer

Member

Diamond Member

Member

Elite Member

Member

Diamond Member

Elite Member

Member

Member

Elite Member

Member

Elite Member

Member

Budget Build (400).. opinions wanted