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Need budget build help

B

Bman123

Diamond Member
I'm ready to put together a super cheap budget rig. I need the complete tower and os, I already have a wireless mouse and keyboard. If I can't build one super cheap I'm gonna just buy a cheap laptop from best buy.

Here's what I'll be doing with it. Email, web browsing, mainly forums, netflix, burning CDs, a little photo and video editing. I like to take pics and video and send it to family in ca and az.
I don't know what CPU to get at all, I don't need alot of power, I'm not gaming at all.

Please help me put together a super cheap tower with os from the egg or microcenter. I'd like to keep the tower small, quiet, and low power so I need onboard video. I'd be fine with a old school Dell gx260 off craigslist but I want all new parts. Thanks in advance guys I need the help
 
Bman123 said:
Here's what I'll be doing with it. Email, web browsing, mainly forums, netflix, burning CDs, a little photo and video editing. I like to take pics and video and send it to family in ca and az.
I don't know what CPU to get at all, I don't need alot of power, I'm not gaming at all.
Click to expand...


Eh you're looking at at least 500$ for a decent build.

Do you have a monitor? I need more detail on what you're looking for in a case to decide.

This base for 350.

Corsair 400 watt 50/30 before/after rebate

4GB Ripjaws 100 (You can't get DDR3 4GB for much less)

Samsung f3 1 terabyte 80$ (You can drop lower in size, but you lose cost/gigabyte, this is the 'sweet spot')

Lite-on lightscribe burner 25$

Win 7 home premium 95$

And either an AMD A2 X4 or core i3 mobo/cpu (still working on it)

AMD

Quad: A2 X4 635 99$
Tri: A2 X3 440 74$
Dual: A2 X2 250 62$

All three of those have very close price/performance. I would go for at least the tri, but maybe the quad.

Mobo: Ga-880G-UD3H 110$. Probably a tad overkill, but with a nice integrated GPU, Sata/USB3 for possible upgrades, and the latest gen chipset. If you're willing to go open box this can be had for less. If you're willing to go last-gen mobos you can have a decent integrated GPU for less.

Here's a very similar micro-ATX version.

Intel

Various mobos, depends on if specific features are standouts 105-140$ Intel integrated graphics are in the CPU itself.

i5-530 (dual core) 115$

You're looking at 559 for the AMD with quad and nice, non-open box mobo before rebates. About 600 for an Intel dual core build. This is before a case.

You could certainly go lower with DDR2/Singlecore/cheap PSU/older chipsets, but I'd rather buy at the best price/performance with current-gen tech, not lowest absolute price/without any options for expansion.

EDIT: do you live near Fry's? They have some pretty nice combo deals for the 4th.
 
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AMD 780GX mainboard (onboard HD3200)
2 gigs of ddr2 800mhz
Athlon X2 ???
300W PSU
Rosewill case for $20
 
CPU: Athlon X2 245 2.9GHZ $59
MOBO: ASROCK-N68 $45
MEMORY: PNY 2GB (1 stick) $41
HDD : Samsung F3 500gb $45.50
CASE: Rosewill FB-02 $20
OPTICAL Drive:Lite-On DVDRW $20
PSU: Corsair 400CX $52-$20MIR
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium $95

Apply cupon Code: "EMCYVYZ35" at newegg for $2 off case, "JULY4TH" at ewiz for $10 off $75
PSU and Burner Combo for $7 off
OS and CPU Combo for $10 off

Total is: $287.50 after $20MIR
EDIT: OOPS, I made a goof and forgot to add in the price of the memory, so it's actually $330.

Thoughts:
-Windows 7 is a huge portion of that price. Do you have access to education license pricing?
-The motherboard is a little old with DDR2 ram and older nvidia graphics with only VGA out, but it's the lowest priced mobo that I could find that's made by a good company that supports overclocking and core unlocking. Those Regor X2 are good overclockers and if you're lucky, you can unlock to quad-core.
-The Rosewill case price is a shell shocker deal, so it will not last much longer.
- The RAM price is nothing special. If you wait, you would probably get a better deal. I also put down 1 stick of 2gb instead of 2 sticks of 1gb. You will lose some performance due to lack of dual-channel, but the hit is minimal. IMO the additional flexibility is more important.

Possible upgrade:
-1TB F3 drive at ewiz for $20 more
-Get an OEM CPU and buy an aftermarket cooler for lower noise.
-OCZ modular 500watt ModXStreme and burner combo for $5 dollars more. I think the corsair is better quality, but such lower power draw, both the OCZ and Corsair will be just fine. You get modular cables with this.
-Spend $25 more on a mobo with a more up to date graphics, HDMI, and 4 memory slots. Asus M4A785-M
 
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