$600 Budget Starter Build

A

AudioCow

Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
524
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
For now: Web Browsing, Coding, Photoshop, Virtual Machines, Light Gaming.
Future: Real Gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$600 After Taxes
3) Where do you live?
Cincinnati
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, Mobo, HDD, CD Drive, RAM, Video Card, Power Supply
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
~3 year old CoolerMaster ATX Case
6) Will you be overclocking?
Some, but not pushing any limits
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
1080p - will be using my 56" HDTV for now but will eventually get a 23" 1080p Monitor
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This weekend
9) What features do you need in a motherboard?
Nothing outside the ordinary
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
I have an unused copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit from the launch party give-away.

I'm looking to build a new gaming PC. But there is no way I can afford everything at once and I need a working PC asap. So I've decided to build a bare bones PC that will hold me over and upgrade it over the next 6 months. Here is what I've decided on so far:

$199.99 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T AM3 Processor - Purchased on 07/03
$49.49 Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - Ordered on 07/01
$21.99 - Samsung 22x DVD±RW Burner with Dual/Double Layer Support OEM - Purchased on 07/03
$93.99 - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ - Ordered on 06/30
$89.99 - Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/U Socket AM3 880G ATX Motherboard - Purchased on 07/03
$49.99 - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Ordered on 06/30

Total after Tax and S/H: $505.44 - $20 rebates = $485.44

I planned on this to be my starting point. In the future I will add a real video card and I will also be purchasing a monitor, 4GB of additional RAM, and some extra storage later this year.

Am I moving in the right direction? Is this an OK approach? Right parts for my plan? Thanks for any advice.
 
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kumquat said:
You can save almost $100 by going with a 4-core 2.9 GHz CPU versus that 6-core 2.8 GHz one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...702&cm_re=athlon_ii_x4-_-19-103-702-_-Product
Click to expand...

i can't agree with that suggestion as athlon 2 will not so great for any gaming, coding or photoshop work as a x6 1055t would be in this case.


OCZ psu are trash

Antec Eco 520 watt is would be my pick for the price point but I would suggest a 650-750 watt

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...371030&cm_re=antec_eco-_-17-371-030-_-Product
 
kumquat said:
You can save almost $100 by going with a 4-core 2.9 GHz CPU versus that 6-core 2.8 GHz one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...702&cm_re=athlon_ii_x4-_-19-103-702-_-Product
Click to expand...

That doesn't mean it's faster. He's doing virtual machines, so 6 cores will benefit him much more than 4 will.

Also, I'd advise against that motherboard. People have had problems with it dying when using it with X6. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1524927 Maybe there's something new I don't know and MSI has fixed the problem, but read through that thread to check first. Sadly I don't have time right now or I'd read it for you :)

I'm also a little concerned about the Hard Drive. From what I understand, Seagate isn't known for its data-speed. I agree with the choice to get a cheap hard drive there, but maybe sacrificing some space now and get storage drives later would be better? Something to look into, and hopefully someone else will have more information later about that.
 
Senryo said:
That doesn't mean it's faster. He's doing virtual machines, so 6 cores will benefit him much more than 4 will.

Also, I'd advise against that motherboard. People have had problems with it dying when using it with X6. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1524927 Maybe there's something new I don't know and MSI has fixed the problem, but read through that thread to check first. Sadly I don't have time right now or I'd read it for you :)

I'm also a little concerned about the Hard Drive. From what I understand, Seagate isn't known for its data-speed. I agree with the choice to get a cheap hard drive there, but maybe sacrificing some space now and get storage drives later would be better? Something to look into, and hopefully someone else will have more information later about that.
Click to expand...

Never said it would be faster, but $600 is a pretty tight budget and that's $100 that might be better spent elsewhere. Would let him double the RAM if he'll be doing much with VMs or get a 5770 right away instead of a 9600.
 
Senryo said:
That doesn't mean it's faster. He's doing virtual machines, so 6 cores will benefit him much more than 4 will.

Also, I'd advise against that motherboard. People have had problems with it dying when using it with X6. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1524927 Maybe there's something new I don't know and MSI has fixed the problem, but read through that thread to check first. Sadly I don't have time right now or I'd read it for you :)

I'm also a little concerned about the Hard Drive. From what I understand, Seagate isn't known for its data-speed. I agree with the choice to get a cheap hard drive there, but maybe sacrificing some space now and get storage drives later would be better? Something to look into, and hopefully someone else will have more information later about that.
Click to expand...

My other motherboard option was the M4A88TD-V EVO/U Socket AM3 880G ATX Motherboard
It's the same price and I'm seeing good reports pairing it with an X6.
 
Senryo said:
I'm also a little concerned about the Hard Drive. From what I understand, Seagate isn't known for its data-speed. I agree with the choice to get a cheap hard drive there, but maybe sacrificing some space now and get storage drives later would be better? Something to look into, and hopefully someone else will have more information later about that.
Click to expand...

That particular Seagate 7200.9 hard drive is extremely slow by current standards. It is a very old design with four platters and eight heads (or 125 GB per platter). This results in a sequential transfer speed of only about half that of the current 7200.12 series HDDs (the 500GB model of that series uses a single 500GB platter). In fact, the 7200.9 was one of the very last HDDs which used the legacy "parallel" head read/write technology.
 
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I've updated my original post based on the suggestions.
I think I'm gonna drop the video card in favor of on-board for now and pick up a real video card sooner than later.
 
kumquat said:
Never said it would be faster, but $600 is a pretty tight budget and that's $100 that might be better spent elsewhere. Would let him double the RAM if he'll be doing much with VMs or get a 5770 right away instead of a 9600.
Click to expand...

It also isn't the final version of the build. He'll be upgrading in the future. IMO it's easier to add ram than it is to put in a new processor; both financially and physically.

Also, I'm pretty sure to use PhysX you have to have nVidia cards. If the OP wants to use PhysX later, the 9600 now and a GTS later would help solidify that. But since I don't understand the technology as it is always some form of upgrade that seems too costly or power hungry for my tastes ^_^

Your choice OP. The onboard 4250HD should get you through games enough until you save for what you want.
 
Is there any reason your getting EVERYTHING from MC? I saw you said your building this weekend but is that the only reason?

If you can order off newegg I would change these:
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-400CX 400W PSU
RAM: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB OR Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB
And personally I would go with this combo for $20 more:
Phenom II X6 1055t + Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H 890GX AM3 Motherboard but if you prefer to save more $$ then that Asus motherboard you chose is very good.
 
Shadowssong said:
Is there any reason your getting EVERYTHING from MC? I saw you said your building this weekend but is that the only reason?

If you can order off newegg I would change these:
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-400CX 400W PSU
RAM: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB OR Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB
And personally I would go with this combo for $20 more:
Phenom II X6 1055t + Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H 890GX AM3 Motherboard but if you prefer to save more $$ then that Asus motherboard you chose is very good.
Click to expand...

Seems to reason that since he lives in Cinci, there's a MC near him. I'm pretty sure Ohio has them. I agree, though, I'd rather wait a few days for shipping and save a few than get it now and make my budget tighter.

Also, question for the OP: was the mATX board to save money, or do you actually want a small tower?
 
I've updated my original post based on your feedback. Thank you.

I originally went with mATX to save money. I've since changed to a regular ASUS ATX board, and I am now considering the Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H 890GX. I'm not really sure of the advantages of it over the Asus board in the OP...

I'm mainly going with Microcenter because it's about a 10 minute drive from my house. So it's just convienient for me and the prices are mostly comparable to online prices.

Right now I've got my cost under $500 after rebates. I'm thinking of going ahead and shopping for monitors and video cards.
Hmm...
 
AudioCow said:
I've updated my original post based on your feedback. Thank you.

I originally went with mATX to save money. I've since changed to a regular ASUS ATX board, and I am now considering the Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H 890GX. I'm not really sure of the advantages of it over the Asus board in the OP...

I'm mainly going with Microcenter because it's about a 10 minute drive from my house. So it's just convienient for me and the prices are mostly comparable to online prices.

Right now I've got my cost under $500 after rebates. I'm thinking of going ahead and shopping for monitors and video cards.
Hmm...
Click to expand...

For the mobo thing it was more of just the only decent combo I could find with the 1055t, that asus motherboard is perfectly fine.
As for the differences, just from looking at the newegg description:
-Gigabyte runs crossfire at x8/x8 while asus does x16/x4
-Gigabyte has 6 sata6.0 and 2 sata3.0 while the asus only has 5 sata6.0.
-Gigabyte has a slightly more powerful onboard gpu

I would say for money sake just stick with the asus board.

Also a reminder for your original post you have the mobo listed at $90 when it is $129 at MC.

As for the gpu thing, are you really going to be doing any gaming in the immediate future? If not, save your money, because what you can buy with $100 in a few months will most likely be more powerful than what you could buy today for the same price.
 
Shadowssong said:
Also a reminder for your original post you have the mobo listed at $90 when it is $129 at MC.

As for the gpu thing, are you really going to be doing any gaming in the immediate future? If not, save your money, because what you can buy with $100 in a few months will most likely be more powerful than what you could buy today for the same price.
Click to expand...

The mobo should be $40 off when paired with the processor, I couldn't get it to show up at that price online. Worked for other ones just not this one. I figure I can fight that battle at the store if need be.

As for the GPU, I'm thinking I'll hold out for a nice deal on a 5850.
 
AudioCow said:
The mobo should be $40 off when paired with the processor, I couldn't get it to show up at that price online. Worked for other ones just not this one. I figure I can fight that battle at the store if need be.

As for the GPU, I'm thinking I'll hold out for a nice deal on a 5850.
Click to expand...

Ah ok, wasn't sure, just wanted to make sure you didn't underestimate the $$ you are spending.

I'm sure there will be some july 4th sales but you could also wait until they refresh the line up (no idea when that is, I think I heard maybe the end of this year or something) and then I'm sure you could grab a mildly used 5850 for a great price on the FS/FT forum.
 
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