Need a new primary

NickLee808

n00b
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
12
1) What will you be doing with this PC?
Mostly watching movies and web-browsing. I watch a lot of 1080p movies either off my external, streaming through Plex, or Netflix.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
<$300, tax and shipping included.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Honolulu, Hawaii

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
Everything except a keyboard, mouse, graphics card, and monitor.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
My friend has a bunch of Sapphire R7 265s and Gigabyte R9 270s he'd give me.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Can I? Should I be?

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I'll probably just use a TV monitor. It's a 1080p 42".

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
USB 3.0

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No.
 
You need to raise your budget, man. Windows 8.1 is $90 alone. Then factor in the cheapest decent case at $50, the cheapest decent PSU at $40, and the cheapest decent hard drive at $55 and that leaves you with just $75 for the CPU, mobo, and RAM when the cheapest decent CPU is $60 alone. Then there's the shipping costs to Hawaii which aren't exactly cheap.

Any chance you can raise your budget by at least $100 to $200? That'll make a massive difference in the overall quality of the PC.
 
Any chance you can raise your budget by at least $100 to $200? That'll make a massive difference in the overall quality of the PC.

What do you mean? I'm willing to spend up to $300 here. Unfortunately, it's a pretty strict budget.

Did you want a SFF HTPC or are you comfortable with a full tower?

Full tower is fine.
 
Last edited:
What do you mean? I'm willing to spend up to $300 here. Unfortunately, it's a pretty strict budget.
Read what I wrote again:
You need to raise your budget, man. Windows 8.1 is $90 alone. Then factor in the cheapest decent case at $50, the cheapest decent PSU at $40, and the cheapest decent hard drive at $55 and that leaves you with just $75 for the CPU, mobo, and RAM when the cheapest decent CPU is $60 alone. Then there's the shipping costs to Hawaii which aren't exactly cheap.
Add up what I wrote above. You're looking at close to $300 alone for the OS, CPU, HDD, PSU. and case. That's not including the shipping, taxes, motherboard, or RAM. In order to meet your $300 budget with OS, tax and shipping, you're looking at some of the cheapest crap parts as well some of the slowest parts possible. Hence why I basically asked if a budget of $400 to $500 was doable for you.
 
What do you mean? I'm willing to spend up to $300 here. Unfortunately, it's a pretty strict budget.

I have to agree with Dangman, in this case, for all of the exact reasons that he stated. You just cannot buy any complete system that's not severely outdated or total garbage at your stated maximum price point.

Though I would like to point out that Windows OEM licensing for Windows 8.1 is extremely strict: Microsoft will not permit you to use an OEM copy of Windows to install on a system that you build yourself for your own personal use. You will have to resell the entire system, including said OEM copy of Windows, to somebody else - and then, you will be responsible for providing technical support to the new owner of that system. Therefore, if you are going to install Windows on a system that you assemble yourself for your own personal use, you have no choice but to buy the full retail copy of Windows 8.1 (mercifully, the price premium for retail vs OEM is only about $20 for plain Windows 8.1 – but you can decide whether to install the 32-bit or the 64-bit version as both versions are included in the retail package whereas you have to choose between 32-bit or 64-bit when you purchase an OEM copy of Windows).
 
Honestly if I had that little money to spend i'd be looking at refurb/ex-lease/outlet options. I don't think it makes sense to build at that end of the market.
 
Read what I wrote again:

Add up what I wrote above. You're looking at close to $300 alone for the OS, CPU, HDD, PSU. and case. That's not including the shipping, taxes, motherboard, or RAM. In order to meet your $300 budget with OS, tax and shipping, you're looking at some of the cheapest crap parts as well some of the slowest parts possible. Hence why I basically asked if a budget of $400 to $500 was doable for you.

Well, one can always skip the OS bill entirely if one is willing to slap some Linux distro or another on there. LUbuntu, XUbuntu and Mint all come generally recommended.
 
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