500-600 build help

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thedocta45

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 10, 2007
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Hey, all helping a friend of mine with a build for a new Desktop.

1) What will you be doing with this PC?
Gaming

2) What's your budget?
500-600 yes tax and shipping included

3) Which country do you live in?
PA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
CPU, RAM, PSU, MOBO, HD, Video Card, and a case.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
Possible HD, and Optical Drives.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Most likely not.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor?
1400x900 19"

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Building with in the next two months.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard?
Don't worry to much about Mobo features as this is a budget build.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes windows 7 64bit.

For this price Im thinking going with AMD for the proc, go micro atx, and pick up a 6750 for him, and get a decent case with some room to expand. I'm not to up on the budget systems.

As always thanks for the help in advance. If additional info i needed let me know.
 
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Nice article I can only see a few issues, but I would have to do more research, I don't think he wants to spend over 150 for a video card. I will have to see how the i3 is vs the AMD Zambini

Here is what I threw together as a base:

CPU:
AMD FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) $ 109.99

Mother Board:
GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2P AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX $ 59.99

RAM
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 $ 39.99

Video
ASUS EAH6770/DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 6770 1GB $ 109.99

PSU
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V (This is only a Bronze but its Corsair so it should be good) Right? $ 89.99

Case
Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ( Just grabbed some random cheap case) $ 49.99

Price is at 459.94 atm so just need to toss in a HD with about 50-150 left to play with.

I assume that Corsair is a safe PSU I have had a few and had no issues.
 
thedocta45 said:
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Building
Click to expand...

Please read the question again and answer correctly.

Though off the bat there's some problems with your planned setup.

EDIT: Also, I wouldn't use the Tom's build as a base considering that the RAM, case, and PSU are rather poor choices. Not to mention that the HD 6950 1GB is no longer for sale at a reasonable price here in the U.S.
 
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Sorry about that build is planned within the next 2 months. Will edit the first post to reflect this.
 
thedocta45 said:
Sorry about that build is planned within the next 2 months. Will edit the first post to reflect this.
Click to expand...

Can you narrow down that time frame any further? Our parts recommendations tends to change monthly and sometimes even weekly. If you can't narrow down that time frame, I recommend coming back when you're 1-2 weeks away from buying the PC for the most up to date build and deals.

However, if you were buying this month, and only this month, I recommend this setup then:
$186 - Intel Pentium Core i3 2120 CPU + Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2H mATX Motherboard Combo
$38 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$140 - Powercolor AX6850 1GBD5-DH Radeon HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$80 - Hitachi 7K1000.D HDS721050DLE630 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$66 - SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W Modular PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
------
Total: $560 plus tax and shipping.

If your friend wants more storage space, I recommend these two drives:
$120 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$120 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

If your friend wants a faster GPU for future upgrades, I recommend this:
$160 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
 
Cool, thanks yeah I will try to get a firm date, just wanted to give him a price quote so he knew what he would be able to get for the 500-600.

Wow from some light reading it looks like the i3 mops the floor with the AMD FX.

Didn't realize that AMD was so far behind

I assume they still have there server market to fall back on?
 
ouch, that really sucks.
Makes you wonder what will happen when AMD goes belly up.
 
Their GPU business is doing fairly well from what I can tell. And if you need to do a lot of video editing but are on a budget, thats when the FX-4100 and FX 6100 CPUs are somewhat viable CPUs. Considering the sheer amount of AMD fans out there and the Microcenter AMD combo deals, AMD isn't in such dire straits that they will be belly up anytime soon. In addition, the Bulldozer based server CPUs are somewhat still viable as servers from a cost perspective:
http://www.servethehome.com/amd-opteron-6128-multisocket-platform-bargain-xeon-alternative/
 
Right they bought ATI a few years ago.
Hopefully that keeps them afloat for a bit longer.
 
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