$500 Budget Developer Build Suggestions

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minraise

n00b
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
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5
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
I'll mainly be doing software development (Visual Studio) and design with Photoshop/Illustrator.

I will be running up to 8 simultaneous virtual machines when I am away from the machine. Each VM runs lightweight programs and should not require more than 512MB of ram. It seems that I would need at least 6GB of RAM (and probably a quad-core CPU?).

I will also play some older games such as CS1.6. I know that any modern video card can handle CS, but it's important that the video card has dual DVI outputs as I will be using dual 22" monitors running at 1680x1050. I plan to upgrade the video card in the future should I choose to play some of the more recent games.


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500-$750 before shipping and taxes (cheaper is better of course).

3) Where do you live?
Chicago, IL

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything: CPU, mobo, RAM, video card, HD, PSU, case, cheap dvd rom

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes--just a slight, stable overclock.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Dual 22" 1680x1050 LCD monitors.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In 2-3 weeks.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
It should support at least 6GB of RAM, expandable to 8-12GB in the future.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes, Vista x64


Any build suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
 
Last edited:
man, that is a tough one, you really want a lot of HP for those 500 bucks..

my suggestion, try and find a good deal on a phenom II, get a amd 790X mobo (most should support up to 16 gb). That way you can get a cheap quad-core, with the ability to drop in a faster one next year if needed (intels s775 is a dead end there, no new chips). You will be able to use DDR2 ram, getting 6-8 GB should be easy on the cheap.

That is the best suggestion i can do on the system, a quad core with 8 gb of ram is a tough proposition on a budget of 500 bucks, but you should be able to get close..
 
This is the best I could think of:
$222 - AMD Phenom II X4 920 + Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard Combo
$55 - HIS Hightech H465FS512P Radeon HD 4650 512MB PCI-E Video Card
$43 - G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM
$70 - Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$25 - Samsung SH-222F 22X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
---
Total: $515 plus tax and shipping.

Still short on RAM. I went with the WD6400AAKS HDD because that many VMs will hit the disk hard so having a faster hard drive would help. If you want 8GB+ RAM support, you're gonna have to up your budget to at least $1000 or so to be more cost effective since current single 4GB DDR2 RAM sticks are pretty damn expensive for what they offere.
 
Sorry for making it hard on you guys ;) I wanted to really push the $500 to the limit.

I can stretch my budget to $750 before shipping and taxes, this should help a lot.
 
minraise said:
I can stretch my budget to $750 before shipping and taxes, this should help a lot.
Click to expand...

Kind of:
$222 - AMD Phenom II X4 920 + Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard Combo
$86 - G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM x 2
$64 - VisionTek 784090022400 Radeon HD 3850 512MB PCI-E Video Card
$75 - Western Digital WD6401AALS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$25 - Samsung SH-222F 22X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner
$80 - BFG Tech LS-550 550W PSU
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
---
Total: $602 plus tax and shipping.

Key differences between this build and one I made above:
- Now a HDD with an extra two year warranty is included
- Significantly faster video card
- Larger PSU with more headroom for future upgrades
- Twice as much RAM.

If you really want to spend that leftover $150, you can do one or more of the following:
- Pick up a second hard drive to store all your VMs on:
$75 - Western Digital WD6401AALS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

- Up the video card more if you really want some serious gaming power:
$180 - BFG Tech BFGEGTX260MC896OCE GeForce GTX 260 896MB PCI-E Video Card

- Pick up a better case like these:
$40 - Cooler Master Elite 332 RC-332-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$45 - Cooler Master Elite 334 RC-334-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 331 RC-331-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Thermaltake WingRS 201 VJ60001N2Z ATX Case
$60 - Antec 300 ATX Case
$65 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$70 - Cooler Master Sileo 500 RC-500-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K1B ATX Case
$80 - Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$90 - AeroCool Masstige ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-K6 ATX Case
$120 - Thermaltake ElementS VK60001N2Z ATX Case
$120 - Antec P182 ATX Case
$150 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case

- Pick up a HSF for quieter computing:
$40 - Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm HSF
 
Thanks for the quick and thorough response.

Would I need a video card at all? At the moment it seems that any onboard video cards can handle CS 1.6 and older games at low resolutions. Are there mobos with onboard video that can output to dual 22" monitors without a problem?
 
minraise said:
Thanks for the quick and thorough response.

Would I need a video card at all? At the moment it seems that any onboard video cards can handle CS 1.6 and older games at low resolutions. Are there mobos with onboard video that can output to dual 22" monitors without a problem?
Click to expand...

i dont think any onboard GPU's have dual DVI, so if you are willing to run one screen of VGA instead of DVI, you could probably get away with onboard only (provided you choose the right mobo). If you do want to run both of DVI, pick up a simple radeon 3450, or even 2400 pro (have that in my GFs rig to drive the secondary and tertiary screens) for 30 bucks. a 3450 should have no trouble with older games at all, and if CS 1.6 is al the gaming you do, spending more then 30 bucks would be a waste of money for such a budget constricted build.
 
What about the GIGABYTE GA-MA780G-UD3H which has DVI and HDMI out? Couldn't I just get a simple HDMI to DVI converter to connect to one of the dual monitors, while the other is connected straight to the DVI?
 
No IGP supports using dual digital connections, I.E DVI. So you will need to get a video card if you want to have dual DVI monitors.
 
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