• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

$550 futureproof build

T

Tom_S

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
323
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? Etc
For now; web design, light rendering (to learn how), e-mail, web browsing, video streaming.
In the future add: graphics design, video editing,
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$550 t&s incl.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible. USA Missouri near Kansas City
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Asus P8Z68-V/Gen3 $149.99
Intel Core i3 2100 $124.99
Corsair CMX8GX3M4A1333C9 $49.99
Arctic Cooling Silentium T11 White $37.01
??Seasonic bronze for less than $65.00??
DVD burner there are several available bundled with items above for $10 to $15
Card reader w/USB 3.0 port (Rosewill ~$21 thru UDS ~$58)
Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit OEM $99.99
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
WD 500gb sata drive
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
21” 1600x1050 (will be upgrading in the future)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Today
9) What features do you need in a motherboard?
RAID? Not for now, possibly for the future
Firewire? No
Crossfire or SLI support? Not for now, possibly for the future
USB 3.0? Yes
SATA 6Gb/s? Yes
eSATA? Would be nice but not necessary
Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? As main for now, as backup for the future
etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? No

My friend came to me with a computer problem after working on it I determined that he had a counterfeit Win 7 installed (second time I’ve seen this in a month and both times from the same local shop). His computer is a 6 year old Amd build with only the hard drive worth reusing, so I am going to build him a new computer. He was a little vague on how he intends to use his computer so I’ve done my best to stay within his budget and plan for upgradability.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Tom
 
Tom_S said:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? Etc
For now; web design, light rendering (to learn how), e-mail, web browsing, video streaming.
In the future add: graphics design, video editing,
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$550 t&s incl.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible. USA Missouri near Kansas City
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Asus P8Z68-V/Gen3 $149.99
Intel Core i3 2100 $124.99
Corsair CMX8GX3M4A1333C9 $49.99
Arctic Cooling Silentium T11 White $37.01
??Seasonic bronze for less than $65.00??
DVD burner there are several available bundled with items above for $10 to $15
Card reader w/USB 3.0 port (Rosewill ~$21 thru UDS ~$58)
Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit OEM $99.99
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
WD 500gb sata drive
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
21” 1600x1050 (will be upgrading in the future)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Today
9) What features do you need in a motherboard?
RAID? Not for now, possibly for the future
Firewire? No
Crossfire or SLI support? Not for now, possibly for the future
USB 3.0? Yes
SATA 6Gb/s? Yes
eSATA? Would be nice but not necessary
Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? As main for now, as backup for the future
etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? No

My friend came to me with a computer problem after working on it I determined that he had a counterfeit Win 7 installed (second time I’ve seen this in a month and both times from the same local shop). His computer is a 6 year old Amd build with only the hard drive worth reusing, so I am going to build him a new computer. He was a little vague on how he intends to use his computer so I’ve done my best to stay within his budget and plan for upgradability.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Tom
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the i3-2100 is not a very good value because it costs only $3 less than the faster i3-2120. And the P8Z68-V/Gen3 is way overkill for that CPU, especially since no Sandy Bridge i3 can be overclocked at all (only those CPUs with Turbo Boost allow any overclocking at all whatsoever - but the i3 CPUs completely lack Turbo Boost).
 
I'd go for a i3 2130 and cheaper motherboard...more cpu power up front and a cheaper motherboard will not affect anything if your not going to OC anyway.
 
Thanks E4g1e,

The board was selected for future upgrade compatibility with Core i7 or Ivy Bridge. If my friend does what he says he wants to do with this build he will be back for a processor upgrade in less than 6 months.

Does the i3-2120 have gpu. I considered the processor to be disposable but would consider any other suggestions.

Thanks,
Tom
 
Tom_S said:
Thanks E4g1e,

The board was selected for future upgrade compatibility with Core i7 or Ivy Bridge. If my friend does what he says he wants to do with this build he will be back for a processor upgrade in less than 6 months.

Does the i3-2120 have gpu. I considered the processor to be disposable but would consider any other suggestions.

Thanks,
Tom
Click to expand...

Yes, the i3-2120 has the same Intel HD Graphics 2000 as the i3-2100. The only difference is that the 2120 is clocked 200MHz higher on the CPU than the 2100 - 3.3GHz versus 3.1GHz.
 
If you have live without that Sata 6gb/s, you can go with this (your HDD definitely will not need the bandwith that Sata 6gb/s affords.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131724

And for 30 dollars more, you can have the Sata 6gb/s, if you really want it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131712

Both of these boards run the H-series chipset, which allow no overclocking, which wouldn't be a problem if you were running an i3.

Also, I agree, for $3 more, the 2120 is worth it.


The above was before I read about the upgrade. I have the board you posted and love it.

As far as the PSU, there is this for $65, at 430w,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151074

However, $5 more gets you a 520w:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094

You really don't need that much, from either of them, but if you want to futureproof like you say, these can support a decent-sized graphics card, but nothing too high-end.


As an addition, instead of 4x2gb, you could do 2x4gb to save a bit of cash.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424
 
Last edited:
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the input so far.

Update: my friend Kevin just called to say he wants an i5 processor. I'm thinking i5-2400 so I don't blow the budget completely.

Thanks,
Tom
 
Tom_S said:
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the input so far.

Update: my friend Kevin just called to say he wants an i5 processor. I'm thinking i5-2400 so I don't blow the budget completely.

Thanks,
Tom
Click to expand...

In that case, then the i5 (due to it having Turbo Boost) is at least limited overclockable. However, if the reseller that you're ordering from sells the i5-2500K for no more than $30 higher than the i5-2400, then go for the 2500K. But if he doesn't intend to overclock much if at all, then stick with the 2400.
 
I can get the i5-2400 for $179.99.
The i5-2500k looks like about $225.
Its already a $55 jump to the 2400, I don't think he will go for a $100 jump to the 2500k
 
Thanks Amzee,

Good call on the memory, that save $13.00

When you add shipping both PSU's are about the same price so I'll probably go with second one at $75.98 ($11 over budget). I'm not stuck on Seasonic so if there was something suitable for less I would consider it.
 
Tom_S said:
I can get the i5-2400 for $179.99.
The i5-2500k looks like about $225.
Its already a $55 jump to the 2400, I don't think he will go for a $100 jump to the 2500k
Click to expand...

Fair enough. After all, it's no fun going for the 2500K if one has to cut corners on the rest of the build (especially the motherboard).
 
Hi everybody,

To recap it looks like this will be the build:

Asus P8Z68-V/Gen3 $149.99
Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz $189.99 (missed the deal @ $179.99)
G.SKILL Value Series Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBNT $36.99
SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze $69.99
Arctic Cooling Silentium T11 White $37.01
Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit OEM $99.99
Reuse hard drive
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS $9.99 (combo deal)
Shipping $10.65

Total $604.60

Eliminated the card reader to save money
 
Danny Bui said:
At $50, that RAM is stupidly expensive. It's even worse considering that it's a 4 x 2GB set. So go with the RAM set that Amzee recommended


How are you getting that mobo for $150? Not even MC has that good of a deal.
Click to expand...

Newegg open box. I'll push the buy button soon if nobody has any other recommendations.

Thanks again,
Tom
 
Good luck, nice deal on the motherboard. Report back with how the open box mobo works for you.
 
Cmustang87 said:
Good luck, nice deal on the motherboard. Report back with how the open box mobo works for you.
Click to expand...

Motherboard arrived today in a plain white corrugated card board box. The MB fits tight in the box and it was not repacked so damage to one side of the box bent a fan header pin and the speaker pins, all minor. The only thing missing is the Q connector. The DVD disc has 2 scuffs on it and one of heat sinks has two small gouges on the faceplate of it. The EPU and the TPU switches were both switched on. The MB is slightly warped, but otherwise appears to be in good shape. The CPU socket pins all appear to be in good shape.

Only thing left on order is the case which should arrive tomorrow, also I have to retrieve the owners old computer to salvage a few parts (HD, NIC, etc.). I'll post more when its up and running.

Again thanks to everyone for all the help,
Tom S
 
Good to hear, hopefully the motherboard is OK.

I would be worried though, I would have a hard time being ok with a warped motherboard... :(
 
The warp is so minor that if you hold the board upside down by the edges it is almost flat. Still I'm with you, a little worried to see any warp on a multi-layer board.
 
This is mostly for Cmustang87, because he/she asked.

Open box Motherboard update:
I thought I had checked everything before I installed the motherboard but sometimes I can’t see the forest for the trees. As I was getting ready to download the bios update I realized that the board was stenciled with the wrong model number, it is model P8Z68-V, it should be P8Z68-V/GEN3. Upon further investigation it does not appear to have the chips necessary for Pcie 3.0 support. Somebody at Asus remanufacturing put wrong serial number and model number tags on the motherboard and the box. I decided it was time to call Newegg.

Two days ago I called Newegg customer support, I explained the situation to the lady that answered and after more than 30 minutes of back and forth I was fairly certain that she understood the problem. She said they needed to investigate and someone would e-mail me in 24 to 48 hours. That deadline passed this morning and no e-mail so I called Newegg customer support again.

I explained the situation to the lady that answered, after checking she came back on line to say “they” had one more question, ‘what is the model number on the motherboard?’, this surprised me because it was definitely one of the questions that I answered two days earlier but I answered her question without comment, “the model number on the board is P8Z68-V” and I went back on hold. When she came back on line she said well that’s what you ordered, to which I said no I ordered a P8Z68-V/GEN3. Her response was “Oh!” and put me back on hold. When she returned to the line she told me “they” would have to investigate this and someone would get back to me by e-mail. (this appears to be their stock answer when they don’t know what to say) I pressed her for a deadline but all I could get was that I would probably hear something by Monday.

That’s where things stand. The original mistake was by Asus, but as many items as they refurb it was bound to happen and I was the one that drew the short straw. That Newegg didn’t take action on this in the first 24 hours is unacceptable. At the very least I should have received a summary e-mail of my first contact since the issue was unresolved. I don’t know how to escalate this issue with Newegg so I guess I’ll have to resign myself to waiting for their next response.

If anybody has any suggestions, I’m all ears,

Thanks for listening to my rant,
Tom S
 
That's a real bummer to hear Tom_S. I hope you can get things worked out.

I would highly suggest demanding for a manager, as the amount of time for an answer on such a small product purchase should really not take this much time. You shouldn't be getting the shaft here, and if Newegg would like to keep you as a customer they should be trying to take care of you.

Demand a supervisor and do not let them get off the line until you can get an exchange set up through them. Make them pay the shipping as well.

I've learned working in IT, that if you don't have the answer you want from the person you are on the line with, you must go above them and keep going until you get an answer.

Best of luck.
 
Update

Three weeks and Newegg has sent me an e-mail saying my cc will be credited for the full amount in 2 to 3 days. I bought the correct MB from Micro Center for slightly less money (also open box) and the contents was complete and correct. The computer is up and running, O. C. 3.6 + on all cores. The stock cpu cooling failed to keep up after nearly 6 hours of Prime95, rounding error on one core.

The build went well and I will deliver the computer tonight with the recommendation that he upgrade the cooling solution. The only issue with the build was the case and case fans. One of the fans whines at high speed and the thermal sensor leads are too short. The case is a little flimsy and does not have any provision for wire management but it was about what I expected for the price.

Again I want to thank everyone for their help!

Later,
Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top