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AMD for Budget PC

J

Jerec

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
109
Hello

I'm going to be building a computer for a neighbor who's looking to replace his aging Dell desktop.

I'd like this computer to be as cheap as possible while being as reliable as any gaming PC I can build. If I went the Intel route, I'd just go for an i3. But knowing how cheap AMD CPUs can go, I gotta do my research. The last AMD CPU I've worked with was an Athlon 64 and I haven't kept up with AMD since the Core 2s. Is there anything I should be aware of as I look at AMD CPUs for a budget PC?


Thanks!
 
My neighbor's got grandkids, I think, so the ability to play games is definitely not a concern. But I guess this can be the highest I can go.
 
For a "as cheap as possible" and unless you want to be this guys tech support from now until they replace it, its really hard to beat a pre-built system.

For low cost systems, including a Windows license, I don't think I could ever build something anywhere near as cheap.

I'd check out both Dell's and Lenovo's Outlet pages. I've had great luck with pointing friends/family there. Systems are sometimes close to 50% off retail (Look for promos around holidays) often just because someone cancelled an order. My grandmother uses a "scratch and dent" desktop which I'd be darned if I could find any actual damage to the case. I've picked up systems that I could legitimately part out for twice what I paid for them.

Also I'm not sure about Lenovo, but Dell actually has better quality control for their outlet systems.

Both have dynamic inventories, so things get added and bought throughout the day. You have to watch for a bit and know when to strike.

My $0.02.
 
If you're going with a discrete graphics card, Intel all day long. If you're not going to use a discrete graphics card, then AMD's APU lineup would be best.

What is your budget?
Where do you live?
When do you plan to order all the parts?
What size monitor? (Included with price or bought separately)

c3k said:
Big sales coming up on Black Friday, as well.
Click to expand...

Doubtful.
 
If you don't want to be their tech support, I would go with pre-built with tech support (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) as someone has suggested. They have sales pretty regularly and they are pretty cheap.

For pre-built, I would also vote for the Richland line of APUs. Considering their needs, probably not even worth getting a K chip though. I think a cheaper non-K (maybe A8 to save some money over an A10) would even suit their needs. On ebay, I was seeing some of the trinity chips go for pretty low prices.
 
If you want to build something vs buying complete I hope you live near a Microcenter. Combos there are cheap. I would recommend the FX-6300 with the cheap Asus board.
edit: I almost forgot the APU lineup. Microcenter has those in combos too.
 
Skillz said:
If you're going with a discrete graphics card, Intel all day long. If you're not going to use a discrete graphics card, then AMD's APU lineup would be best.

What is your budget?
Where do you live?
When do you plan to order all the parts?
What size monitor? (Included with price or bought separately)



Doubtful.
Click to expand...

Re sales: Yeah, you may be right. Then again, you may be wrong. ;)

Let's spec out a prebuilt system, price it today, then check again in 2 1/2 weeks. Up for it?

Ken
 
lilstevo said:
If you don't want to be their tech support, I would go with pre-built with tech support (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) as someone has suggested. They have sales pretty regularly and they are pretty cheap.

For pre-built, I would also vote for the Richland line of APUs. Considering their needs, probably not even worth getting a K chip though. I think a cheaper non-K (maybe A8 to save some money over an A10) would even suit their needs. On ebay, I was seeing some of the trinity chips go for pretty low prices.
Click to expand...
If his neighbors knows he works on computers, then it wont make a difference between pre-build and custom. :p
 
One of my custom builds has an uptime of over 2 years, I don't think a pre-built machine mad computer would be able to do that, and I am no expert. Pre-built computer can be made really badly, I managed to get a CPU to drop in temp by 30c y changing the stock thermal paste to some new stuff.

The original thermal paste had a hair in it.
 
Spazturtle said:
One of my custom builds has an uptime of over 2 years, I don't think a pre-built machine mad computer would be able to do that, and I am no expert. Pre-built computer can be made really badly, I managed to get a CPU to drop in temp by 30c y changing the stock thermal paste to some new stuff.

The original thermal paste had a hair in it.
Click to expand...
Its not a matter of the hardware, but the software. Note that could sometimes be HW if they dont blow the dust out. Here in the Phoenix are the dust is reallllllly bad.

People can mess up software really fast. I just reload the stupid things since its easier time wise.
 
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