Budget Build asap

[dhtran]

Looking to build this computer by this week but can wait until the end of next week. Thanks in advance.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Some gaming, diablo 3,web browsing, office suites
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
400, 600 max but the lower the better
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Los Angeles,CA. Close to a Frys and Microcenter
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.
Case,psu,cpu,ram,gpu,hard drive,
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
sata dvd drive, keyboard, mouse,
6) Will you be overclocking?
probably not
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920 x 1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Asap, in a week or 2 weeks
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.
Nothing in particular
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes. 64bit microsoft 7.

 

[Dangman]

All from Amazon.com to avoid CA sales tax:
$125 - Intel Core i3-2120
$85 - Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Intel H67 mATX Motherboard
$42 - Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$135 - Sapphire 11201-00-20G Radeon HD 7770 GHZ 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$75 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB SATA Hard Drive
$55 - Antec Earthwatts Green EA-430D 430W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---
Total: $567 shipped.

 

[dhtran]

Thanks. I also forgot to mention that I am in driving distance of a Frys and Microcenter. Any deals to be had or other options if I decide to purchase the parts locally?

 

[Dangman]

Not really. CA sales tax more or less nullifies a lot of the potential savings. Not to mention Fry's limited availability for a lot of their deals and MC's lack of real deals for the low-end Intel CPUs.

BTW: San Diego is technically within "driving distance" of Los Angeles. So for future reference, you might want to be clear on how long exactly is "driving distance" for you.

 

[BurntToast]

All from Amazon.com to avoid CA sales tax:
$125 - Intel Core i3-2120
$85 - Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Intel H67 mATX Motherboard
$42 - Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$135 - Sapphire 11201-00-20G Radeon HD 7770 GHZ 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$75 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB SATA Hard Drive
$55 - Antec Earthwatts Green EA-430D 430W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---
Total: $567 shipped.

Nice build for the price!

Could save a messily $10 by going with this PSU

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-430-W...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1338364972&sr=1-1

 

[zandor]

You could also look at an AMD deal from Microcenter. Microcenter seems to have a $40 off deal on Phenom II + mainboard combos, and they have 965 X4 3.4Ghz and 1045T X6 2.7GHz (3.2 turbo) chips for $100.

At stock clocks that i3 will get you a bit better performance in most games since the i3 has better single thread performance and most games won't really use more than 2 cores. One of those AMD combos costs less though, plus it has more total processing power (4 or 6 cores v. 2) and they're unlocked so you can overclock them if you like.

Maybe something like this. No idea how that board is though.

Asus M5A97 Socket AM3+ 970 ATX AMD Motherboard $85

Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz $100

-$40 Combo Discount (shows up if you add both items to your cart)
= $145 + tax

They have discounts on Intel + board combos too, but it seems like they only apply to the unlocked k CPUs and maybe locked i7s (didn't check).