budget build

[j-dawg]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
video game playing and probably some document composition. i would like to be able to play video games, but i don't need settings turned up all the way. as long as it can handle the next 3-4 years' worth of games in way-down-low graphics mode, then i'll be happy.

to give you an idea, the most recent game i played was Deus Ex Human Revolution, but i also play CS:Source pretty regularly.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~450, could go a little over if i needed. it's not that i don't have money, but i'd rather not spend more than i need to.

if i could ask, how often does someone say that tax and shipping are not included in his budget? that's a kind of bizarre way to manage your pocketbook. yes, tax and shipping are included in my budget.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Chicago, IL, USA

truthfully i should say metropolitan Chicago as i am not in the 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.
- Motherboard
- CPU
- RAM (i'd like at least 4-6 gee bees)
- GPU
- PSU
- HDD (i don't need a ton of space. fun fact: the one in my desktop right now is almost eleven years old. IDE WD800JB. time to move on.
- that's all i can think of. don't need a sound card. i have keyboards and mice.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
case - antec sonata ii if i recall correctly
maybe i could reuse the power supply, but it's an old antec 350W...don't expect it'll be able to keep up. you guys tell me what you think.

edit: i do have an external CD / DVD drive that i will be reusing. my laptop has no optical drive to speak of and has been chugging alone fine for the last six years without it being a hindrance.
6) Will you be overclocking?
naw dude, that ain't me
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
dunno about the resolution, it's like a 17" 4:3 IBM LCD from the land before time. probably 1280x1024 or something goofy like that.

i will probably end up upgrading this, but i'll see how much i hate vgaming with it first. i am deliberately not factoring a screen into my budget.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
anytime between now and about two months from now, depending on sales. there are a lot of sales on this weekend, so the sooner the better.
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.
i dunno

can you even get motherboards without esata and usb 3.0? those two sound good to have. besides that i haven't been keeping up with the industry, dunno what new technologies there are that i might want. suggestions are accepted.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
i have a dead lenovo laptop with a vista license sticker; can i use that key with an OEM disc? (edit: never mind)

if not, i have an XP license but i hate XP, so i'm establishing a chronological minimum of vista.


i don't have any brand loyalties or particularly weird requests here except that i like quiet PCs. i'm not overclocking or anything, but i appreciate bigger, quieter fans, so i'll take your suggestions on that matter.

i do use linux on occasion so i prefer nvidia GPUs, unless ati has come out with better drivers in the last several years. i'm happy to use closed-source drivers if they work better.

thanks in advance!

EDIT: forgot: i will need wifi

too, i should mention that i am not opposed to buying prebuilt if it saves a few bux. it certainly might when you factor in OS, which i hadn't thought of.

EDIT 2: i'm now seeing that i can't use the old OEM Vista license i have, so let's make the budget 450 and see what we can do with that.

 

[Dangman]

Is that XP key actually transferable? As in it's a retail copy?

No you cannot reuse the Vista key. Nor can you reuse that Antec PSU. Find out exactly what case you have.

As for the tax and shipping bit, a good number of times people do say tax and shipping aren't part of the budget. Though a lot of times people totally forget about tax and shipping altogether and didn't budget for that.

 

[j-dawg]

yeah, retail xp home. can i use that key and an upgrade? will it be cheaper?

the case is an antec sonata ii for sure.

having started to paw through components here, i realize that my budget is pretty tight, and most of the components i'm seeing recommended for cheaper gaming builds are in the $120-130 range. i'm only looking to be able to play games for the next few years at a reasonable framerate. it could look like tomb raider 2 for all i care, so long as it runs.

edit -
i'm noticing a lot of cheap AMD FX c-c-c-combo deals at micro center, ~120-180 for amd fx6300 + motherboard. this is appealing to me - it would leave me a decent amount for gpu, ram, psu. is it a good idea? are the motherboards all total crap? looking at FX 6300 + Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P for $125, so with $100 for windows i'd have $225 left over for the rest. if it's ~$150 for ram, psu, and hdd, what decent video card could i snag for ~$100? maybe $125?

 

[Dangman]

Well for one, do you actually live near a Microcenter? Which Microcenter do you live near? How long of a drive is it?

Second, you forgot the wifi card. Not to mention that RAM prices have gone up pretty high over the past few months. So the $150 for the HDD, PSU, RAM, and wifi card is virtually impossible without going with some really crappy parts.

Third, you forgot the fact that if you buy from Microcenter, you have to pay tax there as well.

 

[j-dawg]

yes, in westmont IL. ~10 miles drive, 28mpg. nbd.

i did forget the wifi card, yes. $150 is for ram, psu, and hdd. video card i specified $100-125 separately, which may take me slightly out of budget.

i think i'll have to pay tax for online purchases as well (IL), but you're right that i didn't include it.

 

[Dangman]

This is as cheap as I could make the system without going with really crappy parts:
$140 - AMD FX 6300 CPU + Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P AMD 760G mATX Motherboard Microcenter combo (tax included)
$59 - Corsair CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$105 - Sapphire 100358L Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Seagate Spinpoint ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$40 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU
$27 - Asus PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter
$91 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
----
Total: $518 shipped plus any possible additional tax.

You could save money on the RAM by going with a 4GB set but I highly recommend against that considering that the above mobo only has two RAM slots. So you would be at a severe disadvantage in the RAM upgrade department.

 

[j-dawg]

thanks dude! appreciate it, i will probably go with this. i think you are right about the ram. it's not that much extra $ either.

do you have a recommendation for a similarly-priced and comparably-powerful nvidia card? also, is 430W enough for this build?

 

[Dangman]

do you have a recommendation for a similarly-priced and comparably-powerful nvidia card? also, is 430W enough for this build?

The closest Nvidia counterpart to the HD 7770 is the $100 GTX 650. However, the HD 7770 still outperforms it. AMD still has the best bang for the buck performance crown up until the $260 and higher mark where Nvidia mostly takes over with its GTX 760 and GTX 770 cards. Below that mark, you see the HD 7790 at $130 and the HD 7850 2GB at $165 to $180 mark having better bang for the buck performance over their Nvidia counterparts (the GTX 650 Ti and GTX 650 Ti Boost respectively.).

Yes 430W is enough.

 

[j-dawg]

i'd prefer an amd too, were it not for the linux support question.

i've spent too much time pissing about with drivers that aren't well-supported out of the box even in ubuntu...if it ain't plug and play, i don't want to deal with it. when it is plug and play, everything works with nary a thought. so i'm inclined to stick with nvidia cards for now.

thanks again for the help! looking forward to having a pc that can play video games again. it's been a while.

 

[j-dawg]

turns out i lied about the power source - it's an Antec Smart Power 450W. came with the case.

can i just skip the PSU then? it's probably like 6-7 years old now but it hasn't had that much use.

 

[Dangman]

turns out i lied about the power source - it's an Antec Smart Power 450W. came with the case.

can i just skip the PSU then? it's probably like 6-7 years old now but it hasn't had that much use.

No. It's a Smart Power PSU which were known for their relatively low quality.

 

[j-dawg]

gotcha, i didn't know that. oh well, i guess i'll put it on the tab.

if i buy it all in store, it's 526.51, tax included, and i can collect it all tomorrow. well outside of my budget, but given that i hadn't thought about the OS, that's pretty much dead on target. neato! there's a couple rebates too, though i'm not holding my breath on them.