Looking for PC Build Advice

U53r

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2013
Messages
128
Hi Guys,

So, I'm building a system for my father in law on a fairly tight budget. I want to give him a solid system which will perform well and that can play some games relatively well. Budget is $500 including shipping/taxes (I'm from Canada so taxes aren't anything to brush off lol).

I've been building PC's for a while but atypically higher end stems so I could use a bit of advice in the bang/buck category, especially witwh APU's which I've never cared about personall but they could be an option.

So here is what I'm thinking so far:

CPU: AMD 750k - $80
Mobo: MSI A78M - $70
Memory - Crucial Ballistix Sport 8gb - $70
Vid Card: Radeon R7 240 - $75
HDD: WD Black 500gb - $75 (open to cheaper suggestions but I like the WD black line)
PSU - ? < $50
Case - < $50

That rings up at just under $500 after taxes, any suggestions?

Not sure what to do about the PSU, the Seasonic SS-400E looks good, or the 500w EVGA, anything under $50 and with at least a 3 year warranty would do but in the price range choices for quality are limited.

Also not to sure what to do abut the case, was thinking maybe the the Thermaltake V3.

Lastly, I personally prefer a dedicated vid card and cpu, not a big fan of this APU stuff but maybe I'm just old fashioned. Would it make more sense to go with an APU or stick with what I'm looking at as far as cost:performance is concerned?
 
Please answer the following questions:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

Also, which Canadian online computer hardware store will you be buying from?

Though off the bat, that system looks rather..unbalanced and not a solid system at all.
 
The PC is'nt for me its for my father in law, it's just a general purpose system nothing specialized and some light gaming but I'd like him to have the option to throw a a newer game on there and still be able to play it half way decently hence the r7 240.

Just about every monitor is 1080p, he's got an old CRT right now but we'll be getting him a new one.

Need to order the parts for the PC this week as his old one just clunked out.

Probably gonna order from newegg.ca but maybe NCIX, whichever ends up being cheaper overall.

Mobo features dont so much matter, just a solid and reliable performer with good warranty. I've always gone MSI when it comes to mobos they are the best imho.

No OS yet, gonna try to track down a cheap copy of win7 somewhere.

Why do you think the system looks unbalanced? It would be a good entry level performer with room for upgradability.
 
The PC is'nt for me its for my father in law, it's just a general purpose system nothing specialized and some light gaming but I'd like him to have the option to throw a a newer game on there and still be able to play it half way decently hence the r7 240.
Well, what games does he play now?

Why do you think the system looks unbalanced? It would be a good entry level performer with room for upgradability.
Well for one, including a Black drive in a $500 system is a waste of money as the Black drives are more oriented towards far more expensive systems. I would definitely go with a WD Blue drive for a budget system.

The motherboard (specifically the -E35 version) hasn't been all that reliable according to the Newegg user reviews for it. Nor is there really that much information about . While MSI is generally solid, a lot of their budget mobos are getting above average number of poor reviews lately. Hence why if going MSI, you have to make absolute sure it's a solid mobo.

Then there's the case: For roughly $10 more, you can get the Source 210 Elite which has an extra 140mm rear fan, front panel USB 3.0, far better cable management features, more room behind the motherboard tray to hide cables, and more tooless drive installation features. Totally worth the extra $10 IMO.

For the PSU, if you can find that Seasonic for around $50, then go grab it. Otherwise, I'd recommend the Corsair CX430 430W.

EDIT: Oh and the biggie: The CPU and GPU. Combined, you might actually be better off with the A10-6800K. Not only is it clocked higher than the 750K, the GPU of that APU is actually decent enough for some 3D games out there and comes rather close to the R7 240 in performance. Then there's the fact that Richland APUs are slightly faster clock for clock than the Trinity based APUs/CPUs like the 750K. So for about $5 more for the A10-6800K over your planned CPU + GPU setup, you're getting a faster CPU and a comparable GPU.
 
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Older FPS titles like older CoD or MW, hunting games etc but I'd like it to be able to play some newer games reasonably well even if it's at 720p.

I'm gonna have to disagree about the HDD though, it is just a HDD after all not a SSD and it's read/write rates aren't particularly out there nor are they vastly greater then lower end drives. The hardware should be more then able to take full advantage of what those HDD's can do, heck it would be able to utilize a SSD. What it comes to hard drives faster is always better regardless of the system, they arte the single biggest bottle neck in performance.

As for the mobo, could you recommend a more reliable alternative? Asrock used to make some pretty decent budget boards, what do you think of their offerings?

I like the looks of that NZXT case, I must have overlooked it. Though for this type of build I don't think a case makes any real difference as it's not going to be pushing any thermal limits.
 
Older FPS titles like older CoD or MW, hunting games etc but I'd like it to be able to play some newer games reasonably well even if it's at 720p.
Then you might want to read my edit. At lower resolutions, the CPU plays a larger factor than at higher resolutions. Hence why the A10-6800K would be better.
I'm gonna have to disagree about the HDD though, it is just a HDD after all not a SSD and it's read/write rates aren't particularly out there nor are they vastly greater then lower end drives. The hardware should be more then able to take full advantage of what those HDD's can do, heck it would be able to utilize a SSD. What it comes to hard drives vaster is always better regardless of the system, they arte the single biggest bottle neck in performance.
While I totally agree that hard drives are the main bottle neck in a PC, I disagree that the Black drives offer enough of a performance increase over their Blue brothers to justify the extra cash in a budget system.

Hell I barely recommend Black drives for $2000 systems let alone a $500 system. Thats how unjustifiable they are as a purchase IMO.
As for the mobo, could you recommend a more reliable alternative? Asrock used to make some pretty decent budget boards, what do you think of their offerings?
Actually I would look at another MSI motherboard. Specifically the MSI FM2-A75MA-E35. Seems to be reliable enough and is priced roughly the same as your previous choice.
I like the looks of that NZXT case, I must have overlooked it. Though for this type of build I don't think a case makes any real difference as it's not going to be pushing and thermal limits.
I have to disagree as those APUs and CPUs run a bit warm from what I've seen in person. The included heatsinks aren't exactly fantastic.
 
So you think the A10-6800 would outperform the 750k + R7 240?
 
I guess that settles it then, I'll go the A10 route, thank you for all your input, your help is much appreciated.
 
You wouldn't know anywhere that I could find a really cheap copy of win 7 would you?
 
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