Need suggestions on a super budget build....

M

Moose777

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
2,741
The idea is for my son.

So, I need suggestions on a cheap build for my son. When I say cheap I mean cheap. Under $400 cheap. He isn't going to need anything too fancy.

Hell my last rig that I built cost me about $700 and the one before that (which is in my sig) cost me about $3k).

I'd like to stick with AMD as their procs are fairly cheap and possibly an AM3 or AM3+ socket. If they are still viable.

A motherboard with on board sound is preferable and on board video would be ideal but not necessary. Like I said it's for my son and the only game he plays on the computer is Minecraft so he's not playing anything too graphically demanding.

So far, I've looked at this mother board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795

And this processor (which is the same one in my current rig):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

And this memory (Which is on the mobo's list):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104244


He'd also need a wireless card to connect to the home network since his computer would be fairly far from the router and running a Cat5 cable would be pretty difficult. I also didn't look at hard drives.
 
Last edited:
Of course I'm building it myself. Oh, did I post this thread in the wrong place? Well then, that would obviously why I've gotten no answers. Thanks. :D

Heh, I just reported myself. Awesome.
 
Well apparently this thread has now been transferred over to General Hardware. Please answer the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTION FIRST!" so that we can help you better.
 
I'd recommend an Intel 1155 setup over an AMD AM3 setup simply because the former has so much more room for future upgrades. That is, a budget 1155 system that's <$400 today could be upgraded to something very powerful, CPU-wise (like an i7-3770) in a few years - whereas the best you're going to get for AM3 isn't as capable. Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPUs use much, much less juice, too.

How about this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116399 $64 (Compare it to your 965 BE here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=406 - note how it performs about as well as the 965 BE in games while using ~100W less under load.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130654 $60 (Ivy Bridge support out of the box, and I've built a dozen systems with it without issue.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233349 $18
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767 $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151256 $16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352009 $47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151063 $44

Sums to $299. Maybe drop $20-30 on a dirt cheap GPU?

HTH.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top