New Build

[Lord Nassirbannipal]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web browsing, Word processing, Light gaming (emulators, indie games, flash), listening to music, virtual machines, light Python, VBS, and SQL
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$650 with tax and shipping
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Philadelphia, PA
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.
CPU (would prefer four cores for virtual machines)
Motherboard
HSF
RAM
Power Supply
Optical Drive
Wireless Keyboard
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Case
Mouse
Speakers
Hard Drive
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
27" 1366 x 768
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP
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.
Onboard Video as main GPU
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

[tiraides]

$140 - AMD FX 6300 and MSI 970A-G43 Micro Center bundle
$144 - G.Skill Ares F3-1866C10D-16GAB 2x8GB DDR3 1866 RAM (includes 10% discount promo code EMCPGPF33, expires 3/10)
$16 - LG GH24NSB0 SATA DVD burner
$50 - Corsair CX500 500 watt power supply
$25 - Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 2000

$375 - Total before taxes and shipping

There is a Micro Center store in the Philadelphia area, so go there and take advantage of its in-store specials. However, you'll find better deals on RAM online; for simplicity's sake, I decided to use NewEgg due to its specials.

Since you're not overclocking, there's little need for a third-party CPU cooler. If you must grab something, Micro Center has the Cooler Master Hyper T4 on sale for $30.

Onboard graphics benefit from faster RAM, so I went with DDR3 1866 RAM instead of the "usual" DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600 RAM. (It helps that I found a set that was under $150; most DDR3 1866 or faster sets of RAM start at around $160.)

Which specific hard drive are you reusing? How old is it? And what features do you want on your keyboard? You have quite a bit of leftover cash that you could use for a few more upgrades. If nothing else, consider buying a 120GB-to-256GB SSD to use as your primary drive. It's much faster than a 7200RPM hard drive.

 

[Lord Nassirbannipal]

I don't have a car so that trip to Microcenter would take anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours via public transit. If I can get the same CPU and board from Amazon it'll be just as good. It would be more expensive but it's still well below my budget

The hard drive I'll be using is a Western Digital Black 500GB.

 

[Dangman]

$140 - AMD FX 6300 and MSI 970A-G43 Micro Center bundle

...........

Onboard graphics benefit from faster RAM, so I went with DDR3 1866 RAM instead of the "usual" DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600 RAM. (It helps that I found a set that was under $150; most DDR3 1866 or faster sets of RAM start at around $160.)

...One slight problem here: The FX CPUs and AM3+ motherboads don't have integrated GPU. Since he can't drive to MC, that makes that AMD setup quite untenable for him.

@ Lord Nassirbannipal
Just how many VMs do you run at the same time? Also, you didn't answer his age question about the hard drive.

 

[Lord Nassirbannipal]

...One slight problem here: The FX CPUs and AM3+ motherboads don't have integrated GPU. Since he can't drive to MC, that makes that AMD setup quite untenable for him.

@ Lord Nassirbannipal
Just how many VMs do you run at the same time? Also, you didn't answer his age question about the hard drive.

My mistake. The hard drive is about 6 months old. I usually have two running at the same time. Sometimes there are three but that's rare.

 

[tiraides]

Sorry about that, guys. Here's an all-Amazon build instead:

$110 - AMD A8-6600K Socket FM2 quad-core processor (with embedded Radeon HD 8570D GPU)
$80 - Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H AMD A88X (Bolton D4) Socket FM2+/FM2 micro ATX motherboard
$160 - Patriot Viper 8 PV316G186C0KBL 2x8GB DDR3 1866 RAM
$21 - LG GH24NS95B SATA DVD burner
$40 - Corsair CX430 430 watt power supply
$20 - Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 2000

$431 - Total before taxes (all items eligible for Amazon Prime)

I still recommend the addition of an SSD as your primary drive. You can reuse the WD Black 500GB hard drive for your VMs and as a storage drive. I recommend one of the following:

$75 - Crucial M500 120GB SSD
$90 - Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD
$127 - Crucial M500 240GB SSD
$140 - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD

The 250GB Samsung 840 EVO is the best (performance-wise) of the above SSDs.

 

[Lord Nassirbannipal]

Thanks for your help, guys.

Going to order tomorrow.

 

[coolpurplefan]

If you're going AMD, the ASUS A88X-PRO has heatpipes, ALC1150 audio and is a 6 + 2 phase motherboard. Even if you're running at stock speeds, a 6 + 2 phase motherboard can give you cleaner electricity to your CPU for a longer lasting machine. The ALC1150 is apparently so good, some say you don't need a sound card.