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New Computer $300 Budget

H

Hotthree

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
138
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, Web Surfing (WoW)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$300
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
U.S Atlanta (so microcenter is in play)
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/PSU/RAM/GPU/MOBO/hard drive (looking for deals this week, if not he has to settle with a very small hdd for now)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
430watt powersupply (possibly depends on needs) and my z9plus case
6) Will you be overclocking?
For my little brother so no.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Nothing over 1900x1080. The one he'll probably use is a 17inch 1600x800 or w/e it is.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This week depending on deals and suggestions from you all.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
He doesn't need anything fancy, but I was thinking about AMD am3+ board so he can upgrade down the road. (I think the i3 sandy bridge bundle is gone and its a tad out of budget i think)
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have 32 or 64bit..I will most likely use 32 bit on his

What I have in mind:
Phenom II x2 560 with combo matx mobo (microcenter)
5770 or 5670 (not sure here)
430-600watt (not sure here or even if I should upgrade) my old psu is from 9800pro era
Corsair 1600 4gb
Hard drive (not sure kinda screwed here if i don't see a good deal this week)

Thanks for the suggestions
 
If your PSU is from the 9800 Pro era, replace it. It's not worth reusing. What small hard drive are you talking about?

Also, get this PSU today:
$50 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU

And yes the hard drive, if buying new, is definitely gonna screw ya considering that cheapest 500GB drive I've been able to find so far costs $80:
$80 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
 
I don't factor in rebates until they're actually received. So in this case, that HD 6850 is a bad buy consdering that you can get the faster HD 6870 1GB for $10 more.

However getting either of those cards will take up a huge chunk of your budget. Is there no chance of the budget being increased?
 
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You would technically be fine with a good quality 400W PSU for that HD 6850 assuming that the CPU isn't too heavily overclocked or is an Intel.

As for the PSUs you linked to, again, I don't factor in rebates until they're actually received. So my opinion is based on their pre-rebate price. As such, that Corsair PSU is poor buy since the Antec PSU I recommended earlier, even at its current price of $75, is of higher quality and has significantly more power for only $5 more. As for the OCZ PSU, it's of mediocre quality no matter what the price.

I recommend this PSU since it's on sale right now:
$65 - Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W PSU

However if you don't think your brother will upgrade the GPU for several years and/or a relatively low power CPU (no more than a quad-core and not a Bulldozer FX CPU), you should be fine with this PSU:
$45 - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W PSU
 
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