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Sub $500 Build

S

Squintos_86

n00b
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Messages
21
Hi all,
Buddy of mine wants a new computer and I finally convinced him of the many benefits of building his own. He wants to keep it under $500 shipped. I have been hankering to introduce him to some newer games as he is someone who still plays the original Merchant Prince (not that there's anything wrong with that); I have a feeling that his socks will be knocked off by even the simplest of modern technology.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
General usage and light gaming ie Skyrim on playable settings, media editing/playback (high school football coach editing game tape)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500 dollars total with tax and shipping included

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Tomahawk, WI, no B/M nearby so online is best option

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
Case, MB, CPU, RAM, GPU, HD, PSU, DVD, basically an entire tower

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Reusing peripherals like kb/mouse and monitor, nothing internal

6) Will you be overclocking?
Not a chance

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1200x800, would like to get him a new one but $500 leaves very little wiggle room

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This weekend

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.
Nothing special

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No, an OS is needed in the $500 total preferably Windows 7

I was looking at this thread http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1830816 as a reference point and was liking what I saw, just wanted to let the community geniuses work their magic before ordering parts. Thanks for the help in advance, drop your knowledge gentlemen.
 
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....So no chance of him being able to raise his budget by about $50?
 
The dualcore in that thread isn't a very good buy when you can easily get tri and quadcore AMD CPUs for much less. Usually a used mobo, tri or quadcore amd cpu with 8GB of ram will be about $100.
 
$550 is probably doable, but I do have a spare 500 gig hard drive I'm not using that I could give him so we could remove that from the budget, under 500 would be better though.
 
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Assuming that you do give him your spare 500GB drive:
$59 - Intel Pentium G3220 CPU
$65 - BIOSTAR Hi-Fi B85S3+ Ver. 6.x Intel B85 mATX motherboard
$73 - Team Vulcan 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$90 - PowerColor AXR7 250X 1GBD5-HE Radeon R7 250X 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$18 - LG GH24NSB0B DVD Burner
$45 - EVGA 500B 80 PLUS BRONZE 100-B1-0500-KR 500W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
$97 - Windows 8.1 64bit
----
Total: $497 shipped

If you can't give him your spare 500GB drive, then add this Seagate 1TB to the above list:
$54 - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
 
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Sorry about the delay, ended up going with your $497 build and all the parts were ordered as of last night. You have done a great service by helping a simple peasant on the path of the pcmasterrace, thanks for the advice everyone!
 
Squintos_86 said:
Sorry about the delay, ended up going with your $497 build and all the parts were ordered as of last night. You have done a great service by helping a simple peasant on the path of the pcmasterrace, thanks for the advice everyone!
Click to expand...

No prob man. Good luck with the build!
 
Why the g3220 instead of the g3258? Wouldn't ramping up the clock speed of the 3258 make a significant difference, also, there are still package deals for it with MB as well?
 
nightfly said:
Why the g3220 instead of the g3258? Wouldn't ramping up the clock speed of the 3258 make a significant difference, also, there are still package deals for it with MB as well?
Click to expand...

Because there was no room in the budget for such a setup. If the OP had asked just one week earlier, the setup you mentioned would have been entirely possible as there was an online deal for the G3258 and an overclock capable motherboard for around $75 total. Nor is the OP located near a Microcenter so the $100 deal they have there for that CPU and overclock capable motherboard would have applied.
 
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