Super Budget Build

[Iphikratous]

Hey guys, so my parents asked me to build them a computer. I'd consider myself fairly knowledgeable in the high-end stuff, but I don't know the good parts at the lower-end. Well then, let's begin.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Internet browsing, e-mail, those windows card games, etc. Simple stuff really.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

No real budget, but they wanted to keep it cheap while still keeping functionality. I originally pieced together a machine for about $400, lets try around that for now. This part of the budget won't include the OS, just hardware.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

Canada FTW.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

No real fan-boyism here, though I'd prefer AMD and WD, but I am open to other companys as well, I'm not hard set on those. I'm also partial to Corsair power supplies, but again, I'm not set on that brand in particular.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

Monitor, keyboard, mouse?

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

I've searched other threads, can't seem to fine one with such a tiny budget though.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Probably prefer default speeds for now so as to avoid costs of an aftermarket cooler.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Pretty soon.

9. What resolution do you use?

Monitor right now is 1024x768, but if I sell them my monitor it will go up to 1920x1080.

Right now I was planning on building it around an Athlon II 240 and GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H, but I am open to suggestions. Cheers.

[LarkStarr]

might be worth it to look at the pre-constructed machines at future shop/best buy etc. at that price range.

[jcmaz]

Where is the OP from?

and can i include MIR's?

If i were to build a $400 PC, these would be the parts

Gigabyte 785G w/ 4200IGP - $85 (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...cture=Gigabyte)
2GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 - $75 (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...acture=Corsair)
AMD Athlon II X3 435 - $85 (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...anufacture=AMD)
Sparkle or Seasonic or Antec PSU - $50 (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...20Power%20Intl.)
Compucase - $30 (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...e&promoid=1097)
Sammy DVD - $30 (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...acture=Samsung)
Seagate 7200.12 500GB - $50 (NCIX.com - Buy Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA2 3.5IN 8.5MS 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive OEM *3YR MFR Warranty* - ST3500418AS In Canada.)

Total: $405 - $10 MIR = $395

[deathsupport]

I'd say go with a cheap barebone kit from a place like TigerD. I've bought one in the past before and although not screaming fast they are generally quick for their purpose (simple Windows things).
e.g. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...3&Sku=B69-0201
Buy that and you're ready to go. You could probably even throw in a passively-cooled low-end gfx card to keep noise and power draw down but improve upon the integrated.

[FlyingFish]

NCIX.com - Buy Acer R3610 Revo Intel Atom 330 4GB 500GB NVIDIA ION HDMI eSATA WLAN GbE Windows 7 Home Premium - PT.SCX02.029 In Canada.

Have you thought of a nettop? That would do all the basic computing just fine and I'm sure your parents would appreciate the low energy consumption. (good for the environment! :-p)

[Iphikratous]

Hmm, a nettop is definitely interesting. The problem they have with their computer now is that everything takes soo long to load. It's an old Dell Dimension from 2003 or so, and wasn't very good to begin with, Pentium 4(I think) 2.8ghz, 512mb ram, 80gb hard drive, some crappy intel integrated graphics. I don't want to get them to buy a computer to have it not offer substantial improvement over this one, so how would today's low-power products, like that Acer revo, compare to what they have now.

[Dwayne]

Originally Posted by LarkStarr

might be worth it to look at the pre-constructed machines at future shop/best buy etc. at that price range.

Bite your tongue! The parts they throw in the pre-built determine the price, and it is cheap for a reason. Not that these computers don't work, but they tend to use the low end and smallest power supply they can get away with. I know a home built will cost a touch more, but that is because the parts will be good brand names know for quality and reliability.

NCIX.com - Buy Antec Sonata III Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 500W 120MM Fan - SONATA III 500 In Canada. - $109.00 Sale price till 13 April, excellent price!

NCIX.com - Buy ASUS M2N68-AM Plus Socket AM2+ mATX GeForce 7025 DDR2 PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI VGA Motherboard - M2N68-AM PLUS In Canada. - $54.99

or

NCIX.com - Buy Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AMD785G mATX AM3 PCI-E DDR3 Video Sound GLAN CrossFireX HDMI Motherboard - GA-MA785GMT-UD2H In Canada. - $88.99

NCIX.com - Buy AMD Athlon II X2 250 Dual Core Processor Socket AM3 3.0GHZ 2MB Cache 60W Retail Box - ADX250OCGQBOX In Canada. - $77.28

NCIX.com - Buy OCZ Gold XTC OCZ2G10664GK 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-6-6-18 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit - OCZ2G10664GK In Canada. - $104.33

NCIX.com - Buy Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS 3.5IN NCQ Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty - WD5000AAKS In Canada. - $61.78

NCIX.com - Buy Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD Writer SATA Black OEM - SH-S223C/BEBE-OEM In Canada. - $29.89

or

NCIX.com - Buy LG 16X DVD-ROM Optical Drive SATA Black OEM - DH16NS30 In Canada. - $19.99 if they don't need a burner.

Total Asus system with the burner $437, without the burner $427. No mouse or keyboard though.

Total Gigabyte system with the burner $471, without about $461.

Room to grow with a good Antec 500W PSU, nice case, brand name MB, 4 GB of RAM... sure, you could get some other components a little cheaper, but these components are ones I have used in the past and have had very good luck with.

The Gigabyte MB is certainly better than the budget Asus, I would try and expand the budget a touch, you could upgrade the HD if you had a $500 budget, get a 1 TB WD Black. It is so easy to burn through a few hundred bucks :) especially when it isn't your own money!

[FlyingFish]

I got my parents the Revo, they have it set up in the living room so my little sister can do her email/fb on it and they can watch HD movies. Does 1080p without a hitch.

The Nvidia ION is going to be far better than the crappy intel graphics that your parents' old dell would have (its similar to a Geforce 9400). Although the CPU is a 1.6ghz processor it has 2 cores and 4 threads, so although it won't handle hardware intensive stuff, it should multi-task alot better than the P4, and 4gb of ram doesn't hurt. The difference is probably going to be quite noticeable, especially over a 7 year old machine thats bloated.

the one downside is no optical drive

[jcmaz]

Originally Posted by Dwayne

Bite your tongue! The parts they throw in the pre-built determine the price, and it is cheap for a reason. Not that these computers don't work, but they tend to use the low end and smallest power supply they can get away with. I know a home built will cost a touch more, but that is because the parts will be good brand names know for quality and reliability.

NCIX.com - Buy Antec Sonata III Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 500W 120MM Fan - SONATA III 500 In Canada. - $109.00 Sale price till 13 April, excellent price!

NCIX.com - Buy ASUS M2N68-AM Plus Socket AM2+ mATX GeForce 7025 DDR2 PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI VGA Motherboard - M2N68-AM PLUS In Canada. - $54.99

or

NCIX.com - Buy Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AMD785G mATX AM3 PCI-E DDR3 Video Sound GLAN CrossFireX HDMI Motherboard - GA-MA785GMT-UD2H In Canada. - $88.99

NCIX.com - Buy AMD Athlon II X2 250 Dual Core Processor Socket AM3 3.0GHZ 2MB Cache 60W Retail Box - ADX250OCGQBOX In Canada. - $77.28

NCIX.com - Buy OCZ Gold XTC OCZ2G10664GK 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-6-6-18 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit - OCZ2G10664GK In Canada. - $104.33

NCIX.com - Buy Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS 3.5IN NCQ Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty - WD5000AAKS In Canada. - $61.78

NCIX.com - Buy Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD Writer SATA Black OEM - SH-S223C/BEBE-OEM In Canada. - $29.89

or

NCIX.com - Buy LG 16X DVD-ROM Optical Drive SATA Black OEM - DH16NS30 In Canada. - $19.99 if they don't need a burner.

Total Asus system with the burner $437, without the burner $427. No mouse or keyboard though.

Total Gigabyte system with the burner $471, without about $461.

Room to grow with a good Antec 500W PSU, nice case, brand name MB, 4 GB of RAM... sure, you could get some other components a little cheaper, but these components are ones I have used in the past and have had very good luck with.

The Gigabyte MB is certainly better than the budget Asus, I would try and expand the budget a touch, you could upgrade the HD if you had a $500 budget, get a 1 TB WD Black. It is so easy to burn through a few hundred bucks :) especially when it isn't your own money!

Dude, did you even read my post? You are at least $50 over the budget...

[Kovok]

Budget build DEFINTELY needs an Antec Sonata III case... hell I doubt they would even care if it was beige. I'd consider the nettop though, they are really good for the money. Very quiet too, and no dust problems.