$400-500 Budget build help

A

alobor

n00b
Joined
Feb 22, 2002
Messages
32
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Media storage (streaming to xbox360, WDTV), Light gaming, Web browsing, Encoding HDTV stuff, Photoshop.
Computer will probably be left on 24/7.
In all reality I probably wont be doing too much gaming on it since I have a 360 & ps3, but I would love to have the option to slap one in further down the road...?

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$400-500 with shipping

3) Where do you live?
Ar

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything =(

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
monitor, keyboard, mouse

6) Will you be overclocking?
no

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I have a22" Benq

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

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
not sure

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Wanting to get Windows 7 when it comes out
 
$128 - AMD Athlon X2 240 CPU + BIOSTAR TA785GE 128M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$62 - Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM
$60 - Asus EN9600GSO/DI/512MD3/V2 GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB PCI-E 2.0 Video Card FS
$50 - Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive FS
$32 - Samsung SH-S223L SATA DVD Burner
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU FS
$37 - HEC 6C28BB8S Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case FS
---
Total: $420 plus tax and shipping
 
Antec 300 - 6 hard drive bay
Corsair 400watt - best value for money.
785g board - perfect for light gaming and has 6 sata ports with eSATA (board model dependence).
G.Skill 2-4 gb ddr3 1333 kit - I think 2 GB should handle your needs.
Athlon x4 620 - Can't beat $99 quad in price/performance
WD 1 TB Black HDD
 
Since you want to encode video, I would strongly recommend going with a quad core. Lack of L3 cache on Propus has no effect on video encoding which makes it ideal for that purpose.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H - $199 combo price - $15 MIR
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $71
CASE: Antec Three Hundred - $50
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W - $50 - $20 MIR
HD: WESTERN DIGITAL WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB - $99 - $15MIR
DVD: SAMSUNG SH-S223B - $30

Total: $499 include tax/shipping - $50 MIR


It appears that AMD will be moving from socket AM3 to socket AM3+ in 2011 (see here). So chances are good the next gen CPUs will drop into current DDR3 + AM3 setups. The Caviar Black 1TB drive is fast so it will handle double duty for OS + storage fairly well. The 790GX onboard video is pretty decent, but the system will handle a serious vid card if you decide to slap one in later on.


EDIT - Just want to add IF you think you may overclock down the road, OCZ Vendetta is going for $5 AMIR. Details here.
 
Last edited:
'AM3+' and 'AM3 +'
are not the same, just a heads up before you run in circles (like I did).
 
Awesome.
Thanks for the tips guy's.
I think I'm gonna go for Toasters setup.
 
If I decided to go with a better graphics card, what would you guy's recommend?
 
alobor said:
If I decided to go with a better graphics card, what would you guy's recommend?
Click to expand...

If you go with the Corsair 400CX power supply that Toaster recommended, nothing higher than the HD4850. If the power requirements of the HD5770 is roughly the same as the HD4850, then I'd recommend that card instead.
 
Toaster Oven said:
Since you want to encode video, I would strongly recommend going with a quad core. Lack of L3 cache on Propus has no effect on video encoding which makes it ideal for that purpose.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H - $199 combo price - $15 MIR
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $71
CASE: Antec Three Hundred - $50
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W - $50 - $20 MIR
HD: WESTERN DIGITAL WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB - $99 - $15MIR
DVD: SAMSUNG SH-S223B - $30

Total: $499 include tax/shipping - $50 MIR


It appears that AMD will be moving from socket AM3 to socket AM3+ in 2011 (see here). So chances are good the next gen CPUs will drop into current DDR3 + AM3 setups. The Caviar Black 1TB drive is fast so it will handle double duty for OS + storage fairly well. The 790GX onboard video is pretty decent, but the system will handle a serious vid card if you decide to slap one in later on.


EDIT - Just want to add IF you think you may overclock down the road, OCZ Vendetta is going for $5 AMIR. Details here.
Click to expand...

Ok, So Im getting ready to order this build but noticed Newegg just posted this combo to my email. Wondering if it would be worth the extra cash to upgrade to this processor? Would it be overkill for what I'm doing? I mean If it's a nice/noticable boost in performance I'd be all about spending a bit more cash. I'm just trying to spend my monies wisely.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Combo...EMC-IGNEFL102709-_-Combo-_-LM3A-_-Combo279754
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top