Budget build suggestions

F

FearTheCow

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
May 2, 2006
Messages
6,695
GF wants a new computer, I havent kept up with hardware lately so need suggestions, so without further ado...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
School work, movie/tv streaming, and gaming.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,000 including tax, less would be better

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Las Vegas, NV

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, MB, RAM, HD, GPU, CPU cooler, PSU, case.

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

6) Will you be overclocking?
Nope.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1080p 30"

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next 7-10 days.

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 specific.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No, will need a new OS, she and I are both students if that helps with finding a deal.

Any and all suggestions appreciated, thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
When you say "probably not" to overclocking, does that mean you're open to the idea in the future?

If you are, then you'll want to plan for that eventuality now (especially if you're going Intel). This also affects your CPU cooling decisions too, such as going tower HSF or full-on AiO capable of maintaining a good OC.
 
atp1916 said:
When you say "probably not" to overclocking, does that mean you're open to the idea in the future?

If you are, then you'll want to plan for that eventuality now (especially if you're going Intel). This also affects your CPU cooling decisions too, such as going tower HSF or full-on AiO capable of maintaining a good OC.
Click to expand...

Changed it, im not going to screw with overclocking considering she only plays league of legends and diablo 3.
 
How about the following, as a starting point?

PC Hound Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI CSM-H87M-G43 ($63.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ballistix Tactical Tracer ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 GTX 960 GAMING 2G ($204.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Thermaltake 500W TR2 TR-500 ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 500GB Barracuda ST500DM002 ($43.53 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 200R ($39.99 @ TigerDirect)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i ($43.75 @ Amazon)
Windows: Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit ($89.99 @ TigerDirect)
Total: $746.21
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound
 
You can build a really mean gaming machine with a $1k budget, and of course it can slice through every other task like a hot knife through butter:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($196.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($54.99 @ Mwave)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: HIS Radeon R9 290 4GB IceQ X² Video Card ($262.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 350D Window MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($106.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $965.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

You can easily trim it into $800 territory by swapping the PSU, case, dumping the SDD or HDD, or swapping the GPU.

(edit) Removed Microcenter items.
 
Last edited:
SPARTAN VI said:
You can easily trim it into $800 territory by swapping the PSU, case, and dumping the SDD or HDD. Though I'd keep it at the i5 + 290X combo.
Click to expand...

Why the 290X? If you are going all the way to $300 for a video card, I would think it makes sense to get a GTX 970. The Zotac GTX 970 ZT-90101-10P goes for $310 at Amazon, so you could substitute that for the 290X in Spartan VI's build and still fit in the budget. My impression is the GTX 970 will slightly outperform the 290X and will do so with much less energy use, heat, and noise.
 
Coruscater said:
Why the 290X? If you are going all the way to $300 for a video card, I would think it makes sense to get a GTX 970. The Zotac GTX 970 ZT-90101-10P goes for $310 at Amazon, so you could substitute that for the 290X in Spartan VI's build and still fit in the budget. My impression is the GTX 970 will slightly outperform the 290X and will do so with much less energy use, heat, and noise.
Click to expand...

The two go back and forth, but you can't go wrong with either. I saw a lot more 290X deals in recent history, sometimes in the $250-270 range. The 970 doesn't come close to that value. However, if the two were in an identical price bracket, I'd go GTX 970 every time.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
The two go back and forth, but you can't go wrong with either. I saw a lot more 290X deals in recent history, sometimes in the $250-270 range. The 970 doesn't come close to that value. However, if the two were in an identical price bracket, I'd go GTX 970 every time.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I agree that at $250 or so, the 290X is a lot more competitive.
 
Unfortunately SPARTAN VI's build really doesn't work out for the OP since the OP is not located near any Microcenter. The Microcenter pricing for the CPU and mobo are for in-store only. In addition, after the recent HardOCP review of the CX750 where it failed badly, I'm extremely hesitant to recommend the higher wattage CX PSUs

Nor would I go with Coruscater's build either since the hard drive is overpriced, the PSU is crap, and that the Amazon.com link for the RAM is for the 4GB stick only, not the 2 x 4GB. IN addition, there's a chance that mobo may not support that CPU out of the box considering that it's an older H87 mobo.

So here's what I recommend instead:
$200 - Intel Core i5-4590 CPU
$82 - ASRock H97M Pro4 Intel H97 mATX Motherboard
$55 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$190 - XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB PCI-E Video Card
$105 - Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
$54 - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$63 - XFX TS Series 550W PSU
$70 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black w/ Window ATX Case
$70 - Windows 8.1 Pro for Students
----
Total: $889 shipped.

Yes I know there's room to fit in the R9 290X that Spartan linked but considering that your GF is only playing LoL and D3, she doesn't need that much GPU power. Even the R9 280 card I linked is a tad overkill for those games. If you feel like spending a bit more cash, get a 3rd party HSF like this:
$35 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo HSF
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Excellent build Dangman,

I would suggest this as an alternative SSD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148945

The BX100 is a surprising improvement over the already impressive MX100. It's got the lowest latency of any Crucial drive thanks to not using the same Marvell controller. The performance just keeps climbing the mountain of other SSDs as the file sizes get smaller and more numerous, which is important in normal Windows usage. With large files it's still faster than the MX100.

http://techreport.com/review/27824/crucial-bx100-and-mx200-solid-state-drives-reviewed

Some places are charging a premium, but it should eventually be the same price as the old MX100.
 
Last edited:
Dangman said:
Unfortunately SPARTAN VI's build really doesn't work out for the OP since the OP is not located near any Microcenter. The Microcenter pricing for the CPU and mobo are for in-store only. In addition, after the recent HardOCP review of the CX750 where it failed badly, I'm extremely hesitant to recommend the higher wattage CX PSUs

Nor would I go with Coruscater's build either since the hard drive is overpriced, the PSU is crap, and that the Amazon.com link for the RAM is for the 4GB stick only, not the 2 x 4GB. IN addition, there's a chance that mobo may not support that CPU out of the box considering that it's an older H87 mobo.

So here's what I recommend instead:
$200 - Intel Core i5-4590 CPU
$82 - ASRock H97M Pro4 Intel H97 mATX Motherboard
$55 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$190 - XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB PCI-E Video Card
$105 - Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
$54 - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$63 - XFX TS Series 550W PSU
$70 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black w/ Window ATX Case
$70 - Windows 8.1 Pro for Students
----
Total: $889 shipped.

Yes I know there's room to fit in the R9 290X that Spartan linked but considering that your GF is only playing LoL and D3, she doesn't need that much GPU power. Even the R9 280 card I linked is a tad overkill for those games. If you feel like spending a bit more cash, get a 3rd party HSF like this:
$35 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo HSF
Click to expand...

I think I am going to drop the SSD, not necessary I think, by dropping it would it be worth while to get a better MB?
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
OP, dropping the SSD is a really bad idea. The system will take a serious usability hit the second IO stuff spools up. What is your motivation behind this change, if you don't mind my inquiry?

Also, upgrading the mobo is a bit pointless because the mobo is not the limiting performance factor of your build, and it most surely will not recover the system usability hit incurred by dropping the SSD. That board is a current *97 chipset, so there's nothing outside of going up to an x99 chipset to improve your feature set. If you need better slot expansion options due to the form factor constraint, then that's another seperate issue.
 
Seconded. Keep the SSD. If you are not going to OC, you do not need a "better" motherboard.

Based off Dangman's build above.

PC Hound Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 ($189.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Pro4 ($81.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ballistix Tactical Tracer ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 280 DUAL-X 100373L ($192.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600W 600B 100-B1-0600-KR ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Crucial 256GB MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Storage #2: Seagate 1TB Barracuda ST1000DM003 ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 200R ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Windows: Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit ($89.99 @ TigerDirect)
Total: $837.89

Price includes shipping, no rebates, possibly promotions, and no tax

Generated by PC Hound
 
Last edited:
Alright, will keep the SSD lol, was going to drop it since the computer she is using is about 6 years old and didn't think she would mind not having one. Thanks for the input everyone, will let you know how it goes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top