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updawg

Gawd
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Mar 20, 2010
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I thought I would create a thread to show skeptics that you can build a budget ITX pc. Prices have come down enough in recent years that you don't have to break the bank to make a powerful gaming box in a SFF.

Feel free to post your configurations of what you consider the best budget PC.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2mJw8d

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ECS H81H3-I/HDMI (V1.0) Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.88 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Zeus Yellow 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY Optima 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB DUAL-X Video Card ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 600W ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $462.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-07 08:51 EST-0500
 
I went with Cooler Master Elite 120 two years ago. The use of standard ATX PSU looks like advantage but the whole case ise huge - 20L. I'd rather go for more expensive SFX PSU and get 10L sugo or something like that with short card.
 
you mean cheap & new ? For years now it has been my policy to buy most of my hardware on ebay. Basically everything besides hard drives. Never ran into serious trouble (=which can't be fixed). In my experience, here in Europe, 6 months old hardware will ship at 75% of the new price. I just don't understand why so many out there are afraid of second hand. I keep hearing things like "you never know what they did with it". So what ? Most second hand platform offer some kind of return policy, at least in Europe, and usually, when it works the first day, it will work a year later - exept for hdds, of course.

I like your build op, though I'd go for a chieftec case which comes with a psu, and the g3258 cpu. Also, in my opinion, 600W is total overkill for that config. Even with your R9 280, you'll hardly break the 350W mark with a pentium cpu. Maybe go for 400W for safety, but a 350W 80plus should do it, especially since most psus are much more effient under heavy load.
 
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qwerkus said:
you mean cheap & new ? For years now it has been my policy to buy most of my hardware on ebay. Basically everything besides hard drives. Never ran into serious trouble (=which can't be fixed). In my experience, here in Europe, 6 months old hardware will ship at 75% of the new price. I just don't understand why so many out there are afraid of second hand. I keep hearing things like "you never know what they did with it". So what ? Most second hand platform offer some kind of return policy, at least in Europe, and usually, when it works the first day, it will work a year later - exept for hdds, of course.

I like your build op, though I'd go for a chieftec case which comes with a psu, and the g3258 cpu. Also, in my opinion, 600W is total overkill for that config. Even with your R9 280, you'll hardly break the 350W mark with a pentium cpu. Maybe go for 400W for safety, but a 350W 80plus should do it, especially since most psus are much more effient under heavy load.
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The sale price of the PSU is the only reason I went with it and it includes the correct number of PCIE connectors for the card.

As for second hand prices I agree, I do most of my shopping on forums and /r/hardwareswap. But for someone looking to get their feet wet in a custom PC probably wants to buy new.
 
Mine is similar to yours, but I changed around from a SSD to a 1TB WD and picked up the Fractal Design case (a slight indulgence) with a Corsair CX500 modular power supply.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NhM33C

Total: $492.79 after tax, shipping, and rebates.

btw... The Corsair CX500 psu is $29.99 until the 10th.
 
A 2 core 3 GHz haswell that can be oc'd to 4ghz no problem would not be a bottleneck. Even at stock it would not be.
 
qwerkus said:
you mean cheap & new ? For years now it has been my policy to buy most of my hardware on ebay. Basically everything besides hard drives. Never ran into serious trouble (=which can't be fixed). In my experience, here in Europe, 6 months old hardware will ship at 75% of the new price. I just don't understand why so many out there are afraid of second hand. I keep hearing things like "you never know what they did with it". So what ? Most second hand platform offer some kind of return policy, at least in Europe, and usually, when it works the first day, it will work a year later - exept for hdds, of course.

I like your build op, though I'd go for a chieftec case which comes with a psu, and the g3258 cpu. Also, in my opinion, 600W is total overkill for that config. Even with your R9 280, you'll hardly break the 350W mark with a pentium cpu. Maybe go for 400W for safety, but a 350W 80plus should do it, especially since most psus are much more effient under heavy load.
Click to expand...
^This. However I would go for a minimum 400W supply, as I know what an R9 280 can spike to momentarily, esp. if running over 1Ghz. Of course there many 400W supplies anyway, so you're probably looking at 450W. The thing about the Thermaltake is it's cheap as dirt. Well there's that and the fact that it's not that great. There's actually two types of TR2 supplies, one are 80 Bronze and the other are not even 80Plus at all and don't have active PFC. At this price it's pretty clear this one is the latter. Pretty old design and it's a better idea to buy a better PSU, even one rated at lower wattage.

pgabor said:
That video card is way too weak for that cpu
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I think you meant the other way around but that's not really true. First off it depends on what games will be played... Some games are GPU limited/dependent and will run nearly the same on anything from C2Q to an i7. Even games that aren't heavily tied to GPU, you typically don't get see huge increases from a faster CPU. Lots of tests out there proving this. However, that said, if doing gaming it is a good idea to have a CPU that's at least capable of hyper-threading--i.e. at least an i3. Either that or you'll need a DC Haswell running at like 4.5Ghz to keep up and there's only one CPU that fits that bill--the G3258. So yeah either change the CPU to an i3 or go with the G3258 and OC it. Personally I'd still rather go with the i3, but the G3258 satisfies the budget requirement.
 
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