Extreme [LOW] Budget Rig

[jrodson69]

Need something to replace one of my old HP towers. (Athlon 3400+ single core, 1GB, yada yada piece of crap)

Not looking to spend much. The cheaper the better. I'm not a gamer, though I do video encoding at night sometimes.

I'm thinking of an Athlon 64 X4 6xx series, just need the rest of the pieces. I really like NewEgg and prefer to get everything there but if a [lot] better deal can be had elsewhere I'm game.

I need recommendations for a GOOD budget case, motherboard, RAM, etc. Yes I thought about Phenom but in my case it would be a waste, and I'm cognizant of the forthcoming Sandy Bridge stuff. Not much point in spending a whole lot right now.

 

[MisterDonut]

so what's a low budget for you? $8k? JK . But we do need a number...there's a sticky you should fill out for better advice.

 

[zi0n.]

how low is said budget

 

[jrodson69]

Oops, forgot a $ figure. I'm trying to stay under $400 but there is some leeway.

 

[MisterDonut]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121

 

[surg]

so what's a low budget for you? $8k? JK . But we do need a number...there's a sticky you should fill out for better advice.

LOL!

Yes sir can i help you ... Yeah i'm after a low budget computer .... well we have this here model .... does the case come in gold ?

 

[jrodson69]

Alternatively, would I better off for now just grabbing a cheap desktop at Wally or the like? I have built several machines over the years but I'm not sure there's much of a price advantage these days? Seems it might be hard to beat a $300ish machine off the shelf just for basic day-to-day stuff, which is all I really need this machine for right now.

 

[nsafreak]

Alternatively, would I better off for now just grabbing a cheap desktop at Wally or the like? I have built several machines over the years but I'm not sure there's much of a price advantage these days? Seems it might be hard to beat a $300ish machine off the shelf just for basic day-to-day stuff, which is all I really need this machine for right now.

*sigh* and I took the time to put together a build for you. I don't know what the quality of the builds from WalMart are like in all honesty. They might be good or they might be mediocre, I very much doubt that they're outstanding. If you decide to go that route it'll probably be fine. If you want to do a build instead here's what I've come up with:

CPU: Athlon II x2 250 $58.99 (couldn't fit a quad core into your budget)
Motherboard: Asus M4A78LT $64.99 (has onboard audio & video, nothing great but should be fine for the basics)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3-1600 $59.99
HDD: Samsung F3 1TB $69.99
DVD Burner: Lite On 22x $22.99
PSU: Seasonic 430W $59.99
Case: Apex Micro ATX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811154094) $24.99
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit OEM $99.99
Total: $461.98

You can cut down a little bit on the cost if you drop down to a 500GB HDD instead of a 1TB. Overall, can you go cheaper? Yes. Will you get decent quality parts if you do so? Probably not, you're definitely going to get a lesser quality PSU & motherboard if you drop much lower in price and those are the heart of your system.

 

[jrodson69]

nsafreak I appreciate your input -- I was merely asking if a $300-$400 off-the-shelf machine was a decent deal these days versus a custom-built budget rig; I've done a little research and it looks like the prebuilt in that price range are real crap processors, Sempron or at best a very low-end Athlon II, not quad-core.

I also forgot to mention - I don't require a hard drive, optical, or Windows license. I have those or can pull from one of the old HP I have laying around. That would open up the above configuration just a bit?

 

[nsafreak]

That does open up the options a good bit since you're eliminating two of the most expensive components of the build. With those taken out you can upgrade the CPU to a Phenom II x2 555 (high likelihood of being able to unlock up to 4 cores) and get a decent eVGA GT 240 video card. It won't be able to do high end gaming but it'll be able to play games at about a medium level if you want to do any gaming.

 

[mfenn]

Here ya go:http://detonator.dynamitedata.com/c...819103871&cm_re=x4_640-_-19-103-871-_-Product
Athlon II X4 640 + MSI 880GM-E43 combo $168
G.Skill DDR3 1333 4GB $48
Antec Three Hundred + BP430 $70 Apromo
Total: $286

 

[jrodson69]

Here ya go:
Athlon II X4 640 + MSI 880GM-E43 combo $168
G.Skill DDR3 1333 4GB $48
Antec Three Hundred + BP430 $70 Apromo
Total: $286

Wow, that's fantastic. Do you think 4GB is sufficient? Or should I double-up to 8GB especially for that price?

I really like those big Antec cases, my last custom built was a big Antec tank and it was great.

 

[mfenn]

Wow, that's fantastic. Do you think 4GB is sufficient? Or should I double-up to 8GB especially for that price?

I really like those big Antec cases, my last custom built was a big Antec tank and it was great.

4GB should be sufficient unless you do a lot of heavyweight editing along with your encoding.

 

[jrodson69]

4GB should be sufficient unless you do a lot of heavyweight editing along with your encoding.

I don't do much of any video editing, at least not on any regular basis. So I guess I'll cheap out and just go 4GB for now. Didn't realize DDR3 was so cheap these days! By the time I need the other 4GB it'll probably be even cheaper if the current trend continues.

One last thing - I noticed there is an ASRock board for about $20 or so more that has SATA6 and USB3 - is that a better buy for the little extra cash? I noticed however it has no onboard video so I'd need to buy a cheap PCI-E card like a 5450. Should I spend the extra $50 or is it a waste? Is there any real difference performance-wise on the newer SATA? I am more interested in having USB 3.0 but I realize I could add that on at a future date.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Get the AMD Athlon II X4 640/MSI 785GM-P45 AM3 785G bundle from MicroCenter for $95.99: http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

Get the WD Caviar Blue 500GB for $30 at TigerDirect with the coupon code TBZ13837: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...24-118201635-2

 

[jrodson69]

Get the AMD Athlon II X4 640/MSI 785GM-P45 AM3 785G bundle from MicroCenter for $95.99: http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...ndlePROMO.html

Get the WD Caviar Blue 500GB for $30 at TigerDirect with the coupon code TBZ13837: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...24-118201635-2

Wow - smoking deal on the first - unfortunately I'm not located anywhere near MicroCenter and they don't ship.

 

[MisterDonut]

+1 on mfenn's suggestions. You won't get any better than that. The 300 has more than enough room for your build. Full tower cases can get really expensive, and the 900/902 isn't really worth buying unless you snagged it for ~$60 on BF.

 

[mfenn]

I don't do much of any video editing, at least not on any regular basis. So I guess I'll cheap out and just go 4GB for now. Didn't realize DDR3 was so cheap these days! By the time I need the other 4GB it'll probably be even cheaper if the current trend continues.

One last thing - I noticed there is an ASRock board for about $20 or so more that has SATA6 and USB3 - is that a better buy for the little extra cash? I noticed however it has no onboard video so I'd need to buy a cheap PCI-E card like a 5450. Should I spend the extra $50 or is it a waste? Is there any real difference performance-wise on the newer SATA? I am more interested in having USB 3.0 but I realize I could add that on at a future date.

SATA 6Gb/s is definitely not worth $50, and USB3.0 probably isn't either unless you have an immediate need.