Budget PC

Mark_Hardware · Dec 30, 2008

I'm building a PC for a buddy at work. I compiled a list, but it came out a bit over budget, was hoping to get some suggestions on how to trim down a little bit. It's not going to be used for any real gaming, but it does need to be fast, and be able to load Vista and other programs quickly. So, heres what I have....

Hard Drive;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152100
$74.99
Processor;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
$189.00
Power Supply;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006
$49.99
CPU Cooler;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150082
$24.99
Case;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119115
$44.99
Motherboard;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359
$119.99 plus $15 MIR
Memory;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289
$64.99 plus $30 MIR
Video Card;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125229
$64.99 plus $20 MIR
Optical Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152
$25.49
Total is about $700 after MIRs

Munki · Dec 30, 2008

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023

Better PSU IMO, plus its got a MIR that furthers it from the Antec PSU.

Exactly how much are you over by?

Mark_Hardware · Dec 30, 2008

Well, he was hoping for closer to $500...

Munki · Dec 30, 2008

Ok a lilttle over was a ungodly underrstatement . Ahah

I think ill hang around the thread and see what I can get this computer down too..

LittleLizard · Dec 30, 2008

if u are on a tight budget, amd is the choice

OzzmanFloyd120 · Dec 30, 2008

I would definagely get a different Graphics card, the 9500GT is a POS.

Munki · Dec 30, 2008

Well, I looked through it and it appears that everything is about as cheap as its going to get with any quality. Maybe you should go back and redo the motherboard and CPU. There is a lot of money tied up just there. $500 isnt going to be a dream machine.

Munki · Dec 30, 2008

OzzmanFloyd120 said:
I would definagely get a different Graphics card, the 9500GT is a POS.

ROFL. I was thinking the same exact thing. :laugh:

redwings0921 · Dec 30, 2008

1. use a stock cooler for the cpu. not neccesary for aftermarket
2. go for some budget ram
3. with a budget of 500 quad core is not something to expect
4. even if u are stubborn and decide to get the quad core it will only be bottle necked by the gfx card

OzzmanFloyd120 · Dec 30, 2008

In this post I made a budget machine for $400 (excluding case) for gaming, it will game better than a PS3. After a case you'll still have over $60 to play around with to add or subtract where you see fit.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=1104645&postcount=37

Mark_Hardware · Dec 30, 2008

Munki said:
Well, I looked through it and it appears that everything is about as cheap as its going to get with any quality. Maybe you should go back and redo the motherboard and CPU. There is a lot of money tied up just there. $500 isnt going to be a dream machine.

Yeah, it doesn't have to win any contests, just something that will run and load programs quickly.

LittleLizard said:
if u are on a tight budget, amd is the choice

Thats actually a good idea, I will look around. I have to admit, however, that I don't know diddly about AMD hardware.

techjunkie · Dec 30, 2008

you might want to consider a 4670. Its 69.99 after rebates http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121274

kysg · Dec 30, 2008

Well heres my problem with this, what programs are you running??? no point in a graphics card. Am I'm not joking no point if all the dude does is surf the web and play solitaire IGP will handle that.

What apps does he use??
Use the stock cooler instead of aftermarket
budget RAM as stated above.
You can cut back on the PSU if there is no OCing
if you really want to see some stuff get handled you may have to consider RAID,

_jM · Dec 30, 2008

Go for the E5200 or the E7200 instead of the Quad.. if he must have a Quadcore then subb out the 6600 for a 8200, just as good and a bit cheaper. Take a look into Open Box items also, yes Open Box items are iffy , but that really depends on the buyer. Im on a OB ASUS P5Q PRO and this thing runns like a champ, great OCing and rock solid performance in anything I do.
Oh, and I would subb out that GPU for a 4850 or atleast a better card, you can find a better card for around the same price.

Champ · Dec 30, 2008

I'm thinking about selling my rig. I don't know he could do better for $500?

Mark_Hardware · Dec 30, 2008

lol ok well i know the graphics card is a bad choice...

Hayder_Master · Dec 30, 2008

there is my advice
take the other version of this mobo DS3P with 2xpci-e
go for 4670 which is better than 9500gt and you can do crossfire in future with other 4670 to go over than 4850, or do crossfire with other high profile ati card's

Mark_Hardware · Dec 30, 2008

I can tell you for sure that he has no interest in crossfire.

Mark_Hardware · Jan 3, 2009

techjunkie said:
you might want to consider a 4670. Its 69.99 after rebates http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121274

That will run ok on an intel board? Ive always been kinda hesitant to run that setup....

I have made some changes;
86'd the CPU cooler,
Switched case to a cheaper one,
switched to an e8200.
Brings it down to about 520 after MIR's, which I can handle.
So, just make a final decision about the GPU, and we're good :rockout:

vypher · Jan 3, 2009

I think the 4670 should run fine with the an intel board.

LittleLizard · Jan 3, 2009

if u want a budget capable sistem, go for amd.

amd x3 8750 be or x4 9600 be - 120
2 gig of some ram - 30
4670 - 80
asrock 780gxe - 90
a decent antec psu - 50
cheap case - 50
ur optical drive and ur hdd and u will be close to what u want

overclocker · Jan 3, 2009

I agree, AMD is the better choice here better bang for the buck

Mark_Hardware · Jan 7, 2009

OK, so I made some changes, went amd instead, and used a cheaper case. The mobo has intergrated gpu, so no need for a video card. Let me know what ya think, if it looks good, I can get started on it.

Processor;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103250
$149.00
Power Supply;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371006
$49.99
Case;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147073
$24.99
Motherboard;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138128
$99.99
Memory;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231184
$64.99
Optical Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136152
$25.49
Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136131
$74.99

total is now $489.44

BloodTotal · Jan 7, 2009

Try and get the ram a little bit cheaper, I got my ram in December for $40 for 4gb

spearman914 · Jan 7, 2009

Drop the masscool and get a HDT-S1283 rifle. And get a better psu, don't buy a high end machine and then buy a crappy psu, it's suppose to be the other way around. Well i don't mean the earthwatts is crap it's just not enough watts.

System Name	Mark1
Processor	Intel Core2 Extreme QX9770
Motherboard	EVGA 790i FTW PWM
Cooling	Koolance Exos 2.5
Memory	OCZ SLI PC3 14400 4Gb
Video Card(s)	GTX 285 FTW
Storage	WD raptor 300 Gb, WD 2tb
Display(s)	ASUS 25.5"
Case	NZXT Lexa Blackline
Power Supply	Tagan BZ 1100w
Software	Vista 64bit

Processor	AMD Ryzen 1700
Motherboard	Gigabyte AB350 GAMING 3
Memory	16GB (2x8) 3200MHz
Display(s)	Acer 24" LCD
Software	Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Mark1
Processor	Intel Core2 Extreme QX9770
Motherboard	EVGA 790i FTW PWM
Cooling	Koolance Exos 2.5
Memory	OCZ SLI PC3 14400 4Gb
Video Card(s)	GTX 285 FTW
Storage	WD raptor 300 Gb, WD 2tb
Display(s)	ASUS 25.5"
Case	NZXT Lexa Blackline
Power Supply	Tagan BZ 1100w
Software	Vista 64bit

Processor	AMD Ryzen 1700
Motherboard	Gigabyte AB350 GAMING 3
Memory	16GB (2x8) 3200MHz
Display(s)	Acer 24" LCD
Software	Windows 10 Pro

System Name	The Lizard v2.4
Processor	Intel Celeron G1840 (for the time being
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-H81-S2PH
Cooling	Intel Stock Fan
Memory	16GB Kingston HyperX 1600
Video Card(s)	MSI Gaming GTX 750Ti (For the time being)
Storage	500GB Samsung F1, 160GB Maxtor "Older than god"
Display(s)	AOC 28' LCD
Case	Coolermaster N200
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Antec VP500P
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Benchmark Scores	No crashes in the last 24 minutes.

Budget PC

Mark_Hardware

New Member

Munki

Mark_Hardware

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Munki

LittleLizard

OzzmanFloyd120

Munki

Munki

redwings0921

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OzzmanFloyd120

Mark_Hardware

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techjunkie

kysg

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_jM

New Member

Champ

Mark_Hardware

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Hayder_Master

Mark_Hardware

New Member

Mark_Hardware

New Member

vypher

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LittleLizard

overclocker

Mark_Hardware

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BloodTotal

spearman914

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System Name	The Netbook
Processor	Intel Atom n270
Memory	1GB DDR2 533mhz
Video Card(s)	Intel G945
Storage	250GB
Display(s)	10.1" LCD
Software	Microsoft Windows 7 Starter x86

System Name	Redwings System
Processor	Intel Q6600
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L
Cooling	Lots of Fan (Getting WC soon!)
Memory	Crucial 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 9600GT w/ stock fan
Storage	WD Caviar 1TB
Display(s)	Acer 19 inch LCD
Case	Smilidon
Audio Device(s)	Compusa PCI 7.1 Card
Power Supply	Rosewill 550 watt(new one in the mail)
Software	Vista Home Premium x32

System Name	First Build :D
Processor	Q6600 SLACR @ 3.2 GHz
Motherboard	Asus P5Q Pro
Cooling	Asus Silent Square
Memory	2 x 2GB GSkill @ 962MHz
Video Card(s)	VisionTek 4870 512MB @ 825/975
Storage	Seagate Barracuda 750GB
Display(s)	Samsung 943NWX 19"
Case	Gigabyte GZ X1
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC 1200 (yes, its onboard :) )
Power Supply	FSP 700W
Software	Windows Vista 64 service pack 1

System Name	Workhorse lappy
Processor	AMD A6 3420
Memory	8GB DDR3 1066
Video Card(s)	ATI radeon 6520G
Storage	OCZ Vertex4 128GB SSD SATAIII
Display(s)	15inch LCD
Software	Windows 7 64bit

System Name	The money pit v.2 (v.1 is the wife!)
Processor	Core2Quad-Q9550@3.9ghz/1860mhzFSB @1.344v
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus II Formula = best damn P45 OCer out there!
Cooling	CoolerMster V8-- Custom WC system on the way! =]
Memory	8GB DOMINATORS @1100mhz 5-5-5-18
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 280
Storage	150GB WesternDigital Velociraptor OS Drive/1 WD 500AAKS for Storage
Display(s)	SAMSUNG 2243SWX 22" LCD
Case	Cooler Master Cosmos S w/custom lighting and cable management
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi Titanium (Fatality edition) - paired with RAZER Barracuda's
Power Supply	CORSAIR HX1000W modular PSU
Software	Windows 7 RC 7100--eats vista for breakfast lunch and dinner!
Benchmark Scores	Coming to a theater near you!

System Name	Champ's 1440P Rig
Processor	Intel i7-4770K @ 4.6 GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z97 Extreme6
Cooling	Corsair H60
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1600 Mhz 4x4 Blue Ram
Video Card(s)	Nvidia 1080 FE
Storage	Samsung 840 Evo 256 GB/RAID 0 Western Digital Blue 1 TB HDDs
Display(s)	Acer XG270HU
Case	Antec P100
Power Supply	Corsair CX850M
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	TT eSports Poseidon
Software	Windows 10

System Name	MASTER
Processor	Core i7 3930k run at 4.4ghz
Motherboard	Asus Rampage IV extreme
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	4x4G kingston hyperx beast 2400mhz
Video Card(s)	2X EVGA GTX680
Storage	2X Crusial M4 256g raid0, 1TbWD g, 2x500 WD B
Display(s)	Samsung 27' 1080P LED 3D monitior 2ms
Case	CoolerMaster Chosmos II
Audio Device(s)	Creative sound blaster X-FI Titanum champion,Creative speakers 7.1 T7900
Power Supply	Corsair 1200i, Logitch G500 Mouse, headset Corsair vengeance 1500
Software	Win7 64bit Ultimate
Benchmark Scores	3d mark 2011: testing

System Name	Alienware laptop R4
Processor	intel i7-3610M @ 2,30Ghz
Motherboard	dell?
Cooling	2 built in laptop cooling fans
Memory	16GB DDR3 1600mhz
Video Card(s)	AMD Mobility Radeon HD m290x 4GB GDDR5
Storage	256 ssd and 512ssd
Display(s)	laptop screen 17.3" 1920x1080 + LG 22" inch LCD HD 1920 x 1200
Case	My laptop back pack case
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster
Power Supply	laptop brick
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

System Name	Blood
Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q PRO @ stock settings
Cooling	Antec Case fans (max) OCZ Vandetta 2 CPU cooler with a Kaze Jyuni 120mm fan 1200RPM+-100RPM 67.5CFM
Memory	Patriot Viper Series 4GB 2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s)	BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE 896MB PCIe 2.0 Core 216 @ stock settings
Storage	Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s
Display(s)	Acer AL2616Wd 25.5" 1920x1200 800:1 178degrees viewing angle 5ms S-IPS Panel
Case	Antec Nine Hundred
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 with a coaxial cable connected to a Logitech z5500
Power Supply	BFG ES-800 800W
Software	Windows Vista (soon to be Windows Xp, Vista, and Windows 7 triple boot)

System Name	Mine \| Dad + Mom
Processor	E8500 E0 Wolfdale @ 4.6GHz 1.5V \| E2180 M0 Allendale @ 3.0GHz 1.3V
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Formula (X48) w/ Rampage BIOS \| Asus P5Q Pro (P45)
Cooling	Xigmatek Rifle HDT-S1283 w/ SFF21F Fan \| Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Memory	G.Skill Pi Black 2x2GB 1.02GHz CL5 \| OCZ Reaper 2x2GB 1.05GHz CL5
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 4870X2 2GB 820/1020MHz \| Sapphire 4850 1GB 700/1100MHz
Storage	WD VR 150GB 10K RPM + WD 500GB 7.2K RPM \| WD 200GB 7.2K RPM
Display(s)	Acer P243WAID 24" 1920x1200 LCD \| Acer V193W 19" 1440x900 LCD
Case	Cooler Master HAF 932 Full-Tower \| Antec Twelve Hundred Mid-Tower
Audio Device(s)	Fatal1ty Xtreme Gamer w/ Z-5500 5.1 \| On-Board Audio w/ S-220 2.1
Power Supply	PC Power and Cooling 750W Non-Modular \| Corsair HX-520W Modular
Software	Windows Vista Home Premium X64 \| Windows Vista Home Premium X64
Benchmark Scores	Not Wasting Time!