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$600 target build

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Hey guys,

I'm trying to put something together for a friend, his budget is $600. Obviously, it's not trying to be a powerhouse, but I'd like to get something together with a bit of longevity. I've put something together and I'd like to get some further input on it.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tKcGnQ

I'd like to keep it mITX, but AMD boards do not seem to be very inexpensive at all for mITX. Whether AM3 or FM2+. He has a busted laptop, so I told him to just reuse his Windows license from that so he doesn't need to buy another. If at all possible, he'd also like to be able to get a monitor with that $600 budget.

The difference between a 500GB HD and a 1TB is $2. Unless the Athlon box cooler is absolute garbage, I see no reason to get a better CPU cooler. Thanks for any input!
 
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usually mini ITX are more expensive than mATX so if the dimension are not an issue I'll get a mATX FM2+ board and save some bucks (of course you need a mATX chassis)

I don't think he can reuse the windows key from his laptop, from what I know the key is associated with the serial of the laptop board, happy to be wrong though.

the stock cooler is actually a little bit garbage, but if you don't plan to overclock heavily it'll be just fine.

Also I'll check how the difference to buy a single channel 8GB DDR3 and save some other bucks to maybe buy an SSD, which believe me, will improve the responsiveness of the system dramatically.
 
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Hey guys,

I'm trying to put something together for a friend, his budget is $600. Obviously, it's not trying to be a powerhouse, but I'd like to get something together with a bit of longevity. I've put something together and I'd like to get some further input on it.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tKcGnQ

I'd like to keep it mITX, but AMD boards do not seem to be very inexpensive at all for mITX. Whether AM3 or FM2+. He has a busted laptop, so I told him to just reuse his Windows license from that so he doesn't need to buy another. If at all possible, he'd also like to be able to get a monitor with that $600 budget.

The difference between a 500GB HD and a 1TB is $2. Unless the Athlon box cooler is absolute garbage, I see no reason to get a better CPU cooler. Thanks for any input!

I would definitely lean towards FM2+ if you must get a mini-ITX or m-ATX motherboard - unfortunately the AMD chipsets on the mini-ITX and m-ATX AM3+ motherboards are a bit dated, and don't have enough features IMO, unless you are able to get an AM3+ ATX motherboard, which have much better chipsets. Also, generally mini-ITX motherboards are more expensive than m-ATX motherboards.

In terms of Windows licenses, you are unlikely to be able to reuse it on a new computer as they are OEM licenses that are tied to the laptop motherboard (as @brunello suggested). If you're looking for a good budget CPU cooler, then look no further than the CM Hyper 212. Have you considered an Intel build at all? I think it may be possible, and is likely to perform much better than the AMD Athlon.

EDIT: This could be another option: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mJZ9t6

Layton
 
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Just my opinion:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qRXJmG
Unless the Athlon box cooler is absolute garbage, I see no reason to get a better CPU cooler. Thanks for any input!
I don't know about coolers that come with the athlons but my fx-6100 had the stock cooler with heatpipes and it wasn't bad at all, only sometimes in summer when my room got to about 30 degrees Celsius but now that I got the hyper 212 Evo I didn't see temp over 52 with room temp of 27. Try it with the box cooler and see, if you don't like it you can always add a better cooler.
 
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Hey guys,

I'm trying to put something together for a friend, his budget is $600. Obviously, it's not trying to be a powerhouse, but I'd like to get something together with a bit of longevity. I've put something together and I'd like to get some further input on it.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tKcGnQ

I'd like to keep it mITX, but AMD boards do not seem to be very inexpensive at all for mITX. Whether AM3 or FM2+. He has a busted laptop, so I told him to just reuse his Windows license from that so he doesn't need to buy another. If at all possible, he'd also like to be able to get a monitor with that $600 budget.

The difference between a 500GB HD and a 1TB is $2. Unless the Athlon box cooler is absolute garbage, I see no reason to get a better CPU cooler. Thanks for any input!

What is the rig going to be used for?

I think its important that we know the needs of your friend before we recommend any parts.
 
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I forgot to say, but nothing that intensive. Right now all he has is a cell phone, lol. Games he plays is Warframe and Pay Day 2.

I did look at an i3 4130, but the price was a little bit more expensive. Mobo was about the same cost though for mITX. I can easily go to mATX, I was just thinking something this low power would be good for a small case. mATX will save some cash, there is no problem going to that. I'm also aware that AMD's chipsets are dated, but he doesn't need anything fancy as long as it has USB3.0 and the like.

You guys seem to be picking the 750Ti, but the R7 265 is a faster videocard for about $20 extra. Also, the ADATA DDR3 1600 is the same price as the 1866, it's actually cheaper than the 1600 without the discount.

Edit: I looked at some benches of the x4 760K vs. the i3 4130. I think I'll make it an Intel build and go mATX.
 
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I forgot to say, but nothing that intensive. Right now all he has is a cell phone, lol. Games he plays is Warframe and Pay Day 2.

You guys seem to be picking the 750Ti, but the R7 265 is a faster videocard for about $20 extra. Also, the ADATA DDR3 1600 is the same price as the 1866, it's actually cheaper than the 1600 without the discount.

For those games, perhaps you don't even need the 750 Ti, as they aren't too intensive, depending on the resolution. Could save some money there, but up to you.

Layton
 
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I forgot to say, but nothing that intensive. Right now all he has is a cell phone, lol. Games he plays is Warframe and Pay Day 2.

I did look at an i3 4130, but the price was a little bit more expensive. Mobo was about the same cost though for mITX. I can easily go to mATX, I was just thinking something this low power would be good for a small case. mATX will save some cash, there is no problem going to that. I'm also aware that AMD's chipsets are dated, but he doesn't need anything fancy as long as it has USB3.0 and the like.

You guys seem to be picking the 750Ti, but the R7 265 is a faster videocard for about $20 extra. Also, the ADATA DDR3 1600 is the same price as the 1866, it's actually cheaper than the 1600 without the discount.

Edit: I looked at some benches of the x4 760K vs. the i3 4130. I think I'll make it an Intel build and go mATX.

Does it have to be mITX? You can find cheap full ATX cases for less than $30. I think like $5 separates the cheapest mITX from the cheapest ATX.

You can get the FX 6300 6-core cheaper than an i3 4130 and FX 8320 8-core for about the same price as an i3 4130.

Are you in the USA? What are prices, because here i3 4130 isn't the best value for money. Granted it would be a better pick over the X4 760k.
 
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It's US, yeah. I don't think he'd need the power of an upper FX series. I think the i3 would be a good match for such a mid-range GPU.

Could save some money there, but up to you.
True, but a GPU is the one thing that's better to spend some money on.
 
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It's US, yeah. I don't think he'd need the power of an upper FX series. I think the i3 would be a good match for such a mid-range GPU.

Granted the i3 would still be perfect too but its cheaper to get the FX.

For example Newegg.com

Intel Core i3-4130: $124.99
AMD FX 6300: $119.99

At worse performance will be about the same, at best the FX 6300 would be leaps better. Definitely faster in a wider cross section of applications and has more longevity to it.
 
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True, but a GPU is the one thing that's better to spend some money on.

I insist that an SSD will be great.

And, I'll take the i3, yes the 6300 it's cheaper and faster in some application, but the i3 use much less power and so it'll be quiter under load, moreover, if you wanna OC the 6300 you need a good motherboard and cooler and the power consuption will go to the roof.
 
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An SSD would only be a possibility if 120GB's were as cheap as 1TB 7200RPM HD's. I love SSD's, but they're still not cheap enough for a budget build when the money saved by going hard drive is better spent on other components.
 
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An SSD would only be a possibility if 120GB's were as cheap as 1TB 7200RPM HD's. I love SSD's, but they're still not cheap enough for a budget build when the money saved by going hard drive is better spent on other components.

CPUs and GPUs are not under load for long. Maybe once every a few days per 30 min gaming session. Most of the time it'll be running near idle. Cool & Quite will regulate it to disable cores and clock speed during normal operation.

An SSD would only be a possibility if 120GB's were as cheap as 1TB 7200RPM HD's. I love SSD's, but they're still not cheap enough for a budget build when the money saved by going hard drive is better spent on other components.

I agree an SSD makes no sense on a $600 budget. Invest the money on component that adds longevity. i.e. RAM, CPU, GPU.

BTW. I feel if you're crafty enough you may be able to get an R9 270x in that total budget.
 
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I agree an SSD makes no sense on a $600 budget. Invest the money on component that adds longevity. i.e. RAM, CPU, GPU.

BTW. I feel if you're crafty enough you may be able to get an R9 270x in that total budget.

While I own an R9 270x, and it has great performance, I think its perhaps a step too far for only playing two games on this. We don't even know the resolution at which the person will be playing at. I think investing slightly less money in a GPU can allow more money to be spent on a better CPU perhaps.

Layton
 
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For $10 more you can get a R9 270. There is also a $10 mir too and the 2 free games bundle thing that AMD is doing.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-100365l

You could probably go to 1600mhz memory without any noticeable performance decrease if you need to save any money.

Good build otherwise.

Also this is one of the cheapest 1080p monitors I could find;
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/aoc-monitor-e2260swdn
$99 free p&h from Newegg seems ok for user reviews on newegg too. And it looks great imo which is very unusual at this price point.
 
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You could probably go to 1600mhz memory without any noticeable performance decrease if you need to save any money.

The funny thing is, the ADATA 1866 is cheaper than the 1600, with no discount, same price with one.

Resolution would be unlikely to go beyond 1080p, monitor will probably end up being a later purchase, since he has an old monitor to use in the interm.
 
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The funny thing is, the ADATA 1866 is cheaper than the 1600, with no discount, same price with one.

Resolution would be unlikely to go beyond 1080p, monitor will probably end up being a later purchase, since he has an old monitor to use in the interm.
Ah I didn't look to see if the 1600mhz was cheaper, I just assumed it would be. The monitor seems to have remained pretty cheaply priced so hopefully it is still cheap when he upgrades that. Also there was also a Powercolor 270 for $160 like the Sapphire one I linked to. Seems to have stabilised at the $160 price point since the beginning of June.
 
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pcpartpicker.com/p/9XjBhM

This looks good to me. Combo deal with the 270 with an i3 4150, instead of 4130 and the 270 has a $30 MIR right now as well.
 
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Buy a Dell and throw in a 650ti/750ti
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/(S(3lnhcaf4m2enuiuqqvdi0grf))/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22&puid=1f2fdb1d

Heres a Inspiron 660 with a i5 3330 for $360
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Inspir...1230235407?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item4d1edc4b0f

  • Type3rd Gen Core i5,
    Intel 3 i5-3330 / 3 GHz
  • Number of CoresQuad-Core
  • 64-bit ComputingYes
  • CPU Qty1
  • Max CPU Qty1
  • Chipset TypeIntel B75 Express
Cache Memory
  • Installed SizeL3 cache - 6 MB
  • Cache Per Processor6 MB
RAM
  • Installed Size8 GB / 8 GB (max)
  • TechnologyDDR3 SDRAM - Non-ECC
  • Form FactorDIMM 240-pin
  • FeaturesDual channel memory architecture,
    Unbuffered
 
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Hard to beat that.

If you are not going with that, then here's deal on a PSU (with Seasonic guts) that too good to pass up: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/xfx-core-edition-pro-550w-26-ar-tigerdirect.199353/
Building a system for $600 is going to be very difficult, especially if it includes the cost of an OS (any chance of getting an education discount) and a monitor. You could consider used parts. Like: http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/sys/4492770601.html
 
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pcpartpicker.com/p/9XjBhM

This looks good to me. Combo deal with the 270 with an i3 4150, instead of 4130 and the 270 has a $30 MIR right now as well.

Still makes no sense. Combo-deal is great. But why would you pay more for less performance?

Get the FX 6300. Granted you won't be able to get a 990FX chipset. But you'll still be able to get something decent.

Vario the Dell might be a good option. How will the warranty hold up after a few upgrades?
 
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Still makes no sense. Combo-deal is great. But why would you pay more for less performance?

Get the FX 6300. Granted you won't be able to get a 990FX chipset. But you'll still be able to get something decent.

Vario the Dell might be a good option. How will the warranty hold up after a few upgrades?
Warranty should be fine if you just remove the videocard when you send it back.
I think this is a 660 motherboard
 
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In games a haswell i3 performs about the same level as an FX-8350. So I think it should be able to beat out a 6300. That being said though, you can't really overclock an i3 so the 6300 might be able to make up the performance gap if you OC it. Also the i3 uses quite a bit less power iirc. In multi-thread benchmarks and other things that would heavily utilize the extra cores the 6300 wins over the i3.

So really AMD or Intel for this build, I don't think it really matters all that much.
 
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In games a haswell i3 performs about the same level as an FX-8350. So I think it should be able to beat out a 6300. That being said though, you can't really overclock an i3 so the 6300 might be able to make up the performance gap if you OC it. Also the i3 uses quite a bit less power iirc. In multi-thread benchmarks and other things that would heavily utilize the extra cores the 6300 wins over the i3.

In most single threaded games yes. But there will be the odd multithreaded game which the i3 will perform poor in. The OP's friend isn't a big gamer so scoring a few extra FPS isn't a deal breaker. The FX 6300 would outperform the i3 in majority of applications easily. It's the better all purpose CPU.

The OP's friend's biggest requirement seems to be longevity too.
 
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In games a haswell i3 performs about the same level as an FX-8350. So I think it should be able to beat out a 6300. That being said though, you can't really overclock an i3 so the 6300 might be able to make up the performance gap if you OC it. Also the i3 uses quite a bit less power iirc. In multi-thread benchmarks and other things that would heavily utilize the extra cores the 6300 wins over the i3.

Well, the single core performance of the i3 is better than the FX 8350, so perhaps in heavily stressed single-core gaming such as strategy gaming, then perhaps the i3 is likely to be on top. That being said, the FX 8350 or 6300 do perform very well in gaming, and are better for multi-core applications.

Layton
 
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