[Question] New Computer on a budget: $600

Siska

Siska

My hubby wants a new computer. Our goal is spending NO MORE than $600. You guys did such a wonderful job with my computer 3 years ago: My Precious. It's been the envy of my husband so I'm hoping you can come up with another hit.

Things he will need:
Motherboard: $129.99
Processor: $199.99

Things he wants but no hurry:
Speakers (stereo) - $69.95
Tower (with front USB3 ports) - $109.99 or $79.99
SSD - $79.99


Things he already has but might need to upgrade within the $600 budget:
8gb ddr3 ram -
NVidia GTX 560 2GB -


Things he does not need:
Mouse&keyboard
Harddrive (Samsung HD103SI ATA Device)
Powersupply
Monitor
Windows 7 professional


These are all the parts you need for a computer right, or am I forgetting something?
 
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PatrThom

PatrThom

Including the OS is really going to eat a lot of your budget (almost a third!), unless you can get a really good deal.
Also, you don't say what kind of HDD you already have. IDE/ATA? SATA? SATA-II? SATA-III?

--Patrick
 
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Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Goal of the build? Is this a purely gaming PC, or will it be used for anything like programming, video encoding, etc?
 
Siska

Siska

PatrThom said:
Including the OS is really going to eat a lot of your budget (almost a third!), unless you can get a really good deal.
Also, you don't say what kind of HDD you already have. IDE/ATA? SATA? SATA-II? SATA-III?

--Patrick
Click to expand...
His hard drive is the same is mine, called Samsung HD103SI ATA Device. I guess ATA is the answer.

And yes, I agree Windows 7 will eat lots of the budget. Because of that I am thinking getting good motherboard is the most important so Microsoft doesn't throw a fit with their OEM policies if he wants to upgrade parts in a few years. Since an OEM Windows will be tied to the Mobo.[DOUBLEPOST=1419728689,1419728318][/DOUBLEPOST]Also about a DVD drive. He does not feel that he needs one. He has one in his current computer that is semi functional. Read some discs, some not. If it's not working he will just borrow mine long enough to install windows.

The computer will mostly be used for gaming.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Siska said:
His hard drive is the same is mine, called Samsung HD103SI ATA Device. I guess ATA is the answer.
Click to expand...
It's actually a 1TB 5400(-ish)RPM SATA-II drive, according to Seagate's site (Seagate purchased Samsung's HDD division at the end of 2011). It's not a bad HDD, but the slow spindle speed will hurt your gaming/boot/etc, especially when transitioning between levels/starting up the game, etc. It was designed for storage, not speed. This should not be a problem so long as he can grit his teeth until you can purchase some form of SSD (can get 240GB for about $100 now, only going down in the future).

Also, getting the right motherboard for your needs should always be the #1 priority of any build, since it's going to be the single most important factor that decides what you can and can't get for any of the rest of it.

Also, what speed is the DDR3 that he already has?

--Patrick
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Siska said:
Without opening the case to check the DDR frequency is 667MHz according to CPUz. Is that what you were asking for?
Click to expand...
Probably not, since DDR 667 is actually DDR2, not DDR3...unless you misspoke above and actually did mean DDR2.
CPU-Z should tell you whether it is actually DDR2 or DDR3.

--Patrick
 
Siska

Siska

The Ram is DDR3
Here's some other things CPUz says:
Channel#: Dual
NB Frequency: 2000MHz
Dram Frequency: 667MHz
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Ah, never mind. If it really is DDR3, then that means it is DDR3 1333 (2*667=1333).

I'll see what I can find by Monday for the rest.

--Patrick
 
Siska

Siska

This company, Windows Point, is selling Windows 7 professional for $76.99. But they don't send you a disc, just the registration code. So he will either have to download it or use my installation discs. Does this seem legit? Or should we pay $138 and just get a physical copy from a more well known vendor, like Amazon?

Also, anyone got a tip for a good sturdy USB thumb drive? I seem to have misplaced mine.
 
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PatrThom

PatrThom

Some of the "download-only" sites are legit, but you have to be careful about that. Codes are often build-specific, so a code you buy might not work with an older disc you already have. Certain codes might only work for discs made from May-Aug, for instance. That said, I've never gone with those sites, so I don't actually have any personal experience on how they work.

USB drives are kind of commodity at this point. Any "fixed" (i.e., no sliding/clipping/snapping parts) drive with a metal casing should be good enough. I personally use a Kingston DataTraveler (which is kind of slow), but that was mainly because its small size means I never have to worry about tight clearance caused by other USB devices (a problem I frequently run into with my job). Right now, the SanDisk Extreme is one of the best values for size & speed out there, but I have no idea how durable it is.

--Patrick
 
Siska

Siska

Ok, we will probably go with a physical disc then.

For the speakers he wants something in the $50-80 range. Standard stereo 2.0 desktop speakers. Whats the best he can get for that? Although he has now decided that the speakers can wait a month if necessary so he can spend more on computer parts, right now

*Edit* Looking at some high end motherboards I notice that some of them does not have DDR3 1333 listed in their specs, just higher numbers. Does that mean we would have to get new ram if we buy one of those? Not that it would be a problem, provided we can still stay within budget. This ASUS Z87-PLUS LGA 1150 Intel Z87 seems to list everything from DDR3 1333 to 3000OC. Does that mean it's good if we ever want to buy faster ram at a later date? Or is that even silly of me to ask because Intel Z97 is where it's at!

*Edit 2* I'm adding my own suggestions for motherboard and processor to the OP, feel free to point out the flaws or if something else would do better.
 
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Eriol

Eriol

If you already have windows 7 pro discs, then keys work, but not sure where to get them legitimately, as I have an msdn subscription (through work), and thus have "lots" of keys and downloads accessible to me.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

DDR3 RAM speed only "officially" goes up to 2133, so anything higher than that is technically out of spec. Most boards don't even "officially" support higher than 1600 or 1866 due to potential concerns about board stability (i.e., needs an experienced operator to figure out the proper settings to reliably run at that speed). Fortunately, RAM speed doesn't affect performance as much as you might think, so DDR3-1333 should be sufficient.

As far as the major components go, here are my probable recommendations:
CPU - Core i3-4370 (3.8GHz, $150-ish). The $60 3.2GHz Pentium G3258 is my alternate choice due to its low price and ability to easily overclock > 3.8GHz, but becomes my #2 choice due to its lack of Hyperthreading.
MLB - The motherboard you have listed actually looks like a good choice, but I was able to find it as low as $110 elsewhere, might want to shop around.

Keep in mind that the operating system you have linked to above is an "OEM" version, which means it will only ever be able to be installed on that one computer. This will only be a concern if you decide to swap out a bunch of parts later (you will need to reactivate it after any big hardware changes). However, the "full" retail version often goes for > $200. IF you are going with a fresh install of the operating system, AND you don't foresee any compatibility issues, THEN you really might want to consider getting Win 8.1 instead. Win8 does not have the same "one-machine-only-forever" restriction that Win7 and earlier have. It's still only one machine, but you can move it to another computer later if you want to. Whatever operating system you choose, if you are going to be using the machine for gaming, DO NOT enable the Bitlocker encryption (if present), as it will rob performance.

--Patrick
 
Siska

Siska

His mind is set on windows 7 professional. He has a sibling who uses 8 at work and all he ever hears is how much they hate it. Also, it looks like we might have Windows 7 covered for free. So I can actually pull that out of the budget.
What about i7 CPUs? Like Intel I7-4771 3.5 or Intel i7-4770? We can fit those in the budget and then some, provided, all the other old parts he has laying around will work with them. Are they not worth the extra cost? Last week he wanted a new tower and speakers, as well, but now he basically just wants the best Mobo+CPU $600 can buy. :p

Also, I should probably check about his Power Supply. It a really old, like over 10 years old, 1000w Cooler Master. Any too old incompatible connectors issues that might spring up?
 
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PatrThom

PatrThom

The cpu choice was mainly to give you the best performance for the least money. If you are sure you have other parts you don't need to buy new, then knowing what you still lack would give me a better idea of what sort of headroom you have remaining.

An older power supply will be less efficient/less tightly regulated, weaker* due to aging parts, and it may not have sufficient of the newer connectors for video cards, SATA drives, etc.

--Patrick
*By as much as 15-20%
 
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Siska

Siska

The things listed under the does not need and might need in the OP are what he is using, right now (minus Windows 7). So the power supply is working with his GTX 560 and HDD right now. I am worried about the age of the PSU but he hasn't exactly been taxing it. So the $600 is really just for the motherboard and processor, unless something else has to go.
 
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PatrThom

PatrThom

Nah. Putting a new MLB and CPU under the rest of his current components should make a big enough difference.
The current recommendation is just under $300 for CPU/MLB, so that leaves about $300 left to play with. For $100-120, you can pick up a nice case like the corsair 450D or the Cooler Master 652S (though cabling in the 652S can get a bit tight), and honestly if I had about $150 remaining after all that my next priority would be to get a nice SSD (like the Crucial MX100 or Samsung 840).

--Patrick
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229362
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227537


I am highjacking this thread!!!!

I have a $600 budget, I think I am leaning towards the first one. $519 seems like it is a good system, for the price. If any of you guys have an ear to the ground, for another good deal on a bare bones gaming PC. My current Frankenputer is crashing too frequently. It passes the hardware tests but won't power on for an hour after a crash.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

It's really hard to say. The CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra (CGU) has a really anemic graphics card (GeForce GT 720 1GB), but it says it has a 500W power supply, so there should be room for improvement. The iBuyPower (IBP) has a graphics card (Radeon R7 250 2GB) that is about 75% better than the 720 in the other one, but the specs say the computer only has a 300W PSU. There's nothing telling me the brand of power supply in either unit, so I of course can't promise whether either one can truly live up to the advertised power number, but assuming they're decent (and limiting myself to only comparing these two), it comes down to a question of your future: If you're going to buy one and stick with it unchanged until you replace it, then get the IBP. If you are OK with switching to a better graphics card on your own later, then get the CGU.

--Patrick
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Now I just want to beat my current machine. I'll likely upgrade something on it every 4 months or so. I just don't like building from scratch any more. And likely replace the whole thing in 2 or so years with a $8-900 budget.
 
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