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Advice for Budget Build, been a long time!

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mooreswhat

mooreswhat

Member
​
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Hey Everyone,

I have not built a PC since 2007 so I am a little out of the loop but I am looking to put together a simple budget (500$~) build.

The PC will be used only for day to day web browsing, emails etc., no gaming.

I have been looking around and this is what I had in mind, let me know if you have any suggestions:

CPU: Intel Core i3 4360 - 160$
Mobo: Asus AZ87-A - 153$
Ram: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-12800 89$
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB - 85$
HDD: 500GB, already on hand - 0$
PSU: 500W EVGA 500 Bronze - 40$
GPU: onboard
Optical: already owned - 0$

Total: ~527$

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
Pentium G3258 (overclocked, it will smack the i3 for less money)
Gigabyte H97 G1 Sniper (amazing for the money. Can OC the Pentium)
8GB 2133 Cas 11 (same price as 1600. Faster.)
Agree on 840 Evo
You can pick up a 650W Gold rated Seasonic for about $65
You haven't specified a case for this build.

The Pentium G3258 will overclock quite high on the included HSF so no need for aftermarket cooling. With the money saved on the mobo and CPU, add a Crucial MX100, M550, or Samsung 840 EVO.
 
I would buy the cpu/mobo/ram combo used.

For a couple of hundreds, you can get a nice 3570k/z68 or z77 combo under warranty for at least a year.

Add 50 bucks for the 8GB of ram, and you could even add a nVidia 750ti and stay within your budget.

These Ivy Bridge are still damn fast and OC pretty well.

- - - Updated - - -

I would buy the cpu/mobo/ram combo used.

For a couple of hundreds, you can get a nice 3570k/z68 or z77 combo under warranty for at least a year.

Add 50 bucks for the 8GB of ram, and you could even add a nVidia 750ti and stay within your budget.

These Ivy Bridge are still damn fast and OC pretty well.
 
I won't be overclocking this computer, plan to run it completely stock.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks
 
If you're wanting to use every dollar of your budget and want to buy new, go with your initial build.
If you want to stay under your budget and still have a very capable machine, go with a G3258 build.
If you want the most bang for your buck in your budget, go for a used motherboard/processor.

Even if you don't plan on overclocking, that Pentium chip that was recommended above will still be more than enough for browsing and email, and so will 4GB of RAM. Throw in a case of your choice and you'll still be under your budget.
 
Zero need for a $150 motherboard if you won't be overclocking. Go H81 (or whatever the non-Z model is) with the features you need. Probably run you ~80-90.
 
^Yep.

There is also the AMD APU option.

Edit: something like the A8-7600 and an Asus A88XM-A . The combo costs $150/160.
 
Nevalite said:
I won't be overclocking this computer, plan to run it completely stock.
Click to expand...

A poor choice in my opinion. You can squeeze a crap ton of processing power out of an overclocked 3258. For average home computing tasks, an overclocked 3258 is the way to go IMO. And its so cheap. If you are afraid of OC because you think it's complicated, don't be. These chips are so easy. 2 variables, multi and voltage. That's it.

-It won't cost you $1 extra to overclock the chip as no aftermarket cooler is needed

-It overclocks on cheap boards

-You stand to lose nothing, and you stand to gain a lot of performance by overclocking.
 
Hi everyone,

Thank you very much for all your advice.

I think I will go with the G3258 and a cheaper motherboard as suggested.

I will probably put a mild overclock on the chip. I am not afraid to overclock, I used to be an avid overclocker, this PC is for a relative of mine.

Theocnoob is this the mobo you had in mind?

If not, could someone provide a link to a good mobo to go with the 3258 for around 80-90$ as mentioned.

Thanks
 
Nevalite said:
Hi everyone,

Thank you very much for all your advice.

I think I will go with the G3258 and a cheaper motherboard as suggested.

I will probably put a mild overclock on the chip. I am not afraid to overclock, I used to be an avid overclocker, this PC is for a relative of mine.

Theocnoob is this the mobo you had in mind?

If not, could someone provide a link to a good mobo to go with the 3258 for around 80-90$ as mentioned.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes that's the board. I didn't realize you were in Canada. The US price is $90 for that board. Honestly, yes, there are other choices, but they will have inferior audio and inferior networking. The G1 sniper gets you really good sound with good caps and killer E2200 networking, which, though it may not be the latest Intel NIC (which is better), is still better than a cheapo realtek or something like that.

You can go with a cheaper H97 board if you want. Just make sure it has a decent power section (say, 4 phase with a decent heatsink), and make sure you look up whether that specific board supports overclocking, as some do not. I know the sniper will support it.

You also have the AMD APU option as somebody pointed out. An A6 or A8 would be a decent choice and although it would sort of trail behind the pentium in most compute heavy tasks, it would have better 3D graphics for some basic gaming.

If you do go with an APU get at least 2133Mhz RAM as it makes a huge difference to the iGPU. Really, the same is true of Intel but it shows more on AMD.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply.

I think I will go with the sniper.

You mentioned I should get 2133 CAS 11 ram but it looks like this board only supports up to 1600? Would the G.Skills I mentioned be a good choice in this case?
 
1600 is within "Intel specs", but you'll have no issue with 2133, or even 2400/2666MHz DDR3.

Yep, GSkill makes more than decent ram.
 
Nevalite said:
Thanks for the detailed reply.

I think I will go with the sniper.

You mentioned I should get 2133 CAS 11 ram but it looks like this board only supports up to 1600? Would the G.Skills I mentioned be a good choice in this case?
Click to expand...

1600/1866/2133/2400 are generally not difficult for Haswell CPUs to push. Since 2400 starts to get expensive I would stick to 2133. It's about the same price as 1600/1866 if you get the CAS 11 stuff.
It has nothing to do with what the board says it will support as the memory controller is entirely on the CPU, and has been for a long time now. Any board with any Haswell chip will take 2133MHz RAM. Guaranteed.

The brand of RAM you choose is not that important either. What matters is who makes the actual chips on the stick itself. Some are better than others. Generally though if you are just running the RAM at it's rated speed, you should grab the cheapest kit available that meets your speed and latency needs.
 
Ok so here is the final setup, please let me know if you see something wrong.

CPU: Pentium G3258 71$
Mobo: Gigabyte H97 Sniper 125$
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaw 2133 95$
PSU: EVGA 600B 59$
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 90$

Case: already owned
Optical: already owned
HDD: 500GB already owned

Total: 440$


What do you guys think?
 
Nevalite said:
Ok so here is the final setup, please let me know if you see something wrong.

CPU: Pentium G3258 71$
Mobo: Gigabyte H97 Sniper 125$
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaw 2133 95$
PSU: EVGA 600B 59$
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 90$

Case: already owned
Optical: already owned
HDD: 500GB already owned

Total: 440$


What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I think the MOBO costs way too much in Canada. Otherwise, I think it's good (provided you are going to be overclocking). If you build it, they will come.

I don't know who they are, but apparently they come when you build it.
 
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