Help with budget build

[Jeff G]

Building a budget build soon for a family member. Computer will be used specifically for browsing the internet, streaming netflix, and editing gopro videos.

Here's what I'm thinking right now, let me know if anything should be added/changed/removed. Budget is under $500. (Already have OS, mouse, keyboard, and external harddrive for storage)

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/Gswd9W

 

[Tír na nÓg]

Looks good for a tight budget.

 

[Jeff G]

Since I put that list together, prices have gone up a little (system is up to $525, was right at $500 before).

How much worse off would an amd build be for editing gopro videos?
Something like this for under $450:
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/7GsyKZ

 

[Tír na nÓg]

Go Intel, for 50 extra bucks, it is a no brainer!

 

[Jeff G]

Just to follow up, I watched prices on everything over the last few weeks and bought sales as they popped up and I have everything now.

Here what I ended up with:
MSI H110 Pro motherboard
i5-6400 CPU
Team Vulcan 2x8gb Ram
EVGA 500w PSU
WD 2tb HDD
DIYPC case
Sceptre 27" LED monitor

Total for the build: $453.31
Eveything was new but the HDD, which was bought from a member here.

 

[RollingThunder]

Just to follow up, I watched prices on everything over the last few weeks and bought sales as they popped up and I have everything now.

Here what I ended up with:
MSI H110 Pro motherboard
i5-6400 CPU
Team Vulcan 2x8gb Ram
EVGA 500w PSU
WD 2tb HDD
DIYPC case
Sceptre 27" LED monitor

Total for the build: $453.31
Eveything was new but the HDD, which was bought from a member here.

Jeff,

I don't see video card? Did you already have one?

 

[Jeff G]

Jeff,

I don't see video card? Did you already have one?

This build is solely for editing gopro videos and browsing the internet. I'm going to see how the integrated HD530 runs for now. I haven't had any issues with it on my htpc, so far it handles everything I throw at it. If it gets bogged with the GoPro Suite, I'll start looking into cheap upgrades for a dedicated video card.

 

[Tír na nÓg]

You should have no problem with the iGPU.

Nice budget build.

Heck, with a 1060 or a 480, it would make a perfect 1080p/1440p gaming rig around the $700 mark!

 

[RollingThunder]

This build is solely for editing gopro videos and browsing the internet. I'm going to see how the integrated HD530 runs for now. I haven't had any issues with it on my htpc, so far it handles everything I throw at it. If it gets bogged with the GoPro Suite, I'll start looking into cheap upgrades for a dedicated video card.

Jeff,

Understood, I have nearly the same needs as you overall so I get a low to mid-range card if I don't have built in graphics.

 

[EarthDog]

I would have bought them a boxed PC personally. That way you don't have to mess with it. I've gotten out of that business for family because it's a PITA.

 

[RollingThunder]

I would have bought them a boxed PC personally. That way you don't have to mess with it. I've gotten out of that business for family because it's a PITA.

This is also true because with a home build for someone else you become the "help desk."

 

[EarthDog]

Yep. A part breaks, they are calling you. A part breaks on an HP for the same price similar performance, they call HP.

Cynical, but, I've been through it. A custom unit at that low of a price really doesn't give them much more of anything. It's better quality parts perhaps, but, when you have a warranty and tech support like HP to fall back on, it's just easier to go store bought builds.

 

[Jeff G]

The problem is that to stay in their budget, a store bought computer would mean i3 or lower. With the video editing being a major use on the machine, i wanted to see them in an i5 at least. I'm already used to being "tech support" for my entire family. At least once a week I get a call about a computer, phone, or Internet not working since they're all running PC's I built, phones I bought, and Internet I set up. What's one more? (lol)

 

[Jeff G]

Got everything together this weekend. Loaded it up with Windows 10 and updated everything with the MSI Live Update 6 program. Last time I ran MSI, they were on Live Update 4 and I could never get it to update things correctly. Live Update 6 worked great!

I decided to stop by the OC menu in the bios and was surprised at the amount of things I could change with the H110 board and a non-K processor. The multiplier was locked at a max of 3300mhz, but I could change it to run the 3300mhz all the time (normal boost clock). I didn't try any changes to bclk or fclk as I didn't see a need, but again there was the option to up those. Voltages were all available to adjust as well, and while I didn't mess around with them I might try to set a manual voltage to get the temps down a little. Ram booted just fine at 2400mhz, I decided to leave it there but had the option to again change it all.
In summary, this is my first time 'tinkering' with a non-overclocking cpu/board combo and I was surprised at the amount of flexibility offered still.

Loaded up the GoPro Suite program, uploaded an 8-minute GoPro clip, created a one minute long video with half a dozen transitions and exported it in the '1080p' setting as a trial. When I hit 'Export', I went up to grab something to drink thinking it would take a while. Came back and it was already done. The i5-6400 at 3300mhz and 16gb ram at 2400mhz seems to be a pretty good setup for handling video encoding.

My only complaints:
- Initially the CPU was randomly pegging 100% utilization on all cores every few minutes even with the PC sitting idle. It'd last about 15 seconds, but it was enough to make the fans all spin up (which got loud). After Live Update 6 got done updating everything, I haven't noticed this again.
- MSI has the smart fan profiles enabled from the factory, and they're set very high for the i5-6400. It let the CPU get up to 40C before it would bring the fan up to 20%, 50C was 35%, 60C was 50%, and 70C was 65%. If I'm reading correctly, the i5-6400 has a max temp of 71C so I adjusted the fan profiles to hopefully keep it safely below that. HWMonitor reported a max temp of 59C while running the GoPro Suite with the stock profiles. With my adjusted profiles, it only got to 52C (although with a little more fan noise now).

Overall, this setup works very well for what it was built for. It browses the internet, checks email, runs MS Office, and edits GoPro videos very quickly. Not bad for a grand total of $453! Pick up a RX 480 for $200 and this would be a decent gaming rig for $650.