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New build (non gaming)

Wayne Tai
By Wayne Tai
in New Builds and Planning
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Hi all,

 

Am building a PC for my GF and family.

 

I don't know what is the price performance sweet spot for such a PC, I am thinking of a budget of just around hkd $3000 ($380), including monitor, hopefully 1080p is achievable with this tight budget, and a set of keyboard and mouse. OS is not required. 

 

I see that a lot of AMD chips are priced quite competitively, but I am not familiar with their naming conventions. I have built about 6 - 7 PCs for my family / friends in the last 2 - 3 years but I have never build an AMD PC.

 

Aim :

The PC is shared between my Girlfriend and her parents. Will be use to run Microsoft Office Applications, web browsing and watching dramas/movies. There is no need to build a PC for gaming since I will be building her another one when she move over to my house. 

Mobo: ASUS X99-A  // CPU: i7-5820k // GPU: ASUS GTX 1080 ROG Strix //  Ram: 4 x 4 GB 2666 Mhz G.Skill Ripjaw // SSD: Samsung 960 Pro 512GB NVMe //  PSU: Cooler Master V850  // Case: Corsair 760T Arch White // Mouse: Logitec G903 Lightspeed // Keyboard: Logitech G Pro // Headphones: Audio Technica Ath-R70x // Monitor: BenQ BL2710PT

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Hi all,

 

Am building a PC for my GF and family.

 

I don't know what is the price performance sweet spot for such a PC, I am thinking of a budget of just around hkd $3000 ($380), including monitor, hopefully 1080p is achievable with this tight budget, and a set of keyboard and mouse. OS is not required. 

 

I see that a lot of AMD chips are priced quite competitively, but I am not familiar with their naming conventions. I have built about 6 - 7 PCs for my family / friends in the last 2 - 3 years but I have never build an AMD PC.

 

Aim :

The PC is shared between my Girlfriend and her parents. Will be use to run Microsoft Office Applications, web browsing and watching dramas/movies. There is no need to build a PC for gaming since I will be building her another one when she move over to my house. 

 

 

Get an APU. A6-A10 AMD chip. 

 

4-8GB RAM

 

250-480GB SSD storage (they'll appreciate the speeds)

 

Nice, but subtle looking case

 

Don't skimp on the power supply (no CX or NEX or some random manufacturer. SeaSonic. XFX, and SuperFlower make reliable ones)

Intel Core i7-6700K | Corsair H105 | Asus Z170I PRO GAMING | G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB | 950 PRO 512GB M.2

 

Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB STRIX OC | BitFenix Prodigy (Black/Red) | XFX PRO Black Edition 850W

 

 

My Build | PCPartPicker | CoC

 

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Get an APU. A6-A10 AMD chip. 

 

4-8GB RAM

 

250-480GB SSD storage (they'll appreciate the speeds)

 

Nice, but subtle looking case

 

Don't skimp on the power supply (no CX or NEX or some random manufacturer. SeaSonic. XFX, and SuperFlower make reliable ones)

380 dollars and you are thinking a 480 GB SSD? that's  a little too much i think, 250 GB is just fine :)

Dutch Talk Thread

Unofficial LMG Social Media Accounts Website

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380 dollars and you are thinking a 480 GB SSD? that's  a little too much i think, 250 GB is just fine :)

I think for those programs 120 GB is probably fine

Solve your own audio issues  |  First Steps with RPi 3  |  Humidity & Condensation  |  Sleep & Hibernation  |  Overclocking RAM  |  Making Backups  |  Displays  |  4K / 8K / 16K / etc.  |  Do I need 80+ Platinum?

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I think for those programs 120 GB is probably fine

yeah.. but the price diffrence:

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($88.89 @ OutletPC) 
25$ for 130 GB extra
84$ for 250 GB extra

Dutch Talk Thread

Unofficial LMG Social Media Accounts Website

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yeah.. but the price diffrence:

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($88.89 @ OutletPC) 
25$ for 130 GB extra
84$ for 250 GB extra

 

holy jeez we are getting ripped off over here... every day I see something worse than the last...

Solve your own audio issues  |  First Steps with RPi 3  |  Humidity & Condensation  |  Sleep & Hibernation  |  Overclocking RAM  |  Making Backups  |  Displays  |  4K / 8K / 16K / etc.  |  Do I need 80+ Platinum?

If you can read this you're using the wrong theme.  You can change it at the bottom.

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bam, 300 USD, can handle all your Microsoftoffice needs, web browsing and movie needs, it wont set any records, but will get the job done

 


 

CPU: AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($84.89 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: Asus A88XM-A Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($58.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 



Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($16.45 @ OutletPC) 

Total: $304.28

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 02:00 EDT-0400

my first build ^~^ cpu: core i5 6500

mobo: Asrock h110-itx

gpu: r9 380

8 gigs ddr4 

psu: corsair cx 500

case:thermaltake core v1

 

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bam, 300 USD, can handle all your Microsoftoffice needs, web browsing and movie needs, it wont set any records, but will get the job done
 
 
CPU: AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($84.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus A88XM-A Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($58.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($16.45 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $304.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 02:00 EDT-0400

 

Do they need a optical drive?  If not, trade that and the HDD for a small SSD and it will feel like a much fancier computer :)

Solve your own audio issues  |  First Steps with RPi 3  |  Humidity & Condensation  |  Sleep & Hibernation  |  Overclocking RAM  |  Making Backups  |  Displays  |  4K / 8K / 16K / etc.  |  Do I need 80+ Platinum?

If you can read this you're using the wrong theme.  You can change it at the bottom.

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-snip-

 

improved it al little:

 
CPU: AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($84.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus A88XM-A Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($67.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($88.89 @ OutletPC) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($16.45 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $371.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 02:04 EDT-0400

Dutch Talk Thread

Unofficial LMG Social Media Accounts Website

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honeslty i think they would be better off with a HDD, the application theyre running wont really need the SSD speeds, and i think 4 gb ram is plenty as well, my current laptop *which sucks, cant even watch netflix sometimes* will be far outclassed by this build, with way more storage and future upgradability :P just sayin tho, please dont take it the wrong way

my first build ^~^ cpu: core i5 6500

mobo: Asrock h110-itx

gpu: r9 380

8 gigs ddr4 

psu: corsair cx 500

case:thermaltake core v1

 

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and well over 1/3 the price xD

my first build ^~^ cpu: core i5 6500

mobo: Asrock h110-itx

gpu: r9 380

8 gigs ddr4 

psu: corsair cx 500

case:thermaltake core v1

 

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honeslty i think they would be better off with a HDD, the application theyre running wont really need the SSD speeds, and i think 4 gb ram is plenty as well, my current laptop *which sucks, cant even watch netflix sometimes* will be far outclassed by this build, with way more storage and future upgradability :P just sayin tho, please dont take it the wrong way

 

I just have to recommend it any time I can - as someone who has used both, I can say that the benefits are so much more amazing than any benchmark can capture.  It's not just quick boot and app loading times - the overall experience is just quicker the way you would expect a CPU to help, and unless you want to be reinstalling windows every year to get it back to full speed, get the SSD - they seem to eliminate the degradation of performance of windows that just happens over time

 

and well over 1/3 the price xD

What is?  My suggestion of swapping the HDD + Optical drive with the 120 GB SSD is virtually same price

Solve your own audio issues  |  First Steps with RPi 3  |  Humidity & Condensation  |  Sleep & Hibernation  |  Overclocking RAM  |  Making Backups  |  Displays  |  4K / 8K / 16K / etc.  |  Do I need 80+ Platinum?

If you can read this you're using the wrong theme.  You can change it at the bottom.

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i meant over my laptop, sorry xD but i do suppose you're right about the benifits, i just shudder at the cost of SSD drives, as much as i love them

my first build ^~^ cpu: core i5 6500

mobo: Asrock h110-itx

gpu: r9 380

8 gigs ddr4 

psu: corsair cx 500

case:thermaltake core v1

 

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  • Author

 

bam, 300 USD, can handle all your Microsoftoffice needs, web browsing and movie needs, it wont set any records, but will get the job done
 
 
CPU: AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($84.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus A88XM-A Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($58.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($28.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($16.45 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $304.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 02:00 EDT-0400

 

 

I like your build, but is 4GB sufficient for an APU? I'm using 4GB / 16GB of ram now as I am typing this and I only have Google chrome open. 

 

How about this?

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Qt4NCJ

Mobo: ASUS X99-A  // CPU: i7-5820k // GPU: ASUS GTX 1080 ROG Strix //  Ram: 4 x 4 GB 2666 Mhz G.Skill Ripjaw // SSD: Samsung 960 Pro 512GB NVMe //  PSU: Cooler Master V850  // Case: Corsair 760T Arch White // Mouse: Logitec G903 Lightspeed // Keyboard: Logitech G Pro // Headphones: Audio Technica Ath-R70x // Monitor: BenQ BL2710PT

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you need fast memory to take full advantage of the apu (1866-2133  the faster the better)

Here is the cheapest quad core solution without MIR

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A8-7600 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($81.00 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88M PRO3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($56.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply  ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($16.45 @ OutletPC)
Total: $346.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 12:35 EDT-0400

The site has changed....

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CPU: AMD A6-6400K 3.9GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($47.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: Patriot 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($19.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($95.45 @ OutletPC) 

Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($35.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Monitor: AOC I2269VW 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Best Buy) 


Total: $391.38

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-07 12:56 EDT-0400

 

This will do whatever you stated very nicely  :D  :D  :D

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