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Super Cheap PC for Girlfriend

TheToxicgamer97

Hello, I am looking into building a PC for my girlfriend. The only gaming experience she has is Sims 3, and I'm trying to get her into more serious stuff. I'm starting her off with Minecraft because it's a pretty simple game that we can just play together and she can learn from there. Her laptop is utter shit and can't run Minecraft on the lowest of low settings so I'm looking into building her something as cheap as possible, but still capable. My plan is to have plenty of room for upgrades if she wants to get serious. I already have a spare monitor and peripherals for her, so that's all covered. And for storage I can just use her laptop hard drive, or at least clone it to a spare drive I have laying around.

 

TLDR

I'm building a really cheap Minecraft-capable computer with plenty of upgrade potential. Storage and Peripherals are already available for free (my extra's).

 

Part List

 

CPU - AMD A10-5800K

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-D3H

Ram - HyperX Fury Series 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Single Stick

PSU - Corsair CX500

Case - Fractal Design Core 1300

 

As it stands the total on Newegg is $273 US which I think is a pretty good price. Not to mention Black Friday and Cyber Monday are coming up soon.

So this is my plan, any suggestions?

If I follow through with this, I'll post a short build log in the Build Logs section.

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Hello, I am looking into building a PC for my girlfriend. The only gaming experience she has is Sims 3, and I'm trying to get her into more serious stuff. I'm starting her off with Minecraft because it's a pretty simple game that we can just play together and she can learn from there. Her laptop is utter shit and can't run Minecraft on the lowest of low settings so I'm looking into building her something as cheap as possible, but still capable. My plan is to have plenty of room for upgrades if she wants to get serious. I already have a spare monitor and peripherals for her, so that's all covered. And for storage I can just use her laptop hard drive, or at least clone it to a spare drive I have laying around.

 

TLDR

I'm building a really cheap Minecraft-capable computer with plenty of upgrade potential. Storage and Peripherals are already available for free (my extra's).

 

Part List

 

CPU - AMD A10-5800K

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-D3H

Ram - HyperX Fury Series 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Single Stick

PSU - Corsair CX500

Case - Fractal Design Core 1300

 

As it stands the total on Newegg is $273 US which I think is a pretty good price. Not to mention Black Friday and Cyber Monday are coming up soon.

So this is my plan, any suggestions?

If I follow through with this, I'll post a short build log in the Build Logs section.

if you have the budget id try and go with a newer APU, a 7850k or 7870k, that will benefit performance a lot, as well as getting a dual channel kit of a higher frequency RAM, APU's rely on system ram and the faster it is, the more graphics performance youll get

Gigabyte X570 UD

Ryzen 5 5600x

16GB 3200mhz ram

Asus TUF Rx5700XT

600w PSU

256GB NVME boot drive

1tb sata ssd game drive

2tb mechanical storage drive

Logitech G815 Tactile

Logitech G502

AudioTechnica ATH-G1WL

LG B9 OLED

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Dual channel, high speed RAM benefits APUs significantly. Get it. Also A88X chipset is necessary for good overclocking. I'd also change the PSU (although it should be fine for that build)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB GDDR6 Motherboard: MSI PRESTIGE X570 CREATION
AIO: Corsair H150i Pro RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic PSU: Corsair RM850x White

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Also maybe get a more decent psu

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G3258 @ 4.5 | 8GB Team Vulcan RAM | 128GB Kingston V300 SSD (I didn't know what I was doing when I bought it) | MSI H81I Motherboard | Corsair H55 with Noctua NF-P12 | EVGA SSC GTX 960 4GB | OCZ 550W Fully Modular PSU with Noctua NF-A14 | Cooler Master Elite 130 (Soon to be something cool)

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($41.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $272.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-24 18:55 EST-0500

The same price as your build, words even cannot describe how much better it is :P (if these are the only parts you need)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB GDDR6 Motherboard: MSI PRESTIGE X570 CREATION
AIO: Corsair H150i Pro RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic PSU: Corsair RM850x White

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if you have the budget id try and go with a newer APU, a 7850k or 7870k, that will benefit performance a lot, as well as getting a dual channel kit of a higher frequency RAM, APU's rely on system ram and the faster it is, the more graphics performance youll get

 

I'm looking into better APUs now. Not sure if the newish Godavari chips are worth it, or if I should just get Kavari since the former is just a revamp on the same architecture as the latter anyway.

 

Dual channel, high speed RAM benefits APUs significantly. Get it. Also A88X chipset is necessary for good overclocking. I'd also change the PSU (although it should be fine for that build)

 

I'll look into dual channel, and higher speeds. Overclocking isn't a concern, but I did consider it. And Corsair is reliable, I'll keep the PSU.

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I'm looking into better APUs now. Not sure if the newish Godavari chips are worth it, or if I should just get Kavari since the former is just a revamp on the same architecture as the latter anyway.

 

 

I'll look into dual channel, and higher speeds. Overclocking isn't a concern, but I did consider it. And Corsair is reliable, I'll keep the PSU.

Overclocking this and getting faster RAM would allow her to even play AAA titles like Battlefront or GTA V, I'm dead serious, it might be a console-like experience but this is still an iGPU only ^^

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB GDDR6 Motherboard: MSI PRESTIGE X570 CREATION
AIO: Corsair H150i Pro RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic PSU: Corsair RM850x White

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-snip-

 

CPU - AMD A10-5800K

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-D3H

Ram - HyperX Fury Series 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Single Stick

PSU - Corsair CX500

Case - Fractal Design Core 1300

 

-snip-

 

there's really no upgrade potential here.

 

but it will run minecraft.

 

seems someone made a better version for ya though. :)

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($45.89 @ OutletPC)

Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($41.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $272.85

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-24 18:55 EST-0500

The same price as your build, words even cannot describe how much better it is :P (if these are the only parts you need)

7800X3D - MSI B650 MAG Tomahawk - 32GB 6000mhz CL30 - Gigabyte 3080 TI - 2TB NVME - 1000w PSU - ID Cooling 240mm AIO

 

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Overclocking this and getting faster RAM would allow her to even play AAA titles like Battlefront or GTA V, I'm dead serious, it might be a console-like experience but this is still an iGPU only ^^

I agree, but I don't have any experience in overclocking CPUs unfortunately. But I will look into faster memory. I'll post an update in a few minutes.

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I agree, but I don't have any experience in overclocking CPUs unfortunately. But I will look into faster memory. I'll post an update in a few minutes.

Not overclocking this is a waste of that little APU, if you haven't done that, we can help you after you get it ;) For any high overclocks there will be a need for an aftermarket cooler, but you'll just be able to get it later on, no need for it right away

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB GDDR6 Motherboard: MSI PRESTIGE X570 CREATION
AIO: Corsair H150i Pro RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic PSU: Corsair RM850x White

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Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill AEGIS 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($20.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: OCZ Trion 100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($34.99 @ Newegg) 


Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $263.94

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-24 19:09 EST-0500

 

 
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Thanks everyone for your help! I didn't expect to get so many replies! I'll get right to it with my updates.

 

New Part List

CPU - AMD A8-7670K

Motherboard - Asus A68HM-K

Ram - G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 2133MHz

PSU - Corsair CX500

Case - Fractal Design Core 1300

 

I'm really trying to fit in the $300 budget so I opted for an A68 chipset board. I increased the RAM speed and capacity from 1333 to 2133 and 4 to 8 respectively. I could only go as high as 2133 because that was the highest supported speed on these boards. Probably a limitation of A68.

 

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CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($36.99 @ Newegg) 


Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $270.95

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-24 19:51 EST-0500


PLZ for the sake of my sanity, DONT buy A series 4 core AMD proccesors they are low end junk.

 

FX-6300 6 CORE


 

 
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CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($36.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $270.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-24 19:51 EST-0500
PLZ for the sake of my sanity, DONT buy A series 4 core AMD proccesors they are low end junk.
 
FX-6300 6 CORE

 

If I buy an FX processor, I have to buy a graphics card.

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If I buy an FX processor, I have to buy a graphics card.

Your APU is fine for what you're doing. You'll likely have to rebuild if her needs increase, but for $300, it is a decent build.

CPU: Core i7 4970K | MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro | RAM: 32GBs of G.Skill Ares 1866 | GPU: MSI GAMING X GTX 1070 | STOR: 2 X Crucial BX100 250GB, 2 x WD Blk 1TB (mirror),WD Blk 500GB | CASE: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced | PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA G2 750W | COOL: Cooler Master Hyper T4 | DISP: 21" 1080P POS | KB: MS Keyboard | MAU5: Redragon NEMEANLION | MIC: Snowball Blue | OS: Win 8.1 Pro x64, (Working on Arch for dual boot) |

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