Low budget pc

[SirFinrod]

Hi guys, i am trying to build a low budget pc for my family. No gaming power needed whatsoever. It will be used for web surfing, document editing(word, excel etc.) and watching movies.

I came up with this build and looking for any suggestions to improve it. Also i did my best to research if these parts are compatible and i think they are but any double-checking appreciated.

 

I already have ssd psu and other components

 

Motherboard:

B250M PRO VDH

 

GPU:

Radeon R5230

(maybe gt710?)

 

CPU:

i3 2120

 

Memory:

Crucial 4GB 2400mhz

[boggy77]

are these second hand products? what prices are you getting them for? what's the budget?

they are very very old components, a new amd apu system might be cheaper and give better performance.

[homeap5]

This CPU is not for this motherboard.

[mbntr]

I would suggest an amd build, the price should e the same, buth the performance would be much better.

Ryzen 3 2200g (it's an apu, so no dedicated gpu is needed)

Asrock B450M Pro4

and 16 GB of ddr4

It's a much better build and it has an excellent upgrade path.

[boggy77]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 3000G 3.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$63.49 @ B&H
Motherboard	MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$79.99 @ B&H
Memory	Patriot Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$37.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Team GX1 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$33.99 @ Newegg
Case	Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$46.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair CV 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$43.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$326.42
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$306.42
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-30 09:27 EDT-0400

 

[manikyath]

depending on just how cheap a motherboard you can get otherwise, (and if you're going new or second hand, ofcourse) the asrock j5005-itx may be an option.

 

it's not a rocketship, you cant add a dedicated gpu (without some modifications..  ), you'll have to get so-dimm memory, and availability is a bit hit and miss...

but on the flip side.. they can be had rather cheap, and it's plenty fast for the usual webbrowsing stuff.

 

i'd say asrock j5005-itx, 4GB RAM, 240GB SSD (kingston a400 perhaps?), and a "sort by price" power supply stuffed into a "sort by price" case.

 

you should be able to stay below 300USD, going with all new components.

[mbntr]

3 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 3000G 3.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$63.49 @ B&H
Motherboard	MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$79.99 @ B&H
Memory	Patriot Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$37.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Team GX1 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$33.99 @ Newegg
Case	Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$46.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair CV 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$43.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$326.42
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$306.42
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-30 09:27 EDT-0400

 

Your build is great, I would replace the SSD for a bit cheaper kingston A400, it's still a 240gb but it's a bit cheaper, with the money he could get a better cpu, i.e a ryzen 3 2200G, it has more cores and better performance. The rest is pretty well balanced

[SirFinrod]

8 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 3000G 3.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$63.49 @ B&H
Motherboard	MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$79.99 @ B&H
Memory	Patriot Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$37.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Team GX1 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$33.99 @ Newegg
Case	Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$46.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair CV 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$43.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$326.42
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$306.42
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-30 09:27 EDT-0400

 

My part list costs 200$ so this is clearly overbudget as well as the other suggestion. Thanks @homeap5 i'll look for another for cpu

[boggy77]

Just now, mbntr said:

Your build is great, I would replace the SSD for a bit cheaper kingston A400, it's still a 240gb but it's a bit cheaper, with the money he could get a better cpu, i.e a ryzen 3 2200G, it has more cores and better performance. The rest is pretty well balanced

i just picked the cheapest 240gb ssd in pcpartpicker. didn't see a400 being cheaper.

for browsing only the athlon is enough and it's better that the other options vehicualted in this thread anyway.

[boggy77]

Just now, SirFinrod said:

My part list costs 200$ so this is clearly overbudget as well as the other suggestion. Thanks @homeap5 i'll look for another for cpu

yeah but this part lists include a ssd, case and psu, that are over $100 in total and that you'd need anyway with your part lists.

cpu, ram and motherboard are below $200 in my list

[mbntr]

2 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

i just picked the cheapest 240gb ssd in pcpartpicker. didn't see a400 being cheaper.

for browsing only the athlon is enough and it's better that the other options vehicualted in this thread anyway.

Well, maybe the A400 is cheaper where I live, here it's around 25 euros which should be 27.5 usd...

And yes it's absolutely true, the athlon paired with an ssd is a pretty good option, and it shoud be more than enough even for light gaming (if paired with a dedicated gpu)

[mbntr]

10 minutes ago, manikyath said:

depending on just how cheap a motherboard you can get otherwise, (and if you're going new or second hand, ofcourse) the asrock j5005-itx may be an option.

 

it's not a rocketship, you cant add a dedicated gpu (without some modifications..  ), you'll have to get so-dimm memory, and availability is a bit hit and miss...

but on the flip side.. they can be had rather cheap, and it's plenty fast for the usual webbrowsing stuff.

 

i'd say asrock j5005-itx, 4GB RAM, 240GB SSD (kingston a400 perhaps?), and a "sort by price" power supply stuffed into a "sort by price" case.

 

you should be able to stay below 300USD, going with all new components.

the asrock j5005 has an integrated celeron, I think for 300 usd you could build a much better system.

the A400 is a good ssd, but the motherboard cpu combo is slow as hell (laptop celerons are not upgradeable and aren't known for being computing beasts, and will be heavly outdated in a couple of years)

the best option, as pointed by me and @boggy77 would probably be a modern AMD APU, like a ryzen 3 or an athlon

[manikyath]

22 minutes ago, mbntr said:

the asrock j5005 has an integrated celeron, I think for 300 usd you could build a much better system.

the A400 is a good ssd, but the motherboard cpu combo is slow as hell (laptop celerons are not upgradeable and aren't known for being computing beasts, and will be heavly outdated in a couple of years)

the best option, as pointed by me and @boggy77 would probably be a modern AMD APU, like a ryzen 3 or an athlon

i have the j5005 in one of my systems, and it does better than you'd expect. the last time i priced things out (at least for me locally) you could go about 20 or 30 bucks cheaper than the cheapest mobo + cpu combo.

and yes, it'll be outdated in a couple of years, but so will any low end cpu+mobo combination be.

 

as for giving actual performance figures.. my bedside pc is a celeron j1900, it does all the late night internet browsing, video watching, casual gaming i like to do. the J5005 is about double the speed of the J1900, or in other words, about comparable to the core i3 that OP mentioned initially.

 

its a matter of if you prefer saving that 20 bucks, or get a slice of extra performance.

[homeap5]

1 hour ago, SirFinrod said:

Hi guys, i am trying to build a low budget pc for my family. No gaming power needed whatsoever. It will be used for web surfing, document editing(word, excel etc.) and watching movies.

Skip that pcpartpicker - everyone here loves to build new PCs, but in your case all you need is some used parts that you can find on your local eBay or something like that.

 

You may look for whole used computer - it's usually cheaper than buying parts and you can always replace crappy ones (PSU, slow HDD) with yours.

 

Your goal should be to made fast, but silent computer (it's for your parents). So my advice is:

 

1. Look for something like "i5 4570 computer" or...

2. Look for parts - any i5 over 3rd gen (or even 3rd gen will be enough) with compatible motherboard and 8GB ram. I5 3570 is minimum here, i5 4570 will be better (that was example), but you really must find that CPUs in good price; sometimes people sell them for more than you can buy new CPU.

 

Tell me where you want to find used part (website) and I'll try to help find something there that isn't total crap.

 

If you want to buy new parts, for your parents Pentium GOLD + cheapest 1151 motherboard (H310 chipset) and 8GB ram will be enough. G5400 + Asus Prime H310M-D + 8GB DDR4 should be fine. But that will be probably more than 100$, so...

 

For example, here in PL I can buy this: link - it's in polish, but divide price by 4.10 and you'll get $. I5 4th gen with motherboard and 16GB ram = 100$. You can probably find similar (or better) deal in your country.

[manikyath]

49 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Skip that pcpartpicker - everyone here loves to build new PCs, but in your case all you need is some used parts that you can find on your local eBay or something like that.

 

You may look for whole used computer - it's usually cheaper than buying parts and you can always replace crappy ones (PSU, slow HDD) with yours.

 

Your goal should be to made fast, but silent computer (it's for your parents). So my advice is:

 

1. Look for something like "i5 4570 computer" or...

2. Look for parts - any i5 over 3rd gen (or even 3rd gen will be enough) with compatible motherboard and 8GB ram. I5 3570 is minimum here, i5 4570 will be better (that was example), but you really must find that CPUs in good price; sometimes people sell them for more than you can buy new CPU.

 

Tell me where you want to find used part (website) and I'll try to help find something there that isn't total crap.

 

If you want to buy new parts, for your parents Pentium GOLD + cheapest 1151 motherboard (H310 chipset) and 8GB ram will be enough. G5400 + Asus Prime H310M-D + 8GB DDR4 should be fine. But that will be probably more than 100$, so...

 

For example, here in PL I can buy this: link - it's in polish, but divide price by 4.10 and you'll get $. I5 4th gen with motherboard and 16GB ram = 100$. You can probably find similar (or better) deal in your country.

look for "HP Compaq 6200" "HP Compaq 6300", or "HP ProDesk 600" on your favourite second hand marketplace.

they may need an SSD to be usable, but can be had for dirt cheap usually.. (the hard drives in them are usually on their last legs.)

[homeap5]

50 minutes ago, manikyath said:

look for "HP Compaq 6200" "HP Compaq 6300", or "HP ProDesk 600" on your favourite second hand marketplace.

they may need an SSD to be usable, but can be had for dirt cheap usually.. (the hard drives in them are usually on their last legs.)

Yes, but they're mostly loud (no small good cpu coolers and no possibility to install one), have crappy motherboards, crappy PSU and if something fail - everything you can do (what is worth to do) is to buy new one (because standard parts may needs special adapters or just doesn't fit). I recommend to avoid all that "original Dell" / "Originall HP" etc. computers.

[manikyath]

53 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Yes, but they're mostly loud (no small good cpu coolers and no possibility to install one), have crappy motherboards, crappy PSU and if something fail - everything you can do (what is worth to do) is to buy new one (because standard parts may needs special adapters or just doesn't fit). I recommend to avoid all that "original Dell" / "Originall HP" etc. computers.

the models i've dropped in are pretty good about all that, replacement parts are fairly easy to find, and they're surprisingly reliable. if anything, i'd say the hard drive is the most likely component to fail.

 

as it turns out, businesses care about reliability and quiet operation just as much as most end users do

[mbntr]

17 hours ago, manikyath said:

i have the j5005 in one of my systems, and it does better than you'd expect. the last time i priced things out (at least for me locally) you could go about 20 or 30 bucks cheaper than the cheapest mobo + cpu combo.

and yes, it'll be outdated in a couple of years, but so will any low end cpu+mobo combination be.

 

as for giving actual performance figures.. my bedside pc is a celeron j1900, it does all the late night internet browsing, video watching, casual gaming i like to do. the J5005 is about double the speed of the J1900, or in other words, about comparable to the core i3 that OP mentioned initially.

 

its a matter of if you prefer saving that 20 bucks, or get a slice of extra performance.

Well, it will perform decently if you have an ssd and a decent amount of ram, infact my celeron n3050 (a significantly slower cpu) was much better than most i7 laptops with a hard drive (I had a 120gb ssd and 8 gb ddr3) but with a low end Athlon you could upgrade to a 3600 rather easily