My own version of scrapyard wars...

imperialus · September 5, 2015

So. My sister in law wants a new computer. Thing is she only has about 600 dollars to spend. That includes windows and a monitor though so realistically I'm looking at about 300-400 dollars. For added fun with the rapid devaluation of the Northern Peso prices for computer hardware have been going up quite a bit recently and makes ordering off of American websites too bloody expensive. I also went with Mem-Ex because it is close to my house and I wouldn't have to get anything shipped.

Now, I have an old 2TB hard drive that I could use so that'll save a pretty good chunk of change.

I'm looking at an A88XM motherboard. I like Asus, it's what I have in my current computer and I've never had an issue with them.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX47975
the A6-7400K APU Honestly, this is the bit that I'm most lost on. Is this a decent processor? I usually only use Intel.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX53097
8 Gigs of Kingston HyperX. It's a ram... Got a single stick so we can throw a second one in at some point if she feels the need.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX51493
A Corsair CX-430 PSU. Corsair. I like them or EVGA for PSU's. Low wattage, but lets face it with no graphics card and a fairly basic APU/Mobo I doubt I'll be putting much stress on it. Outervision's PSU calculator says I should need about 220 watts so I got a ton of headroom even if at some point I were to throw in a low powered gfx card and crossfire it with the APU.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX41857
Fractal Design Core 1000 Micro ATX case. I like Fractal. Their build quality and cable management is usually pretty nice (even though micros are a bitch in general) and this seems to have really nice airflow for a budget case too.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX48658

Total cost, 330 dollars. Add 100 for windows and she'll have about 150 to spend on a monitor. I've got an old 19" that she can use until a nice one goes on sale so the monitor is less pressing.

Thoughts? I mean it'll be a pretty basic machine, but for a websurfing, i-geegaw backuping, word processing box it should be just fine. I don't know that much about AMD's products. My last AMD rig was actually the first computer I built myself and it was an AMD K2 500mHrz so things have changed a bit since then.

PineappleHolidays · September 5, 2015

Don't spend 100$ on windows

G2A, reddit or other can get it for a lot cheaper

thekeemo · September 5, 2015

G2A for windows

Memory express price matches so yea don't pay what they tell you to

imperialus · September 5, 2015

Thanks for the heads up. The last time I bought windows was Win 7 back in probably 2011. That'll save a few bucks, might be able to squeeze a beefier processor into the mix then.

techguru · September 5, 2015

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($84.99 @ NCIX)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.00 @ NCIX)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.98 @ Newegg Canada)

Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($125.10 @ DirectCanada)

Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($72.98 @ NCIX)

Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($86.98 @ NCIX)

Monitor: LG 24MB35PU-B 60Hz 23.8" Monitor ($179.00 @ Canada Computers)

Total: $701.03

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-05 10:01 EDT-0400

with price matching..you can get this very close to 600

gonna be a little over..unless we change a few parts..then it can be 600

MadOliveGaming · September 5, 2015

A Corsair CX-430 PSU. Corsair. I like them or EVGA for PSU's. Low wattage, but lets face it with no graphics card and a fairly basic APU/Mobo I doubt I'll be putting much stress on it. Outervision's PSU calculator says I should need about 220 watts so I got a ton of headroom even if at some point I were to throw in a low powered gfx card and crossfire it with the APU.

That's Waaaaaaay enough man, 300-350W would do. I could almost run my pc of of that 430W one with an i5 and a gtx 970. Running them on a 500W psu with no problems and whilst that would cut it very close during gaming, im confinced that 450W would still run it fine. It is gold rated though so its of better quality than corsairs CX series, but for this build the cx will be fine

imperialus · September 5, 2015

That's Waaaaaaay enough man, 300-350W would do. I could almost run my pc of of that 430W one with an i5 and a gtx 970. Running them on a 500W psu with no problems and whilst that would cut it very close during gaming, im confinced that 450W would still run it fine. It is gold rated though so its of better quality than corsairs CX series, but for this build the cx will be fine

Yeah, and Johnny Guru gave it a 9/10 and he puts waaay more stress on it than she ever would.