Hypothetical Build

WinNut · March 27, 2014

Hello guys!

I am coming up with a hypothetical build. This will be the 3rd time I have asked my parents to build a PC, but I think I have an at least 55% chance this time because I will do my homework, sit them down, and politely combat their objections through facts obtained through painstaking research. My parents currently do not know I want to do a build, I am trying to conduct all research before sitting them down and showing them my homework. I want to up my grades before I do this, and my dad is currently making preparations to give me his laptop, with an i5.

My current laptop cannot handle what I need it to do.

I live in the continental U. S. and my budget is $650. This build will be used for schoolwork, occasional moderate video editing (part of schoolwork) and a resource-intensive train simulator by the name of OpenBVE. I may consider adding an R7 240 in the future to this build for CrossFireX with the APU, though I have read that this only increases performance by 10-20 FPS.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.98 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G1.Sniper A88X ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: AMD 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($69.29 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.48 @ OutletPC)

Case: Thermaltake VO600A1W3N ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ TigerDirect)

Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 400W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($70.10 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.98 @ OutletPC)

Other: Card Reader ($14.99)

Total: $648.77

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-27 17:52 EDT-0400)

Any constructive criticism is more than welcome! Thank you in advance for your contributions.

EDIT: Oops, forgot to mention that monitor, kb, and mouse are not included in the budget, I have them already.

Nineshadow · March 27, 2014

You will profit from higher frequency RAM with APUs.Anyway,it's good.

TheSLSAMG · March 27, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($69.29 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.48 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Rosewill REDBONE ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($42.98 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.98 @ OutletPC)

Other: Card Reader ($14.99)

Total: $645.65

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-27 17:57 EDT-0400)

Save up a smidgen more.

I know it's unbalanced, but you can upgrade the PSU and GPU to suit your needs in the future.

ZetZet · March 27, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.74 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($64.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($69.29 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.48 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270 2GB Video Card ($189.99 @ NCIX US)

Case: Thermaltake VO600A1W3N ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ TigerDirect)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.98 @ OutletPC)

Other: Card Reader ($14.99)

Total: $654.41

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-27 17:57 EDT-0400)

brownninja97 · March 27, 2014

i think you should cut down on the motherboard a bit and get a more powerful psu, just in case you get a gpu in the future, i think its better to predict the future, im also not too fond of the case but thats down to personal opinion.

WinNut · March 27, 2014

I am going to try to man up to ask for this build, I still have to conduct my research.

The estimated wattage for this build is 199W, and I chose the 400 just in case I add the R7 240 in the future or throw in more hard drives or something of the like.

I don't think I really need the power of a R9 270, I think that a 7770 GHz edition suits my needs.

Thanks for the input, though!

Also about the more powerful PSU I really don't think I need anything more than 400 because I am not going to go overkill and throw something like a Titan Z in there. I just don't need that power.