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The Under $200 Competition

Jack.EXE
By Jack.EXE
in New Builds and Planning
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Objective: Build the Fastest PC possible for under $200, all parts must be new and from Amazon, Newegg, NCIX, Best Buy, Frys, or Micro Center.

Preferably an APU, but an intel would be acceptable with a GPU.

Extra points will be awarded for small form factor builds.

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https://linustechtips.com/topic/347310-the-under-200-competition/
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My entry:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($44.29 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($39.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($26.65 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital RE3 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($36.00 @ Amazon)

Case: Rosewill R379-M MicroATX Slim Case w/300W Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $196.92

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 13:24 EDT-0400

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CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($44.29 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($51.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Team Elite 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 



Total: $191.75

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 13:33 EDT-0400

 

 

I choose PSU with case because its from rosewill which is reliable 

3 tips to have a good time on the LTT forums | 1. When you reply to someone please quote them | 2. Please follow your threads | 3. Follow the C.o.C 

If you follow these 3 tips you should have a blast.

i'm rather proud of this for some reason. http://imgur.com/6ttS5XZ

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My entry:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($44.29 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($39.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($26.65 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital RE3 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($36.00 @ Amazon)

Case: Rosewill R379-M MicroATX Slim Case w/300W Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $196.92

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 13:24 EDT-0400

Dam We used the same case.  <_< . and cpu well im disqualified 

3 tips to have a good time on the LTT forums | 1. When you reply to someone please quote them | 2. Please follow your threads | 3. Follow the C.o.C 

If you follow these 3 tips you should have a blast.

i'm rather proud of this for some reason. http://imgur.com/6ttS5XZ

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($43.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($26.65 @ Amazon)

Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.98 @ NCIX US)

Case: Apex TX-381 MicroATX Mid Tower Case w/300W Power Supply ($26.99 @ Directron)

Total: $200.59

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 13:45 EDT-0400

If not

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($43.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($26.65 @ Amazon)

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 64GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($43.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Apex TX-381 MicroATX Mid Tower Case w/300W Power Supply ($26.99 @ Directron)

Total: $194.59

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 13:46 EDT-0400

Steve

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Semi-Small Form Factor:


 

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

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($44.90 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.65 @ Amazon) 



Total: $201.53

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 13:58 EDT-0400

 

The Mini-ITX build is almost impossible at this price, I went over :(


 

CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($42.99 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75IA-E53 Mini ITX FM2 Motherboard  ($78.88 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.65 @ Amazon) 



Total: $207.86

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 13:53 EDT-0400

 

If I can not go over at all, not even a dollar:


 

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

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($44.90 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.65 @ Amazon) 



Total: $199.53

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 14:08 EDT-0400

CPU: Intel i5-4690k                                                               RAM: 16gb Corsair Vengance Pro DDR3-2400                                                                     Case: NZXT S340

Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo                                                  Storage: Intel 730 SSD                                                                                                            PSU: EVGA 850G2

Mobo: Asus Z97-A 3.1                                                          GPU: 980ti G1                                                                                                                          OS: Windows 10 Pro

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Case is floor. I just hope the psu doesnt blow up lol, but both gpu and cpu are very efficient.

 

Ok better balanced build now :P It can play minecraft, CSGO, lol, diablo 3, shooters etc..

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3240 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Foxconn H81MXV Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($36.94 @ Mwave)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.65 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 80GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($15.50 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GT 730 1GB Video Card  ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Logisys 480W ATX Power Supply  ($12.99 @ Directron)
Total: $200.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 15:26 EDT-0400

 

what do you think  @Jack.EXE ? do i win ? :P

Ghetto, but its worth it.

And it destroys all those APUs.

010.jpg

On 720p it can play any game.

 

One really small problem is that psu, that is like a ticking bomb, self destruct.

:P :P :P :P :P

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Case is floor. I just hope the psu doesnt blow up lol, but both gpu and cpu are very efficient.

 

Ok better balanced build now :P It can play minecraft, CSGO, lol, diablo 3, shooters etc..

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3240 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Foxconn H81MXV Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($36.94 @ Mwave)

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.65 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 80GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($15.50 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GT 730 1GB Video Card  ($54.99 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: Logisys 480W ATX Power Supply  ($12.99 @ Directron)

Total: $200.06

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 15:26 EDT-0400

 

what do you think  @Jack.EXE ? do i win ? :P

Ghetto, but its worth it.

And it destroys all those APUs.

010.jpg

On 720p it can play any game.

 

One really small problem is that psu, that is like a ticking bomb, self destruct.

:P :P :P :P :P

 

I'll see your Dedicated GPU and one up you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD 3850 1.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($35.29 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: ASRock AM1B-M Micro ATX AM1 Motherboard  ($28.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.65 @ Amazon)

Storage: Seagate Pipeline HD 320GB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($22.00 @ Amazon)

Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6570 1GB Video Card  ($41.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.99 @ NCIX US)

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

Total: $199.88

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 15:54 EDT-0400

 

A FASTER dGPU (once overclocked, which it can OC heavily), and a quality PSU.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcU0ejBr3b8

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Very good builds I see. What's the point though? I don't see how someone would want to get one of these and couldn't save more...

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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I'll see your Dedicated GPU and one up you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD 3850 1.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($35.29 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: ASRock AM1B-M Micro ATX AM1 Motherboard  ($28.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.65 @ Amazon)

Storage: Seagate Pipeline HD 320GB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($22.00 @ Amazon)

Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6570 1GB Video Card  ($41.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.99 @ NCIX US)

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

Total: $199.88

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 15:54 EDT-0400

 

A FASTER dGPU (once overclocked, which it can OC heavily), and a quality PSU.

can you do anything with those 24 bucks, you can easily run the system on the floor :P or raise it up with some plastic box or something.

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Very good builds I see. What's the point though? I don't see how someone would want to get one of these and couldn't save more...

 

I'm actually trying to convince my school to let me build them computers, rather than buying them from best buy.

 

Plus, challenges are fun.

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Here's my suggestion. A $200 budget isn't really worthwhile for anything above a web-browsing PC though, so there have to be a lot of cut corners.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2JL2NG

there is loads of games you can play on it

 

 

 

Yeah, housing and cooling.

I still beat your build, xD

you only beat it because you have good PSU ;P

 

if we did like 250$ build i guess we would see some serious action

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there is loads of games you can play on it

 

There are always loads of games you can play on any PC. I have lots of games I can play on my 20+ year old 486DX4 100MHz, as well.

However, if somebody was after anything beyond a very basic office PC, and asked me for my advice on how to spend $200, I'd say "save".

For a basic web-browsing, youtubing, music streaming PC though, it would be absolutely fine.

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CPU: AMD A6-7400K 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($61.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Micro Center) 




Total: $196.96

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 17:46 EDT-0400

 

Always liked a challenge like that :3

[uNOFFICIAL] LTT's Pokemon Thread.

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CPU: AMD A6-7400K 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($61.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI A68HM-E33 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Micro Center) 
Total: $196.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-13 17:46 EDT-0400
 
Always liked a challenge like that :3

 

The first APU build with some good RAM on this thread! (I think)

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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There are always loads of games you can play on any PC. I have lots of games I can play on my 20+ year old 486DX4 100MHz, as well.

However, if somebody was after anything beyond a very basic office PC, and asked me for my advice on how to spend $200, I'd say "save".

For a basic web-browsing, youtubing, music streaming PC though, it would be absolutely fine.

Its all for fun.

Also, i dont use extremities to prove my point.  Your 20+ year old pc cant play modern games :P

You dont need strong gpu to run games. The most taxing settings right now are shading, post processing effects and resolution. 720p and lower settings, you can play any game

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Its all for fun.

Also, i dont use extremities to prove my point.  Your 20+ year old pc cant play modern games :P

You dont need strong gpu to run games. The most taxing settings right now are shading, post processing effects and resolution. 720p and lower settings, you can play any game

 

I would also argue that a $200 PC can't play modern games. A $200 second hand computer could though.

Seeing as we have no way of benching these hypothetical $200 PCs, I feel that there is little value to a "competition".

I mean, sure, one can always compare the numbers Top Trumps style, but that doesn't really give a realistic picture of performance.

 

On a side note: For a system I play games on on a regular basis, I feel that using "extremities" (my 486) to prove a point is completely valid. There are lots of old games from my teenage years that I enjoy just as much, or sometimes more, than current games. :)

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I would also argue that a $200 PC can't play modern games. A $200 second hand computer could though.

Seeing as we have no way of benching these hypothetical $200 PCs, I feel that there is little value to a "competition".

I mean, sure, one can always compare the numbers Top Trumps style, but that doesn't really give a realistic picture of performance.

 

On a side note: For a system I play games on on a regular basis, I feel that using "extremities" (my 486) to prove a point is completely valid. There are lots of old games from my teenage years that I enjoy just as much, or sometimes more, than current games. :)

so even if i post benchmarks playing not even released game yet played on 60$ gpu...

sorry, i dont deal with hypothetical stuff if there are benchmarks.

 

with this low budget, why so nitpick about not getting used parts?

because its FOR FUN.

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