Craigslist/Amazon/Ebay Special - Did I do alright?

[jsnowbordr47]

I was one of the many people inspired by the Scrapyard Wars series. So, I decided to get back into the PC game, and attempt a sub- $400usd build of my own. I still cannot stand the Windows OS, but the system building part is very enjoyable.

Started with a $70 tower from Craigslist and went from there.



My total cost for everything was just around $300, and if I hadn't splurged on a new case, quieter fans, and LEDs, it would have been around $220 total.

Now I know it's nothing special, but it should be at least somewhat competent, I hope. 

I was able to get a tower off of Craigslist for $70, LGA 1155, Core i3. The guy didn't really know what he had, so I knew it was a bit of a gamble, but for $70, it was one I was wiling to take. Well, turns out it was running a decent Asus board running a chipset that is compatible with Ivy Bridge, so I plan to drop one in in the future.

I got a Corsair CX500 PSU used off of Amazon, I originally bought it for $40+, but when it arrived I noticed it had a messed up PCIe connector, not the 6-pin, but the 2-pin one that turns it into 8-pin. After complaining I got half of my money back, so my PSU was $26.50 counting shipping.

For the GPU, I originally was going go with the R9 270, but after much thought I realized that for my needs, and for my schedule to play games that I wouldn't really need one... yet. I haven't even touched my Xbox in 2 months. If it turns out I start gaming a lot, I'll probably upgrade. So, I ended up with the R7 265, $76.50 on eBay.

One bad thing about the tower I got was that it only had 2GB of RAM. So after $44.98, I now have 8GB of Corsair Vengeance. Though I'm still actually waiting for those sticks to arrive... funny because I bought the video card a week after I bought the ram...


So originally that was gonna be it, but then I installed the new video card and saw how tight the fit was. That and the cable management was nonexistent without pinching the wires on the backside and having a bulge on the back panel. After I watched the video on cable management and pimping out my case, my mind was made up and I decided that a new case with good cable management was absolutely crucial. $49.99 later and I have the Thermaltake Commander G42. Add to that some LED bars and more quiet fans, and my build is finally complete... for now.

So, did I do alright? I know Core i3, not gonna be playing BF4, Elite Dangerous, or Star Citizen until I got Quad-Core, though I've heard ED actually runs fine on the i3, not on the highest settings of course.
 

[m_tieu]

that's pretty awesome for the money!

[comicsansms]

Not bad.

PSU is questionable

CPU I would upgrade, but ATM would be fine

[Virtual01]

Two thumbs up, good stuff

[bip_]

Looks good!

[k1llampt]

Its an alright build, I think you could have done a little better with more searching and research. You can buy modular 500w power supplies for the price you paid for the cx500 even with 80 plus bronze. Also may have been able to pick up a slightly better gpu for the same price searching ebay as well. But overall not a bad score.