Computer for my brother

[Lamb]

I was assuming that an APU based system would be the best for this price. My brother's current computer is a Dell something. It is running an Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2.50 GHz and 4GB ram. It is running integrated graphics ans that is all I know about it. Would building an APU based system be better than this? I want him to be happy with its performance.

 

1. Budget & Location
The budget is $400. We live in Canada!

2. Aim
This computer will be used for games such as Minecraft and Garry's Mod. Nothing too heavy. It will also be used for Internet browsing.

3. Monitors
One monitor will be connected. The resolution is 1600x900.

4. Peripherals
No peripherals or Windows are needed.

5. Why are you upgrading?

His current computer is too slow for what he wants to do.

[Samdb]

APU would be the only choice.

[Volbet]

What is his usage scenario? Does he need a lot of storage, because an SSD would give him the feel of performance

[Lamb]

APU would be the only choice.

 

Can you give me a good list of parts?

[iAsuno]

APU would be good for the money but if you really want him to be happy, push it to $600 imo. 

[Lamb]

What is his usage scenario? Does he need a lot of storage, because an SSD would give him the feel of performance

 

He would maybe need a 500GB hard drive.

[wtfxmitchell]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sYLg

[Lamb]

APU would be good for the money but if you really want him to be happy, push it to $600 imo. 

 

All he really wants to do is get 60FPS in Minecraft :P

[Excon]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sYLV

There's my suggestion

[Haggis_]

I think a ssd and a 7750 will do the trick

[JORDANonPC]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sYLV

There's my suggestion

putting 1600mhz ram with an apu isn't really optimal 

[Excon]

putting 1600mhz ram with an apu isn't really optimal 

Are you suggestion that it should be higher or lower? Because with an APU higher is better but he's limited by cost meaning its not effective to spend twice as much on 2133 RAM and have everything else suffer

[Volbet]

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1sYOB

This is my bet, assuming he has an OS.

 

But you could easily upgrade the system he has with a 7790 and a SSD (maybe also a PSU). Maybe a new case and CPU cooler (assuming he uses the stock cooler). 

[JORDANonPC]

Are you suggestion that it should be higher or lower? Because with an APU higher is better but he's limited by cost meaning its not effective to spend twice as much on 2133 RAM and have everything else suffer

yeah I was saying higher would be better and I would go with the other guys suggestion with the cooler you used 

[Hans Christian | Teri]

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1sYOB

This is my bet, assuming he has an OS.

 

But you could easily upgrade the system he has with a 7790 and a SSD (maybe also a PSU). Maybe a new case and CPU cooler (assuming he uses the stock cooler). 

 

Doesn't get better than this with this super low budget.

[JORDANonPC]

Doesn't get better than this with this super low budget.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sYLg

what about what this build

[Haggis_]

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1sYOB

This is my bet, assuming he has an OS.

 

But you could easily upgrade the system he has with a 7790 and a SSD (maybe also a PSU). Maybe a new case and CPU cooler (assuming he uses the stock cooler). 

Yes, do an upgrade instead. 7750 is enough and it also only use 55w without any extra powerconectors. The PSU may not have that much extra to give. New case will probably not work because dell dont use standard motherboards.

 

An SSD will work wounders

[ERSCreeper]

Hope it helps :D

 

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1sZ1t

[João Severino]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sYLg

Hope it helps :D

 

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1sZ1t

I would go with either one of this two

[Kira0172]

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

[MrGidwani]

I don't know if this would work, but a friend of mine put a build together with similar parts and he says it does good for him: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sZsD

[WoodenMarker]

Here you go: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1t6GU

[NinjaStyle013]

Here you go: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1t6GU

This is the best build you can get from an APU but...

Here's my CPU + GPU build. A few things to note you have going from a quad core to a dual core but a much newer dual core meaning you're getting Intels single core performance. For what he wants to do dual core is enough. Because its a 1155 board anyways dropping in an i5 later on is a super easy option. 4gb is enough also, if the current ram he has is a single stick of ddr3 memory then that's 8gbs which is a ton.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1t7aw

That board is amazing because it has pci-e 3.0 USB 3:0 and it fully supports Haswell CPUs. It also happens to be the cheapest board available.

You could actually drop the ram if you wanted to and use the current 4gb as long as it is ddr 3 then maybe get a crappier case and upgrade the CPU or GPU.

One thing I worry about is mail in rebates if you personally don't want to do them then the build is 418 but with them your actually under budget.

I chose the 7790 because it beats every APU graphics and its 2gb which is good. I actually think maybe going down to 1gb would be fine...

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1t7tu

Better CPU however this assumes you have at least 2 DDR 3 sticks totalling 4gb and also the rebates are a must if you want to be in budget. You also lose a gb of VRAM...

If your brother feels uneasy about going from core to pentium then this build is better, personally I would get the pentium build.

In hopefully my final edit here is a better GPU build that assumes you're gunna mail in.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1t7yc

At this point I'm worrying that the pentium would bottleneck I'm unsure however. The 7850 also comes with 2 free games with the never settle forever bundle so your brother can play some newer games.

The 7790 comes with a free game also so that's another reason why to go this build rather than the apu.