$250 uni PC! Any opinions?

[FeiROG]

Hey guys! I am going to university, so I am on a really tight budget. I current have an ASUS ROG GL-552VW gaming laptop, but I really want a desktop to get work done in my dorm. I work a lot faster with a bigger screen and a mechanical keyboard so I really want a desktop. This is mostly going to be used for doing work (emails, office, excel, etc) and playing league of legends. I can bring my pereferals with me even my monitor. I currently already have a spare 500W PSU and a HDD. here is my list! Please let me know your opinions! 

 

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/C8gp8K 

 

 

[Kobathor]

It's much worse than your laptop.

Here's my suggestion- buy a monitor and keyboard/mouse, then use your laptop as the computer with a second monitor and peripheral set.

 

EDIT- If you already have a monitor and peripheral set, then you don't even need to buy anything. It will be much easier to have one computer rather than two, and using the monitor/peripherals as a sort of "base station" for your dorm.

[Kobathor]

Just now, CUDA_Cores said:

OP can still build a better computer than his laptop, he'll just have to buy some of his parts used.

With $250? His laptop has a mobile i7 and a 960m. Everything he plans on doing is better done on his laptop than a $250 PC, including League of Legends.

[FeiROG]

First of all thank you all very much for taking your time to give me your opinions! I really appreciate help from the community! 

 

 

1 minute ago, Kobathor said:

It's much worse than your laptop.

Here's my suggestion- buy a monitor and keyboard/mouse, then use your laptop as the computer with a second monitor and peripheral set.

I thought about that indeed! however I really want a desktop and laptop so i could separate my work, as well because I just prefer using desktops for a long period of time! 

1 minute ago, CUDA_Cores said:

I have just one question:

1. Where do you live

 

Other things to add:

 

I highly, HIGHLY recommend going with a mix of new/used PC parts to get the best price/performance. Any budget under $500 can be stretched significantly more so you can get the best PC possible by going used.

 

I currently live in Toronto, but I am moving to Kelowna, its a small town so I really dont know how the used PC parts market is like  . To add, the power supply I have right now is different from that one, the oem is seasonic i think but its a random brand. I just put that on there to used the 500W rating as a reference. 

[FeiROG]

3 minutes ago, CUDA_Cores said:

OP can still build a better computer than his laptop, he'll just have to buy some of his parts used.

Is there anything you have in mind? any potential options? Reliability is important to me since i need it to tank 4 years xP

[Kobathor]

Just now, FeiROG said:

I thought about that indeed! however I really want a desktop and laptop so i could separate my work, as well because I just prefer using desktops for a long period of time!

The way I suggested it, you'll pretty much be using a desktop, excluding the tower. Two monitors, a mechanical keyboard, and a mouse. Also, as for separating your work- why? It's more convenient to have it all in one place. If you must have your files separate, you can have an external HDD or SSD to keep some things on, and use your laptop's drive for other stuff.

 

With a budget of $250, you'll be building a PC worse than your laptop- and for what reason? Up your budget and you could build a "gaming" PC, and that makes sense to me.

[Aereldor]

That laptop is a lot more powerful than any desktop you can put together for that price. Furthermore, if $250 is all you have, you won't have much left to spend on peripherals after you buy your PC parts.

 

Instead, I'd recommend investing in a solid display and peripherals, and using your laptop with them.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Monitor: Dell SE2416H 23.8" 60Hz Monitor  ($125.20 @ Amazon Canada) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($61.63 @ Amazon Canada) 
Mouse: Corsair Sabre RGB Wired Optical Mouse  ($54.99 @ NCIX) 
Other: HDMI Cable ($10.00)
Total: $251.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 19:18 EDT-0400

[Misanthrope]

You already got an FM2 board switch the CPU for a used A10 7850k at least.

[FeiROG]

3 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

You already got an FM2 board switch the CPU for a used A10 7850k at least.

I just dont want the thing to bust on me midway! therefore I went with brand new parts, however the A10 would perform worlds better! any idea how long used parts might last? I know it really varies but I need it to perform 4 years min  

5 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

That laptop is a lot more powerful than any desktop you can put together for that price. Furthermore, if $250 is all you have, you won't have much left to spend on peripherals after you buy your PC parts.

 

Instead, I'd recommend investing in a solid display and peripherals, and using your laptop with them.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Monitor: Dell SE2416H 23.8" 60Hz Monitor  ($125.20 @ Amazon Canada) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($61.63 @ Amazon Canada) 
Mouse: Corsair Sabre RGB Wired Optical Mouse  ($54.99 @ NCIX) 
Other: HDMI Cable ($10.00)
Total: $251.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 19:18 EDT-0400

Peripherals wise I currently have a Ben-Q BL2400, A razer blackwidow, A razer imperator. those are the ones im using on my main desktop right now, I could bring those with me and just save up maybe $250 more for a pc????

5 minutes ago, Kobathor said:

The way I suggested it, you'll pretty much be using a desktop, excluding the tower. Two monitors, a mechanical keyboard, and a mouse. Also, as for separating your work- why? It's more convenient to have it all in one place. If you must have your files separate, you can have an external HDD or SSD to keep some things on, and use your laptop's drive for other stuff.

 

With a budget of $250, you'll be building a PC worse than your laptop- and for what reason? Up your budget and you could build a "gaming" PC, and that makes sense to me.

You do have a point! I just dont wanna hassle with having to plug stuff in and out, as well has shifting stuff around  I am one lazy sloth. Perhaps I should save up $250 more and get a better performing PC with a 960 or something!? 

[Kobathor]

11 minutes ago, FeiROG said:

You do have a point! I just dont wanna hassle with having to plug stuff in and out, as well has shifting stuff around  I am one lazy sloth. Perhaps I should save up $250 more and get a better performing PC with a 960 or something!? 

That sounds like a better idea. My only problem is spending so little- the PC will be sluggish at $250, and that's not good for anything. Either way, I can't make you spend any kind of money, just give suggestions. If you want a desktop, and the most demanding thing you'll be doing on it is LoL, then you don't need to spend much more than $250.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($47.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: XFX XT 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($53.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $252.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 19:45 EDT-0400

 

That's $250 for only a CPU, motherboard, PSU, and RAM. You can pick any case. That i3 can run lots of games just fine when you add a graphics card. I would look second-hand for a graphics card, unless you want something new that can really play games well. Just the i3 will run most programs just fine, but games by itself will be a struggle. No need for a better cooler than the stock one.

[Aereldor]

21 minutes ago, FeiROG said:

Peripherals wise I currently have a Ben-Q BL2400, A razer blackwidow, A razer imperator. those are the ones im using on my main desktop right now, I could bring those with me and just save up maybe $250 more for a pc????

I don't what sort of lewd deals are on your local Craigslist, but used or new, I just can't see a $300 CAD PC outperforming that laptop. 

 

Out of curiosity, why not just lug your main desktop with you, or build it into a smaller case? (swap out the motherboard for mini-ITX, etc.).

[FeiROG]

1 hour ago, Aereldor said:

I don't what sort of lewd deals are on your local Craigslist, but used or new, I just can't see a $300 CAD PC outperforming that laptop. 

 

Out of curiosity, why not just lug your main desktop with you, or build it into a smaller case? (swap out the motherboard for mini-ITX, etc.).

Good thought but it might get damaged during shipping, i just don't want to potentially risk it. I also wouldn't have room to bring it

 

1 hour ago, CUDA_Cores said:

OK here we go, $250 pretty killer desktop:

 

Step 1: Buy THIS Dell percision T3500 on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/381707706657

 

This will give us our:

• Motherboard
• Case
• 3GB of RAM
• an extra PSU we won't use
• an extra CPU we won't use
• Windows 7

step 2, pick up a Xeon W3550 CPU for our machine:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201614332508

 

It's a quad-core CPU clocked in at 3.06GHz, it should do fine. 

 

step 3: Pick up a 128GB SSD for our boot drive:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/152106029790

 

This is a good SSD and we can shave off some money by buying used. Dont worry about buying an SSD used, SSDs are less prone to wear and tear than HDDs.

 

step 4: Pick up 4GB of DDR3:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131893118544

 

an extra 4GB of RAM for our system to bring us up to a total of 7GB. An odd value of RAM but still better than 4GB.

 

step 5: Get a radeon HD 7950:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/112072189476

 

Even today this is a very fast GPU and it will beat then pants off your Geforce 960m in your laptop.

 

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-HD-7950-vs-Nvidia-GTX-960M/2160vsm27242

 

When you get everything in the mail, do everything in this order:

1. Update the dell machines bios (to add support for our new CPU)

2. replace the dell PSU in the computer with the seasonic one

3. Install the 4GB of ram for a total of 7GB.

4. Install your 128GB SSD

5. Install the HD 7950

6. replace the CPU in the dell machine with the Xeon W3550 mentioned above

7. Install windows

8. Install your current HDD you have and use it as a storage drive

 

This is the best I could do, and this thing will be much faster than your current laptop at only $250. I recommend trying to build this instead.

 

 

 

 

Thats a really cool used parts PC build! nothing new for $250 will come close to that! but sadly i live in Canada