Budget PC build for a high schooler

What should I pick up? Basically, I just need a CPU, a motherboard, and some RAM—I’ve already got everything else.

Ideally, I want to keep the whole thing around $1,200—$500 and get the absolute best bang for my buck.

The PC is for my brother, who's in high school. It would be great if the motherboard had some decent integrated graphics—nothing crazy, just enough to watch YouTube videos without the whole thing stuttering. I don't care about gaming performance right now; he can save up his own allowance to buy a dedicated card later if he actually wants to play anything.

stormycanyon4 said:What should I pick up? Basically, I just need a CPU, a motherboard, and some RAM—I’ve already got everything else.

Ideally, I want to keep the whole thing around $1,200—$500 and get the absolute best bang for my buck.

The PC is for my brother, who's in high school. It would be great if the motherboard had some decent integrated graphics—nothing crazy, just enough to watch YouTube videos without the whole thing stuttering. I don't care about gaming performance right now; he can save up his own allowance to buy a dedicated card later if he actually wants to play anything.

It might be helpful if you could mention what kind of case you're looking at, or even what power supply you currently have sitting around...

Now, this setup here would be perfectly fine and offers some decent room for upgrades down the road—though, honestly, he probably won't be thrilled with the integrated graphics if he ends up playing a lot of games...

AMD A8 x4 5600 k Processor
ASRock FM2A55M-HD Motherboard
Adata DDR3 4GB 1600MHz, AD3U1600C2G11-R Memory

$437 Newegg

I'm on board with this suggestion. With an integrated GPU, you might actually be able to play a few games, though I guess my only tip would be to grab 2GB x 2 RAM sticks, since dual channel probably makes better use of the graphics.

fadedorca66 said:I'm on board with this suggestion. With an integrated GPU, you might actually be able to play a few games, though I guess my only tip would be to grab 2GB x 2 RAM sticks, since dual channel probably makes better use of the graphics.

If you're planning to go down that route, you really ought to grab a motherboard with four RAM slots.
Check out this deep dive into the ASRock FM2A88M EXTREME4 + 2 x motherboard. It’s a solid look at the specs and what you can expect from this hardware setup.

+ $33

Here is my suggestion including a graphics card.

Adata DDR3 4GB 1600MHz RAM (AD3U1600C2G11-R)
The MSI H61M-P20_ (G3) motherboard features a Socket 1155 design and supports DDR3 memory. It comes equipped with SATA II connectivity, PS/2 ports, USB 2.0, VGA, DVI, LAN, and includes both audio Line-In and standard Audio outputs.
Intel Celeron G1610 processor.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX650 1GB GDDR5 128-bit, POV-VGA-650-A2-1024

Total: $1,512.05 (plus potential shipping costs) $13)

If you need to download it. I’ve been looking into this specific cooler setup, and I wanted to share some thoughts on it. It’s a solid option if you're trying to keep things running smoothly without breaking the bank. Think of it like upgrading from a standard sedan to something with a much more efficient cooling system—it makes a world of difference in how the whole machine breathes. If you're building around an AMD Trinity A8-Series x4 5600 or even working with an AMD A8 x4 5600 k, having reliable thermal management is non-negotiable. You don't want your components throttling right when you need them most. This kit provides exactly that kind of stability. It's straightforward, effective, and fits right into a standard build. For anyone putting together a budget-friendly rig using an ASRock FM2A55M-HD or similar board, this is a smart, dependable move.

Total cost: $1,425.96

So, basically, it's a decent enough dual-core for just messing around. $82Honestly, if you're looking at that quad-core setup paired with a decent graphics card down the road, it’s definitely going to be the smarter long-term investment.

stormycanyon4 said:What should I pick up? Basically, I just need a CPU, a motherboard, and some RAM—I’ve already got everything else.

Ideally, I want to keep the whole thing around $1,200—$500 and get the absolute best bang for my buck.

The PC is for my brother, who's in high school. It would be great if the motherboard had some decent integrated graphics—nothing crazy, just enough to watch YouTube videos without the whole thing stuttering. I don't care about gaming performance right now; he can save up his own allowance to buy a dedicated card later if he actually wants to play anything.

1 x ASRock FM2A75M-HD, Supports Socket FM2+ 95W / FM2 100W processo
1 x DDR3 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair, 1600MHz, 9-9-9-24, Vengeance
1 x AMD Trinity A8-Series x4 5600 3.60GHz 4cores, FM2

$500

So, if you're already planning on going with two sticks of RAM, I’d really suggest picking up a motherboard with four slots instead—that way you have the breathing room to jump up to 8GB later on. If you stick with this one, you're pretty much stuck at just 4GB...

AMD Trinity A8-Series x4 5600
ASRock FM2A88M EXTREME4 + 2 x
2X Transcend DDR3 8 (4GB)

$487 Best Buy

They have a setup here for $50 that offers a much better motherboard and gives you the actual option to upgrade to 8GB of RAM down the road.

I've never been a huge fan of those FM2 processor builds.

If you really want to do your brother a favor without dropping a fortune on a gaming rig, here is what I suggest:

ASRock H81M-HDS motherboard
$124
Intel Pentium G3220 processor
$138
2x 4GB Adata DDR3 1600MHz, AD3U1600C2G11-R memory
$182
TOTAL: $444 @Best Buy

That way, if he decides he wants to play games later, he can just save up for a dedicated graphics card himself.

hey,

not sure where to even ask this.
i was looking at getting a desktop on Amazon and found this Lenovo setup. anyone know if it's actually any good? i'm definitely not a tech person or anything... just need something basic for home stuff.
thanks

Does it have to be from eKupi? A Lenovo is fine, but you can definitely find a much better configuration at a local computer shop that specializes in custom builds.
For instance, depending on what your budget looks like, you could pick one of these options from a site like or

Alternatively, you could just have a crew here put together a custom rig that gives you the absolute best bang for your buck based on your specific spending limit.

Look, I'm no tech expert or anything, but if I were doing this, I'd probably just order everything online. Usually, spending up to $1.25 is fine by me, but honestly, right now I've got zero clue where to even start shopping... all I really care about is speed. My PC basically just exists to binge series and movies...

Is this any good??

Honestly, you might want to just hang tight for an hour or two until the guys get a chance to see your request—they'll probably put together a much better list of components for that $1167 anyway.

@vividangler77
Don't you think you can skip the monitor and other peripherals? If you already have an older monitor, it’s much smarter to put that money toward a high-quality screen instead. You can easily build a solid PC for browsing and movies for just $667. The same goes for peripherals; honestly, having a great keyboard, mouse, and speakers is worth way more to me than the performance gap between an i3 and an i5 processor.

MS PLUTOS case without power supply
Chicony Active 400 w ATX PSU, CHI-HPA-400W
MSI H81M-P33 iH81 motherboard (S1150, DDR3, SATA II, SATA III, PS/2, USB2.0, USB3.0, LAN, audio Line-In, Audio)
LG DVDRW 24 x GH24NS95 SATA black bulk
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 3 WD10EZEX hard drive
Intel Pentium G3220 processor
Transcend DDR3 8GB 1333MHz JM1333KLH-8G memory

Total: $2,103.26 plus$27 shipping via Amazon

I guess you could always swap out the CPU or graphics card later on if you wanted to upgrade.

vividangler77 said:Look, I'm no tech expert or anything, but if I were doing this, I'd probably just order everything online. Usually, spending up to $1.25 is fine by me, but honestly, right now I've got zero clue where to even start shopping... all I really care about is speed. My PC basically just exists to binge series and movies...

1. Avoid those pre-built desktop bundles. They are almost always a mess of mismatched parts, and you end up paying a massive premium compared to picking out the components yourself.

2. Honestly, you don't need a $3,500 machine for basic home use like watching movies, doing office work, or browsing the web. You can build something perfectly tailored to your needs. For example:

G1820
ASRock H81M-HDS
DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Kingston, 1600MHz
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
LG DVDRW 24 x GH24NS95
Chicony HPA-400W
Zalman ZM-T4
Samsung 120 GB 840 evo Basic

$875Free assembly and shipping if needed.

Basically, you just toss each part into your digital shopping cart and check out through the website (though you can usually handle it via email, phone, or by visiting a local storefront). Regarding delivery speed, a buddy of mine had his gear arrive in just two days—unless you happen to get caught in a weekend delay...

The setup above is perfect for you. If you want to play some heavy-duty games, let me know (simple web games won't be an issue at all). In day-to-day tasks, you'll barely notice a difference between an Intel Celeron G1610 and an i5 costing $100, but I included an SSD (solid-state drive) because you will definitely feel that speed boost—faster boot times, apps opening instantly, etc. You should install Windows and your main programs on the SSD, then dump all those huge movie and music files onto the secondary hard drive (the 1TB one) so you don't clog up the 120GB SSD unnecessarily.

Transcend SSD TS 128GB
Toshiba HDD 1 TB 3.5"
Zalman ZM-T1 PLUS case
LG DVDRW 24 x GH24NS95
Chicony HPA-350W
KINGSTON DDR3 4GB,1600MHz
MSI Main board desktop iH81 S1150
Intel Pentium G3220

$804Best Buy
Free assembly and shipping included for about $70...$27..

Without peripherals
AMD Trinity A8-Series x4 5600
ASRock FM2A75M-HD
Transcend DDR3 8
Seagate HDD desktop SSHD 3.5
http://www.amazon.com Chicony Active 350 w ATX
Zalman mid tower case black, ZAL-ZM-Z1
LG DVDRW 24 x GH24NS95
$926

With peripherals

Genius speakers SP-HF500A, 14W, wood
Genius DX-7000 LED, BueEye, USB
MS FUSION illuminated wired keyboard
LG 21.5" LED, VGA, FHD, 5ms
$1330

I suggested the 2TB SSHD because I know how quickly storage fills up once you start downloading series, movies, and music.
As for the peripherals and the case, I picked them as if I were buying for myself; I didn't just go for the cheapest options, but rather chose based on my own taste. However, you'll likely find the best fit for your needs by choosing them yourself if you prefer.

If you already have a monitor, there’s no need for another one—unless you're planning to use an LCD TV instead.

So, I've already got a monitor... it's technically "new," if you count one year old as new. It's an LG 21.5
What I actually need is the rest: the tower, a mouse, and a keyboard.
Honestly, until now, I didn't even realize you could just buy all this stuff separately... what a joke.

thanks for laying all that out for me... now I actually have to go study how these computers work

David Sanders4 said:Without peripherals
AMD Trinity A8-Series x4 5600
ASRock FM2A75M-HD
Transcend DDR3 8
Seagate HDD desktop SSHD 3.5
http://www.amazon.com Chicony Active 350 w ATX
Zalman mid tower case black, ZAL-ZM-Z1
LG DVDRW 24 x GH24NS95
$926

With peripherals

Genius speakers SP-HF500A, 14W, wood
Genius DX-7000 LED, BueEye, USB
MS FUSION illuminated wired keyboard
LG 21.5" LED, VGA, FHD, 5ms
$1330

I suggested the 2TB SSHD because I know how quickly storage fills up once you start downloading series, movies, and music.
As for the peripherals and the case, I picked them as if I were buying for myself; I didn't just go for the cheapest options, but rather chose based on my own taste. However, you'll likely find the best fit for your needs by choosing them yourself if you prefer.

If you already have a monitor, there’s no need for another one—unless you're planning to use an LCD TV instead.

If you were going with that build, I'd maybe swap that Asrock board for this one instead: http://www.newegg.com/details/product-link