Budget PC build under $500

I put this build together for about $1067.
I'm planning to toss in a 500GB laptop drive, plus I have a 500GB external one, so I'll probably just grab this smaller SSD.
Let me know what you think or if you have any advice...

http://postimg.org/image/z4o2kbm67/

Sandra Foster6 said:I put this build together for about $1067.
I'm planning to toss in a 500GB laptop drive, plus I have a 500GB external one, so I'll probably just grab this smaller SSD.
Let me know what you think or if you have any advice...

http://postimg.org/image/z4o2kbm67/

swap out these parts
NVIDIA Kepler Rev.2, cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm
AMD Athlon II x4 860 processor 3.70GHz 4cores, cache: 4MB
Asrock FM2A78M-DG3+, AMD FM2+ Socket A78 Chipset MB
CORSAIR 430W Power Supply, 80 Plus Gold
Sapphire R7 265 is way better than the 128-bit 260x

I’d say the Intel Pentium G3258 is probably the better choice here since you can actually overclock it, plus using an LGA 1150 motherboard gives you much more breathing room for future upgrades later on.

1 x Intel Pentium G3258 (3.20GHz, 512KB, 3MB, 54 W, 1150) Box
1 x Asrock H81M-HDS, s1150, Intel H81, M-ATX, Dual Channel DDR
1 x Sapphire R7 260x 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Kingston, 1600MHz, CL11, Value
1 x Intel SSD 120GB 520, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s
1 x CORSAIR 430W Power Supply, 80 Plus Gold, EPS12V v2.3, 80+
1 x Zalman ZM-T1 PLUS micro tower case. 189(W) x 427.5(H) x 364(D)mm
1 x LG GH24NS DVD burner, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R

$1073
adm.hr

Ditch the burner—you don't really need it

1 x Intel SSD 120GB, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s
1 x AMD Athlon II x4 860 3.70GHz 4cores,cache : 4MB
1 x GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-DS2, mATX, AMD A88X, DDR3, audio, G-LAN, SATA
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Sapphire R7 260x 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
1 x Fortron 500W, Hyper-Threading, PPA5005003, 12cm fan
1 x NVIDIA Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm
1 x MS GRIFFIN case without PSU, Midi tower MBO: ATX

$1089 adm

The SSD and power supply come with a 5-year warranty

You could go slightly cheaper on the PSU, motherboard, and SSD (for example, grab a Patriot Blaze 120GB at a local Best Buy)
In my opinion, a 64GB SSD isn't worth the investment

Just toss in another 4GB of RAM later on and you're good to go

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Ditch the burner—you don't really need it

1 x Intel SSD 120GB, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s
1 x AMD Athlon II x4 860 3.70GHz 4cores,cache : 4MB
1 x GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-DS2, mATX, AMD A88X, DDR3, audio, G-LAN, SATA
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Sapphire R7 260x 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
1 x Fortron 500W, Hyper-Threading, PPA5005003, 12cm fan
1 x NVIDIA Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm
1 x MS GRIFFIN case without PSU, Midi tower MBO: ATX

$1089 adm

The SSD and power supply come with a 5-year warranty

You could go slightly cheaper on the PSU, motherboard, and SSD (for example, grab a Patriot Blaze 120GB at a local Best Buy)
In my opinion, a 64GB SSD isn't worth the investment

Just toss in another 4GB of RAM later on and you're good to go

Sign me up for this.🙂

Just wondering why you'd pick the Sapphire R7 260x over the 2GB version... and what's the deal with those motherboard suggestions versus the one I had in mind? I'm fine with the CPU and everything else, just need to clear this up before I pull the trigger.
Thanks 🙂

Sandra Foster6 said:Just wondering why you'd pick the Sapphire R7 260x over the 2GB version... and what's the deal with those motherboard suggestions versus the one I had in mind? I'm fine with the CPU and everything else, just need to clear this up before I pull the trigger.
Thanks 🙂

You can always go with the 2GB model, but honestly, you won't see much difference at 1080p, and the 1GB version is cheaper. It's the same deal with the motherboard; picking something slightly lower-end saves enough cash to fit something else in the build that actually matters. Like getting an Intel SSD instead of a tiny 64 GB drive. 🙂

Sandra Foster6 said:Just wondering why you'd pick the Sapphire R7 260x over the 2GB version... and what's the deal with those motherboard suggestions versus the one I had in mind? I'm fine with the CPU and everything else, just need to clear this up before I pull the trigger.
Thanks 🙂

Look, you're basically tweaking the build just to squeeze in an Intel SSD, and honestly, you aren't losing anything significant in the process. In fact, you're actually walking away with a better CPU compared to the 740.

Asrock FM2+ FM2A75 PRO4+ - AMD A75 Hudson, ATX, Dual Channel DDR
AMD Athlon II x4 860 3.70GHz 4 cores, 4MB cache
Sapphire R7 260x 2GB GDDR5, 2GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
Intel SSD 120GB 520, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s
MS GRIFFIN case without PSU, Midi tower MBO: ATX
Fortron 500W, Hyper-Threading, PPA5005003, 12cm fan

What do you think about these minor tweaks? I’d probably grab a slightly better motherboard (if it actually is better) and this 2GB card instead... and expand to $1138 🙂

I'd probably just grab a separate cooler if I were you. Those Athlons tend to run pretty hot, and those Box coolers are honestly just loud and inefficient

fadedorca66 said:I'd probably just grab a separate cooler if I were you. Those Athlons tend to run pretty hot, and those Box coolers are honestly just loud and inefficient

Yeah, I'll add that in too...🙂

So you’ve eventually hit that $1167 mark, which I suppose is the threshold where it actually makes sense to drop in a much beefier AMD FX-6300. Doing that would pretty much clear the way for you to install significantly more powerful graphics cards down the road. If you decide to go with the Fortron 400W instead, the cost ends up being $33 lower by about
.
1 x AMD FX-Series X6 6300 Processor 3.5GHz, 14MB, 95W, AM3+, FD6300WMHK
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866
1 x Sapphire R7 260x 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Kingston, 1600MHz, CL11, Value
1 x Intel SSD 120GB 520, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s
1 x Fortron 500W Power Supply, Hyper-Threading, PPA5005003, 12cm fan
1 x NVIDIA Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm
1 x MS PHOENIX case without power supply, Midi tower MBO: ATX, mATX

$1210

1 x AMD Athlon II x4 860 3.70GHz 4 cores, cache: 4MB
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Intel SSD 120GB, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s
1 x Asrock FM2+ Micro ATX
1 x NVIDIA Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm
1 x MSI R7 260 OC 1GB GDDR5, 1GB DDR5, DVI-I, DVI, DP, HDMI, R7 260 1GD5
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. ATX standard
1 x Fortron 500W power supply, Hyper-Threading, PPA5005003, 12cm fan

$1083

😛

The difference between the 260 and 260x models is mostly $50 when it comes to price, but honestly, the 260x just has slightly overclocked memory—maybe a 3-5% difference at most. I guess I'd rather have a better case and motherboard instead.

It’s not just about that, though. The 260x actually has 128 more stream processors and 56 versus 48 texture units, so I guess a 15-20% difference is probably a more realistic way to look at it.

Look, if you don't mind stretching your budget a bit further, you could go with an AMD FX-6300 build instead, or just opt for a more powerful graphics card—which is where you'll see the biggest impact in gaming, assuming that's your main priority.

1 x AMD Athlon II x4 860 3.70GHz 4cores, cache: 4MB
1 x GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-DS2, mATX, AMD A88X, DDR3, audio, G-LAN, SATA
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Intel SSD 120GB, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s
1 x Sapphire R7 265, 2GB GDDR5 256bit, 28nm
1 x MS GRIFFIN case without PSU, Midi tower MBO: ATX
1 x NVIDIA Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm
1 x Fortron 400W power supply, HEXA 400, 12cm fan, Active PFC

$1158

If you want maximum gaming performance right out of the gate, stick with the list above and see how far it takes you (you might want to add another 4GB of RAM later). However, if you're planning on upgrading to much beefier graphics cards down the road, then go with the FX-6300 configuration.

The ASRock H81M-DGS R2... reliable through and through.
The Intel Pentium G3258 patriot sig... quite a little powerhouse.
Patriot Sig. DDR3 1600Mhz, 4GB...
The Intel 520 Series SSD 2.5" 120GB... quite a reliable little drive. It really gets the job done...
The Zalman micro tower case in black... the ZAL-ZM-T1 plus Fortron.
The Hexa plus 400 w power supply from Fortron... it's got that 80+ rating too.
The Sapphire Radeon R7 265, 2GB graphics card...

$3,261.25 on Center.com...

Here is the build featuring the procesor AMD X6 FX-6300 patriot Sig. It’s easily the smartest move here because this CPU can actually handle much beefier graphics cards, so you won't have to worry about bottlenecking when you decide to upgrade later...

The Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P motherboard... solid choice.
The SSD TS 128GB SSD370 Series... truly impressive performance.
The CORSAIR Builder Series CX430W 80... It's a reliable choice for basic builds. Solid performance when you need it...
The MS PHOENIX case...
Sapphire Radeon R7 260 x OC version, clocking in at 1050MHz...
The Spire Kepler Rev.2 cooler...
The AMD X6 FX-6300 processor... truly a solid choice.
Patriot Sig. DDR3 1600Mhz, 4GB...

$1163 Centro.hr