Making a guide for cheap but powerful enough desktop PC

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djlu09

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#99848 28-Mar-2012 16:55

Hello world,

I have a Sony Vaio which is 2 years old or more and am looking for an upgrade but instead of upgrading to a better laptop i figured i might as well buy a desktop. I've done some (not a lot) research and made this chart with components of a desktop worth $1150 and was wondering if there is anything that can be changed to make it cheaper. obviously i'm willing to compromise price for power but there should be a limit. anyway here is the chart.

All Components
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 Box
300
Gigabyte GA-Z68XUD3H-B3
260
Kingston ValueRAM DDR3 PC10600/1333MHz CL9 4GB (KVR1333D3N9/4G) X2
60
Antec Three Hundred (Black)
80
Aywun A1-650E 650W
70
Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 64MB 2TB
180
MSI GeForce N560GTX Twin Frozr II 1GB
200

which totals to 1150 :(

P.S. if all goes well i'm planning to make a guide based on replies.

P.P.S. sorry for the format I tried to make it look good but failed so just made it basic

CYaBro

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#601419 28-Mar-2012 17:19

Most of that looks pretty good however the 650W PSU will be a cheap nasty one for that price.
Better to look at a decent brand like Enermax or Cosair.
Also you probably don't want to use a Green HDD as your primary OS drive as they run slower than normal HDDs - usually around 5900RPM I think but that does vary depending on what the drive is doing.
You want one that runs at least 7200RPM.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Phexx

420 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 6

#601420 28-Mar-2012 17:20

Looks pretty good to me, probably not much more to make it cheaper.

Where are you purchasing from? The guys at Computer Lounge might be able to get a deal together for you.

Are you counting a monitor, keyboard + mouse, OS and/or labour (if you aren't building it yourself).

Other than those things it looks ok to me.

P.S. what are you wanting to do with the system, if not gaming then you could probably go with a lower end GPU.

Poll

346 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 59

#601425 28-Mar-2012 17:26

Hi djlu09

What are you going to use this machine for as "powerful enough" is completely relative.
You have picked an enthusiast Cpu where you could go for a cheaper one, If you want to stay quad core then drop down to an i5 2320 (3.0ghz quad) which are $250 or go for an i3 2100 (3.1ghz dual core) for around $160 if you don't.
I'm running an i5 2400 (3.1 Ghz Quad) which is plenty for everything I've thrown at it so far (Battlefield 3 being most intensive.)

It may be worth taking into consideration that Ivy Bridge cpu's will be released at some stage in the next month or so and this could lower the price of current cpu's.

Cheapest z68 Motherboard on pricespy from a quick look is $128, that's half the price of your current pick and without going into specifics should have most of the options of the motherboard you have listed, you could drop down even further to an h61 motherboard for around $80 but that will cut features down from a z68 board.

You could save money on a smaller Hard Drive now and save for a larger one later on down the track too.

I usually read up on the Techreport.com system guides as a starting point and then adjust to local pricing from there as far as a guide to building a pc.

djlu09

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#601427 28-Mar-2012 17:29

Already own a decent keyboard and mouse as for the monitor im planning to hook it to my tv via hdmi

djlu09

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#601433 28-Mar-2012 17:37

these are the type of question that i was looking forward to answering :) anyway GAMING is the purpose when i first got my laptop i was able to play HoN in medium settings fine but now even when its low it still spikes up a bit every now and then so i would like to see games in medium to high settings again. would also like to use it for 3d design (a field that I always wanted to learn). I can't compromise on the i5 but am looking at other mobo options at the moment. btw the hard drive and graphics card aren't really that important those can be bought after a while since i have a spare sata drive and since the mobo that im looking for will have built in graphics.

djlu09

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#601438 28-Mar-2012 17:40

and for the labor/OS which ever would be the cheapest. i can do it myself but it might be cheaper to get some sort of package

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D1023319

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#601735 29-Mar-2012 10:04

FYI

This is one of my favourite reference website     http://www.custompcguide.com/mid-range.html

It has System Recommendations

          > Ultra Budget PC
          > Budget PC
          > Mid-Range PC
          > High-End PC

          > Ultra Budget HTPC
          > Budget HTPC
          > Mid-Range HTPC
          > High-End HTPC

> Building Guides

> Benchmarks

> System Info

SpookyAwol

638 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 54

#601740 29-Mar-2012 10:12

Interesting site - but ultra budget running an SSD and a blue ray drive?

A good local link is : http://www.gpforums.co.nz/thread/302905/?s=

CYaBro

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#601741 29-Mar-2012 10:13

D1023319: FYI

This is one of my favourite reference website     http://www.custompcguide.com/mid-range.html

It has System Recommendations

          > Ultra Budget PC
          > Budget PC
          > Mid-Range PC
          > High-End PC

          > Ultra Budget HTPC
          > Budget HTPC
          > Mid-Range HTPC
          > High-End HTPC

> Building Guides

> Benchmarks

> System Info

Damn! Their ultra budget PC is a quad core AMD, 8GB RAM and a 23" monitor.
Edit: just noticed it's an SSD and blu-ray drive as well!
I would have said that an ultra budget PC is a dual core AMD or Pentium with 4GB and an 18.5" monitor.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

trig42

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#601744 29-Mar-2012 10:17

You don't have an optical drive in your setup. Or an operating system.

Ragnor

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#601945 29-Mar-2012 14:45

CYaBro: Most of that looks pretty good however the 650W PSU will be a cheap nasty one for that price.
Better to look at a decent brand like Enermax or Cosair.

+1 get a better PSU, most important component, a 520w quality brand like Corsair, Seasonic > no name 650w.

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lucky015

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#602059 29-Mar-2012 17:30

djlu09: Hello world,

I have a Sony Vaio which is 2 years old or more and am looking for an upgrade but instead of upgrading to a better laptop i figured i might as well buy a desktop. I've done some (not a lot) research and made this chart with components of a desktop worth $1150 and was wondering if there is anything that can be changed to make it cheaper. obviously i'm willing to compromise price for power but there should be a limit. anyway here is the chart.

All Components
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 Box
300
Gigabyte GA-Z68XUD3H-B3
260
Kingston ValueRAM DDR3 PC10600/1333MHz CL9 4GB (KVR1333D3N9/4G) X2
60
Antec Three Hundred (Black)
80
Aywun A1-650E 650W
70
Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 64MB 2TB
180
MSI GeForce N560GTX Twin Frozr II 1GB
200

which totals to 1150 :(

P.S. if all goes well i'm planning to make a guide based on replies.

P.P.S. sorry for the format I tried to make it look good but failed so just made it basic

Quite an Odd build there really.

The 2500K is probably a bit over the top for that sort of build.

Motherboard while looking decent is also probably over whats required as well. (Although you definitely pay a premium on motherboards for Intel CPU's vs AMD)

Ram is probably decent.

Case is a matter of choice and personal taste.

PSU is a bit cheap try for something better but I would avoid wasting money on something like a Corsair (Flatmate has a faulty Corsair after trying to sell me on the idea as he bought his)

HDD wise it is a bad idea to run a Green drive as your system drive as previously stated and I'm not a fan of Seagate, I'd recommend something like a WD Blue instead, SSD while a nice concept is an unnecessary waste in a budget build.

Graphics card is an odd choice of card as the 560 sits noticeably behind the 560ti and seems like a very cheap card to put in a build with a 2500K

D1023319

527 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#602362 30-Mar-2012 10:07

Damn! Their ultra budget PC is a quad core AMD, 8GB RAM and a 23" monitor.
Edit: just noticed it's an SSD and blu-ray drive as well!
I would have said that an ultra budget PC is a dual core AMD or Pentium with 4GB and an 18.5" monitor.

I agree with your comment but I thought this was about cheap and powerful not just adequate.

FYI - the April PC World budget PC is $782 based on AMD A4 3300 CPU with $gb Ram

jonb

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#602376 30-Mar-2012 10:32

try and put in a 64GB SSD for the OS at least?