Ultimate Savings Challenge

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SlothPony

Honorable
Jun 17, 2013
17
0
10,510
In order to save money on a month-to-month basis, I have taken it upon myself to replace our cable television (which really only my parents use downstairs) with a computer that they will be able to use to run Netflix and other various streaming sites.

Here is where the challenge comes in to play:

I am looking for the cheapest possible build that will allow my parents to stream Netflix in HD quality (although most of the time it probably won't be) at 30 frames per second. This means I need every single component top to bottom. If you could put together the system in a cart on a website like Amazon or Newegg, that would be great.

I'm not really up to date on the hardware scene which is why I am turning to you guys. Please help me out!

- Tyler
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious
May 11, 2012
12,914
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Streaming in HD will be more of a tax on your internet connection than the actual machine.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A4-3300 2.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus F1A55-M LE R2.0 Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($46.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $360.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-17 02:25 EDT-0400)

There, cheapest rig possible that still does what it needs too, work, have a decent capacity HDD for downloaded movies and look nice in a living room environment.
 
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SlothPony

Honorable
Jun 17, 2013
17
0
10,510
I already own Windows 7 - I should have mentioned that.

In terms of storage, I won't be downloading movies at all. I would prefer a small SSD (32GB would be plenty) to a HDD. What is the best SSD around this size for the cheapest price?

Also, would this system be loud and give off too much heat? This will be in the corner of the living room so I don't really want it to attract attention. I think the minimalist case is a good start.
 
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mastrom101

mastrom101

Distinguished
Jun 12, 2010
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19,660
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A4-4000 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($44.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A55M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($25.00 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Sandisk 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $214.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-17 17:10 EDT-0400)

or even this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Celeron G1610 2.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($34.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ECS H61H2-I3 (v1.0) Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $224.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-17 17:22 EDT-0400)
 
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assasin32

assasin32

Distinguished
Apr 23, 2008
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19,515
@Mastron101 I wouldn't use the ECS mobo those things are pretty bad in terms of quality. And depending on how fast the SSD is it may be severely bottlenecked by the sata 2.0 in the mobo's you selected.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A4-5300 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1 x 2GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($18.89 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1 x 2GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($18.89 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $190.74
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-17 18:19 EDT-0400)

This is how I would build it, spent a few extra bucks towards ram to make it dual channel and upgrade to the better APU. Both only cost a few dollars more than the alternative and I feel that upgrade is well worth the money even though it might not be fully utilized. Beyond that I didn't bother putting in a SSD as those aren't my area of expertise so I let someone else recommend one or you can do the research in that department.
 
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mastrom101

mastrom101

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Jun 12, 2010
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I like the first of my build's better, the other is just an ITX build if needed.
I would still go with 1 stick of RAM for future upgrades.
As for the SSD, it will be bottleknecked, but not to the point where it is not a good choice for about $50
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious
May 11, 2012
12,914
3
48,960
An SSD's sequential performance will be limited by SATAII (still better than a HDD), but the reason for their speediness mainly comes from their fast Access Times and Random I/O. Given that it seems the OP only needs 64GB of capacity, then I don't think a limited Sequential performance is really going to be an issue.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A4-3300 2.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus F1A55-M LE R2.0 Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($46.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $276.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-18 02:43 EDT-0400)

Also theres about $70 extra in buying purely through Newegg, if you go through multiple sources its much closer to $200.

 
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