Looking for advice for a possible new (cheap) build

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greenvwbeetle

greenvwbeetle

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Jun 17, 2013
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10,510
the title explains basically what I would like help with, but that is not enough information to get much help so here is more information of what I would like (since i probably would fail at choosing parts myself)

I would like it to be around $300 for the hardware (doesn't need to be exactly that much though It can be higher but please try to keep it under $400)

I don't care if the cpu is Intel or AMD (but I would like room to upgrade eventually)

I would like it to have integrated graphics but still have room for a decent graphics card someday

Also I will be most likely buying from newegg

those things are the main things I would like to say but basically I would like to see what I can get for that price and how much I could upgrade it in the future (I don't get much allowance so that is why I would like to get a cheap computer and then I can upgrade it as I get the money)

P.S. It will be used for some gaming (but not anything that needs a super high end computer) and maybe some video editing and rendering eventually (even though a $300 computer wouldn't be the greatest for doing those but would probably be better than what I use now)

and if you wonder if I will be not be overclocking it (I don't want to shorten its life even for better performance)

thanks for any help you can give :)




 
Solution
Chris Kennedy
yes, get some more money and and then get an amd phenom 2 x4 965, its an older processor but it still works fairly well. ive seen some builds with it run planetside 2 without lag, so thats my 2 cents.
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greenvwbeetle

greenvwbeetle

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Jun 17, 2013
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here is something I just came up with -http://pcpartpicker.com/user/greenvwbeetle/saved/1Nbx

the thing I listed comes to about $335 for hardware and then of course I would need to buy windows 7 ,but how does that build listed look?
 
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assasin32

assasin32

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Apr 23, 2008
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($98.24 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($49.98 @ Outlet PC)
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)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.23 @ Outlet PC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($43.35 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $429.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-18 02:31 EDT-0400)

Going any cheaper you have to cut back on performance. That includes the APU/RAM/HDD/etc. It's well worth the additional $30 in my opinion it makes for a more balanced system, as from what your saying it sounds like a quad core would serve you best even if it's an APU (I can't knock them too much I have a 750k on the way which is the unlocked APU with no GPU to pair up with a 650gtx I picked up for $70). My advice buy a rear fan for that case and you be good.

Oh and just know you won't get the best performance out of this build as the integrated GPU will take up some of the ram, which is why I have some fast dual channel ram in there to help speed up the GPU as slower ram will impact it negatively. So in short fast dual channel ram = good for APU, but you won't get full 4gb ram like you normally would if you had a dedicated GPU. So most people reccomend 8gb ram especially for these builds but your on a budget so lets make do with what we got.

EDITED IN:
@greenvwbeetle

Just took a quick glance at your build I would switch out the CPU/GPU/RAM/HDD at bare minium and preferably the case (personal preference from a quick glance).
 
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Chris Kennedy

Chris Kennedy

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Jun 17, 2013
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i really, would think that its a bit under powered, i highly recommend more ram, it will have a longer shelf life with it., meaning you will get more use out of it. why pay for something thats outdated.
 
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greenvwbeetle

greenvwbeetle

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Jun 17, 2013
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10,510
You are right that it wouldn't have much ram (unless compared to my brothers computer with 128 megabytes of ram) but Ram is a easy upgrade so I could always upgrade it to 8Gb or maybe even 16GB.

P.S. Part of why I am looking at building a computer is so when I have things running (such as rendering an animation) I don't have to stop it when others want to use the computer and I don't really care if it is really fast, probably all I would need is a decent CPU, GPU, and few Gigabytes of RAM but I wouldn't mind if I was a low end computer with room to upgrade in the future

And if you would like to know what I currently use here are the basic specs

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6 GHz
RAM: 3 GB
GPU: NVIDEA GeForce GT 610
HDD: 250 GB

 
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greenvwbeetle

greenvwbeetle

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Jun 17, 2013
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I wish I could sell it but I can't since it is my families (but If it was my pc I would sell it but I don't have my own pc)

I probably should save up more money and then build a computer once I could raise my budget.
 
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Chris Kennedy

Chris Kennedy

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Jun 17, 2013
269
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10,790
yes, get some more money and and then get an amd phenom 2 x4 965, its an older processor but it still works fairly well. ive seen some builds with it run planetside 2 without lag, so thats my 2 cents.
 
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