Extremly Low Budget<350 Everyday/Gaming Computer Capable of Skyrim

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to look at this thread as of recently a mother of a good friend of mine had her semi personal laptop quit on her. It was a basic asus:

(I can't recall model #)
15.6 ~ 1336 x 720(don't quote me)
sandy bridge i3(unable to find model)
4 gb of ram (believe 1066 or 1333)
500gb hdd 5400rpm
intel hd 3000 gpu
hm65 chipset

The laptop is out of warranty and my friend would have to pay Asus to ship it to them then pay to fix it. Also it has not been appraised at local shops to be fixed.

I personally do not think it is worth fixing the laptop as i believe it has something to do with the motherboard, it will not even attempt to turn on, however if any of you recommend looking into fixing it please let me know.

Their is a need of a replacement before the end of the summer as their household has 3 kids going into high school where I went, thus I know some of them will have to type reports on the same night, and my friend is taking his laptop to college with him at the end of summer leaving only his brother's laptop in the family for everyone to use. Previously the laptop in need of replacement was constantly moved around the house around 6-7 times a day, placed on carpet and laps, and ran for 8 plus hours a day with the whole family. This continued for about a year until it ceased working. I believe a desktop set in one place will have a longer lifespan due to it being in one place rather than moved around like a laptop would be. I also believe that it would be easier and cheaper to fix and repair than a laptop if anything went wrong in the forseable future( it needs to have a five year life of at least doing word processing and internet surfing with mild gaming(league of legends, oblivion, and possibly skyrim lower settings not above 720p) on about a 10 hour per day work load.) They may look into a laptop of about the 300 dollar range, but I believe it might end up in the same predicament as the previous one. I will no get to the point, I was wondering if it would be better to build one of the following below 350 USD (after rebate) or purchase a laptop like this




Approximate Purchase Date: Any Ti

Budget Range: Below 300-340 After Rebates and Shipping Below 410 Before.(not including monitor and taxes) However as they say in limbo "How low can I go?" 350 is absolute maximum.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Word processing, Light gaming leagugue of legends and skyrim medium-higher at least 30 fps or more(can be triaged a bit if needed) at 720p, Internet browsing, Being Durable, and having reliability.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes possibly, 720p and around 20 inches is fine minimum specs and no more than 80-90 and "How low can I go?"



Parts to Upgrade: Everything except possibly hdd and os if the first is still good on the laptop and the second is able to be used again on new build.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes / No
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (e.g.: newegg.com, ncix.com -- to show us selection & pricing)

Location: City, State/Region, Country - we need to know where these parts are being assembled and whether there are good store-only deals available

Parts Preferences: None so long as they meet criteria

Overclocking: Preferably not to maximize longevity, unless helps meet budget.

SLI or Crossfire: Doubt is possible for price range so no.

Your Monitor Resolution: None so 1024 x 768 - 1920 x1080

Additional Comments: Reliable, cheap, performance, durable, and cheap again.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Need a replacement for family
laptop, see above.

Two builds I thought of:

Build 1

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cBpG
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cBpG/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cBpG/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI H61M-E33/W8 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($52.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Avexir Budget Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($32.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $295.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-02 18:09 EDT-0400)

Build 2

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cBxe
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cBxe/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cBxe/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($98.24 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A55M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: PNY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($57.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($33.78 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $285.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-02 18:11 EDT-0400)


Thank you for reading the behemoth I wrote, any comments at all would be extremely appreciated along with error corrections or clarification about this post.