PC build for very specific purpose

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TheMightyQuinn

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Nov 13, 2013
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Approximate Purchase Date: some time this month

Budget Range: (500USD (50,000JPY). Less if possible)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: see below

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: build from scratch

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

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

Location: City, State/Region, Country - Japan. Access to a used parts department of a local electronics shop.


OK, I haven't done a build for about 10 years, so I'm very rusty. And the purpose is very specific. I'm doing an educational project which calls for screen-sharing a minecraft game over Skype (or google hangouts). The quality of the screen share doesn't have to be particularly good - just high enough resolution to be clear with not too much pixelation, and smooth enough to not give the students motion sickness.

The call (video and sound) will also be recorded with 3rd party software.

Now, I've tried this with my current Intel core duo 1.5 based setup, and of course it was pretty poor. Without recording on the other side pixelated and at about 2 fps!!

So, just wondering what kind of build would be required to do this? Are we talking a haswell-based build, or can I use a previous-generation chip? And is there something specific I need... For example, I'm guessing I'm gonna need a lot of ram due to the number of operations going on at the same time?

I do have a tight budget - I'm hoping to get all the parts I can used. Wondering what is possible / if it's possible to do this...

Any help much appreciated!!



 
Solution
ScrewySqrl
not knowing the price in Japan, you shoudl be able to get a NEW system that will do what you need fairly well

Off teh top of my head:

AMD FX 6300
970 Motherboard
8 GB DDR3-1600/1866
500 GB to 1 TB HDD
Inexpensive case with USB 3 front panel
HD 7850 or 7870, or R7 260, or GTX 650 ti
Win 7 Hom/Win 8 Home

that shoudl be good enough and in teh $500-600 range
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TheMightyQuinn

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Nov 13, 2013
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Sorry I left that bit about newegg in by accident - that was from the template on the forum sticky. I'm gonna buy all my parts in japan, mostly used. It's more the spec that I'm worried about.

 
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ScrewySqrl

ScrewySqrl

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Aug 2, 2010
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not knowing the price in Japan, you shoudl be able to get a NEW system that will do what you need fairly well

Off teh top of my head:

AMD FX 6300
970 Motherboard
8 GB DDR3-1600/1866
500 GB to 1 TB HDD
Inexpensive case with USB 3 front panel
HD 7850 or 7870, or R7 260, or GTX 650 ti
Win 7 Hom/Win 8 Home

that shoudl be good enough and in teh $500-600 range
 
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sora

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Oct 30, 2013
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This although if you have a friend who lives in the US you could attempt to get it sent to their house and go visit them sometime!
 
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TheMightyQuinn

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Nov 13, 2013
6
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10,510
 
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TheMightyQuinn

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Nov 13, 2013
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10,510


Thanks for your build outline!! That's really useful. If I can use the full budget I'll go for this or at least use it as a starting point.

The 500 budget was an absolute max though, I would in fact like to do it cheaper if it's at all possible. I'm looking at used parts but not sure if it's worth the savings. Is there any way to post images?! I've got plenty if the Japanese used parts store that I'd like to show you guys...

 
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ScrewySqrl

ScrewySqrl

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Aug 2, 2010
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the main question in there is the GPU. assemble everything else, then get the best GPU you can afford.

Here's a US version of the build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PNY GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($107.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master NSE-300-KKN1 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $484.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-14 12:54 EST-0500)
 
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TheMightyQuinn

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Nov 13, 2013
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Awesome. Thanks very much for the input. I'm noticing a few things cropping up again and again, i.e. the FX-6300 and the GTX-650.

Here's a few snapshots of the used parts store. I'm not sure what the exact rate is now, but we normally go for 1 dollar = 100 yen, so just take a couple of zeros off the yen price, e.g. 10000 yen = 100 dollars. Going by this the prices here seem to be about 10-15% cheaper than the new amazon.jp prices... so basically not worth it?! Trying to good prices... By the way sorry about the poor image quality, I was taking them on an iphone trying to avoid the store clerk noticing!

Motherboards:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/27/fh26.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/824/0vty.jpg/

Graphics Cards:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/28/lwys.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/e44y.jpg/

Processors:
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/318/2sb3.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17/5fzp.jpg/

 
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ScrewySqrl

ScrewySqrl

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Aug 2, 2010
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those seem pretty close to teh $1=100Yen match. the i7-4770K is y31500, In the US $319

seems pretty clsose

if you really can't do it with the 6300, you coudl step down to an Athlon II X4 760, A-75 motherboard, and a GTX 650 instead of 650ti
---
edit/update

I assume that was the Used shop's prices?

 
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sora

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Oct 30, 2013
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TheMightyQuinn

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Nov 13, 2013
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Yea those where used prices. So not much point going for used, right? I need it to be reliable, so...

That set up might be more feasible from a financial point if view! In fact I keep thinking of other things I have to buy, like webcams etc. But would
a Athlon II X4 760/A-75/GTX 65 setup cut it? Minecraft, screen share, whilst recording seems like quite a load to me.

Also, I want to be able to mirror my ipad screen to the PC, and share that too. I'm wondering if that's gonna put any strain on a particular component (lots of beaming screens about..)?

 
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