Need Advice for First Build ($500-700)

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

An Odyssey

Honorable
Nov 25, 2013
10
0
10,510
I'm working on my first build, and I'm looking for ways to lower my cost as much as I can without losing to much performance. I'd like to be able to play some next-gen games on at least high. I would prefer to not go over 700, but to lower my prices as much as I can while still maintaining performance. From my research this is what would work for me, but I want to make sure everything is a good as it can be. My resolution is at 1920 x 1080p.

I don't think I'm looking to overclock, as it's my first build and I don't want to add anything else I might mess up, or have to add fan, etc.

Particularly, I want to look at getting a good wireless card, I'm not sure what I'm really looking for in that department so some help would be nice. Also I think I could do better on the ram, and psu, and maybe the case.




PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/28xnD
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/28xnD/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/28xnD/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($59.91 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN851ND 802.11b/g/n PCI Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($82.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $710.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-25 22:22 EST-0500)
 
Solution
DarkSable
You know that wireless internet is going to be slower and have way more issues than a wired connection, right?

Other than that, here's my advice for you:

1) scrap the 1x8GB ram, and go 2x4GB instead for a couple bucks less - it'll be way faster because you'll be able to run in dual-channel mode.

2) drop the optical drive unless you plan on watching DVDs; if you need one later, you can borrow or buy an external one, and it'll save you $20 for now.

3) Other than that, I wouldn't mess with anything - you don't want a cheaper CPU or less graphics, and everything else, you've found good picks for. Just keep an eye out for black friday deals and you'll be golden.
Sort by date Sort by votes
Beezy

Beezy

Dignified
Nov 4, 2013
4,038
0
15,960
Ok first the AMD FX 4300 will be the same price on Newegg.com during their black Friday sale, and its at 3.8 ghz vs the 3.4Ghz. so consider that. You should be able to spend about 10$ less for 1600 ddr3 8gb ram sticks. The MSI Radeon HD 7870 performs VERY similarly to the 270X and is only 130$ right now on newegg (or 160.00 before rebate, still a considerable saving) also I would recommend pouring these savings back into the motherboard.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DarkSable

DarkSable

Judicious
Sep 27, 2012
8,890
1
34,965
You know that wireless internet is going to be slower and have way more issues than a wired connection, right?

Other than that, here's my advice for you:

1) scrap the 1x8GB ram, and go 2x4GB instead for a couple bucks less - it'll be way faster because you'll be able to run in dual-channel mode.

2) drop the optical drive unless you plan on watching DVDs; if you need one later, you can borrow or buy an external one, and it'll save you $20 for now.

3) Other than that, I wouldn't mess with anything - you don't want a cheaper CPU or less graphics, and everything else, you've found good picks for. Just keep an eye out for black friday deals and you'll be golden.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
A

An Odyssey

Honorable
Nov 25, 2013
10
0
10,510


I'm aware about the wireless connection, but I don't really have a choice in that matter atm (no cable ports in my room.)

And, I would drop off the disk drive if there was a way to install windows without it, can I do that?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DarkSable

DarkSable

Judicious
Sep 27, 2012
8,890
1
34,965
No cable ports in your room? That's not standard; you would have to route cable through your walls to your router if you wanted that; can't you just run an ethernet cable along the floor?

And absolutely so - just google for "install windows from USB." Perfectly legal, and works a treat.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

An Odyssey

Honorable
Nov 25, 2013
10
0
10,510
I really can't run anything through the walls, put I guess I could run a cord along the floor if I could hide it good enough, given I could get a long enough cord. Thanks for the info on using usb for windows, I really hadn't thought of that, that should help some.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DarkSable

DarkSable

Judicious
Sep 27, 2012
8,890
1
34,965
Glad that helps. And yeah, I run an ethernet cable under my door as well; it isn't the prettiest, but if you want to be fancy, you can cut a little notch in the moulding for it to hide in. It's easy to find long ethernet cables, and you'll have a WAY better connection.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Beezy

Beezy

Dignified
Nov 4, 2013
4,038
0
15,960


I don't mean to steal any thunder here but you sound like you know your stuff here. I have our modem and router in the "office" my room is at the end of the hall, like 3 rooms away. I do have cable in my room (we use cable in the back of the modem cable/internet/phone kinda deal). Can I find a way to use my cable output in my room to connect a new modem like box? I know I cant have 2 modems though, can I? or something to act as a second modem as to avoid wiring through the whole house.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DarkSable

DarkSable

Judicious
Sep 27, 2012
8,890
1
34,965


Sorry, that's phrased kinda wonk-ily, and I'm not sure what you mean. I'm more than happy to help, but in the interest of not derailing the thread, please start a new thread of your own, and then PM me the link - I should have a response for you by morning. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom