Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

Semi-completed build, need reviews/suggestions! ($300 budget)

Tags:
  • Gaming
  • Build
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
Share
June 15, 2014 5:58:36 PM

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 450 3.2GHz Triple-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
Motherboard: Biostar A880GZ Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: A-Data Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 240 2GB Video Card ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($46.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($24.99)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $287.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-16 02:14 EDT-0400

I already own the CPU, Motherboard, and Memory so you can't change my mind on those (I already have them :p ).

Everything else I am willing to change/have feedback on. My reasons for choosing these parts are the following:
Storage: It's cheap for a terabyte of storage. Also, it has a combo discount with my optical drive.
Video Card: It's only 60 dollars for a card that can run most games at low settings! That's great for me, because I don't have an HD monitor nor do I actually care about high settings. I'm used to things looking awful. All I need is 30 FPS and I'm good.
Case: I LOVE the Fractal Design Core 1000. It is specious, has great airflow and looks beautiful for only 45 dollars (with shipping). My only concern is that it has 1 USB 3.0 port and 1 USB 2.0 port (says Newegg). I am willing to buy a USB 2.0 to 3.0 adapter later down the line just to have this case.
Power Supply: It's 80+ Bronze certified and has enough power for this system. I don't plan on overclocking or buying a better GPU later down the line, instead I'd rather make a new build in a few years.
Optical drive: Has a combo with my hard drive, reads discs (mainly my OS).
Operating System: I like windows 7, basically because I don't want my gaming PC looking like a smartphone. I know there are utilities like startisback and such, but my Motherboard supports windows 7 and does not support windows 8, so installing it there would be pretty risky.

BUDGET: $300

I'd like any suggestions or reviews. Telling me what I could do better, what I've done right, ect. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

EDIT: Realized I could mark some items as 'purchased', and marked what's already been purchased as such.

More about : semi completed build reviews suggestions 300 budget

June 15, 2014 6:13:51 PM

Consider a small, 120GB ssd on the side
m
0
l
Related resources
a b 4 Gaming
June 15, 2014 6:14:04 PM

Honestly, on such a tight budget, there's not much fat to trim out. My main suggestion would have been an Athlon x4 750K and an inexpensive motherboard, but as you said, that's water under the bridge.

m
0
l
June 15, 2014 11:13:39 PM

AMD Radeon said:
corsair cx 430 shouldnt be that expensive
only $25
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx430

I see, I try to enable get Pcpartpicker to acknowledge the fact there's a 20 dollar promo (What great timing, also), but it refuses to. For now I'll just input the price myself.

m
0
l
June 15, 2014 11:26:37 PM

DSzymborski said:
Honestly, on such a tight budget, there's not much fat to trim out. My main suggestion would have been an Athlon x4 750K and an inexpensive motherboard, but as you said, that's water under the bridge.


I agree, having a 4 core CPU would've probably been the best option. I don't know WHAT was going through my mind when I thought of the X3. I looked through my old forums and on December 27th, I was wondering if the Pheonon II X4 965 would bottleneck a GPU I was considering, and I come back a month later and I've got the X3 decided? I don't understand me sometimes. Anyway, does anything else come to mind? Can anyone attest to the R7 240's performance?

m
0
l
June 15, 2014 11:38:45 PM

reesemonster said:
Consider a small, 120GB ssd on the side

Sadly, because my upcoming budget is 300 dollars, I do not have the funds to spend an additional 60 dollars for a little bit faster boots. Sorry.

m
0
l
June 16, 2014 1:06:33 PM

Can anyone tell me if the Fractal Design Core 1000 has 2 USB 3.0 ports or 1 USB 3.0 port and 1 USB 2.0 port? Different retailers say different things.
m
0
l
June 16, 2014 8:43:32 PM

Anybody have input? D:
m
0
l
!