Need help building a ~$500 PC

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dotagamingnoob

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Jul 24, 2014
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Hey everyone.
I am in need of help of building a computer.
I would like to get the best perfomance pc as possible with spending around $500. I can go over just a bit if needed.
What I need is a good office computer that can run programs very quickly such as microsoft office programs or just browsers. I want those computers that just instantly launches internet explorer.
I already have a gaming laptop, so I don't really need a good graphics card.
I am a total newbie at building a PC, so I need your help!
I already have a monitor provided, so monitor is not needed.
Thanks a lot for your time!
 
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another way of looking at it is that manufacturers that make office pc's are going to save money due to economy of scales. The amount they save by having bulk produced cheap cases and low wattage PSUs and bulk deals from companies like Intel and non-branded motherboards and bulk rates on copies of windows is going to translate to a reasonable deal on a low end machine. Windows is a huge saving. A consumer copy of windows can cost from $90-$150, while Microsoft has stated they charge around 5% as a royalty on an OEM box. That means that if Dell sells a $500 box, they're probably paying around $25 on windows.

So you end up paying a similar price for the computer overall, but you benefit from all-in-one technical support and warranties...
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kulmnar

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Dec 15, 2011
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If this is just for office related tasks, then you don't need to build your own. Go to Best Buy or buy from Dell/HP online. The office based PCs are really not worth building IMHO. It is better to let the manufacturer deal with any issues through a total system warranty. Otherwise, you'll be spending time troubleshooting some really cheap components. For gaming PCs it is another story. The more expensive the parts, the more money you save by building yourself. Maybe you want to game on this PC as well? If so, then go ahead and build your own.
 
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Akhil Potukuchi

Akhil Potukuchi

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May 28, 2014
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THis would be good enough for your needs: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qyHt99
And for the building part refer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot0h4G-BmJM
 
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maddogfargo

maddogfargo

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Nov 28, 2006
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I have to agree.

If this is just for basic tasks, there isn't much to be saved building this PC. Pretty much any prebuilt intel based PC using the on-chip GPU will be plenty. And as mentioned, when you buy from a manufacturer you have a single point of contact for warranty work or repairs.
 
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kulmnar

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It is the purpose of gaming that makes it worthwhile to build your own PC. For example, you need a quality PSU for gaming because most manufactured PCs have PSUs that are really designed for low power usage and ones that do offer gaming builds typically over-charge for warranty and service. Office PCs are low power PCs. They almost invariably use integrated graphics and don't require brand name components. For an office PC, the only brand name you care about is the manufacturer (Dell/HP/Acer/Gateway). Therefore, no you do not save money by building your own office PC. On the contrary, you waste money and have the potential to waste more time/money down the line due to having to troubleshoot hardware problems yourself. There will be hardware problems since in order to even get close to competing on cost with the manufacturers, you will have to buy the cheapest components around (think Coolmax PSUs and Biostar motherboards). With such cheap components, you will almost be guaranteed to have something break within 1 year and then you will have to find out which part broke, and after that you will have to hope that the manufacturer of your cheap part will honor the warranty.

If however, you simply want to learn how to build a PC by buying the cheapest parts and just playing with them, then go ahead. Buy about $350 worth of parts, put it together just for fun and then troubleshoot for fun. If this PC is for actual use however, save yourself money and headaches and buy a pre-built from a manufacturer.
 
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blue17echo

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Jul 23, 2014
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another way of looking at it is that manufacturers that make office pc's are going to save money due to economy of scales. The amount they save by having bulk produced cheap cases and low wattage PSUs and bulk deals from companies like Intel and non-branded motherboards and bulk rates on copies of windows is going to translate to a reasonable deal on a low end machine. Windows is a huge saving. A consumer copy of windows can cost from $90-$150, while Microsoft has stated they charge around 5% as a royalty on an OEM box. That means that if Dell sells a $500 box, they're probably paying around $25 on windows.

So you end up paying a similar price for the computer overall, but you benefit from all-in-one technical support and warranties. If you're planning on making a build that will someday turn into a gaming rig, sure, grab a small SSD and a nice mobo and build something like http://pcpartpicker.com/p/f6Z3gs

But this computer is going to be outperformed by the i3 powered machine from dell @500 dollars. And dotagamingnoob doesn't want a gaming rig. (although honestly there's a reasonable argument to be made for building something like http://pcpartpicker.com/p/X3GzhM for $250 and just running ubuntu on it because it will do all that stuff and do it quickly)
 
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