Need a budget PC Workstation that does not exceed $500 mark

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d4v0

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Nov 29, 2013
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Hi All,

I want to build a PC Workstation that does not exceed $500 mark. Could you please help me in choosing the parts? Thanks in advance!

Approximate Purchase Date: End of March or early April

Budget Range: $500 maybe before tax

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Going to be using this for work the only heavy thing that I am going to be doing on it is Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop but I will be having a lot of tabs opened at the same time.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: Building from scratch

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: pcpartpicker.com amazon.com newegg.com tigerdirect.com ncix.com maybe frys as well

Location: Glendale, CA, USA

Parts Preferences: I don't have parts preference but maybe corsair parts and maybe CPU is Intel since I heard intel does better in multithreading but I also know that usually AMD cpus are cheaper so I don't minde if it is AMD and does the job right. Also maybe those AMD APUs? The reason I am asking for APUs is because I don't need a dedicated graphics card but I need some kind of integrated graphics chip so I can run Photoshop and Illustrator hence I asked for the APUs. I need at least 8gb of memory and I don't need keyboard/mouse/speakers/etc..

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080p

Additional Comments: Would like to have the case be small like Mini ITX or Micro ITX and once more that I will be having a lot of tabs opened at the same time when using this PC and will use Photoshop and Illustrator as well but those won't be running all the time.

Once again thanks for all the help and advice!

 
Solution
nikoli707
overall in most applications the 4460 is going to be faster than the 8320.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=1198
here is a comparison of the 4690 and 8350. they dont have a direct comparison of the 4460 but as a rough estimate the clock increases over the 4460 to 4690 and 8320 to 8350 gives you an idea of cpu performance across a wide assortment of apps.

basically there are only a few places the fx 8 core is faster than the i5, and not by a whole lot. but there are many places the i5 is faster than the fx 8 core, and a few it has quite a substantial lead. though it should be mentioned that the cheaper fx8320 can be very easily overclocked to 4.4ghz.
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UnderAttack

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Sep 5, 2014
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well, on the limit budget, try this list
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.85 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 1GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case ($32.29 @ Directron)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($51.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $475.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-09 03:25 EDT-0400
i do hope you can get more budget, so u can upgrade your mb and gpu to the higher level
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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Jan 4, 2012
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($136.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($73.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 5450 1GB Video Card ($9.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($22.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.79 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $478.12
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-09 03:26 EDT-0400
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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Jan 4, 2012
6,008
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depends on your workstation needs. if your mostly going to be running low thread priorities, then go with a cheap intel chip. if you need a lot of threads, the fx 8 core cannot be beat at its price and in certain applications it can come close to i7 performance.

honestly if you could increase your budget a little you could get an i5 that will be the best of all worlds on a budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: PNY XLR8 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: PNY XLR8 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.79 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $574.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-11 16:57 EDT-0400

thats with 16gb of ram. photoshop can easily use up 8gb of ram so might be ideal for you. but to save money initially you can drop one of the 8gb sticks bringing the total down to $520ish. down the road when you get a few more bucks you can add the second 8gb stick.
 
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d4v0

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Nov 29, 2013
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Yes I was thinking about the i5 4440 is 4460 new version of 4440? Your build looks very good actually I might go for that. Also does the 4460 perform better than 8320?
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

Splendid
Jan 4, 2012
6,008
5
29,965
overall in most applications the 4460 is going to be faster than the 8320.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=1198
here is a comparison of the 4690 and 8350. they dont have a direct comparison of the 4460 but as a rough estimate the clock increases over the 4460 to 4690 and 8320 to 8350 gives you an idea of cpu performance across a wide assortment of apps.

basically there are only a few places the fx 8 core is faster than the i5, and not by a whole lot. but there are many places the i5 is faster than the fx 8 core, and a few it has quite a substantial lead. though it should be mentioned that the cheaper fx8320 can be very easily overclocked to 4.4ghz.
 
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Solution
D

d4v0

Honorable
Nov 29, 2013
471
0
10,960


Thank you very much for your help. I will be going with your setup and i5 4460 as I am not going to be overclocking.
 
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