Should I have gone with something else for less than $400?

RepoDraghon

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my target was to get something I can afford but was better than my Dell XPS 420...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($96.95 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($85.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Thermaltake VL800P1W2N (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $404.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-27 13:39 EDT-0400

I already own the 750Ti, but the Power supply unfortunately I cannot afford with what I have left (at the time the total price was $375+ but less than $400) so I'm going to use the PSU from the Dell (375w) and one other PC I used to have...
 

RepoDraghon

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I was going for something I thought looked cool, that's why that case

as for the i3, all I see are 2 cores and I tried that in my 4 core 2.33 dell with a 3.5 2 core and it was sooooooo much slower...
 

RepoDraghon

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yeah, well I might squeeze out some money but I'm moving and need to save for that... what will pay for this is my $100 credit at paypal and a $300 card... soo $400 total...

I was thinking of using the dell PSU to power everything cept the 750Ti then use the other PSU I have and dedicate it to the GPU
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($71.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK AIDOS 48.6 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.13 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus A68HM-Plus Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($61.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($94.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $387.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-27 14:12 EDT-0400

All done for a reason mate to keep you in budget - using 2 poor quality psu's to power the build is a mental idea.

That 4tb tosh drive has reliability issues - the model above is based on WD components & is reliable - if you manage to fill 3tb just buy another drive a year down the line.
 
Solution

RepoDraghon

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well, see that's just the thing, I went with these parts cause I knew the brands and the amount of people who used them were a factor too, I prefer 1x8 or 2x4, but your list looks ok, I know nothing of this Asus mobo but I know Asus and other boards from them, used to have a full Asus pc bout 15 years ago, was a crappy little thing but I know the quality has gone up since... the CPU I was thinking of getting comes with a cooler, and I'll look into getting the PSU... but it looks good, that setup... also, like I had mentioned, the time I originally made the list it was less than $400 too, bout the same as you just made... and sorry to all, I just read my OP, I did make it sound like I bought the items, but I have not...

But actually tbh I had already got the drive and looking at the receipt, I did get the 3TB :) so happy accident
 

chosen12k6

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http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F7pCVn

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F7pCVn
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F7pCVn/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($113.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Constellation ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $403.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-27 15:11 EDT-0400

I dropped your HDD space, its hit or miss but on craigslist people are selling HDDs all the time (at least in my area) I paid $50 for 3 1TB HDDs 7200rpm and only 1 failed. Also that is one of those things you can easily upgrade later. I switched the build to Intel because well its better, 1150 Haswell chipset so you can have plenty of upgrade options in the future. No cooler the stock works fine, when you want to OC its generally $20 for a Hyper 212 Plus.

If you can squeeze out around $50 more you can get an i5 4690K and Asrock Z97 Pro 4 mobo combo from your local microcenter
 

RepoDraghon

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I'm not doing an i3 dual core, as I stated before, I tried to upgrade to a faster cpu in my dell with only 2 cores and it was slower than the slower but 4 core stock one in the dell...

I have heard of that Asus mobo, again with the 2x4? ok, maybe... I have a 600GB drive and it filled FAST so 1TB not gonna cut it, but I see your point... my case was the same price and Micro center will only give you that price if you pick it up and the closest one to me is 8 hours away...again, I will look into getting a PSU, but it will have to wait till after I move cause I now only have $60 in the bank and all that has to go into gas... 80 mile drive to new place...
 


to be fair the i3 is a very good dual core (but hyperthreaded) cpu. - but that build is out of budget anyway.

The thing is with board manufacturers,theyre all capable of making very good boards BUT msi & asrock are guilty at the low end of making some unspeakably bad quality boards
Gigabyte & Asus even on their cheaper low end boards still use good quality components & generally just cut down on the feature set,for this reason on lowish budget builds they are 100% the only 2 board manufacturers I would personally use.
that asus board I put in the build is fairly basic but you can pretty much guarantee its going to be solid as a rock quality & stability wise.The main reason for going for that one is simply there are 2 boards that are 100% guaranteed to run an 860k cpu out of the box with no need for a bios update - the other one is a $90+ gigabyte board hence its in the wrong price bracket.
The 860k is a good chip ,it relies on fast ram though due to the integration with the board chipset - this means going for any less than that 2133 cas 9 I suggested will lower its possible max performance a little.
The cooler is there because quite simply amd stock coolers while capable of keeping the chip within workable temps will absolutely drive you insane with the noise thay make under heavy load.