$500 budget PC for video editing with or without existing case

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Jan 16, 2016
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Sorry, thinking and writing effectively seems difficult today for some reason.

My last post asked if I could/should use an existing case or buy a new one instead, which has been addressed in other posts, however I think I'll just throw the build criteria out there and see what people come up with. Honestly I don't want to spend too much time on this, but if building it myself saves me, say 30%, compared to buying an ready-to-run system (used or not), I might be up for it. If the savings are not significant, I'd rather pay the $50 extra dollars (for example) and have everything ordered through one website rather than having to sign up for 4 different stores. Less assembly time is a plus.

- $500 budget
- monitor included (ideally)
- may use existing PC case, but not required:
http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/dragon/info/Welcome%20to%20Chieftec%20-%20Dragon%20Series%20DA-01WD.htm
- purpose: novice to intermediate video editing (and plenty of reliable* storage for all the raw video)

*I understand this can get quite expensive, so this may be something I'll have to compromise on

Thank you!
 
Solution
With a pre-built, I think the best you're going to get is something like this Acer:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883101193

With a basic 1080P monitor, 8GB RAM upgrade and a basic GPU like the GT 730 you're looking at $500 for an i3/8GB/1TB system with a GT 730.

Just tried putting a homebuilt together for that price but I can't beat that. I'd just find any prebuilt with as close to that spec as you can (i3/8GB/1TB) and drop a GT 730 in it then buy a cheap monitor.
With a pre-built, I think the best you're going to get is something like this Acer:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883101193

With a basic 1080P monitor, 8GB RAM upgrade and a basic GPU like the GT 730 you're looking at $500 for an i3/8GB/1TB system with a GT 730.

Just tried putting a homebuilt together for that price but I can't beat that. I'd just find any prebuilt with as close to that spec as you can (i3/8GB/1TB) and drop a GT 730 in it then buy a cheap monitor.
 
Solution
This is the best I can do with a homebuilt:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($68.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($36.30 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($28.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GT 730 1GB Video Card ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Asus VS228T-P 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($6.99 @ NCIX US)
Mouse: Targus AMU51US Wired Laser Mouse ($3.99 @ Directron)
Total: $486.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-16 10:06 EST-0500

Slightly weaker CPU but a better quality PSU and pretty much the same price.