Is this a good budget build?

jjjay999

Distinguished
Jan 23, 2014
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Putting together an extreme budget build for a friend for entry-level gaming, plus PC related tasks. (She’s in college, so it’ll be used for routine school work, nothing massively demanding, as well as the standard web browsing/streaming Netflix and such/email). Absolute max budget is $450 USD, and I mean that’s the MAX. She’s “a poor college student”, and her current pc is an old Athlon x64 dual core. She does plan on adding a gpu in 1-3 years’ though, whatever a mid-range gpu would be at the time (something in the RX570/580 or 1050TI/1060 range, whatever is applicable when she is ready to get a dedicated GPU). Target now is 720/1080p low-medium settings in the 35+ FPS range, future target is 1080p high/around 60 FPS. It’s hard to say exactly what “types” of games’, so it’s best to assume a little bit of everything. PSU needs to be semi-modular and 80+ bronze minimum. ETA will be in a few weeks’, at most. End of September/start of October. Here’s what I did so far:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/jjjay999/saved/DTXfHx

Thanks!
 
Solution
I do not know anything about that particular SSD but the system looks fine.
for those on such a tight budget I would suggest a refurbished i5, 8gb system which will have a warranty and a windows licence that would cost the same as the motherboard and CPU. you can then replace the PSU and install a GPU and your done under budget, with maybe enough for an SSD

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=9SIAAJ26WV0641
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Q7L7YJ/corsair-cx-2017-450w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-cp-9020120-na
and one of these
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NndFf7/zotac-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-4gb-mini-video-card-zt-p10510a-10l
add the SSD from your initial build and its still under budget
600 W is to much even if she plan to throw card in.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/GQX2FT/evga-bt-450w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-100-bt-0450-k1
if you can grab it, this PSU now have insane deal and is 9.99$
if not, grab any from this list:
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/power-supply/#X=0,7136&W=180,500&p=2,0&e=2,1&sort=price&m=11,14,71
500W is enough for 1060 and 450 for 1050 ti.
I know I'm introducing wattage limit for new card, but with 600 W you can throw ~220W card, and they will not be cheap both in $ and power usage.
IF you can Grab 2 TB HDD and no SSD for now. It will work just fine, but quite slower. 2 TB and bigger have lower failure rates. SSD will get cheaper soon, I've already seen 30% off deals on mx500 and micron ones, you might grab 500 GB one for the price of 256 around black friday or Christmas.
Also what is ETA on this ?
 

R_1

Expert
Ambassador
I do not know anything about that particular SSD but the system looks fine.
for those on such a tight budget I would suggest a refurbished i5, 8gb system which will have a warranty and a windows licence that would cost the same as the motherboard and CPU. you can then replace the PSU and install a GPU and your done under budget, with maybe enough for an SSD

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=9SIAAJ26WV0641
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Q7L7YJ/corsair-cx-2017-450w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-cp-9020120-na
and one of these
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NndFf7/zotac-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-4gb-mini-video-card-zt-p10510a-10l
add the SSD from your initial build and its still under budget
 
Solution

maxalge

Champion
Ambassador


PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/q3CXMZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/q3CXMZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - B360M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot - Signature Line 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.90 @ OutletPC)
Case: Rosewill - SCM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($22.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Apevia - CF12S-BK 57.7 CFM 120mm Fan ($2.83 @ Newegg)
Total: $346.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-12 06:23 EDT-0400


grab a used gtx 1050 on ebay

vastly superior