Best configuration for $450?

stryk55

Distinguished
Apr 6, 2009
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18,630
Hey, I'm interested in building my own PC, and decided to challenge myself by setting a price limit of $450. What components would you buy to accomplish this? Few things...
1)Needs an OS
2)Can be any form factor
3)I am partial to AMD and ATI, but not married to these brands

Think you could do it? Let me know!

Josh from FL
 

xthekidx

Splendid
Dec 24, 2008
3,871
1
22,790
Good effort by the animal. Here is mine (Intel Build)

Windows Use promo for $20 off: EMCLRLN28
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

CPU/Mobo: E5200 and Gigabyte G31
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.181196

Ram: Corsair 4gb DDR2 800 CL5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

HDD: WD3200AAKS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074&Tpk=wd3200aaks

Optical: LG DVD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152

PSU: Corsair 400cx $10 off promo: EMCLRLN23
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL040209&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL040209-_-PowerSupplies-_-L5C-_-17139008

Case: Rosewill R5730-P BK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147124

Thats $425 with shipping, then you get $45 MIR. If you want to get better performance out of your CPU, then buy an aftermarket heatsink and OC, like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029 although with the stock HSF you could do a moderate OC to like 3.2 or so.

That configuration will have to use onboard video, which is good enough to run your OS and simple programs, but if you want to play games then you are going to have to get a discrete GPU. Something like this could work for some light gaming on low-GPU intensity games:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130394&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL040209&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL040209-_-VideoCards-_-L0C-_-14130394

 
If you want to play games, go with this

ASRock A780GMH/128M $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157154

AMD Athlon 5400BE + Rosewill Wind Ryder Combo $77.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.181917

VisionTek Radeon HD 3850 512MB $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129129

Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB -oem $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098

HP DVD Burner IDE -oem $20.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140029

FSP Group FSP400-60GLN(80) 400W $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104052

Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148163

And that would give you a grand total of $448.91 which is not too bad. That funky looking case should be o.k for this build. If you were not going to use this for gaming then I would say just use the onboard video for now, get a better PSU, an SATA burner, and 4GB of RAM. If you are going to game then you will need a dedicated video card and for this budget you can't do much better than that overclocked 3850. I would probably go with a better PSU myself as it would be just $5 more to go with

FSP Group AX500-PN Max: 450W $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104037

or

Antec earthwatts EA430 430W $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006