Looking to build my first PC on a budget

[Sumthn]

Hello, forum members. I am looking to build my first PC. I would like to spend ~500 however i'm willing to put off buying all the parts at once in order to get more quality parts if necessary. I must warn that I am a complete noob and I don't know much about choosing the right parts. I would like this computer to function as a gaming and video editing PC. I am more familiar with intel cpu's and was leaning towards i5 but i'm open to going the AMD route if it's better. I wanted at least 4GB of ram to start but I want to be able to expand to more if I choose sometime down the line. I want to run Windows 7 64 Bit and I want to be able to use a full HD monitor. Any recommendations on what components I should pick up in order to achieve this?

 

[rainvie1]

what kind of budget are you thinking? $500? $1000? $2000? $99,999,999?

 

[Sumthn]

$500

 

[rainvie1]

generally, AMD processors are a better bang-for-buck deal at lower budgets. read up on the reviews and comparisons on this site, I find them very informative.

 

[rainvie1]

this should work:

AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz $77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103843

ASUS M4A88TD-V $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131646&cm_re=M4A88TD-V-_-13-131-646-_-Product

ASUS Black 24X DVD $21
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100283VX-2L Radeon HD 5770 $140AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102898&cm_re=5770-_-14-102-898-_-Product

OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W $50 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP $50 AR
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 $86
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211364&cm_re=4gb_ddr3-_-20-211-364-_-Product

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB $58
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

total AR: $601

its a little over, you could find a cheaper mobo, look for combos and deals, etc. maybe consider 2GB RAM, though 4GB would probably be much better bang-for-buck. sorry i dont know too much about amd.

 

[Mr Pizza]

cheap motherboard is cheap, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131603&cm_re=am3_770-_-13-131-603-_-Product

bad ram is bad,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180&cm_re=g.skill_1333-_-20-231-180-_-Product

bettterrrrrrrrr now

 

[rainvie1]

thanks pizza.

 

[batuchka]

$513AR

 

[rainvie1]

the barracuda and biostar, and especially the modxstream:
Arent they supposed to be pretty bad? youre only saving $40, after pizza's mods. course, you get what you pay for.

 

[batuchka]

1. 7200.11 Barracuda i wouldn't go with : 7200.12 is fine
2. TA785G3 HD OC/Unlock enthusiast review
http://67.90.82.13/forums/showthread.php?t=245020
3. ModX is fine : the StealthX line is not 80+
4. A GTX 460 is a better buy than a HD 5830 let alone a HD 5770...

 

[rainvie1]

wont argue with the 460. still i'd avoid the modx.

at this price point its all a trade between $$ and quality.

 

[batuchka]

No worries had peeps go with my build part for part no issues ^^

 

[Sumthn]

Thanks a lot for all of your input. I have a question, (once again sorry for being a noob here) but if I wanted to upgrade some of these components along the line would I come into any difficulty? Also I read somewhere that Phenom II X4 was more up there with the i5 is this true? I don't know much about AMD or Athlon.

 

[rainvie1]

i believe with an AMD3 socket mobo the CPU should be upgradeable for a long time. the GPU and RAM are really easy upgrades, Hard drives and Optical drives as well. the quad core CPUs cost more, with your budget the difference is better spent on graphics and parts quality.

 

[Sumthn]

I don't know if this makes a difference. But I wanted a computer that would be faster than my current comps. My fastest computer now is my Toshiba Satellite intel i3 dual core:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=satellite+a505&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13818843665841331079&ei=lm1pTKmrKIO78gb8lfmyBA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDkQ8wIwAg&os=tech-specs

Now i'm guessing that since the Athlon is X3 that it would be faster than my Toshiba but i'm not sure I don't know how AMD compares to Intel. Also I do have a 2006 eMachines Desktop that has an AMD Sempron processor. I was wondering if it might be possible that I could use some parts from this like the mobo, dvd drive, and power supply? I figure the more parts I can use from my old PC's maybe the more money I can have to build a more powerful PC like a better cpu or graphics card. Or should I just do a complete upgrade?

 

[rainvie1]

I wouldnt use a 4 year old mobo, but check the specs on the dvd drive and psu, they should be okay.

 

[Sumthn]

Ok great. Also, if I plan on getting a NAS would it be ill advised to buy a smaller hard drive?