Super Low Cost Desktop computer (Under 275)

Brilliantly pulled off   I was just about to gun you down after catching the title - bravo - though, I'm very curious...what do you plan to do with your rig?

Good case tho. If you plan on future upgrades - that PSU will need an overhaul - or not depending on the rails/voltages and connectors...

Thank you! This is not my first build, I do this kind of thing for friends a lot. So yea, I was hoping this would do good.

The Newegg PSU calc says that if a graphics card is put in (a HD Radon 5770), it should only need about 360 watts of power. 450w for a HD 5830. Thats 30w of room, but I wouldent want to chance it   besides, the PSU dosent have the power sources for the 5830.

But hey, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... is only 50$ and would work fine for any upgrades.

The PC is used as an upgrade for a good friend. He does some gaming like flight simulator, and the integrated video should be able to run some really light games, and video playback.

Heres a pic for the visual people out there:

THe PSU you've now chosen is good with the rails/amperage

you want advice on PSU's ?   read this - http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/181

usually there are PSU's that are under par - thas why GPU manufacturers overstate the wattage needed so that even a BAD PSU can handle the load... in-spite of bad capacitors/cooling/rails.



if he's running the 2008-2009 release of Flight SIM then he's fine...the on-board is actually good for video playback, but if he's looking to play POP-the forgotten sands, he'll be heartbroken  

Coolmax is bad, avoid at all costs. Hardware secrets witnessed two of their 750w units lighting on fire after pulling 500w from the units. That coolmax PSU would indeed have decent amperage Lutfij, but coolmax has a long and treasured history of lying about specifications, so I wouldn't trust the label. I believe that PSU was included in a very positive review by overclockers HQ, unfortunately they missed flaws with some of the units they tested due to flawed methodology. Due to the lack of sufficent load testing, the gave the same PSU that hardware secrets managed to light on fire, twice, without even getting close to the 750w limit, their GOLD AWARD, so personally I would ignore their recommendation altogether.

The rg-530, which is $45 is currently the lowest you can go for PSUs. While I haven't seen this PSU directly tested, it's brother the rg-630 received a great review from hardware secrets for it's excellent value (available for $53, by the way). The CMPSU-500CX isn't my cup of tea but it's from a trusted brand, $60 $50 AR. For those seeking an investment in a quality part the $65 seasonic 520w unit is incredible quality for the price (5yr warranty, rave 9.7/10 review by jonnyguru).

$10 more but will keep all your hardware intact - get this
or for
$25 more you can get this

both of which give you upgrade paths(option 2 being the best of the two) and are easy on utility bills.

Case with PSU:COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-OWR460 Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case RS-460-PSAR-J3, Elite 460W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HDD:Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAJS-FR 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


RAM:G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-2GBNQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


Cpu And Mobo Combo1.AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX
2. BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

Total 278$

@ Dknutson - Ram: stick with the initial ram choice,when both rams choices offer the same latencies...populating both your ram slots ain't a good upgrade path. (should you go with the 880G combo build)

that psu looks makeshift...i dunno about that...on another thread a Tt TR2 PSU had the same label as them and a further dig showed the Tt was a *** PSU...

@ sr26 -   The CPU+mobo/HDD/Case were indeed great finds...but i'd just get the case w/o the PSU and get the PSU's i refered

new build 1:
PSU -
Seasonic 620W 80+bronze
CPU+Mobo combo -
AMD Athlon x3+880G mobo
RAM -
Corsair 2GB
HDD -
WD Caviar Blue 250GB
Case -
CM Elite w/o PSU

total $302

Swap the PSU with :
Seasonic 520W 80+bronze

total $292

Its sadly sold out, but there was an AS Rock 880 for $59.99, which I would trust over the Biostar.

If you're still wanting a quality PSU that will easily power the system and still allow upgrades then I would get this one:

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 CMPSU-430CX 430W ATX12V Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $44.99 - $10 MIR

Corsair does the opposite of companies like Coolmax, they actually under-rate their PSU's.

^   take about reverse progress

OK so after reading up on the PSU's and the cases I wound up with this for 40$ or so more (and a better PSU than the ones previously mentioned (well.... it got good ratings? i trust Rosewell they've not done me wrong so far(or at least not yet))):

Also I'm really liking the case.... the red looks pretty BA and the all around shape is appeasing.


$289.85

Rosewill PSU's are also a bad idea. See the little red switch on the back of the PSU in the pictures? That's a very bad thing. It means the PSU doesn't have active PFC. The Corsair PSU I linked to is only $5 more before MIR and $5 cheaper after MIR. That's a no-brainer in my book.

Don't get the rosewill...its a PSU box with crap/junk built in...get the CX430 ^

OK sure, thanks for the tip.

Umkay after switching out the PSU's, total (with shipping/tax) comes out to a whopping (lol):

$295.79

Awesome, thanks for all your guy's help.

--Dylan Knutson

Best answer selected by dknutson.

thank YOU for the vote - but the rest deserve it more than me...i wonder if moderators can share BA points among people who contribute :?.?:
Good luck on your build!
PM if you'd need anything else!

Well actually, I would say you were the most helpful in this thread, but I gotta give props to shortstuff_mt for pointing out that bad-ass PSU that's in the final draft of the build.

Hmmm...... That would be a good feature. Rarely does only one person help out a lot in a single thread, it was a tough decision.

Cheers mate!

Rosewill =/= rosewill green series. Rosewill green series is made by ATNG and rebranded by rosewill, which although not the greatest part, is the minimum quality I would recommend.

The CX-430 you picked up is unlikely to survive more then 380w in crossload tests, and has low 12v amperage (it's the same as the EA-380, while the EA-380 is better quality) so I would actually just call it a 380w unit. It also uses a lower quality OEM then the higher rated corsair units and I really wouldn't say it's any better then ATNG. Except the rosewill green series actually can deliver it's advertised voltage. Fine pick ATM though if you believe in rebates, just $35AR.

For actual 430w units, I would look at $40 RG-430 to save moolah, $50 EA-430 is quite a step up in quality, and I would say $60 seasonic with it's excellent quality and gigantic warranty is a great investment as well. For a budget build, would probably go for the EA-430.

I have to say you're are bouncing around a lot with your power supplies. You bounced from 500w to 600w to 430w. Might be too late to mention this, but I want the rest of this post here for future lurkers.