Advice on a New Build: $400-$600

[alexnharvey]

Approximate Purchase Date: 2/20/11

Budget Range: (e.g.: 600-800) $400-600

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Online TV, movies, excel matlab etc.

Parts Not Required: (e.g.: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS) 1TB Hard drive, optical drive

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg amazon

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: AMD AM3 (value)

Overclocking: Yes and unlockign the extra core

SLI or Crossfire: Not sure so no?

Monitor Resolution: not sure

Additional Comments: (e.g.: Need to have a window and lots of bling, I would like a quiet PC)I want to build a $400-600 computer. Best value components or combos sought.
Will be something of an tv/htpc, fwiw mainly watching netflix hulu etc. Other tasks are some matlab programming, spss with large datasets. Would love it to be quiet.


Case
Antec 300, haf 912, rc-690?


Processor/MB (AM3)
Considering rana 430 arock 870 extreme.

Graphics card
No gaming, so a gfx is not a priority, just ability to run monitor and hdmi tv (samsung 32" lcd) simultaneously and share desktop across both (so a movie can be watched on the tv whilst computer also used. Would be willing to unlock card if possible. Could live with integrated.

Monitor
Using the tv for movies so a 17" or 19" monitor is sufficient. Prefer regular format to widescreen.

Hard drive
Can take a 1tb sata drive from a external drive to save money. Would be interested in a fast smallish drive if a bargain is available, but can bide time on this. May add a SSD in the future.

Memory
4Gb-8Gb? not very speed conscious. Considering ripjaws 1600 DDR3

PSU
Seasonic for quietness

CPU cooler
Quiet, maybe xigmatek s1283

No OS necessary, will be dual booting Win7 and Linux.



Thanks

 

[alexnharvey]

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[alexnharvey]

Anyone?

 

[spyke562]

Hey alexnharvey,

Overall that’s a pretty good build you got there since you are only going to be doing Online TV, movies, excel matlab etc.

For what you are doing I don’t think overclocking will be needed. I mainly see overclocking for gaming.

Again, for what you are doing you doing I wouldn’t worry about SLI.

For Excel I would like a large monitor like a 22" or 24"!

If you are going to be using somewhat of a tv/htpc you may want to consider a tv tuner card. You can get a cheap one just for regular TV and use Windows Media Center. Netflix and much more build in.

I don’t think noise will be a problem.

Lastly, you may want to make sure you have room to expand on your system later down the road. For instance, you see a nice game and need a nice video card That said make sure you have a large enough PSU that can handle add-ons such as hard drives and expansion cards.

Hope this helps!

 

[goatsword]

You still need a video card. For a 1080p TV, I'd say a Radeon 5770 or even a GTS 450. For a 720P, you can probably get a way with a GTS 450 for ~100. The rest of the build is good, maybe even overkill. You could go cheaper on the case, like a Rosewill Destroyer and definitely cheaper on the mother board. I like the Biostar A770E3. It's only $40 at Microcenter.

 

[alexnharvey]

Thinking of switching in a ASRock 890GM PRO3 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

To get onboard video.

 

[alexnharvey]

Best answer selected by alexnharvey.