$375 Budget Home PC

[gmvp]

Hey there, looking to build a budget PC for a family member of mines. No gaming will be done, just for word, excel, surfing the internet and watching videos. So just looking for a build that would fit those needs. Let me know what you guys think. Appreciate it!


Approximate Purchase Date: 1-2 Weeks


Budget Range: $375 (before rebates)


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Surfing Internet, Watching Videos

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com


Country of Origin: United States

Parts Preferences: No Preference

Overclocking: No


SLI or Crossfire: No


Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024

 

[WR2]

Hello GMVP;

Have you thought about one of the pre-built OEM systems? Or is this an educational build project with the family?
HP Pavilion p7z 3.2GHz AMD Athlon II 260 Desktop PC $320 and free shipping

 

[michxymi]

Mini - ITX Case with 90W PSU, more than enough for this system

Antec ISK Series ISK 100 0.8 mm SECC / ABS Plastic Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 80W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129095

AMD APU is a no brainer for this use!

ASRock E350M1 AMD E-350 APU (1.6GHz, Dual-Core) AMD A50M Hudson M1 Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157228

4GB of RAM

Rendition by Crucial 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model RM25664BA1339
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148352

If you have the computer connected to a network and you don't need storage get a SSD!

Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148357


SUM 345$ If you don't need max perfomance and also need to save some dollars go for 2GB of dual channel RAM and get a 2,5" Inch HDD!

 

[jerreddredd]

Easy build with this case (Good PSU comes with it). MB has HD 4250 integrated graphics.

LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289
Item #: N82E16827106289
$20.99

Antec NSK 4482B Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129072
Item #: N82E16811129072
-$10.00 Instant
$99.99
$89.99

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKX 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136770
Item #: N82E16822136770
$39.99

MSI 880GM-E43 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130293
Item #: N82E16813130293
$79.99

G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396
Item #: N82E16820231396
$39.99

AMD Athlon II X2 260 Regor 3.2GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX260OCGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103873
Item #: N82E16819103873
$67.99

Subtotal: $338.94
Shipping: $25.39 east coast

 

[gmvp]

Thanks for all of the replies! I'm leaning towards jerreddredd suggestion. Seems like the best one for the price. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[WR2]

I think michxymi's AMD E-350 APU build is a bit light in the CPU for comfortable handy MS Office multi-tasking. Athlon II X2 260 has a nice bump up in CPU power.

Passmark CPU benchmark scores:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
Athlon II X2 260 = 1920
AMD E-350 APU = 732

 

[Bigmac80]

my brother bought a i5 system at costco for $400-$500 bucks...

 

[aznshinobi]

Siggy 450$ build, drop the card which saves you $70, totaling to $380. It'll give you quite the bit of performance.

Or check out the $300 build.
http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore

 

[need4speeds]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.638451
$199.99 Athlon II X2 250/GeForce 7025 SuperCombo
Seagate Barracuda ST3500413AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233&SubCategory=5&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1
Combo Price:$51.98 SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM
Seagate Barracuda ST3500413AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150525
$29.99 after mail-in rebate XFX HD-467X-ZNL2 Radeon HD 4670 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999069
(Two fans) $4.99x2=$9.98 COOLER MASTER SAF-B82-E1 80mm Case Fan
Subtotal: $306.94

- The xfx 4670 supports the new "app" software, some apps like flashplayer and realplayer offload the video rendering tasks to the graphics card. It also has a gpu based video converter, hdmi, dvi, and svga. The gpu also upconverts and de-blocks internet videos somewhat. It does help with video quality.

-with only 4gigs mem in the kit, disabling the onboard vid frees up some extra memory too. The onboard geforce 7200gs is too old and behind the times for a modern pc.

With the dvd burner, they give you a 2nd 500 gig seagate, use this spare drive to mirror the one you set up with windows to the other one, so you have a exact copy. Its easy to do with the software you download from seagate. This way when the pc crashes because someone did something wrong, all you have to do is plug in the old drive and let it mirror the drive while you have a coffee instead of working like a dog reinstalling windows. For $30 its money well spent to have a spare drive.

 

[need4speeds]

If you already have something like a working 200 gig kicking around and a dvd burner and some fans, you could just get the $199.99 kit and xfx card. That would be about $250.

The backup drive only has to be a bit larger than your windows install, you can mirror from a 500 to a 80gig even as long as the 500 has less than 80gigs of stuff on it.

 

[need4speeds]

The regor 250 overclocks to 3.6ghz while still running cool and quiet. My friend has this same cpu/board. Runs 3.6ghz at 38c under full load with the tiny oem cooler.
Drop the ht bus down the the next lower one, memory down to 1066 (unless it has a option to have the mem stay at a fixed speed), then up the fsb. See what the cpu is set to, if its already set to 1.425volts then leave it at default, if not set it to that voltage.

 

[jerreddredd]

You all kill me

I was going the KISS (keep is simple stupid) approach for someone who wanted a simple home use computer for a low price and now we got people talking overclocking and and new features on the latest graphic card.

The build I proposed is a solid reliable build with good components. yeah we can all debate this deal and that deal and save $20 maybe, but combos come and go, so I just went with the here and now.

if later GMVP wants to add a discreet graphics card he/she can, the PSU will support everything but the extreme high end cards.

 

[gmvp]

Best answer selected by GMVP.

 

[gmvp]

Yea, I'm gonna go with what jerreddredd suggested. I can just pick up the items as well using Neweggs new will-call system, just a 15 min drive. So i save on shipping! Thanks for all the help you guys. Appreciate it.