Need AMD build on a $400 budget

[cursedbrood]

Approximate Purchase Date: 1day-3weeks (Before the wife retracts my spending limit or changes her mind)

Budget Range: $400 (In a week I can add another $100 to this budget but would prefer a base line of $400)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (Specifically WoW, and Counter strike Source),

Are you buying a monitor: Monitor is not in this budget. That will come at a later date.



Parts to Upgrade: Everything but HD's. If a large one can be fitted in the budget without sacrificing from the rest I will take it but I do have two I can rip out of this desktop if need be.

Do you need to buy OS: No. I will purchase that at a later date as well.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: All of the above. I don't mind hopping around for the better deals.

Location: Plattsburgh, New York. United States

Parts Preferences: I prefer the AMD systems due to how much of a beating they can take.

Overclocking: Maybe (Not important at all. I've been running all these years without overclocking but if the potential is there I will take it)

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 1024x768, but I plan on upgrading the screen when I purchase the OS at a later date.

Additional Comments: I want a system that has the capability to be upgraded over another 5-10 years. I would prefer to start with the bare essentials right now so I can at least play my games and most importantly keep wife aggro to a minimal by stretching the rest of the upgrade spending at a later time.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Can no longer play WoW even on lowest Res without it crashing my whole computer. Current is over 8 years old so I desperately NEED an upgrade.

Lastly this is the dxdiag from my current computer. As you can very well see anything recent would be a massive upgrade.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 9/13/2012, 06:06:59
       Machine name: RAV
   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp.080413-2111)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
       System Model: Dimension 4550               
               BIOS: Default System BIOS
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz
             Memory: 2048MB RAM
          Page File: 641MB used, 3302MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

 

[cursedbrood]

I may just cheat and go on ebay or craigslist. I wanted to build one myself but I'm finding it extremely difficult to find a half decent barebones kits, alone, that would work.

 

[Tavo_Nova]

well you can start with some really cheap ones,

imo you can go with a am3+ asrock and a fx-4100 bulldozer, it may not perform as good as intel but no one can deny that it does work and does it job too.

but depends on where your buying. like in my place a i3 2120 sb is 2$ cheaper than bulldozer 4100.

a nice 7750 from sapphire does work. and a 320gb or 500gb hdd or if you can find some great deal on a ssd like a 120gb one from intel/samsung/crucial for like 80$-100$ then go for it instead and just use external storage. also instead of the 7750 you can opt for something older but still can play many games, and do some other program like the 5570 or something of that sort or their nvidia equivalent.

4gb ram is a good start and upgrade next time when things starts eating more than 4gb.

whether you go intel or amd, both are good and also works, you can see a lot of performance on many cases on intel than amd but still they both work for games and other programs, and of course on gaming side most of them are GPU usage and a normal fx-4100 non oc with a decent gpu can even play bf3 at a decent settings depending on the gpu.

so overall whether you go intel or amd just go with which one you can get cheaper since if you will be ugrading 5-10 years later, you would be upgrading to a whole new socket already XD.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-3870K 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.00 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus F1A55-M LE Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Pareema 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($35.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 6670 1GB Video Card ($56.97 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill R101-P-BK MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($27.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $344.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-15 11:39 EDT-0400)

 

[Wolfshadw]

^--- Good Build

You could probably even hold off on the graphics card for now as the A8-3870K should handle WoW at your resolution with no problems.

-Wolf sends

 

[Tavo_Nova]

agreed you can easily hold off on the gpu with the build above. as the built in one can handle wow at the resolution your gaming.

and just grab the corsair cx500 just for the hell of it. and maybe the old antec 300 which has decent cooling and a decent case, then just buy a gpu later.

 

[cursedbrood]

Best answer selected by cursedbrood.

 

[cursedbrood]

That is a really decent build. Quad core like I wanted with plenty of room for everything else. Depending if I can find one better on ebay or another auction site Before next payday I may just go with it. Thank you all so much.