Budget Build

[ReformedGamer]

Approximate Purchase Date: This Thursday (15-Nov)

Budget Range: $300-350 Before Shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Ability to watch movies, play flash/browser games, word processing, browsing.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: Everything inside & including the tower (I already have mouse/keyboard/monitor/speakers)

Do you need to buy OS: Yes -- preferably Windows 7

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Location: Starkville, MS, United States

Parts Preferences: Intel

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024

Additional Comments: This is for a dear friend as a surprise Christmas present. They do not use it for anything much other than Word processing, so it doesn't have to be able to play any of the latest games, although the ability to watch DVDs/online movies would be a nice plus.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: My friend's HDD broke and they were using a crappy Dell refurb. I want to build them something better that will last longer.

Thank you!

 

[butremor]

Don't know about Intel preference but in your budget, AMD seems to do the trick with the gpu integrated in cpu.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nyGY
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nyGY/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nyGY/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A55M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($50.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 371 ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.20 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ CompUSA)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) ($99.00 @ NCIX US)
Total: $395.13
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-13 07:19 EST-0500)

if you really want intel one:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nyG5
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nyG5/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nyG5/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Pentium G850 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($18.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 371 ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.20 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ CompUSA)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) ($99.00 @ NCIX US)
Total: $378.13
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-13 07:12 EST-0500)




Between two builds amd has more powerful graphics unite, but i guess for the purposes you described, intel build will do, just wanted to give perspective

 

[excella1221]

+1 on the AMD build.

I don't get the point of the 32-bit OS though, it bottlenecks RAM dedication and is slightly more expensive.

 

[butremor]

wait i thought win7 is supposed to support 4 gb.
Well i that's the case then, just go with 64bit and that shaves off 8 bucks from both builds.

 

[ReformedGamer]

Awesome. I believe I will be going with an AMD build considering the budget. Thanks!

 

[ReformedGamer]

Best answer selected by ReformedGamer.