Custom pc 500euro (650$) editing and gaming

rtwonmac · Dec 1, 2012

Hello, i would like to build a custom pc but i need some help, in belgium (my country there is no newegg

so the best online hardware site (and the cheapest) is alternate.be
so i can only buy parts from this site. i want to spend 500euros for it because i also have to buy a monitor, keyboard, os ....
i will use this pc for photo/video editing and casual gaming
the link is a neat system builder but its in dutch

http://www.alternate.be/html/configurator/builder/pc/page.html

stickmansam · Dec 1, 2012

for some clarification, the parts you want to fit the budget are cpu, gpu, case, ram, psu, hard drive, motherboard and a optical drive right?

EDIT:Looking at the prices for the parts on the site, it going to be hard to fit a well balanced system for 500 eruos, the site also doesn't have the new piledrivers which would have been my choice.

rtwonmac · Dec 1, 2012

yeah i would like all of the parts
about the cpu i thought an air cooled phenom x4 955 would be good :s clocked at 4 ghz
with a evo212

rtwonmac · Dec 1, 2012

i also thought about a amd a10 5800 but they have no fm2 mobos... :s

djfv · Dec 1, 2012

stickmansam · Dec 2, 2012

^ pretty much I had building, you bet me to it =)
You can grab a 3470 which is 100mhz faster for about 5 more euros, your choice.
I would grab the mSI 7770 if you think you'r going to using the card for quite a while but they both should be fine.
For the RAM, you really need 8GB for any type of video/photo editing though. http://www.alternate.be/html/product/Corsair/8_GB_DDR3-1600_Kit/781776/?
djfv did a really good job with his choices, but I would suggest saving up say a extra 20-50 euros and getting more ram and the better GPU and faster cpu.
Priority RAM>CPU/GPU

rtwonmac · Dec 2, 2012

thanks for the help!

djfv · Dec 2, 2012

stickmansam :

You are right. I think that for only 20-50 more euros he can make a great well-balanced system.
Priority:

1. 15 euros more for RAM. Definitely that one: http://www.alternate.be/html/product/Corsair/8_GB_DDR3-1600_Kit/781776/?
2. 15-20 euros more for 1tb HDD.
3. 10 euros for GPU.

While yes, it is only 5 euros, 100mhz really isn't much. Not such a big deal.

But I think, either way, he will do just fine.

rtwonmac · Dec 2, 2012

what about a overclocked phenom? wouldn't it perform well, i heard its a great cpu for the money

rtwonmac · Dec 2, 2012

and what about this psu? http://www.alternate.be/html/product/information/pageBuilder.html?articleId=888488&kind=pcBuilder

i don't know about psu specs but the comments are mostly positive and its a 500w for 5euros less

djfv · Dec 2, 2012

rtwonmac :

I wouldn't choose a phenom. They are getting quite old. The last one came out 2 years ago. They consume quite a bit more power than Ivy bridge and are slower. Really, for media editing you need good CPU.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu-core-i3-2100-phenom-ii-x6-1075t,2859-10.html

Do note that i5-3450 is faster than i5-2400 which again is quite faster than 955.

Regarding PSU: well, they are mostly the same, truth to be told. Both are CWT designs and both use Samxon capacitors. Shouldn't be much of a difference. If you want to save, yes, why not.

rtwonmac · Dec 2, 2012

thanks for the help everyone!
about the mobo, i would prefer a atx over a micro atx and i also would like to overclock my cpu, and i would also want usb 3.0 ports so what is a other good mobo from the site?

djfv · Dec 2, 2012

rtwonmac :

All modern mobos support USB3. Including the one I recommended.
This one is ATX:
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/information/pageBuilder.html?kind=pcBuilder&componentType=required&articleId=991187&className=mainboard

ATX motherboards that support Intel CPU overclocking would cost you at least 90 euros.

http://www.alternate.be/html/product/information/pageBuilder.html?kind=pcBuilder&componentType=required&articleId=993358&className=mainboard

http://www.alternate.be/html/product/information/pageBuilder.html?kind=pcBuilder&componentType=required&articleId=1018543&className=mainboard

Also the cheapest Intel CPU that supports overclocking is:

http://www.alternate.be/html/product/Intel(R)/Core(TM)_i5-3570K/965973/?

...which is quite expensive.

Also, you would need a good air cooler, and so on... There is really no way you could get that within 500 euro budget. No way.

Or you could go with AMD, whose (almost) every CPU supports overclocking. But unfortunately they are, even overclocked, slower that stock Intel CPUs. Still, you would need a good (80+ euros ) mobo and CPU cooler (30 euros) and I don't recommend going with overclocking option, with your budget. It is more intended for enthusiast, more expensive computers.

Still, if you insist:
Good:
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/AMD/FX-4300/1038197/?
Better:
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/AMD/FX-8320/1038225/?

http://www.alternate.be/html/product/Cooler_Master/Hyper212_Evo/915234/?
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/ASRock/970_Extreme3/926824/?

stickmansam · Dec 2, 2012

With the 3450 and the 3470, you can overclock them to 3.7ghz and 3.8ghz for all 4 cores using the turbo mulitplier. The 3570k would proably let you reach 4.5ghz but thats about it (on air and maybe needing a better cpu heatsink) There are none of the new amd pildriver x3xx on the site so amd is not that competitive where you live. As djfv said its hard to fit your requirements with 500 euros.

rtwonmac · Dec 4, 2012

Thanks for all the replies!
I have some good news, the site updated their online store and piledriver cpu's are available! http://www.alternate.be/html/product/listing.html?navId=11572&tk=7&lk=3015 (not via the pc-builder strangely enough)
Would piledriver be cheaper and better for the money?

parts i am elready pretty sure of:

the case: http://www.alternate.be/html/product/Sharkoon/Vaya/860508/? (27euro)

the hdd: http://www.alternate.be/html/product/information/pageBuilder.html?articleId=907816&kind=pcBuilder (60euros)

the psu: http://www.alternate.be/html/product/information/pageBuilder.html?articleId=888488&kind=pcBuilder

rtwonmac · Dec 4, 2012

psu 45euros

djfv · Dec 4, 2012

I have already made a recommendation based on AMD piledriver CPUs above:

Quote:

Good:
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/AMD/FX-4300/1038197/?
Better:
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/AMD/FX-8320/1038225/?

http://www.alternate.be/html/product/Cooler_Master/Hyper212_Evo/915234/?
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/ASRock/970_Extreme3/926824/?

As I said, to overclock you need a good CPU fan. This combo above would be fine.

However- in most cases i5-3450 is on par with the most powerful AMD- FX-8350 (which costs 210 euros):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-17.html

Meaning: i5-3450 is better in some (single-threaded) cases while FX-8350 is better in some (multi-threaded) cases. Or: more or less they are the same, since you will be both gaming and doing photo/video editing.

Unfortunately you don't have enough money for that CPU so you will have to set for slower FX-8320 or FX-4300, which are both weaker than i5-3450/ i5-3470.

True, AMD CPUs can be overclocked but then you will have to deal with mich higher power consumption (i5-3450= 77w / AMD FX-4300= 95w / AMD FX-8320= 125w). Note that AMDs will use much more (150w+) if overclocked and, as i said, you will have to pay for a cooler that is not actually cheap (30 euros).

I gave you both options. It is your choice.

rtwonmac · Dec 5, 2012

djfv :

I have already made a recommendation based on AMD piledriver CPUs above:

Quote:

Good:
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/AMD/FX-4300/1038197/?
Better:
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/AMD/FX-8320/1038225/?

http://www.alternate.be/html/product/Cooler_Master/Hyper212_Evo/915234/?
http://www.alternate.be/html/product/ASRock/970_Extreme3/926824/?

As I said, to overclock you need a good CPU fan. This combo above would be fine.

However- in most cases i5-3450 is on par with the most powerful AMD- FX-8350 (which costs 210 euros):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-17.html

Meaning: i5-3450 is better in some (single-threaded) cases while FX-8350 is better in some (multi-threaded) cases. Or: more or less they are the same, since you will be both gaming and doing photo/video editing.

Unfortunately you don't have enough money for that CPU so you will have to set for slower FX-8320 or FX-4300, which are both weaker than i5-3450/ i5-3470.

True, AMD CPUs can be overclocked but then you will have to deal with mich higher power consumption (i5-3450= 77w / AMD FX-4300= 95w / AMD FX-8320= 125w). Note that AMDs will use much more (150w+) if overclocked and, as i said, you will have to pay for a cooler that is not actually cheap (30 euros).

I gave you both options. It is your choice.

ok i hadn't seen the piledrivers yet, is this a good mobo assuming i go with a the AMD FX4300? (no overclocking)

http://www.alternate.be/html/product/ASRock/970_Extreme3/926824/?

djfv · Dec 5, 2012

rtwonmac :

That is an excellent motherboard.

stickmansam · Dec 5, 2012

I would prefer the 6300 over the 4300 since you get more 2 more "cores" for 7 euros and games seem to respond positively to it
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6396/the-vishera-review-amd-fx8350-fx8320-fx6300-and-fx4300-tested/5

djfv · Dec 5, 2012

stickmansam :

Then go for it.
Since you are already buying an excellent motherboard, which overclocks beautifully, and FX-6300 - then don't forget to buy that evo 212 cooler.
It will overclock great.
Good luck with your purchase !

rtwonmac · Dec 5, 2012

ok, i will buy the parts after my exam period and make this pc!
thanks for the help guys

stickmansam · Dec 6, 2012

No problem =)

rtwonmac · Jan 9, 2013

so i built the pc (wich was actually for a friend), we went with the radeon hd7770 and 8 gigs of vengeance ram (slightly over budget)
everything is going fine except for the grafic's card program (drive i think it is called) should we install it from the cdrom we got with it because the downloaded one doesn't seem to work...

djfv · Jan 9, 2013

rtwonmac :

Congratulations on your purchase!
Be very careful when installing drivers. Uninstall whatever video drivers you have installed.
Then go to:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

then:
step 1- desktop graphics
step 2- radeon HD series
step 3- radeon HD 7xxx series pcie
step 4 - choose your operating system.
Pay attention to choose right operating system - you probably have 64bit version (or should have installed that version).

OR

choose in
step 2 - auto detect and install.

It will do it for you automatically.

Custom pc 500euro (650$) editing and gaming

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