Help Needed With Super-Low Budget Build

[samfrostnz]

As the title suggests, I'm on the hunt for a super-low budget PC build (~$300-350 USD, which translates roughly to my budget of $500 NZD once you factor in exchange rate and the 15-20% premium we pay for all electronic goods here).

I just want it for basic use at the house I stay at for half the week. Where I live the other 50% of the time I'm in the process of sorting a hackintosh "power mac", but I'm getting sick of lugging my now aging Asus ROG laptop around all week.

I want to use the computer for:

* Web browsing (I do a lot of research online for freelance writing so often have 10+ tabs open at once)
* Streaming music on Spotify, 8 Tracks etc
* Word processing
* Watching YouTube videos and documentaries online
* Main thing I want is the feeling of a snappy, quick machine when opening up large word docs, images, or PDFs. My current laptop is really sluggish in this regard.

I understand I won't be able to get a "gaming beast" for my meager budget; not an issue as I have a 360 I can play, and I'm not much of a gamer anyway. However, I would like if possible to build a computer that can play my favorite old games like Half Life 2, Doom 3, Rome: Total War, Medieval 2: Total War, and KOTOR (so basically 5-7 years ago).

I already have mouse, keyboard, speakers, and a screen (just a castaway old 19" phillips LCD... real old school but does the job). I might even be able to rustle up an old ATX case that I've had for about 5 years that's still in good condition.

I was thinking along the lines of either an AMD A8, or a Pentium g2120? I could stretch my budget around $50-75 if it meant getting an SSD and plenty of RAM (I assume these will make the biggest difference in terms of speed for the "office" tasks I'll be doing).

Within my budget I could also afford a 2nd hand machine I just saw on an online auction site; $550 NZD including an fx 4100, 4gb RAM, 60gb SSD, and HD 5770

 

[supern4ut]

I'm not a fan of buying second hand electronics, especially with storage devices. Besides, I think you could do better than the computer you menctioned. From what you described, I'd recommend something like this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/19Qwz ($392 online, without rebates or shipping)
I chose the top-of-the-line A10 over the A8 mainly because of the integrated GPU. This APU can run games like Crysis 3 and Tomb Raider.
The Crucial m4 SSD has a very good reputation and scores quite high on benchmarks. Still, note that low capacity SSDs are said to be much less durable than their higher capacity counterparts.
Since you'd be running on an APU, you'd need some decent RAM. Those Crucial Balistix seemed the best deal for running at 1866MHz CAS 9. 4GB are enough for daily usage and even if not, you could add one or two more modules later on.
As for the mobo, PSU and HDD, I chose what I believed to be good and not too expensive options.

Hope it helps! If you can't find the exact models, it should help you decide what to look for