Comments on: Michael’s PC build

By: Vortex

Vortex — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:49:25 +0000

syntheticsymmetry said:
I mean, I’m simply looking for a Starter kit for light gaming and maybe some Sketchup rendering. Just about anything will blow my mind, i’ve been working on a netbook for the past 5 months.

I mean, the build I put together for you isn't amazing by any means, but it will do light gaming. If I were you I'd probably just drop the power supply I suggested and use the one that comes with the case. You don't have to get the graphics card either. It was just a suggestion if you decide that what is there isn't enough.

By: Vortex

Vortex — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:09:38 +0000

Yeah, but the problem is that the configuration I posted is probably the best you’re going to get for $300.

By: syntheticsymmetry

syntheticsymmetry — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:10:50 +0000

I mean, I’m simply looking for a Starter kit for light gaming and maybe some Sketchup rendering. Just about anything will blow my mind, i’ve been working on a netbook for the past 5 months.

By: Vortex

Vortex — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:24:49 +0000

Ok, so after a little bit of research and looking around on Newegg, this is what I came up with: Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-A55M-DS2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128530 APU: AMD A6-3500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103951 RAM: 4GB Kingston HyperX @1333mhz CAS 7 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104227 Hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 500GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767 Optical Drive: Light-On DVD Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 Case: Broadway Com Corp 1243MA-BLACK http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811162059 Power Supply: Antec NEO ECO 400C 400 Watt http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029 It's not exactly the most powerful system, but you get what you pay for. $300 is really low for a computer budget, and this build even goes over that limit by about $40. You should be able to do some light gaming with it, but don't expect to be maxing out the graphics in games. If you ever decide that you need a little more graphics horsepower, you could always add in a Radeon HD 6670 and run it in dual graphics mode with the APU. That might actually double the graphical quality. Here's the Radeon HD 6670 from XFX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150576 Normally this build would be cheaper, but hard drive prices are outrageous right now. There are cheaper hard drives out there, but their capacity is much much smaller and they're only about $5-$10 cheaper. Of course, all of these products are from Newegg.com, so if you do a little bit more hunting around you might be able to find them cheaper somewhere else but probably not by much. Also, you can always add more fans to the case if you decide that you need more airflow, but a build like this one probably doesn't need all that much. It's still an option for the future though, and you might want to at least install an exhaust fan at the back of the case. If you really want to save some money, you could always just use the power supply that comes with the case, but I'm always more comfortable buying a brand name power supply that I know will give me clean power. This build isn't very heavy on power consumption by any means, though, so the one that comes with the case might be just fine. That's really your call though. If you got rid of the power supply I posted and just used the one with the case, you would save $40 and be within budget.

By: witteknokkels

witteknokkels — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:44:33 +0000

from what I’ve seen the apu is more graphically capable then intels integrated graphics solution. That and it can be used with a low end graphics card to make some decent power out of it easly

By: GigaBuster.exe

GigaBuster.exe — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:29:48 +0000

before going into this, you want to spend the majority of the budget on core components like CPU, ram, mother board and GPU, if you have a old case, power supply, or even HDD, I'd reuse it, unless its something horrid like a 20GB IDE drive, they haven't really had much variance in form factor in the last 20 years of computers so this Micro ATX board should fit into anything unless its like slim line mini ITX this is assuming you have nothing but cash the case and PSU, if you get a dedicated GPU or better CPU I'd get a better one, than this, but for a 65W CPU with just integrated, it should be fine http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147099 $300 really isn't a budget for an SSD, you'll need more than double digit GB anyway http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767 still standing with this MOBO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135287 beats amd tricores in most things, you won't ever need more than 8GB, you don't even need it for gaming, only people who need that much is video editors, server use, major file compression, and rich people, also you have latecy issues if you go beyond 8GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.806151 I really don't think integrated is enough for even desktop use but if its not then refer back to us oh and I almost forgot, use a 64bit OS unless you feel like making one of those sticks of ram completely useless, I'd also allocate as much memory as possible to the integrated GPU you have plenty I was thinking on doing a APU one but idk, I've been working with intel and discovered they are actually pretty cheap as long as you know what you're doing, I didn't suggest it because it doesn't have room to grow, sure this isn't that great GPU wise to start with but you can build upon it with additional GPU and even CPU upgrades, even thought the cpu I suggested is pretty good, its still near the bottom of the cpu line for 1155, it has even more power cpus he can upgrade to, while that is pretty much the best cpu the FM1 has although it does have Superior GPU it's not that great of a CPU look at this chart http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/404?vs=399 its about on par with one of the lower end 1155 cpus

By: witteknokkels

witteknokkels — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:14:22 +0000

well the best intgrated graphics i know of are on AMD's apu
apu: $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103942 there is also an unlocked version of the chip.
motherboard: $59
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157277
memory: $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231422
power supply will be anywhere from 20 to 100 dollars for a 500 watt
The harddrive would be however big you wanted it, but they are really expensive right now.
The case is personal preference but they can be rather cheap
and this has probably already blown your budget though

By: syntheticsymmetry

syntheticsymmetry — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:11:44 +0000

Thanks so much guys, i’m really just entirely new to computers and such. i’d be using this for really just general use. I do play video games quite a bit, but the most taxing one i own is probably Portal 2. so as for a GPU, i feel like an Integrated GPU or something minimal is all i need. The SSD isn’t a requirement or anything, just looked like a nice addition; also, my limit is probably around 300.

By: Rabu Rabu

Rabu Rabu — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:56:55 +0000

Barebones systems generally aren't worth getting so you might want to part it out individually.

I can do it upon request, but at the moment I'm feeling overly lazy.

Also, use newegg.

By: MASSKILLA

MASSKILLA — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

The bundle is garbage you won't be able to play any hardware intense games and even if you got a good video card you will bottleneck.
How much are you willing to spend on a pc?