$300-ish Editing PC (2018) - Part Suggestions?

[bhogervorst]

Hellooo!

I'm working on a build for a friend. The budget for the build is $300 and we're totally willing to buy used. I'd like to be able to overclock for some extra performance, my friend also isn't planning on huge platform upgrades (Kabylake/Ryzen) anytime soon. The year being 2018, Ryzen seems to be all the hype. But with the price of DRAM so high and the lowest end R3-1200 going for half our budget, I'm thinking elsewhere for platforms.

So with Ryzen out of the picture, I've sort of set my mind on Haswell. But dang, those chips hold their value well! I was hoping an unlocked 4th gen i5 would be around $100 or less used but NO! I've done some looking around and I've found a couple of choice CPU's I like though, for under $100, namely the i5-3570k, it's unlocked and seems decent. I'll also mention I'm not worried about a GPU at this point, because this is an editing system, that can be a small upgrade later on.

So my question is, should I jump ship and abandon Haswell in favor of something like (dare I even say) AM3+ and the FX lineup, AM3 and the Phenom II X6, or maybe an FM2+ APU or Athlon? I'm hesitant on the AMD side of things, since Ryzen is just about all I trust now a days from AMD.

I am also aware of the benefits of buying a new prebuilt in-store but that's no fun and I still think I can beat that by a little if I build it myself.

Thanks for the help!

(Sorry if I've made a duplicate thread of someone elses, I looked and couldn't find anybody with the same question I have...)

 

[mazboy]

GA-H110-A motherboard with a Pentium G4400 or G4560 CPU. You can't afford neither a Ryzen or the GPU that it would require. You can buy the Pentium used for between $30-65, depending on which one you want, and how patient you are. You going to be stuck with a single 4GB stick of RAM at your price point. Hope you already have the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Find a sale or MIR on a Corsair or EVGA 450w PSU. You won't regret spending that money later. CPU cooler is $9 at Amazon.com or Newegg. Find a cheap mATX case new there also--you can buy a decent Rosewill for under $25.

You are not ever going to get anywhere near overclocking hardware, even used, even ancient, at your price point. Frankly, you might be better off here: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_9/135-9576016-6689145?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=used+desktop+computers&sprefix=used+desk%2Caps%2C295&crid=29YVLMM2GFB47

 

[bhogervorst]

GA-H110-A motherboard with a Pentium G4400 or G4560 CPU. You can't afford neither a Ryzen or the GPU that it would require. You can buy the Pentium used for between $30-65, depending on which one you want, and how patient you are. You going to be stuck with a single 4GB stick of RAM at your price point. Hope you already have the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Find a sale or MIR on a Corsair or EVGA 450w PSU. You won't regret spending that money later. CPU cooler is $9 at Amazon.com or Newegg. Find a cheap mATX case new there also--you can buy a decent Rosewill for under $25.

You are not ever going to get anywhere near overclocking hardware, even used, even ancient, at your price point. Frankly, you might be better off here: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_9/135-9576016-6689145?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=used+desktop+computers&sprefix=used+desk%2Caps%2C295&crid=29YVLMM2GFB47

@mazboy Sorry I probably should have specified this to begin with. I have built a few budget PC's with slightly higher budgets so I'm decently experienced with more modern budget builds. I'm doing great right now in terms of other components, what I'm primarily looking for is advice on a CPU and the platform in general. I appreciate your overall opinion on the build but I was asking for advice on my choice of CPU/platform.

I'm trying to buy almost everything used here so I can afford to spend $75-$100 on a CPU. A Pentium is okay but I would like to do a bit better than a dual core here and I absolutely do NOT need a Skylake chip. I especially cannot afford DDR4 and 4GB is not enough. The lowest I would go here would be an i3. This is an editing build after all.

 

[mazboy]

I was thinking about future-proofing. The GA-H110-A motherboard supports Kaby Lake too, giving you an upgrade path, and it allows using the on-board graphics (which are actually pretty good in the G4560--which is also a Kaby Lake chip) until you pop for a video card.

I've played around with older stuff, but it seems like in the last year someone has caught on to the performance available from "outdated" chips, like the i7-2/3xxxk CPUs, and suddenly they're bringing stupid prices. Only DDR3 RAM seems immune to this. Go figure.

If you're in it for the long run, and have the patience of Job to troll eBay and such, building a $300 killer is a lot of fun.

 

[madmatt30]

You can do an am4 apu for a little over $300 new

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - A8-9600 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI - A320M PRO-VD PLUS Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($48.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Toshiba - 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($42.19 @ OutletPC)
Case: DIYPC - MA01-R MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($23.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($28.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $303.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-24 01:20 EST-0500


Past that you'll honestly be struggling , haswelll has held its prices well , sandy/ivy xhips are cheap second hand but motherboards are scarce & generally very overpriced.

Ill get slated for this but second hand an fx6300 setup is easily your best bet for that money.

Personally id hold off a month , take the base build I listed & if possible up the budget $30 & drop one of the up & coming ryzen apu's in it.

http://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-3-2200g

2200g has a retail of $99 & nothing is going to touch it for that money.

 

[enjoiskaterguy]

Pro tip: Try to see if there is a computer recycling center around your town. In my town we have one and they sell older computer parts. This my help.

$300 is quite limited if you plan on editing even 1080p quality effectively.

It say a more realistic build is going to cost you around $450 even if tou use ddr3, haswell/AM3 parts and 4 year old GPUs.

 

[mrmez]

Didn't say if you need a monitor, peripherals, an OS etc.

Your only real option is 2nd hand, and then you're limited to whatever combination of hardware. Best find some options, post them here so we can evaluate.

 

[bhogervorst]

@madmatt30 That's EXACTLY what I needed! I agree with you on the AM4 APU because that will give him an option for Ryzen 3 or maybe 5 down the line. It might also temporarily solve the problem of no GPU, since this is an APU with passable graphics. I also agree on the FX platform, I might look into that as well.

@enjoiskaterguy Yes you're right. The Networking company I work for gets rid of systems all the time, I'll keep my eyes open. I also understand what you mean about editing 1080p with these specs. It's not pretty I know, but my friend just needs something passable, as an upgrade from an old laptop. We're not looking for the best of the best here. Thank you for the advice.

@mrmez I'm sorry, I did forget about that. I'm not factoring those into the $300 budget because we have a larger budget for peripherals and monitors as well as Windows. We've got that all covered. I do understand that I am going to be buying used for sure, and I'm not afraid to do that.

Any more input about the AM3 FX platform? I would love to go with an AM4 APU but the cost of DDR4 is through the roof and I don't know if I want to stomach that.

Thanks for all the advice, I will adjust my plans accordingly and post back shortly with final plans!