Budget PC - Lowest possible

[mrflip99]

Hey guys - i'm looking to build a very basic budget PC but keep it some what ready for future use. It will be used just for surfing the web and playing HD video so integrated graphics should be sufficient. I figure a low end AMD quad core should keep it afloat for the next couple years. I know quad core isnt necessary but I'm also trying to prevent from having to upgrade again in the next couple years. Any recommendations on cheap cpu/mobo combos and other components? Again, the challenge is to keep it as cheap as possible!

 

[spdragoo]

Well, you don't need to worry about an SSD for it; a standard HDD will provide more than enough performance for what you plan on using it for. Capacity-wise, unless you plan on storing a lot of multimedia files, you can get by with a 500GB to 1 TB drive; if you need more in the future, you can just add another drive.

RAM-wise, you don't need to worry about being super-fast; 1333-speed DDR3 should work just fine.

Beyond that, you can probably get by with an mATX board; that'll be more than sufficient for an AMD chip, & should have a x16 PCIe slot if you need to upgrade to a discrete GPU later on. If you have a Micro Center located near you, they're currently offering bundle deals on the A-series APUs: $70 for the A8-6600K with a Gigabyte GA-F2A58M-HD2 (essentially free mobo) or $95 for the ASRock FM2A88M-HD+, both of which are mATX boards. Full-size ATX boards run another $40-60 as part of the bundle.

 

[mrflip99]

Thanks for the help! I saw that deal from micro center however they ran out of the cpu and is no longer being made. I found an even cheaper combo for an amd dual core/mobo for $44! but that too was out of stock. I decided to down grade to dual core after doing more research on the differences and availability of bundles on microcenter. Here is the build I ended up going for to optimize speed and lowest budget. I know the 8gb ram may be overkill, but it should balance out with the lower end dual core.

AMD A6/Mobo - $66
Rosewill PS/Case - $40
8gb DDR3 Ram - $62
V300 SSD - $50
LG DVDRW - $15

Total - $233