[SOLVED] Looking for budget prebuilt under $500

[alphacoyle]

Hello, really looking for a well built basic desktop; Case just needs to be around under 15" deep so it'll fit where I'm going to put it. i3 processor is fine, I don't do anything fancy; my child plays some Steam games so expansion ports for a graphics card and power supply that can handle that. Am fine with hdd, 1tb; 8gb ram. I'd consider doing a build but with win 10 included in these prebuilts makes them affordable. Can be used/refurbished; I've had good luck with used business pcs. Thanks, Coyle.

 

[tennis2]

I want to lay out what you could get by building yourself. Knowing that you don't have to spend $110 on a legit Windows 10 license.

Ryzen 1600 AF = $85 (this is the updated one, essentially a Ryzen 2600)
Gigabyte B450M-DS3H = $73 (pretty much any pre-built will have a cheapo A320 mobo with 2 ram slots)
2x4GB DDR4-3000 = $45 (or 2x8GB for $25 more)
RX570 8GB = $125 after MIR and promo code EMCDHGG34 (ends tonight)
Corsair CV450 = $54
Crucial P2 500GB SSD = $65 (probably won't get an SSD in a pre-built under $500)
Silverstone PS15 = $60 (this one's nice with a tempered glass side panel, but there are cheaper options)
Total = $507

That's everything, on a modern platform, WITH the GPU you're planning on adding to your $500 pre-built.

 

[kevinburrow]

I think with that pricepoint you really do have to build as you'd get really bad parts on a pre-build. Couldn't agree more with the post above, especially if you could stretch to 16gb RAM. if you really don't care about loading times you could get a standard 1tb HDD and use the saving for extra RAM but the SSD is so much quicker you'll never want to go back after.

 

[alphacoyle]

You're right; originally I had planned on building one, back then was for living-room htpc, needed to be sff to fit, ended up getting a used optiplex 3010 w' windows 10 for like $75 and it's worked fine for what I use it for--streaming video and general browsing. That was many years ago and haven't really thought much about hardware until now, and yeah, I know the parts are substandard, lots of bottlenecks etc so will build one this time (thanks for the heads up, I now know that I don't have to pay so much for windows.)
That's a great setup, definitely more than I need but for the price-point super. I'd be a bit concerned with how much power that would take up as I usually do very low resource stuff on my computer, for example this new setup is going to be for another room, I've been using a 17" hp/compaq nx9600 laptop and for the most part can still use it; but with a pentium and xp it's time to upgrade. The only things I do that might take more resources is some audio programs like fl studio and my child while can play some steam games like goat simulator out here on the optiplex it glitches when going into space and other games need dedicated graphics so it'll be good for that. I wonder if I should get a sound card as fl studio asks for one--I use the generic ASIO4ALL driver which seems to work alright. I appreciate the advice, got me back on track.

 

[tennis2]

I threw in the RX570 because what you said about your kid playing steam games and adding a dGPU to a pre-built. I didn't know he/she only played goat simulator(?). Also, to show that you can get all that performance within your budget.

If you don't think you'll need that much yet, you can drop the RX570 and substitue:
Ryzen 3200G = $95
MSI B450M Pro-VDH Max = $80
New total = $400 (or $425 w/ 16GB RAM)

That would still play the type of games you're mentioning and you could always add a dGPU later if needed.

 

[alphacoyle]

That sounds good, and I would go ahead and add a graphics card as I see a lot of the games do require one. I used Goat Simulator just to test out Steam. One thing, I have always used Intel, what are the benefits of AMD?

 

[tennis2]

Intel i3-9100F = $75 (no IGP on this chip, similar to the AMD 1600AF above, so you'll need a graphics card)
AsRock B365M Pro4 = $75
2x4GB DDR4-2666 = $38 or 2x8GB DDR4-3000 = $63
RX570 8GB = $120 after MIR (hey! even cheaper than before!)
Corsair CX450 = $60 (the CV is out of stock now)
Crucial P2 500GB SSD = $65
Silverstone PS15 = $60
Total = $493 - $518

 

[kevinburrow]

That sounds good, and I would go ahead and add a graphics card as I see a lot of the games do require one. I used Goat Simulator just to test out Steam. One thing, I have always used Intel, what are the benefits of AMD?

AMD is much better value for money at the moment, basically.

 

[tennis2]

^ In some product segments...

 

[kevinburrow]

^ In some product segments...

Oh yea I was lazily assuming he meant processor in his price range

 

[tennis2]

CPUs is what I was talking about. Intel isn't a complete write-off.

 

[kevinburrow]

CPUs is what I was talking about. Intel isn't a complete write-off.

No, but from what I gather you can't really beat the AMD 1600AF for price/performance ratio.

 

[tennis2]

I would go with the 1600AF (in the first build I linked) over the i3-9100F since the 1600 has 6 cores/12 threads and the i3 only has 4c/4t.

That said, $75 for an i3-9100F ain't bad. Was just trying to provide an Intel option since the OP asked.

 

[punkncat]

^ In some product segments...

No, but from what I gather you can't really beat the AMD 1600AF for price/performance ratio.

I have to say that even still, if I am building an office work station with absolutely no need of gaming, I would (and do) choose Intel over AMD for the iGPU aspect. I would choose the i5 immediately over the R3/5 "G" units.
For anything I was going to add a graphics card to, currently, AMD is the value point.

 

[tennis2]

I would agree that AMD overprices their G series chips.
Of course, AMD's omittance of IGP on their non-G chips has forced Intel's hand to release their "F" series chips with the same concept and overprice their i3/i5 models with IGPs. That's a step backward for the industry IMO. For desktop chips, I'd prefer at least an anemic IGP.

 

[alphacoyle]

I don't have a preference towards Intel, was just asking as have had Intel in the past. I think that original build with the AMD 1600 AF is fine. Back in the day I seem to recall that AMD was preferred for gaming due to it's unclocked cpus, but lacked some of the features that Intel had; but that was a LONG time ago.

 

[tennis2]

The current landscape is certainly favoring AMD more and more each year since their release of Ryzen CPUs. Most people end up (rightfully so) recommending AMD builds these days.

 

[alphacoyle]

Ok, I'm up for trying something new; that Ryzen 1600 AF is interesting. Would you suggest I get a sound card? And while I like that case do you know a similar size without the mesh front? Thanks.

Ryzen 1600 AF

 

[tennis2]

No sound card needed. Onboard audio has come a long way since a decade ago.

 

[alphacoyle]

Ok, I see in my DAW the option to select an sound card, and in tutorials they usually have one--though there is a generic driver that seems to work fine with the onboard, just wondered about that. Thanks.