[New System] Bargain/Budget System under $600

[nikolai]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week BUDGET RANGE: Under $600

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: World of Warcraft, Movies, Office, General internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg, Frys, anywhere that's cheap and reliable COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: No real pref.

OVERCLOCKING: No, but capability would be nice if I feel adventurous

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: The PC will mostly be used for work-at-home and will not require a whole lot of umph. It's secondary use will be for world of warcraft and movies.

Here are the parts I've slapped together randomly and came up with a $529 build. No idea if it's even a good start or not, but we'll see.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

ASRock M3A785GXH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157167

ASUS EN9500GT/DI/1GD2/V2/A GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121339

Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103681

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX250OCGQBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103681

 

[jbakerlent]

Welcome to the forum. Yes, you've got a good start there. One note, you are going to want DDR3 for that AM3 motherboard. Here's a build that totals $590, it's using some different components but it's still based on an AM3 Athlon II.

CPU: ■AMD Athlon II X3 440 -$75-
MOBO: ■ASRock M3A770DE -$60-
RAM: ■G.Skill Ripjaws -$116-
GPU: ■XFX Radeon HD 5750 -$130-
HDD: ■Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB -$55-
PSU: ■SeaSonic S12II 520B -$70-
Case: ■Antec 300 Illusion -$60-
HSF: ■Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus -$27-

 

[dirtmountain]

Good build by jbaker as always, i put this alternate build together that comes close to the $600 budget (makes it if you include rebates...i hate rebates)and includes the windows7 64 OS. I went very cheap on the case and substituted a HD4850 for the 5750. Some good combo deals.

Case - $33 Rosewill budget special, has a single 120mm fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147109

CPU/PSU - combo deal $120 AthlonIIx3 440/OCZ 500w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.392562

mobo/GPU - combo deal $198 with a Gigabyte 770 AM3 and a Gigabyte 4850 (no DX11/eyefinity)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.388654

RAM - $109 2x2 GB DDR3 1333 G.Skill
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231275

HD- $55 Seagate 7200.12 500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Burner - $2 LiteOn SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106333

OS - $100 Windows7 premium 64
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

about $640 with $45 in rebates...if you send them in, jump through the hoops and get the checks back.

 

[jbakerlent]

^+1, nice combos. The Gigabyte board + 4850 is especially good.

 

[batuchka]

$569AR including ship

 

[jbl91]

Not digging the Powercolor GPU, OCZ RAM, or Biostar MOBO. There's no need to sacrifice THAT much quality.

 

[batuchka]

Have gotten my hands dirty which such a build - nothing but smiles from clients when they see price/performance and do drop by Extremesystems forums for the feel of current AM3/785 Biostar chipset ^^ OCZ i wouldn't go with the Gold/Obsidian series RAM but AMD Black series good to go

 

[dirtmountain]

I've been very happy with Biostar motherboards in the past, no problems and they're all still running. It's a good thing to be able to see different options available.

 

[batuchka]

Yes and i would add Asrock along on that list of ever improving mobo makers but ECS...well their BIOS needs more work!

 

[nikolai]

Thanks, guys! It's only my second build so I'm still learning and I'm glad to see that I've got a decent start =)

Will note that about the DDR3 in the future.

I don't need the OS, though, and completely forgot to put that up there. Is there something you could upgrade with that build, dirt & Batu??

 

[nikolai]

Still poking about =)

 

[dirtmountain]

For an extra $40 the same motherboard with a 5770 GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.388638

or maybe a OS+ sized SSD for about $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211419

or a larger case with better cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147135
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

or a cooler for eventual overclocking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=


*EDIT* You can cut the installed size of windows7 to about 8GB and WoW is about 15GB iirc.