The best Surfboard PC with Color under $1000

[movieholic1977]

Hello,

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and understand our questions and concerns. Below is what me and the wife would like. Feel free to ask additional questions as needed. Thank you.

Since all we need to do is surf the web and watch movies, wheres a good place to start?

Approximate Purchase Date: By Christmas for 2014

Budget Range: up to $1,000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Surfing the internet, watching movies with wife, yahoo games

Are you buying a monitor: Yes but later on when money is available, though a price on the best one would be nice

Do you need to buy OS: Using Windows Vista Home Premium, unsure if i need to upgrade

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: whatever you recommend

Location: City, State/Region, Country - Houghton Lake, Mi 48629 USA

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: i wish i knew what you recommended

Overclocking: Maybe but i do not understand a good reason to

SLI or Crossfire: doesnt matter, just a single card should be fine for wife and I

Your Monitor Resolution: lol, small...need a bigger monitor for better movie watching

Additional Comments: NEEDS Color, or a fan control setup to change the fan colors as needed or the ability to be able to change other color parts as needed. A clear Tank like a fish tank would be awesome, or a case made of plastic like you see on mythbusters

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Our current PC is old and broke specifically with the hard drive slowling down, so a new ssd to boot up with as well as tons of storage minimum 1 TB would be sweet since we need a pc to watch tv on and speed is always nice

please please please feel free to ask anythign else. my wife and i have been saving money for a used car and a $1,000 budget for surfing the web seems to be reasonable

but we stress that we do not know anything about pc's and are using a local shop to help us build one

however the local shop owner prefers AMD over Intel and i do not know enough to understand the difference

thanks for your help,

The Lyons Family of Houghton Lake
Samantha and Michael Lyons

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for as far as color. Here is a very nice system for general use that has a consistent black/blue theme:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($87.99 @ Mwave)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($86.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($78.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($82.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Gigabyte Sumo Omega ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $773.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-07 10:20 EST-0500

 

[TomThePotato]

That IS consistent.. 😱 Even the power supply has blue on it.

 

[logainofhades]

Red and black theme.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: EVGA ACX CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($78.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($82.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($154.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Red 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($14.94 @ Amazon)
Total: $969.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-07 11:13 EST-0500

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Honestly as all you want to do is SEE Movies and Surf the Internet (By the way Netflix, HuluTV etc, is on there but they ALL depend on your INTERNET connection, make sure to check with your ISP about your 'package' you may be able to upgrade to support streaming video better), should ONLY cost you $249, and can be a LAPTOP you can carry around as well! No being stuck to the 'DESK'.

As we lead up to the Black Friday sale NOW would be a great time to head to BestBuy, etc. and see what model computers they have on discount to 'get off the shelf/floor' so they have space for the new BlackFriday special deals. For example I picked up (2 years ago) the last i5 Laptop for my wife (normally minimal $600) for only $270, with warranty, working model on the table there, touched it, made sure it worked, because they needed the space for the BF items stacking up in the corner for the BF-Xmas sales.

 

[movieholic1977]

Hello again,

Excellent solutions so far.

As far as color let me use Toms Hardware as a guide:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-lighting-pc,3383.html

As far as choices go, this is where i have the hardest time deciding things, especially over simple choices.

For example, as hard as i looked, i still cannot for the world of me understand why you guys chose AMD over Intel. I am guessing there is some kinda performance gained on a level beyond my understanding? So for clarity, can you give me a reason why an AMD is better than an Intel?

To take it a step further, the shop i am using to construct this with recommended a:

AMD FX-8350, this retails for 170 via newegg. However an Intel Core i5-4460 is 190 via newegg

is there any way to know the differences between the 2? i see logically there is a 20 dollar difference but i do not know of any other difference and am seeking advice from you the experts.

Using the same logic above, is there a difference between a GeForce GTX 970 and a Radeon R7 260X ?

Given a 1000 dollar new machine, what are the pros and cons of adding a 400 video card? Is there some focus point to address when building a new pc?

Again forgive in advance for asking obvious questions but i hope you don't mind sharing

Thanks in advance for everything so far

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Neither of the build suggestions above are using an AMD CPU. The shop you're working with is trying to rip you off if they are trying to sell you a FX-8350 and a high-end gaming GPU for your stated use. The Intel CPUs in both of the build suggestions above have integrated graphics in the CPU so you don't even need a separate graphics card for your intended use. The build I recommended above is under $800 and MORE than enough for your stated use of "Surfing the internet, watching movies with wife, yahoo games".

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Hello again,

Excellent solutions so far.

As far as color let me use Toms Hardware as a guide:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-lighting-pc,3383.html

As far as choices go, this is where i have the hardest time deciding things, especially over simple choices.

For example, as hard as i looked, i still cannot for the world of me understand why you guys chose AMD over Intel. I am guessing there is some kinda performance gained on a level beyond my understanding? So for clarity, can you give me a reason why an AMD is better than an Intel?

Most time you ask a DIY question, with a low price tag, you will normally get alot of people saying AMD AMD AMD... though it makes no sense as your pointing out ($20 price difference) but to them THAT IS A $20 Price difference!! So yeah matter of perspective.

That said, all the solutions and YOUR QUESTIONS BELOW are OVERKILL for just watching movies and surfing websites. In fact your WASTING a good $700 just to say you have these parts that make NO DIFFERENCE to your watching TV or Surfing websites.

Computer prices CAME DOWN ALOT after you bought your Vista machine (EWWW!!), in fact the price point now is to get 'Under $200" this shopping season (as you can see here http://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshiba-satellite-15-6-laptop-intel-celeron-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-jet-black/8790192.p;jsessionid=3E88AF425C8BC4653482239229BBEBC5.bbolsp-app02-115?id=1219370476235&skuId=8790192&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=1 already).

IF you were to play some newer games (Assassin's Creed Unity, COD:AW, etc.) OR were doing alot of Video Editing would need a i5/FX/R9/970/anything else your considering.

To take it a step further, the shop i am using to construct this with recommended a:

AMD FX-8350, this retails for 170 via newegg. However an Intel Core i5-4460 is 190 via newegg

is there any way to know the differences between the 2? i see logically there is a 20 dollar difference but i do not know of any other difference and am seeking advice from you the experts.

Using the same logic above, is there a difference between a GeForce GTX 970 and a Radeon R7 260X ?

Given a 1000 dollar new machine, what are the pros and cons of adding a 400 video card? Is there some focus point to address when building a new pc?

Again forgive in advance for asking obvious questions but i hope you don't mind sharing

Thanks in advance for everything so far

 

[g-unit1111]

That said, all the solutions and YOUR QUESTIONS BELOW are OVERKILL for just watching movies and surfing websites. In fact your WASTING a good $700 just to say you have these parts that make NO DIFFERENCE to your watching TV or Surfing websites.

Whoa, calm down here. I agree that spending money just to spend money doesn't make a lot of sense but if they're looking for a PC upgrade most of the rigs already suggested in this thread are major overkill.

Honestly as all you want to do is SEE Movies and Surf the Internet (By the way Netflix, HuluTV etc, is on there but they ALL depend on your INTERNET connection, make sure to check with your ISP about your 'package' you may be able to upgrade to support streaming video better), should ONLY cost you $249, and can be a LAPTOP you can carry around as well! No being stuck to the 'DESK'.

As we lead up to the Black Friday sale NOW would be a great time to head to BestBuy, etc. and see what model computers they have on discount to 'get off the shelf/floor' so they have space for the new BlackFriday special deals. For example I picked up (2 years ago) the last i5 Laptop for my wife (normally minimal $600) for only $270, with warranty, working model on the table there, touched it, made sure it worked, because they needed the space for the BF items stacking up in the corner for the BF-Xmas sales.

Yeah really for movie watching you don't need an i5 or an i3, those are major overkill for that task. On my HTPC all I use is a Pentium G3258 and it works perfectly. Pair that with a graphics card like the GTX 750TI with full HD output and 4K playback and you're good to go. I don't recommend AMD for small form factor PCs because the FX series gets really hot. The Athlon X4-860K would be a solid choice but it's a bit more expensive.

Try something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81N Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Azza Z Mini ITX Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $531.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-07 18:11 EST-0500

Or if you insist on going AMD:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A78M-ITX+ Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($90.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone GD04S-USB3.0 HTPC Case ($99.00 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: EVGA 100-OD-S101-BR DVD/CD Writer ($44.12 @ Amazon)
Total: $735.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-07 18:13 EST-0500

Most of the rigs being suggested are for gaming purposes, not for the purposes of movie watching or HTPC usage.

 

[movieholic1977]

Hello again,

My wife and I again thank you guys and girls again....and we are getting excited as we know the answer is on the way, as in from you guys and so on. I checked with her again and she confirmed that all we do is watch tv, surf the net on it, play a yahoo slot game, use Facebook, ummm store movies to watch later, just basic stuff. Its not used for work unless you count job searching but that's just surfing. again, very simple basic stuff

but she wants it fast which according to you guys is not relative to processor speed? so how do you achieve a fast pc? do you use a an ssd drive to boot up with? do you use a fast graphics card to stream faster movies?

i literally use yify torrents for some legal movies, i use the fastest internet in the area:

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3893730694

ping 18 ms, down 65 megs, up at 4.35 mbps or meg

so unless i am missing something, what else can be done here? how much are we talking?

did you see the color me pc from toms? is anything of that possible with this pc?

again thanks,

time for more coffee

The Lyons Family of Houghton Lake

 

[limtenggen]

i need to clarify fast graphics card is tent to game or 3D rendering or heavy visual effect , eg physX
it is true that ssd drive make ur pc load faster---<<faster !
I also no recommend AMD as your choice AMD get hot faster and stock cooler can't cool it down but cheap
HEAT WILL KILL CPU/other stuff in pc
well processor speed... not every important to you cause U dun game or do anything with heavy cpu load

BTW u have a good internet speed (poor malaysian ) ps>i am not great at coloring

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Hello again,

My wife and I again thank you guys and girls again....and we are getting excited as we know the answer is on the way, as in from you guys and so on. I checked with her again and she confirmed that all we do is watch tv, surf the net on it, play a yahoo slot game, use Facebook, ummm store movies to watch later, just basic stuff. Its not used for work unless you count job searching but that's just surfing. again, very simple basic stuff

but she wants it fast which according to you guys is not relative to processor speed? so how do you achieve a fast pc? do you use a an ssd drive to boot up with? do you use a fast graphics card to stream faster movies?

Hi again,

When you said Vista earlier I had already a picture in my head of your wife's opinion, but now that you posted it I will say I was spot on. You / Wife are victims, and numerous other people have posted on here with their PC they 'had to buy' with Vista on it, and yes you all collectively were screwed over; THINK EDSEL / YUGO - it is a car, it does drive, but really does it perform / reliable like all the other cars out there? You have your Edsel/Yugo.

With that thought placed in your wife's mind, now tell her plainly EVERY other computer will be 'faster' no matter what, once you replace the whole computer (car) for something else, anything else, will work alot better and totally forget ANYTHING you know about computers / your experiences / worries when you leave this machine behind (just like getting rid of your Edsel / Yugo). The hardware, the processor, Vista, harddrive, whatever you want to point too YES all of it will be better and work 'faster' then what you have.

EDIT: OH another analogy to maybe make it easier. Think of Windows as your fuel (Gas) for that crappy Yugo/Edsel (Computer) you have. You probably know some 'gas' you get is great and your car works wonderful (Windows XP, Windows 7) but then you get someplaces, and OMG! they broke my engine with junk, sand, water, etc. mixed in (Windows ME, Vista). So no matter how good / bad a car you have, if you keep it fueled all the time (Windows installed) with the worst mix (Vista) your lucky the car starts at all some days right? Same thing here, Vista was admitted as being a 'Mistake' by the CEO of MIcrosoft, but as it hasn't been supported for years, it doesn't matter anyway, the answer is to replace the system you have (hardware, the physical stuff, only warrantied for 3 Years, after 3 years of owning / using your computer EXPECT it to just suddenly die is what they are warning with the end of warranty, just to FYI, sort of like tires, after so many miles it will EXPECT to fail 'suddenly' without warning).

i literally use yify torrents for some legal movies, i use the fastest internet in the area:

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3893730694

ping 18 ms, down 65 megs, up at 4.35 mbps or meg

so unless i am missing something, what else can be done here? how much are we talking?

did you see the color me pc from toms? is anything of that possible with this pc?

again thanks,

time for more coffee

The Lyons Family of Houghton Lake

Back to the Edsel / Yugo idea, the Highway speedlimits were increased to 75mph right? Does that mean now your Edsel / Yugo can do the 10 miles to work in 10 seconds just because they increased the 'speedlimit'? No because the Edsel/Yugo still work like crap and can't get above 45 even downhill, the engine keeps stalling, etc. etc. etc. Same thing. While you 'increased' your internet (speedlimit on the highway) that doesn't make 'the computer faster'; the computer still runs at whatever speed it was bought to do, and if you got a Ferrari it goes fast, if you got a Yugo it sucks bad.

 

[movieholic1977]

Ingredients
Part Component Price
Case NZXT Source 210 Elite $50
PSU Corsair CX500, 500 watts $30
Mobo Biostar TA970 $60
CPU AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz $120
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo $36
GPU Sapphire Dual-X Radeon R7 265 $153
RAM 2x 4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3/1600 $86
SSD Crucial MX100 256GB $110
HDD Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Total = $710

source: http://www.maximumpc.com/build_pc_recommended_builds_september_2014

aesthetics at the same time. Have fun, regardless!

Components Minimum Version

Graphics Card AMD Radeon R7 260X $120

CPU AMD Athlon X4 750K $80


Motherboard Socket FM2 or FM2+ $45

RAM 8 GB DDR3-1600 Kit $60

CPU Cooler Bundled cooler (overclockable to 3.8 GHz) ---

Thermal Paste Not Necessary

Power Supply Unit 350 W, 80 PLUS Bronze $25

Case Case with USB 3.0 $25

Hard Drive 1 TB Hard Drive (3.5") $60

Solid State Drive None

Optical Disk Drive None

DVD Drive $20

Total $415

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-budget-amd-pc,3807-8.html


so it looks like $500 is the minimum for a new PC with color options, especially for me and the wife who just surf the net and all

which do you prefer? what options would you change?

 

[logainofhades]

Honestly, I think an A8 7600, with an SSD, is sufficient for your needs. Kept the red/black theme.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A8-7600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($104.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: EVGA ACX CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X+ Killer ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($66.74 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($82.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W 80+ Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Red 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($10.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $688.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 10:32 EST-0500