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I have an AMD Phenom iI and mobo. Help me build a PC w/ them for <$400.


zircon
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As the topic says, I managed to get a free Phenom II (X6 1055T) processor and a mobo to go with it (Asus M4A88TD-V EVO). For awhile now I've wanted to put together another computer for gaming, office and internet stuff, while leaving my main desktop for music-only. I also have a backup computer on the network which will probably continue to do the task of... backing stuff up. Anyway, I have a small budget for this ($400 tops, including ship/tax). Can anyone help me pick out some parts for it?

Case: Antec 300 seems like a good case; something with good ventilation, accessible controls. Hoping to get something $50-60.

Power Supply: 600-700w? No idea on price.

RAM: 8gb preferred, can be inexpensive as long as it's not a bad brand. On Newegg I could get something like this, right? $40.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233192

Video Card: NO idea here. I don't do a lot of gaming, certainly not major FPS games or anything like that. I have a Radeon HD4850 or something on my desktop and I think that does just great. Still, it would be nice to play games like Skyrim at a decent FPS.

OS/Apps Drive: Would prefer SSD if it can fit within the budget. Something 64gb, well-reviewed. Thinking this ($115)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441

OS: Windows 7. Hopefully will be able to get something academic here, so <$20.

Storage Drive: A 1 or 2tb drive would be good, OEM and as cheap as possible. However all I can find on Newegg are super-expensive $150+ drives, which is awful. At the Micro Center where I used to live, I could get a 2tb drive for about $70. Is this possible online?

Sound Card: Don't need a separate one, not making music on here. $0.

So total, $115 (SSD), $40 (RAM), $70 (HD), ~$100 (Video Card), $50 (Case), ~$50? (Power Supply) would put me at about $425+tax/ship. I guess the SSD would be the first thing to go, unless I'm missing some deals here or not looking at stuff properly.

However, there's also the fact that I need a monitor to go with this... which I guess would add another $80-100 for a decent 20-21" one. So the question would be whether this is all worth it, or whether I should SELL the processor/mobo (how much could I get for it?) and get an all-in-one computer. I saw some stuff on clearance at Best Buy in the ~$450 range, something like 4gb RAM, i3 processor, 1tb storage....

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sell that AMD crap and get an Intel Core i3 Sandy Bridge with P67 mobo at less of a price (unless you're selling them for $200 which is less than what they go for, I would suggest selling them for $240). The dual core Sandy Bridge beats it in gaming. (i've also seen a benchmark on Toms where the $120 i3 beats all of AMD's CPUs up to $200, stay tuned while i find it)

EDIT: Found it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115078

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128488

Get this RAM instead (cheaper and better):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

This GPU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161387

Also, that's very weird with Hard Drive prices. The WD 1TB caviar blacks have been ~$90 for a couple years. I don't know why they're $200 now.

EDIT: It's the flooding in Thailand

I would recommend this power supply. Used this model for my own machine and a 700w for 2 of my buddy's machines. Mail in rebates take a long time, but I got all of mine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

I don't think you should bother with an SSD and put that money towards a quad core Sandy Bridge or a killer graphics card. Much better payoff, IMO. Booting up 15 seconds faster is nice, but it's nothing quite like running games on maximum settings, which you'll struggle at 1080p with that GPU.

Or just put the SSD money towards a monitor. ;) This machine would be more worth it than an all-in-one because there's room for another graphics card down the line if you ever need it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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