Building a system for someone at work

[jnelsoninjax]

I am trying to keep it around the $500 for max, he stated that he already has a case, keyboard, and mouse. I just kind of went with some gut feelings, let me know if I can save some money!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($85.99 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($27.98 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($59.98 @ NCIX US)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.12 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 560 1GB Video Card ($129.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: CoolMax 700W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $530.03

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-15 21:33 EDT-0400)

[jnelsoninjax]

Edit: He really wants to keep it to around $300, so I am thinking that the GPU can go (not going to do any gaming) perhaps smaller HDD, any input would be helpful here! :)

[BoneyardBrew Member]

What does he plan on doing with this system? If he doesn't really require much power it'd be safe for you to drop the video card. I'm guessing Blu-Ray is a necessity? If not you can always get a regular DVD burner for much less. The stock cooler for the processor would be fine, no need for a 212+ unless noise or temperatures are an issue. I'm sure he'd get by fine with 4GB of RAM and the 500w version of that power supply.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($85.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($59.98 @ NCIX US)

Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: CoolMax 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($29.98 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Amazon)

This is what I managed to get it down to. If it turns out he doesn't need the Blu-Ray drive you can scrape another $30 or so off the price. I couldn't seem to find a 1TB drive that was any less expensive than the 1.5TB drive you picked out. If he can get by with something less than 1TB then you can reduce the price further.

[Open Minded]

Spend the extra money on a good PSU; I wouldn't build a system for someone (nor myself) with a crappy power supply. If something gets fried...

I'd also look into the FM1 socket from AMD.

CPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103943

[abysal]

For general home computing, you could also go for an AMD FM1 Llano CPU which also comes with decent integrated graphics.

CPU & Graphics: AMD A6-3650 Llano 2.6GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6530D ($84.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: MSI A55M-P33 FM1 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS ($49.99 @ Newegg)

[abysal]

Here's a more expensive & newer Hudson D3 FM1 board (has USB 3.0 and SATA III):

MSI A75A-G35 FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - ($79.99 Newegg) - ($59.99 after rebate)

$20 mail-in rebate if you believe in such things.

[jnelsoninjax]

Thanks for the info about the AMD FM1 I did not know anything about them! So with that in mind and the fact that he told me that his current system is an Athlon ~10+ or better old, and that he told me his monitor is a CRT still, I put a build together with a monitor:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A6-3650 2.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($76.49 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: MSI A55M-P33 Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.66 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: CoolMax 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($29.98 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Monitor: LG E1910T-BN 18.5" Monitor ($69.99 @ NCIX US)

Total: $320.09

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-16 01:48 EDT-0400)

Does this work out a little better?