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Author Topic: Need help with a build!  (Read 7177 times)

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Offline GhostFire

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Need help with a build!
« on: Jul 18, 2014, 02:50 PM »
Alright.......so just before everyone raises the red flag and starts saying "WTF Ghost...you just built your Rig"....

THIS ISN"T FOR ME...its for a family member :D

So to make it short my father-inlaw need a new pc BAD. He's been rocking a laptop that'd atleast 5 years old and was never really meant to do much other then be able to access the web.
He has recently started his own safety company designing on-line training programs for the snow-grooming industry in which his background is from.
Anyways I've talked him into getting a desktop which I offered to put together for him but he is on a budget and as of now isn't really a "computer guy" but he does like to learn and I told him it would be good to get a entry level setup that he could upgrade down the road if need be.

So the budget is 500-600 including the os but thats all for the chasis components as I have given him all the peripherals like keyboard, mouse ect..
As of now he pays companies to do his website and construct the on-line courses with the material he provides them but I'm hoping to get him a pc made that he can start to learn how to do some of the basic things like video editing and design. I know the budget is low but its just something that can be reliable for him, unlike his laptop, and be upgradable if he gets involved more into the course creation and website more.

So here are the parts I've been looking at, but I'm not expert at this and would really like your guy's opinions.

CPU------AMD FX-6300 (6 core, 3.5Ghz) $130 CDN
MB-----ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 Socket AM3+ (AMD 970/SB950 Chipset)  $85CDN
RAM----ADATA XPG V1 Series Black 8GB (1600 mhz DDR3)   $82CDN
CASE---Antec VSK-4000E-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case USB3.0   $32CDN
HDD---- WD Blue 7200rpm 1TB   $65CDN
GPU--- I have no idea but it needs to be cheap to stay in budget
CPU Cooler----Deepcool PMW fan silent beauty   $20
PSU---- Corsair TX650 V2    $Free cause its my old one
OS---- Win 7??? maybe Win8?    $100 atleast i'm guessing.

Any input you guys have would be great. He isn't a computer whiz by any means but I just want to make sure he is getting the best performance per dollar when it comes down to it.
Would a APU from AMD be a better choice to save a few bucks?? that way he can upgrade later and buy a GPU if he needs it. He wont be doing any gaming. This is strictly for productivity and light weight editing and 1080p video playback. That might open the budget for a SSD for the OS as well.

Ghost




Offline Blankcache

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #1 on: Jul 18, 2014, 03:35 PM »
That build seems pretty solid.

My thoughts :

 1) I'd recommend a WD Black 7200rpm version of that hard drive. They are very fast for a mechanical drive. I've owned many and they work well.

 2) Two sticks of 4gb ram is better that one 8gb ram. The common cpu has 2 memory controllers and my last builds seem to have better performance with 2 sticks vs 1.

 3) He is going to need a graphics card with that motherboard. No onboard grafix. No thoughts on which tho.
β€œIt's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.”
― Mark Twain

Offline GhostFire

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #2 on: Jul 18, 2014, 08:37 PM »
Thanks Blank
I'll take a look at the WD blacks...i just bought a blue for my own system a few weeks back and its been great.

Do you now if the new AMD APU's would have enough onboard graphics power to run 1080p movies with some basic editing like power point or photo editor?
I was thinking if it would work he could always add a dedicated gpu down the road

Ghost

Offline PapaReap

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #3 on: Jul 19, 2014, 03:21 AM »
Ghost the newer APU's won't have any problems running 1080p movies, however if he is going to be doing video editing or other cpu heavy tasks I would recommend at least the Fx-6300, the extra cores will make a difference.

You can always get a cheap or used gpu for the time being or look for a mother board that would support on board graphics.

Offline GhostFire

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #4 on: Jul 19, 2014, 04:38 AM »
Yeh I was kinda thinking that too Reap. Maybe getting a used GPU isn't a bad idea. Does it matter if its AMD or Nvidia for any of those tasks?

Any suggestions on what GPU's I should look for in the lower price bracket?

Ghost


Offline PapaReap

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #5 on: Jul 19, 2014, 05:16 AM »
Yeh I was kinda thinking that too Reap. Maybe getting a used GPU isn't a bad idea. Does it matter if its AMD or Nvidia for any of those tasks?

Any suggestions on what GPU's I should look for in the lower price bracket?

Ghost
Either will do what you're talking about just fine. I would go with this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202109

or whatever he can afford, either just enough to get the ball rolling, used Nvidia 460 or amd 6850 or the like.

Offline WCG

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #6 on: Jul 19, 2014, 05:28 AM »
designing on-line training programs for the snow-grooming industry

Snow-grooming industry? Oh, yeah, I've seen those little trucks that come around and brush your snowmen, brightening up the button eyes, replacing the carrot nose, doing a little nip-and-tuck on the body.

Man, you guys are serious about your snow! All we do is shovel it out of the way, usually while cursing continuously.

 :)

Bill

Offline GhostFire

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #7 on: Jul 19, 2014, 06:15 AM »
LOL Thanks Reap....he will really like the way that card looks in his case....im sure he will like the bill on his credit card too  ;)

Yeh I was waiting for someone to crack snow a joke....

this little truck is very gentle at doing just what you described....
We like to PUNISH snow  :D

Offline lundtang

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #8 on: Jul 19, 2014, 09:35 AM »
Ghost I would recommend geting a system from Dell that comes with support and OS plus the warrenty is next BD in you home. It will save you time so you can play som more arma 3.

Have a look at http://www.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-3847-desktop/pd?oc=di670_ftw7_b207e&model_id=inspiron-3847-desktop
it is in the price range.

Offline deathmetaldan

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #9 on: Jul 19, 2014, 02:38 PM »
the aftermarket cooler really isnt needed unless you plan on overclocking or doing really intensive stuff.... i ran a stock amd cooler for awhile and the only time it overheated was with a radeon video card. You can get an oem version of windows 7 for like 50 bucks (maybe less).

I would recommend a different motherboard since most upgrades plug into the motherboard. I have this and i am extremely happy with it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131877&cm_re=sabertooth_990_fx_r2.0-_-13-131-877-_-Product

has more usb 2.0 and 3.0 then i will use and the other do dads and stuff make it nice to have. Having UEFI bios is also really nice to have. As far as a gpu if the most intensive thing you are going to do is watch 1080p video i have used and had great success with a evga 550ti. Check out pc part picker... you can make a saved price list and look at prices on multiple sites all at once.

have fun!

Offline deathmetaldan

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #10 on: Jul 19, 2014, 02:56 PM »
here is something i threw together quick ghost. If you dig for combos and stuff you could get the price lower. I didnt put your parts you already had on the list.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/deathmetaldan2/saved/DW848d

if you buy stuff in "combos" alot of time you will save alot of money or get some of the parts you need for free. Sometimes new egg gives ram as a gift with video cards and things.

Offline T.Oddball

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #11 on: Jul 19, 2014, 04:07 PM »

Offline GhostFire

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #12 on: Jul 20, 2014, 04:18 AM »
Thanks for the input guys
Because he needed the computer asap I couldnt order parts online from different retailers just because I didnt want to wait the extra time to start this for him.

For the reason of trying to stay closer to his original budget of 500 I ended up scrapping the fx 6300 and going with the new AMD 7850k APU.
It was a tought decision to make but I had to remember this computer isnt for me and its not my money i'm spending haha. I do think this should be suffice for him for now as he really is only a "light user" for the time being. If he decides to jump head first into editing,audio and production then I'll buy the board and cpu from him and use it to build myself a nice HTPC. The APU was 170.

I went with the Asus  A78M-A MB since my own board is Asus and it was a good deal at 80 bucks.
Ram I went with 8 gigs of ADATA 1600mhz 9-9-9-24 1.5 it was on sale for 80 bucks as well
HDD I grabbed a WD Blue which I got them to price match for 60 bucks. Its only marginally slower then the black and for the price I couldt pass it up.
Chasis is a Lepa (enter crazy model number here) It was cheap and the guy there recommended it for the price. Its pretty good for only being $35 but its pretty much just a plain setup. Front usb2/3 which is nice atleast.
PSU I'm using my older corsair tx650 so that saved a bit of cash
I got them to price match a OEM disc copy of Win7 for $99. Dan if you find it for $50 let me know because I'm looking for a copy for myself. Regular price was 129.99. CRAZY.
Also got a Asus DVD/RW for 25 bucks.

So everything said and done with taxes came out to roughly $630. The build is half done which I started on yesterday for a bit. I'm interested to see how the APU is when I boot it all up. Reading up on it AMD is banking on these APU's to really shine in the future if developers start implementing their "HSA" technology which allows both the cpu and gpu cores to work on the same tasks in harmony to sum it up. Its crazy already that this CPU/GPU can run BF4 at playable framerates on low/medium settings. For a small form factor pc build for entry level gaming this thing would be perfect.

I'll update this thread when I'm done and let you guys know the verdict on how it runs.

Ghost



Offline Folke

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #13 on: Jul 20, 2014, 07:48 AM »
One thing I always check when I buy things is the support pages...   ASUS has a real good one for downloading drivers etc...


Good choice !


FYI... Sony and Toshiba for laptops sux  :o   (I know this is not a laptop, thats why I set FYI  :P
Tired and Tired again, re-tired!

Offline GhostFire

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Re: Need help with a build!
« Reply #14 on: Jul 22, 2014, 08:42 AM »
Thanks Folke,

The build when fast and painless.....having just put a modular PSU in my own chassis, I am forever gonna use modular in my own pc's moving forward. So much easier to work with.
I really didn't have much trouble with the extra wires (just bundled all the ones that weren't needed and tucked them into the 2.5 drive bay) I used my old non modular TX650.
Using a "cheaper" case is also another thing I find is worth investing a few more bucks into. Its definitely not in the same realm of the mid to higher end cases but really for the cost its more then adequate for what he needs and allows for upgrading down the road without much work.

The 7850k has surprised me quite a bit so far. For a budget entry build I think its a decent choice. If AMD and its "HSA" architecture really start to take off I could see APU's really moving into the main stream for multiple PC purposes.

Software is a killer though. Really about 1/4 of the total cost was spent in software...ie Win7 and Microsoft office. I installed a few freebies such as Microsoft security essentials, 7-zip, and VLC player to get him started. For now it will work for what he needs and later down the road if a graphics card is required AMD has it set that the APU can run in "Dual graphics" mode with the r7 250 which gives a nice boost in power for the processor.

I just got home from work this morning and I'm off for today and tomorrow so I'll zip tie the last few remaining wires and upload a few pics for you guys.
Cheers,

Ghost