Cheap Basic Build For Future Upgrading

Amirani

1. What is your budget? [€500]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Initially it will be internet use and relatively low intensity games such as FM13 and Civ5]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No.]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [No]

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [Minimum 22']

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Yes. Just need a wireless card.]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Not on the initial build.]

8. How can you pay? [Any.]

9. When are you purchasing? [Within 2 weeks.]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Should be okay.]



I had got a build here not long ago but I've been forced to reduce my budget quite a bit. I'd like to build a cheap, basic rig that will accomodate fairly basic computing tasks such as internet browsing and some light gaming.

Monitor: Would it be significantly more expensive to get one that is xbox compatible i.e. HDMI?

PSU, Case, HDD: I reckon I'll need a PSU, Case and HDD that will last long term and not need to be upgraded.

RAM - It seems quite cheap and there's not big price differences so I think I should get a fairly decent set straight off? I'm thinking 8GB?

Mobo: I'd also like to get a good motherboard that will last a while and allow at least 1 upgrade on whatever cpu/gpu I get before getting a newer one.

CPU: I'm not entirely sure whether to spend on this now or get a cheapie for the moment. I guess an i3 should be fine until I look at putting in a gpu? Are AMDs Trinity ones worth considering?

GPU: I won't be getting a gpu for probably at least a year. I'd like if my build would be reasonably able to accomodate newer generation gpus.


Cheers in advance guys.

U_Fig

NiallSparky wrote: »

1. What is your budget? [€500]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Initially it will be internet use and relatively low intensity games such as FM13 and Civ5]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No.]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [No]

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [Minimum 22']

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Yes. Just need a wireless card.]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Not on the initial build.]

8. How can you pay? [Any.]

9. When are you purchasing? [Within 2 weeks.]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Should be okay.]



I had got a build here not long ago but I've been forced to reduce my budget quite a bit. I'd like to build a cheap, basic rig that will accomodate fairly basic computing tasks such as internet browsing and some light gaming.

Monitor: Would it be significantly more expensive to get one that is xbox compatible i.e. HDMI?

PSU, Case, HDD: I reckon I'll need a PSU, Case and HDD that will last long term and not need to be upgraded.

RAM - It seems quite cheap and there's not big price differences so I think I should get a fairly decent set straight off? I'm thinking 8GB?

Mobo: I'd also like to get a good motherboard that will last a while and allow at least 1 upgrade on whatever cpu/gpu I get before getting a newer one.

CPU: I'm not entirely sure whether to spend on this now or get a cheapie for the moment. I guess an i3 should be fine until I look at putting in a gpu? Are AMDs Trinity ones worth considering?

GPU: I won't be getting a gpu for probably at least a year. I'd like if my build would be reasonably able to accomodate newer generation gpus.


Cheers in advance guys.

I think for such a small budget you're best option is to wait a few weeks until the trinity APU's are out and access them.. Odds are then you might not even need a dedicated GPU for light gaming..

Amirani

U_Fig wrote: »

I think for such a small budget you're best option is to wait a few weeks until the trinity APU's are out and access them.. Odds are then you might not even need a dedicated GPU for light gaming..

I may do that. I was hoping to order a bit sooner though. If the consensus is that the Trinity APUs are worth the wait I may just do that.

Anyone able to give this a run over?

Item|Price
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€42.14
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€28.65
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 3 6GB/s|€69.29
BitFenix Merc Beta|€32.10
Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155|€107.20
ASRock B75 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€68.24
Acer G226HQLBBII|€119.00
Good Connections DVI-D 18+1 Anschlusskabel, 1,8m|€5.49
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€491.10


Would all the components work together okay and would it accomodate an AMD Trinity if I decide to wait? Is there any changes you'd make?

Tea_Bag

Trinity is expected to launch 1st October. it'd be in your best interest to see what its like.

Amirani

Tea_Bag wrote: »

Trinity is expected to launch 1st October. it'd be in your best interest to see what its like.

Trinity looks good from what I've seen so far, I'll hold off on getting a cpu until then.

Can anyone recommend a build that would accomodate a trinity gpu so I'm ready to go when they come out?

Monotype

Trinity APU = CPU + GPU.

It'll be new motherboards and APUs for them, so you can't really put much of a build together apart from the basic RAM, PSU and case.
The motherboards aren't out yet.

Overheal

My tip for any low build:

-A solid motherboard with a new socket type. This is socket FM2 for Trinity. FM2 is not backwards compatible to FM1, sad to say.

-A single stick of ram, 2 or 4 Gigabytes will be perfectly fine for web browsing

-Strong PSU, 500-600 Watts. More if you plan to have multiple drives or GPUs

-Probably go cheap on the case now and port it to a much nicer case later.

Trinity APUs in the laptops I've been playing with them at work and they beat Intel in most graphics capacities, they only fall behind in x86 power. But for what the average person actually does on a PC, I'd hands down go with an APU

Amirani

Very helpful post there, cheers.

belcampprisoner

You need bigger power supply

Amirani

belcampprisoner wrote: »

You need bigger power supply

I'll probably go for the 550W version instead if necessary? Will allow some future upgrades I guess.

Monotype

You'd probably fine with the 450W. Graphics cards have been extremely frugal with power lately. Trinity doesn't look like a huge guzzler, but we'll see how it performs overall when the review sites get their hands on it. 550W might be no harm all the same, but it's completely unnecessary to go above that.