Advice on budget builds

[gorion]

I need to build a pc for a relative. Basic web surfing and media playback.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Web browsing, media playback.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Under €600, but as low as possible.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Italy

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.
We can't be expected to scour the internet on your behalf, chasing down deals in your specific country... Again, help us, help YOU.

www.trovaprezzi.it
www.eprice.it

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

Amd, but for this build I'm going Intel.


6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
No.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Stock

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
Unknown. Probably some old 17" with VGA input.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.

Asap.

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
Windows 10.


I came up with two builds, a cheaper one and a more expensive which should probably last a bit more (2 more threads, HD 530...), but I don't know if it's really worth the more money invested.

Feel also free to suggest a better combination of mb/ram/psu/case.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (€70.00)
Motherboard: MSI B150M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€80.00)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (€53.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€55.00 @ Amazon Italia)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case (€41.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Power Supply: be quiet! 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€50.52 @ Amazon Italia)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (€13.26 @ Amazon Italia)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (€99.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter (€12.14 @ Amazon Italia)
Total: €476.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-18 21:47 CET+0100

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (€140.00)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (€53.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€83.36 @ Amazon Italia)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case (€41.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Power Supply: be quiet! 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€50.52 @ Amazon Italia)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (€13.26 @ Amazon Italia)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (€99.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter (€12.14 @ Amazon Italia)
Other: MSI B150 pc mate (€96.00)
Total: €591.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-18 21:48 CET+0100

 

[Ken g6]

Looks like you can save a good deal by stepping back a generation:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (€119.64 @ Amazon Italia)
Motherboard: *ASRock H81M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€43.15 @ Amazon Italia)
Memory: *Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€43.18 @ Amazon Italia)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€83.36 @ Amazon Italia)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case (€41.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Power Supply: be quiet! 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€50.52 @ Amazon Italia)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (€13.26 @ Amazon Italia)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (€99.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter (€12.14 @ Amazon Italia)
Total: €507.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-19 01:28 CET+0100

 

[Charlie98]

A Pentium is plenty for a general purpose PC like the OP describes (I built one for my inlaws, too, using a very similar ASRock H81M board, in fact...) but for 25 Euro difference, I'd get the i3, too.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I agree, I would split the difference and go with the Haswell i3.

 

[gorion]

Thanks everyone.
I would have liked skylake as it's more modern. Given that the PC he's replacing is from 2005 chances are that in 2021-2022 it might need more RAM or whatever and probably DDR4 will be easier to find.

However I'm thinking of showing him both the ken g6 build and the i3-6100 so he can decide if he wants to spend €100 more for a 15-20% more CPU power and better iGPU.

 

[Charlie98]

Thanks everyone.
I would have liked skylake as it's more modern. Given that the PC he's replacing is from 2005 chances are that in 2021-2022 it might need more RAM or whatever and probably DDR4 will be easier to find.

However I'm thinking of showing him both the ken g6 build and the i3-6100 so he can decide if he wants to spend €100 more for a 15-20% more CPU power and better iGPU.

It's unlikely RAM will be an issue given the current purpose of the machine, but a quick-fix to that is bump up to 2x8GB RAM now. I do agree with you giving him the option between the two machines. :thumbsup: