Under $300 Build

[zi0n.]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Office, Browsing, Youtube, some Photoshop

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Would like to keep it under $300

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Puerto Rico - Will be buying from newegg.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
I would like to use an Intel cpu but something tells me AMD would be better since "budget"...

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Windows 7, Might have spare DVD-RW


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

8. What resolution will you be using?
1920x1080

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.
Next week, hopefully.

----

I'm really bad at doing budget builds that's why I'm asking for help. This computer is for a friend.

So far I had this in mind:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT

Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply ????

Not sure about mobo yet since idk what CPU to get...
Will probably buy case locally to save on shipping.

 

[lehtv]

For $300 I really recommend buying a prebuilt PC from a major OEM like HP, Dell etc.

 

[Blain]

It is hard to beat an OEM for cheapie PCs.

 

[zi0n.]

I really thought about it but ughhhhh i hate dealing with pre builts.... guess I'll take a look.

 

[piasabird]

You might be better off going to place onlin like ebay and buying someone's used PC.

 

[DSF]

I really thought about it but ughhhhh i hate dealing with pre builts.... guess I'll take a look.

Why?

It's not like there are compatibility headaches all over the place - if anything they probably run into fewer stability issues than homebrews because the OEM knows they're going to people who generally can't or won't perform the maintenance themselves.

All you really have to do is take off whatever OEM software came preinstalled that you don't want. (Heck, since you apparently already have a copy of Windows 7 you could just wipe the drive and start fresh.) In your price range there's really no difference between a prebuilt and a homebuilt - the prebuilt might even be more powerful.

 

[Vinwiesel]

Newegg has some pretty cheap DIY combos, and there is one on the shell shocker every other day it seems. There are a couple under $300 if all you plan on doing is browsing webs. But for that a cheapie laptop may be an option as well.
combos:
http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterCo...=DIY-PC-Combos

 

[mfenn]

While you can certainly build an OK PC for $300 (with an Intel CPU even), I'm with the other posters. Just get an OEM PC, especially if it's for somebody else. It'll be less headache in the long run.

 

[piasabird]

A dell with a Celeron costs like $299. That is a little underpowered. For PR might be even higher.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

A dell with a Celeron costs like $299. That is a little underpowered. For PR might be even higher.

No. Seriously? Scratch and dent dells. 450 for i5s.

 

[cparker]

Since you have Windows 7 and a dvd drive, for 300 dollars you could do well with building it yourself.

You should be able to get an I3 (2100) for something like $115 on Newegg (check the daily deals). You might even be able to pick up an i3 2105 for close to the same price when it's on sale.

4gb ram for 20 dollars or so.

an matx H61 motherboard for 50 dollars.

a caviar blue 500gb drive for 65 dollars.

a case/ps for 50 dollars.

Total: 300 dollars!

This would be a real sweet system. (I know, as I built a similar system with an i3-2105)

 

[vazz]

-Case:
APEX TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower Computer Case
30$
-Motherboard:
BIOSTAR A780L3B AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
45$
-Optical Drive:
ASUS 24X DVD Burner
20$
-Power Supply (PSU):
APEX AL-D500EXP 500W ATX12V Power Supply
45$
-Processor:
AMD Athlon II X3 455 Rana 3.3GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor
80$
-RAM:
G.SKILL Value Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT
20$
-Storage:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
70$
-Video Card:
PowerColor AX6570 Radeon HD 6570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Video Card
60$
-Subtotal:
370$

You can drop the $60 video-card if you really do not want a discrete GPU. This build should perform pretty well at basic browsing/office applications.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

-Case:
APEX TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower Computer Case
30$
-Motherboard:
BIOSTAR A780L3B AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
45$
-Optical Drive:
ASUS 24X DVD Burner
20$
-Power Supply (PSU):
APEX AL-D500EXP 500W ATX12V Power Supply
45$
-Processor:
AMD Athlon II X3 455 Rana 3.3GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor
80$
-RAM:
G.SKILL Value Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT
20$
-Storage:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
70$
-Video Card:
PowerColor AX6570 Radeon HD 6570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Video Card
60$
-Subtotal:
370$

You can drop the $60 video-card if you really do not want a discrete GPU. This build should perform pretty well at basic browsing/office applications.

Um..that PSU might blow up. The tech is old. Small HDD.


At his budget a prebuilt is better

 

[lehtv]

Actually, a custom build for this money is very doable. Not sure why I thought otherwise

For example:

Mobo Gigabyte B75M-D3V $63 AP (USB3.0, SATA 6gb/s)
CPU Pentium G620 $64
RAM 1x4GB G.Skill $20
GPU Integrated $0
HDD Caviar Blue 500GB $65
DVD Reuse $0
PSU Corsair CX430 V2 $20 AR AP
Case Bitfenix Merc $40

= $272 AR AP + shipping. Upgradeable to up to 16GB RAM, i7-3770, SATA 6gb/s SSD + 4 HDD's, mid range discrete graphics, ATX motherboard..

 

[mfenn]

Actually, a custom build for this money is very doable. Not sure why I thought otherwise

For example:

Mobo Gigabyte B75M-D3V $63 AP (USB3.0, SATA 6gb/s)
CPU Pentium G620 $64
RAM 1x4GB G.Skill $20
GPU Integrated $0
HDD Caviar Blue 500GB $65
DVD Reuse $0
PSU Corsair CX430 V2 $20 AR AP
Case Bitfenix Merc $40

= $272 AR AP + shipping. Upgradeable to up to 16GB RAM, i7-3770, SATA 6gb/s SSD + 4 HDD's, mid range discrete graphics, ATX motherboard..

While you can certainly build an OK PC for $300 (with an Intel CPU even), I'm with the other posters. Just get an OEM PC, especially if it's for somebody else. It'll be less headache in the long run.

IMHO, it's not so much about whether or not it is doable, but how much you want to be free tech support for life (assuming that this is not for the OP given the rig in his sig).

 

[lehtv]

Which $300 PC at similar specs has free tech support for life though?

 

[mfenn]

Which $300 PC at similar specs has free tech support for life though?

None. It's a great deal for whomever the OP is building the machine for. Not such a great deal for the OP.