Advice on $500 budget rig

[ccmomo]

Hi all

Would greatly appreciate recommendation on a $500 budget rig to be used for Internet surfing and admin matters.

Was previously using the following built 4.5 years ago (gosh how have ram prices shot up):
CPU & Mobo: i3-3220 & Asrock B75M-DGS (dual PCI-e GPU slot) @ $230
Ram: Kingston 2x4GB @ $48
ODD: LG DVD RW @ $25
HDD: Hitachi 500GB @ $65
Case:Bit Fenix Merc Alpha @ $59
PSU: FSP Raider 450W @ $75
GPU: no need (future upgrade if needed)


Will be reusing only my old case. Suspect mb failure as bios failed to load. RMA my PSU and got a refurbished FSP Raider 550w but not gg to risk it on my new rig.

 

[FlipGor]

Hi all

Would greatly appreciate recommendation on a $500 budget rig to be used for Internet surfing and admin matters.

Was previously using the following built 4.5 years ago (gosh how have ram prices shot up):
CPU & Mobo: i3-3220 & Asrock B75M-DGS (dual PCI-e GPU slot) @ $230
Ram: Kingston 2x4GB @ $48
ODD: LG DVD RW @ $25
HDD: Hitachi 500GB @ $65
Case:Bit Fenix Merc Alpha @ $59
PSU: FSP Raider 450W @ $75
GPU: no need (future upgrade if needed)


Will be reusing only my old case. Suspect mb failure as bios failed to load. RMA my PSU and got a refurbished FSP Raider 550w but not gg to risk it on my new rig.

Ryzen R3 just came out only, u should try looking at doing a r3 build instead of a old i3 build imo. Similar price points too

 

[ccmomo]

Ryzen R3 just came out only, u should try looking at doing a r3 build instead of a old i3 build imo. Similar price points too

Sorry for the confusion, the i3 build and prices were for my old rig back in 2012. Do you have any recommendations on the full rig for Ryzen R3?

 

[andrew_g]

if you aren't too fussy about storage (e.g. 128/256GB is enough) or processor speeds
you may want to check out those mini pc like intel NUC
http://www.lazada.sg/catalog/?scs=0&q=intel nuc&sc=ET0=
but these days even a 'decent' intel i5, i7 intel NUC cost > $500
(do note that most often the nuc price don't include the SSD & ram, hence check what is included in the sale. cpu i think is soldered on board for NUC)

alternatively assembling a normal intel i3, i5 (i7 may exceed that) desktop box (itx, matx, atx) would likely get you quite close to those budgets.
the intel i3, i5, i7 beat ryzen in this aspects partly due to integrated graphics (for ryzen, normally need external graphics card), but normally the integrated graphics is too slow for even some modest action games

 

[ccmomo]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Don't think I will go for NUC due to budget.

For Ryzen R3, I will need to wait a couple more weeks for it to reach sg. And will probably need a GPU too. Unless the Ryzen R3 CPU n mobo will be cheaper than i3 which I doubt so.

Any comments on the following which I will be getting?

CPU + Mobo: Asrock H110M - DVS + i3-7100 $244
RAM: Kingston 2400 MHz CL17 $90
SSD: Kingston UV-400 120GB $89
PSU: FSP HEXA 450W 80+ $59
Total $482 (reusing case and HDD)

 

[-Synchronicity-]

If that's the case,go for g4560 instead.

 

[Irenicus]

Hi ccmomo,

If you only intend to surf internet and do admin matters on this build, then there's not much difference between going for G4560 or i3-7100. The money saved can be used for a bigger SSD or something else.

My suggestions for your build are below.

Option 1 (Pentium G4560):

CPU & MB Bundle: Pentium G4560 & Asrock H110M-HDS R3.0 @ $168 (Dynacore)

Option 2 (Intel i3-7100):

CPU & MB Bundle: i3-7100 & Asrock H110M-HDS R3.0 @ $235 (Dynacore)

RAM: Kingston DDR4 2400Mhz 8GB @ $90 (PC Themes)
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB @ $135 (Lazada)
PSU: FSP Hexa+ 450W @ $56 (Dynacore)

Total Cost (Option 1): $449
Total Cost (Option 2): $516

You can use Lazada LiveUp rebate (5% rebate), Shopback and other credit card promo codes for discounts.

Details on LiveUp: https://www.lazada.sg/liveup/
Details on Shopback: https://www.shopback.sg/lazada