Cheap Setup... Minimal Usage

[acertey]

Looking to get a PC within $600 budget.

Primary Needs: Surfing internet, stock monitoring, light movie watching,
Items not necessary: Monitor, Operating OS, Windows Office

Attached below is a sample extracted from recommendations.

Intel Core i3 3220 & Asrock B75 PRO3 M ~ $251
or AMD FX-6100 & ASUS M5A78L-M LX3 ~ $255
G.Skill DDR3-1333MHz 8GB (2X4GB) ~ $60
PowerColor HD7770 1GB ~ $158 or Palit 650 1GB ~ $155
HDD 500GB ~ $68
Samsung SATA 24X DVD Rewriter ~ $24
Antec Neo Eco 450W PSU ~ $69
Ikonik EN2 ~ $55
Likely to need an additional cooler for the CPU, usually don't trust stock;
Need keyboard & mouse,
Likely need a wireless card, onboard wireless would be awesome.

Anyone has better suggestions, and more value for money configuration?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

 

[wwenze]

Next month Haswell i3 and H81 boards would have reached... plus possibly price drop for nVidia this fall (AMD already dropped theirs this month).

 

[Encrypted11]

Intel HD is good enough for you, you don't need a graphics card for those usage scenarios.

So you'll also probably want to minimise power consumption to an extent with using just CPU graphics.

 

[royfrosty]

Looking to get a PC within $600 budget.

Primary Needs: Surfing internet, stock monitoring, light movie watching,
Items not necessary: Monitor, Operating OS, Windows Office

Attached below is a sample extracted from recommendations.

Intel Core i3 3220 & Asrock B75 PRO3 M ~ $251
or AMD FX-6100 & ASUS M5A78L-M LX3 ~ $255
G.Skill DDR3-1333MHz 8GB (2X4GB) ~ $60
PowerColor HD7770 1GB ~ $158 or Palit 650 1GB ~ $155
HDD 500GB ~ $68
Samsung SATA 24X DVD Rewriter ~ $24
Antec Neo Eco 450W PSU ~ $69
Ikonik EN2 ~ $55
Likely to need an additional cooler for the CPU, usually don't trust stock;
Need keyboard & mouse,
Likely need a wireless card, onboard wireless would be awesome.

Anyone has better suggestions, and more value for money configuration?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

Technically speaking you don't need a gfx card. You dont need a cooler. A stock one will do but need be i would just recommend you the Xigmatek Gaia.

For $600 budget.

Asrock B75m-dgs + i3-3240 ~ $220
Kingston Value Ram 8gb ~ $78
Seagate 500gb ~ $66
Samsung ODD ~ $22
Andyson 450w G Plus ~ $45
Sharkoon MS 140 ~ $52

Xigmatek Gaia ~ $35 (optional)

Total $518 Build at tradepac with cooler.

Probably can fit in a 60gb SSD @ $90 if you are able to find it in SLS. Allows you to have a snappy OS.

 

[twasken]

CPU + Mobo: Intel Core i3 3220 + Asrock B75M-DGS @ $211
HDD: WD 1TB Blue @ $81
PSU: FSP Raider 450W Silver @ $68
ODD: Samsung DVD-RW @ ~$22
RAM: Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz @ ~$82
Casing: Sharkoon T28 @ $86

Total: $550. Buy and build at tradepac.

Stock cooler is fine for Ivy i3s. Temps don't (normally) go past 60 deg even under load. If really want, consider Xigmatek Gaia @ $39 to max out your budget.

Edit: Sharkoon T28 comes with 3 fans. Having more case fans can help keep your overall system cool.

 

[Entry Level PC]

CPU + Mobo: Intel G2120 + Asrock B75M-DGS @ $151 (Don't need i3 for 2x Hyper Threading)
HDD: Seagate 2TB @ $110
PSU: FSP Hexa 500W @ $58 (No GPU power consumption will be low BRONZE PSU can liao)
ODD: Samsung DVD-RW @ ~$21
RAM: Kingston 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz @ ~$41 (No High End Gaming with GPU no need 8GB RAM)

Total $420 without Casing.
Can $150 into a M-ATX Casing of your choice.

 

[Ark Law]

Including CPU cooler and wireless card

CPU + Mobo: i3 3220 & ASRock B75M-DGS - $211
CPU cooler: Xigmatek Gaia - $35
RAM: Kingston 4GB 1600MHz valueram x2 [8GB total] - $84
GPU: onboard HD Graphics
HDD: WD 1TB Blue - $80
ODD: Samsung DVD-RW OEM - $21
PSU: FSP Raider 450W - $68
Casing: Antec VSK4000 USB3.0 - $40 or Vios Generic ATX - $20
Wireless Card: Asus PCE-N53 - $75

Total: $614 ($594 w/ Vios casing)

 

[acertey]

Thanks guys, really awesome. Graphics card, erm how do i tell if it has good on board?

 

[yusoffb01]

Having used internal wireless card and usb wireless, to me they are the same. I suggest getting usb instead. At least can switch to another computer easily.

TPlink Hi-Gain wireless N only $24.

 

[acertey]

Great idea. I am using fibre by the way. That would probably be god send...

 

[royfrosty]

Having used internal wireless card and usb wireless, to me they are the same. I suggest getting usb instead. At least can switch to another computer easily.

TPlink Hi-Gain wireless N only $24.

That will vary. PCIe wireless comes with an antenna. It*has way better receiving and transmitting capabilities that the USB type. It is good for people whom lived in a mansionate HDB or a landed property. You can't use a USB ones with the com upstairs and the router below. It won't be good.

 

[Ark Law]

Having used internal wireless card and usb wireless, to me they are the same. I suggest getting usb instead. At least can switch to another computer easily.

TPlink Hi-Gain wireless N only $24.

But be wary of the 722N hi gain model. My friend had RMA-ed his 3x and is starting to fail again. The TPLink service centre technician told him that the 722N turns out to have a design/manufacturing fault and that the distro has stopped bringing in stock.

Not certain if other SKUs are affected as well

 

[wwenze]

That will vary. PCIe wireless comes with an antenna. It*has way better receiving and transmitting capabilities that the USB type. It is good for people whom lived in a mansionate HDB or a landed property. You can't use a USB ones with the com upstairs and the router below. It won't be good.

USB types can also come with antenna, while PCI(e) type may have an antenna connector but may not come bundled with an antenna that you can place elsewhere.

It's about doing your homework.

But I would buy the USB type, not the thumbdrive (that are bad as already mentioned), but those that sit on the table on their own.

The trusty WUSB54g, which beats the speed of single-antenna wireless N devices.

Or this, this is essentially a thumbdrive type in a stand.

 

[guilingkwek]

i agree with the comments above recommending CPU graphics... and also you don't need 8GB ram, 4GB is way more than what is necessary for your needs. you can also consider using a hybrid drive or an entry SSD for windows and applications. makes things a lot smoother even for light use.

 

[royfrosty]

USB types can also come with antenna, while PCI(e) type may have an antenna connector but may not come bundled with an antenna that you can place elsewhere.

It's about doing your homework.

But I would buy the USB type, not the thumbdrive (that are bad as already mentioned), but those that sit on the table on their own.

The trusty WUSB54g, which beats the speed of single-antenna wireless N devices.

Or this, this is essentially a thumbdrive type in a stand.

True no doubt what you say for that is true.

USB do comes with the antenna type. Yet the price is almost the same to the pcie type.

What i m comparing since some mentioned to get the USB thumb drive type. That is no go in terms of range and downlink uplink stability.

For a proper wireless adapter to work well, it needs a proper antenna. Without proper gain in signal strengths there is bound to have bit error rates.

More walls more distance more obstruction will result in heavy signal losses. So definitely with a good antenna it will outperform any USB thumb drive types.

And to go pcie or usb type is solely depends on user preferences.

And FYI. USB is still slightly slower than pcie. Cause you must think that USB type take time to travel to the CPU. It has to process it before sending it out. Unlike pcie it has much bigger bandwidth to transfer. Cut away the processing of signals and let the CPU do its job.

One good test is when you go online and play mmorpg you will swe about 10% improvement of latency.

 

[Entry Level PC]

real men use at least Cat5e WIRED LAN Cables.

 

[royfrosty]

real men use at least Cat5e WIRED LAN Cables.

Not everybody have the feasible way to connect a wired connection. Just think if you lived in a terrace house are you gonna pull cable all the way up? Plus troubleshooting is not easy.

 

[twasken]

Not everybody have the feasible way to connect a wired connection. Just think if you lived in a terrace house are you gonna pull cable all the way up? Plus troubleshooting is not easy.

homeplugs are godsend hooted a tp-link av500 kit half a year back for $90. Very pleased with the performance.

 

[Entry Level PC]

Not everybody have the feasible way to connect a wired connection. Just think if you lived in a terrace house are you gonna pull cable all the way up? Plus troubleshooting is not easy.

I will go pull Cable and Bracket

 

[acertey]

if got budget, usually all this is not a problem.

The problem only comes when you are on a budget.