Real cheap build:

[Deleted]

Hey, I just got an mission by my parents to build my little brother a "good" computer as cheap as I could (w/o taking real bad parts).
Facts:
He's 9 years old
He plays LoL, Minecraft, CS 1.6 (and web browser-games sometimes) - mainly LoL.
He doesn't care about graphics to much.

So here's what I'm thinking would be a good build that he can upgrade himself when he gets older and want "better" games (in terms of graphic/CPU heavy):
HDD: 1 TB Seagate Barracuda (7200RPM)
MB: ASUS P8H77-I, Socket-1155
GPU: GIGABYTE RADEON HD 6670 2GB, 800 MHz
PS: Corsair Power Supply 500W CX500 80 Plus Bronze
CPU: Intel® Pentium® Processor G2120, dual core 3,1GHz
Case (tower): Cooler Master Elite 310
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaw - 1333MHz - 4GB

This goes for 3800 SEK approximately, which is about 415€/$540.

1# Question
What do you think about this build for this little boy, is it good enough/good for its price?

2# Question
Is it gonna be able to be "upgraded" in the future? (I mean, is the motherboard good enough etc)

[PizzaSHARK]

It's an LGA 1155 socket so it can use any Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge chip. That just seems weak for the cost... I built a better system for about $515 before rebates, but I'm not sure where the cost is coming from, maybe it's just that things are more expensive over there.

500W is probably more than he'll need. I'm not certain what kind of power that rig will draw, but probably considerably less than 500W; so as long as you stick with Corsair or SeaSonic, you can probably save some cash on that at least.

[Deleted]

Case NZXT GAMMA Classic - $35
Power Supply Corsair CX500 - $60 or XFX Core Edition PRO 550W - $60
CPU Intel i3-3220 - $125
Heatsink Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $25
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H - $120
Memory 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $47
Graphics Card XFX 7770 - $100
Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB - $56
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23
total of 591 dollar US (might be a bit higher then the $540 you listed, but the i3 + z77 board is worth it in regards to the future)
you could also downgrade the ram to 4gb (-$20) and keep stock heatsink from intel (-$25)

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

That is an ITX motherboard, so make sure the case supports that.

If you use an AMD APU you can get it cheaper.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($60.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq 350W ATX12V Power Supply ($26.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($91.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $368.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-02 10:31 EST-0500)

Main upgrade path would be a graphics card, something like an HD 7770 for ~100 euros would be a good choice on a budget.

If you want to go the intel route, yours looks ok, but not sure about gaming on the 6670 and you would want to check the compatibility of the motherboard in the case.

I got a copy of windows 7 included in that price, do you need that?

[Deleted]

Case NZXT GAMMA Classic - $35
Power Supply Corsair CX500 - $60 or XFX Core Edition PRO 550W - $60
CPU Intel i3-3220 - $125
Heatsink Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $25
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H - $120
Memory 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $47
Graphics Card XFX 7770 - $100
Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB - $56
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23
total of 591 dollar US (might be a bit higher then the $540 you listed, but the i3 + z77 board is worth it in regards to the future)
you could also downgrade the ram to 4gb (-$20) and keep stock heatsink from intel (-$25)

That seems like a more stable build the thing is that the case is about $70 in Sweden.... :S (NZXT)
Do you think the case I chose could work? It's just about $35, half the cost is pretty much.
The HDD is about $13 cheaper than 1TB so I think 1TB would be better for him in that regard ^^,.

[Deleted]

That seems like a more stable build the thing is that the case is about $70 in Sweden.... :S (NZXT)
Do you think the case I chose could work? It's just about $35, half the cost is pretty much.
The HDD is about $13 cheaper than 1TB so I think 1TB would be better for him in that regard ^^,.

case you picked in OP works just fine if that is avaible to you.
if budget allows pick the 1tb but do you think he can fill up 500gb that easy?

[Deleted]

case you picked in OP works just fine if that is avaible to you.
if budget allows pick the 1tb but do you think he can fill up 500gb that easy?

The budget does allow $13 for the double amount of GB. Will take it into account when I talk to my parents about the build though :>

[Deleted]

The budget does allow $13 for the double amount of GB. Will take it into account when I talk to my parents about the build though :>

also would you pick the heatsink/8gb ram?
also 2nd hand parts work very well for a case and even a gpu works well (if seller is reliable, has copy of original order etc)

[Keller]

Here's what I came up with:

http://i.imgur.com/v3dXM.png

Probably a bit too high, but i'm assuming that there's cheaper stores around you and that this one is a bit over.

[Deleted]

also would you pick the heatsink/8gb ram?

Euhm, as I understand it you don't really need an heatsink if you aren't overclocking/using the PCU to 80+% which he won't do really... So I'd say no heatsink, but I might be misstaken... idk
8GB RAM isn't either needed becouse as I said, he only play LoL/Minecraft/CS1.6 really. And he doesn't use internet (can't speak english really, 9 years old...:P) or anything else than spotify while playing. So 4GB RAM should be enough for a year or two I think?
That's what I think about that. The HDD is just such small difference in price really, you pay 1+1/5th of what 500gb costs to get 1TB. :P

@Keller, there's no GPU?

[Deleted]

Euhm, as I understand it you don't really need an heatsink if you aren't overclocking/using the PCU to 80+% which he won't do really... So I'd say no heatsink, but I might be misstaken... idk
8GB RAM isn't either needed becouse as I said, he only play LoL/Minecraft/CS1.6 really. And he doesn't use internet (can't speak english really, 9 years old...:P) or anything else than spotify while playing. So 4GB RAM should be enough for a year or two I think?
That's what I think about that. The HDD is just such small difference in price really, you pay 1+1/5th of what 500gb costs to get 1TB. :P

@Keller, there's no GPU?

makes sense with no heatsink and 4gb ram. (saves you $45 afterall)
you could also upgrade both of those in the future when he needs more.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Euhm, as I understand it you don't really need an heatsink if you aren't overclocking/using the PCU to 80+% which he won't do really... So I'd say no heatsink, but I might be misstaken... idk
8GB RAM isn't either needed becouse as I said, he only play LoL/Minecraft/CS1.6 really. And he doesn't use internet (can't speak english really, 9 years old...:P) or anything else than spotify while playing. So 4GB RAM should be enough for a year or two I think?
That's what I think about that. The HDD is just such small difference in price really, you pay 1+1/5th of what 500gb costs to get 1TB. :P

@Keller, there's no GPU?

The GPU on the processor is more than capable of playing the games listed in the OP. With an APU however, there is a large benefit going for higher-clocked RAM. See my first response with a computer including the windows 7 license.

[Keller]

The GPU on the processor is more than capable of playing the games listed in the OP. With an APU however, there is a large benefit going for higher-clocked RAM. See my first response with a computer including the windows 7 license.

yeah, i opted for 1600 clocked ram, but the chipset is an a85x so it can handle like 4gb 2400, which would be just a bit more.

[Deleted]

The GPU on the processor is more than capable of playing the games listed in the OP. With an APU however, there is a large benefit going for higher-clocked RAM. See my first response with a computer including the windows 7 license.

So, what about:
Your CPU
GPU: XFX 7700
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
RAM: 4GB
HDD: 1TB
Case: The one in OP
PS: 500W bronze plus (I'll just get this one for the future)

Sounds good?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

So, what about:
Your CPU
GPU: XFX 7700
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
RAM: 4GB
HDD: 1TB
Case: The one in OP
PS: 500W bronze plus (I'll just get this one for the future)

Sounds good?

Motherboard needs to have an FM2 socket for the processor I suggested.

[Deleted]

So, what about:
Your CPU
GPU: XFX 7700
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
RAM: 4GB
HDD: 1TB
Case: The one in OP
PS: 500W bronze plus (I'll just get this one for the future)

Sounds good?

that cpu and mobo won't mix. (amd socket vs intel one)

[Deleted]

Ok, lol.
But euhm, how's
Your CPU/MB vs Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H+Intel Core i3 3220?
The price difference is pretty big so if they're pretty similiar I'll go for first one definiately.

[Deleted]

overall intel is better per core and so far always outperforms amd chips in gaming.
the gigabyte Z77 mobo is also a more stable part to upgrade with in the future. (see it as a fundation around which you can in years time still improve allot at)
however for current games you listed of your little brother either will work just fine.

[Kapaya]

Just gonna add since I didn't see you write anything about it is that you'll need an OS too (assuming you haven't pirated/own one). If not, then you'll need another 1000sek+ for one.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

overall intel is better per core and so far always outperforms amd chips in gaming.

*Unless you don't have the money to spend another 100-150 on a graphics card, in which case you are probably better off getting an APU.