~$600 System (inc monitor, OS, keyboard and mouse)

[Cavus]

Hey guys I've decided to build a rig for my lil bro for his birthday. My budget is around 600 bucks with a firm limit of around 700. The problem is that he also needs monitor, OS, mouse and keyboard in addition to the tower itself. I'm guessing the best bet would be to use Llano, a cheap mid tower, a ~20" monitor and then windows 7. Probably a 500gb hard drive and I'd want to get him a decent GPU (even though it's technically meant to be a computer for homework, he loves to game) but atm I'm planning on using the Llano's on board graphics.

Any suggestions? I would probably only be shopping on Newegg.com or through the Silicon Valley location of microcenter.com. I'll consider tigerdirect depending on shipping cost.

Thanks so much guys

EDIT: if I can go the 1155 route I would prefer that, since I am more familiar with Intel than AMD. Current gen i3's are fairly cheap from microcenter so that may be an option.

[lookatmypet]

About to head out otherwise i would see what i could come up with, if no one has posted anything by the time i get back ill see what i can put together for you :]

[lockblock]

Price wise the Amd lano build would be cheaper assuming you don't throw in a discrete gpu.
The Intel build would perform better in the long run if you add the discrete gpu at a later date.
I will post a parts list shortly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PSU - Seasonic 520 80+bronze 59.99$
Motherboard - ASRock A75M FM1 74.99$
CPU - AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz 139.99$
Ram - Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 23.99$
Dvd - LITE-ON DVD Burner 17.99$
Hdd - WD Caviar Blue 500GB 44.99$
OS - Windows 7 Home 64bit OEM 99.99$
Keyboard+Mouse - Microsoft business usb keyboard & mouse 21.98$
LCD - Hanns-G 20in ws w/speakers 99.99$
also you will need 1 dvi to hdmi cable such as 3ft or 6ft
Pick a chassis with whatever funds are left.
Total = 583.90$ before adding a case and video cable

[Keller]

or you could, just, you know, get windows 8 DEV. Copy and not pay?

[lockblock]

or you could, just, you know, get windows 8 DEV. Copy and not pay?

lol seriously!
Those prereleases are very buggy and they have a hidden time limit so you cannot use them indefinitely.
But he could use it and get slightly better hardware now then buy the software later

[Keller]

lol seriously!
Those prereleases are very buggy and they have a hidden time limit so you cannot use them indefinitely.
But he could use it and get slightly better hardware now then buy the software later

Hidden time limit is whenever the actual release comes out.
The 'New' Functionality will be buggy, but it would be ideal, cause he doesnt need to spend money on the OS.
The good thing is, he gets full windows 7 Functionality.

[gmike]

Go with Llano, the performance is good enough for 600$.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...o,2975-14.html

[Dryade]

Shop through Amazon, prices are about the same as Newegg, sometimes cheaper. With a membership, you don't pay for shipping, unless you want overnight and thats only $3.99.

[gmike]

Oh, and stay away from the Blue series drives. Go with the Black like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136795

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136794

[lockblock]

Oh, and stay away from the Blue series drives. Go with the Black like:

I guess you missed the part about it being budget, there's nothing wrong with blue drives
They have just as much chance for failure as any other drive and the speed isn't much different than the black series.

[Deleted]

If you decide to go Llano, make sure you get at least 1600Mhz RAM modules. The Llano APUs benefit greatly from faster RAM.

Well, for a $700 max build I figure you can do two things; either go Llano and basically be stuck (only real upgrade would be a discrete GPU) or go with an i3 2100 and a cheap GPU (less performance probably, but gives the option to upgrade the GPU at a later day - the i3 2100 is also a better performing gaming CPU compared to the Llano). They are both about equal in price.

I'd think like this: if he is interested in computers and how they work, go with the i3 2100 build (no GPU) and have him save money for a GPU and upgrade it himself later on. If he isn't interested in computers and building them then go with the Llano as it's more a "complete low-budget package" compared to the i3 2100. The i3 2100 build (no GPU) will perform horribly in games though, but if you add a discrete GPU for around $140 it will blow the Llano away.

Here is a run-down of performance:

The HD6550D is the Llanos built-in GPU and the Intel HD 3000 is the integrated GPU with the i3 2105 (the 2100 comes with HD 2000 afaik).