Hey guys, I have an old 3rd PC I am wanting to gut and rebuild. It has been that long since I built one (I used to build a lot of them, but have not done so in about 5-6 years now), and so I am now having to start looking for some good-value bundles. Like I say, it's only a 3rd computer, so it won't be the main machine, and therefore I am not looking for bleeding-edge expensive stuff. What I am wondering is, have you guys found any good mobo/processor/ram bundles, good value bundles I mean? I am thinking something in the range of a nice I5 (or a comparable AMD), along with a mb and at least 8gb RAM. I will probably go ahead and get a new HD with it, and likely a new video card, but I don't know if bundles containing those items ever amount to a really good value or not. And my problem is, with such a ridiculous number and variety of processors out there nowadays, I don't even know what is a good comparable AMD to a decent current I5.. So, anyone come across any nice relatively cheap bundles like that? I am hoping to keep the bundle under $300 if I can... Thanks!
You won't need a video card, CPU graphics are good. If you don't want the latest get an Ivy bridge i3 cpu with a MB for 140 or so.
I would certainly go with an i5. i7 is overkill and a waste if you have no plans on using its capability. You get a much better bang for your buck with an i5 over an i3. For $50 more, you go from a dual core to a quad core. I am not a fan of AMD desktop processors. Intels are much more efficient. You can find a mobo for about a $100.00 and memory for $45.
I would spend more on the memory and less on the MB. And this would blow your $300 budget. Microcenter has the i5 4670K for 199.
not sure how close you are to a microcenter but when i bought my cpu+mobo there they had a promotion for a i5+mobo and you get $50 off, so around $250 total for a decent mobo and $50 is more than enough for good ram.
If you are just looking for a 3rd computer for web browsing and other basic stuff then it's questionable if it is going to be worth building it yourself. I build mine when I want higher end parts and want to cusomize everything, but for a relatively low level set up its hard to beat something like this gateway with Intel Core i5-2300 Processor,6GB DDR3 Memory,1.5 SATA Hard Drive for $359: http://www.frys.com/product/6662004?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG The main negative being the intergrated graphics, which may not matter depending on what you are going to use the computer for. Otherwise Newegg has a bunch of motherboard/cpu bundles to check out: http://www.newegg.com/Store/ComboDeals.aspx?ComboStoreID=1&name=CPUs-Motherboards
For a third computer, I would suggest something with the new AMD APU's like the A10-6800K. Quad-core, overclockable, has a decent low-mid GPU built-in, and less than $150 (with coupon). Or go for a lesser model for even more cheaps. So, it pretty much takes care of the CPU and GPU portion of your build. I actually built an APU system for my nephew (A10-5700, last generation) and stuck some 1600MHz RAM and it runs Just Cause 2 beautifully on medium settings.
Looking like an AMD FX-8320 is going to offer a really great bang for the buck.. anyone use one of those?
