Budget System(Have some parts)

Hardware Build a PC
1

Hello, and thanks for any help in advance.

Budget: No more than $300 U.S.

There is a tigerdirect.com where I live

The main problem is this. I have an older ~ 7 year old pc that I upgraded from, all new parts, and I now am using this pc for my kids. The problem is that it randomly shuts down. So instead of trying to figure out which individual part is faulty I'd rather just buy new parts as the system I currently have limits the amount of ram, and I want something a bit new and a bit faster for them.

Parts I Have: monitor, keyboard, mouse, hard drive, video card: Evga gtx 460SE (ran this is my new system and works flawlessly), Have a case but may consider upgrading for better cooling solutions if the price is right.

I plan to use this for my kids mainly, gaming: minecraft, portal 2, TF2, skyrim. I also plan to use the system for programming. The operating system is Ubuntu 13.04.

I don't plan on overclocking

I don't plan to watercool

No BTC mining

For Gaming: We play games at 1920x1080, I want a system that will perform good and play most new games on at least medium settings. I understand that most of the work is going to be limited by the graphics card. I don't plan on buying a new one, but if the budget is right will consider an AMD APU if it will outperform.

The main parts that I plan to replace are the CPU, Motherboard, RAM and PSU, maybe the case. When it comes to motherboards I am particular on the brand, MSI and ASUS, I doubt there is an EVGA board within the budget but I include them as well. For PSU I'm looking for something 80+ bronze or above.

Again, thanks in advance

Tony

2

I'd go with an APU setup.  I'll try to whip something up in the next hour or so.

3

Here we go:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1IPO3

CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor for the latest AMD APU system.  Considering how I'm playing TF2 on Intel HD 4000 no problem, this should be sufficient for source engine games, especially with high speed ram.

MOBO: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard.  MSI as requested.  Supports new Richland APUs, support for nice ram, and has a x16 slot if you want to try your GTX 460 in it.

RAM: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory.  8gb is plenty, and at 2133MHZ the APU should tick pretty nicely.

PSU: Cooler Master i500 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply.  Overkill for the build, but it's a cheap 80+ Bronze by an established brand.  Also has a 5 year warranty, pretty much guaranteeing a good psu.  It'll also be able to handle your GTX 460 if you'd like to run some tests and see if it's better.

Should do you good.  Tell me what you end up getting!

4

The 460 beats the A10 so you can replace the A10 with a Athlon 750k if you want and save a bit of cash.

EDIT: Should beat, looked at wrong benchmarks

5

460 is a gtx750/7770 equivalent > any APU right now.

Go with the Athlon II 750k it's very good for the money.

6

I'm pretty sure 750's don't exist..............yet.........?

7

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1IQBG its $242 if you don't do the rebate

I swapped out any parts that have large mail in rebates. cause who does mail-in rebates? (if the answer is you, the price is $30 less, and get the PSU that tech noob suggested.)

8

I appreciate the suggestions. I will definitely consider them. I was thinking something more along these lines http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1IULP , let me know what you guys think. Is an upgrade to an fx4100 worth it? Is there a stock heatsink with the 4100, and is it any good, is it loud? I'm considering the athlon 750k build, but I'm just not sure.

9

The 750k cpu's listed above are actualy faster cpus than a FX4100 (and a lot cheaper)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JieD

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($69.97 @ Outlet PC)

Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($65.99 @ Microcenter)

Case: Cooler Master NSE-200-KKN1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($40.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: Fractal Design Integra R2 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX US)

Total: $306.93

10

This is what i ended up going with. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1LO5p

So far it's working very well. Does everything I wanted it to do. And I feel more comfortable knowing that it's future proof in the sense that if I want to put the 8350 that I have in my main system in it, I can. Thank you all for the help, it definitely helped in picking the parts.