So, I am going to be building computer for college students and wanted to be able to show the difference in what I can build them versus what they can get in the store for the same or better price.
I tried to cover all the bases: OS, Keyboard/Mouse, Monitor, Optical media drive (in this case a BD/DVDRW drive so they can watch Blurays.
I assumed the student would not be doing heavy gaming and assumed the dorm rooms are small.
I made sure to include Wireless AC and BT4.0
I also tried to ensure all parts had at least a 3 year warranty. Some are less but are till good parts.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor | $173.95 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard | $96.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Mushkin Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $69.99 @ Newegg
Storage | A-Data Premier Pro SP900 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $59.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $69.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card | $124.99 @ NCIX US
Case | Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case | $32.99 @ Micro Center
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $64.99 @ NCIX US
Optical Drive | Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer | $39.99 @ Amazon
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) | $86.89 @ OutletPC
Monitor | Asus VN248H 23.8" Monitor | $129.99 @ Newegg
Keyboard | Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse | $27.87 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1068.61
| Mail-in rebates | -$90.00
| Total | $978.61
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-02 20:39 EDT-0400 |
This is an AMD build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor | $139.95 @ SuperBiiz
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Seidon 120V 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $49.99 @ B&H
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard | $91.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory | Mushkin Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $69.99 @ Newegg
Storage | A-Data Premier Pro SP900 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $59.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $69.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card | $124.99 @ NCIX US
Case | Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case | $32.99 @ Micro Center
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $64.99 @ NCIX US
Optical Drive | Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer | $39.99 @ Amazon
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) | $86.89 @ OutletPC
Monitor | Asus VN248H 23.8" Monitor | $129.99 @ Newegg
Keyboard | Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse | $27.87 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1059.61
| Mail-in rebates | -$70.00
| Total | $989.61
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-02 20:54 EDT-0400 |
I am not assuming they are a gamer but have included in each build a decent card for casual gaming and the case can support up to a 7990 GPU (in size).