$500 Budget build

And when I say 'budget' I mean it. Pricing ~$500CDN of stuff is tricky work, especially when you want it to be capable of playing gamesand leaving a bit of room for upgrading in the future. For now it'll serve as a basic video editing box and a bit of gaming on my HDTV and I really wanted to keep it under $600 after tax.

I'm not too fussy about processor and video card, so long as they're cheap and functional, and I figured going AM2+/AM3 on the motherboard would be a lot more flexible than putting together a non-i7 Intel system. Hell, if I decide to go that route near the end of the year I can always use this budget rig as a server or a dedicated HTPC or give it to my girlfriend.

Comments/suggestions are much appreciated - and note when I say $500-$600 that's in Canadian, so $400-$500US (or so).

This is what I've got picked out at the moment, some of which I've already ordered (most notably the case) as they were on limited sales:

-Antec Sonata III (including 500w power supply)
-AMD X2 7750 Black
-Gigabyte GA-MA78GM (also comes bundled with the cpu)
-4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR2-800
-Sapphire Radeon 4670
-1TB WD Green(WD10EADS)
-Samsung DVD writer

All that comes out to (roughly) $530CDN, with most of the concessions coming at the expense of the processor and video card. Not sure if there are better options for those two things while still keeping the price way down.

What about the OS? Just going to use an old one or 7 RC1?Munkyman587

Seems pretty good for a budget. Mostly brought up the OS because I have seen so many people forget about it. I am not familiar with the mobo, but it is difficult to be picky in this range. I would get a solid PSU in the future though, because I don't trust pre-packed ones with cases. After seeing 3 of them die, one of them taking half the computer components with it... I don't even bother with them anymore.Munkyman587

i would look up the ati 4770 shouldnt be much more than the 4670 an alot more powerfull

I would get a solid PSU in the future though, because I don't trust pre-packed ones with cases. After seeing 3 of them die, one of them taking half the computer components with it... I don't even bother with them anymore.Munkyman587

It's a different story with Antec, their power supplies are top notch. The Sonata III includes Antec's 500W Earthwatts PSU, which is a great powersupply.

That is quite an excellent choice of parts!

and you run some room for overclocking...

sweet selection but speaking personally id get an intel C2D lower on the totem pole if were discussing a $500 water mark and have ditched the rather $$$ case for something more functional such as a centurion 5, or an antec 300

I'll be looking for something similar around Labor Day probably around $600 CDN. I was looking at parts, the ATI 4830 is a good choice for a GPU from what I've seen, it's better than the 4670 iirc.

Another thing I noticed is that Newegg.ca doesn't carry the Q6600 anymore....I can't find it :(

Remember to look at newegg.ca and tigerdirect.ca too. most of the time, they have better prices than ncix. Also, look for the 4770, its about as good as a 4850, and a bit cheaper. if you get your stuff from newegg you'll have enough left over to get the better video card.

good thing all my reatilers have about 5 q6660's wholl buy! (for there rediculous price)

I don't think I'll be able to run Crysis at playable framerates at my monitor's native 1920x1080, but I'll certainly try and see how it fares.DJ_Lae

I have a Core 2 Duo E8400 at 4.05ghz, 4gb of ram, and an HD4870 and I cannot play Crysis very good at 1920x1080 (my monitors native res). So don't feel bad.

Im very interested in following a budget build like this. Let me know how it works out. Never built from scratch before but ive done alot of work installing all sorts of parts (cd drives, memory, pci cards, etc). How easy is this to put together for someone thats pretty technilogically savy? I assume everything just gets plugged in or screwed in, couldnt be that difficult, could it? Also, my ultimate plan is to have a comp capable of running starcraft2 or diablo3 when they come out. Will this build be able to do that? Doesnt have to run perfect...SameOldSaints

Yea, Blizzard doesn't make games that require high-end hardware.

They want EVERYONE to be able to play their games, not just the High-End PC Meglomaniacs.

:)

NOTE - although, some of the videos I've seen of Diablo 3 might give a PC a good workout - especially with hundreds of little zombies running around the screen, all with their own Havok Physics model...

DJ, you get that put together? Real interested in how it turns out...SameOldSaints

They ran out of video cards after I changed my order (understandable given the sale), but more are on the way and it's supposed to all ship out today or tomorrow. So, Thursday or Friday, as it doesn't take long for an NCIX order to arrive.

I'll take photos after I put it together and set everything up - I'm a bit excited, as this is one of the cheapest (yet capable) computers I've ever put together, and it's been a long time since I've built one myself.

[QUOTE="Munkyman587"]I would get a solid PSU in the future though, because I don't trust pre-packed ones with cases. After seeing 3 of them die, one of them taking half the computer components with it... I don't even bother with them anymore.metaltoiletry

It's a different story with Antec, their power supplies are top notch. The Sonata III includes Antec's 500W Earthwatts PSU, which is a great powersupply.

Got it all together, no obvious problems, although I'm still waiting for the backup to finish on my other PC before I steal the monitor and install Windows 7.

Kept the cat in another room when I put it together (in the kitchen...who doesn't build there), he'd step all over the motherboard if he could and chew my RAM sticks.

Looks pretty much like a $500 PC inside - nothing fancy, but I don't mind. I was actually surprised how much room there is in the case to work with, and I like the side mounting drives that keep the cables behind. I guess some of the room comes with the case being an inch or so wider than most. Also, it's built like a tank.

There's room for another 120mm fan between the video card and the hard drives (barely, I'd have do some creative wire bending), but we'll see how hot it gets first.

I'm still installing stuff, but Left 4 Dead runs gloriuosly at native resolution (1080p) and high details, where my old laptop choked on it past 1280x720 and medium details.

Hows that puppy doing? Any new setbacks?SameOldSaints

Is it just me or does it look like your ram is not running in dual channel? Reason for it?JunkTrap

Actually you are okay. They're color coded for channels. I'm used to seeing the channels arranged the "other" way.

Wow, that's a sick rig. I'm considering going the Intel route, but I know you can overclock the AMD 7750 nicely, so I don't know if I should go with that or the Intel E8400. What other games do you play that you have FPS ranges on, as I will be playing at 1600x1200, so I should get the same or better than yours.

For the good of your soul, splurge a bit and go for the HD4770 :) Also, those WD Green drives are SLOW. go for their 640GB model or the 1TB WD Black / 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS

What things need to be adjusted on the BIOS settings after everything is set up?

DJ, what things need to be done on the BIOS settings after everything is set up? (before installing windows im guessing?)SameOldSaints

DJ, I ended up building very similair to yours. Did you add an extra fan in the back? My temps are going up into the low-mid 50s, is that ok? What are the good/bad ranges for cpu/gpu temps?

Also, what speed do you have your fan running at? Ive noticed theres a big difference noise wise btw mid and high.

DJ, I ended up building very similair to yours. Did you add an extra fan in the back? My temps are going up into the low-mid 50s, is that ok? What are the good/bad ranges for cpu/gpu temps?

Also, what speed do you have your fan running at? Ive noticed theres a big difference noise wise btw mid and high.

Hey about waht you said with steam taking up your cpu, I dont know if this would help but AMD Fusion is a free little program that ive been running before I run my games, it closes a lot of background programs.

I just built a $500 computer myself with very simialler specs. Amd Athlon X2 7850, Radeon HD 4770..

I actually just posted a topic about it, I didn't notice there was a topic already about $500 gaming computers xD