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Family PC. < $300 budget

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xentr_thread_starter
Hey fellow Canucks,
I've lurked for a few years now, reading video card reviews and like or looking for answers etc.

For the first time though I have to build from scratch, I could use some opinions. The current computer no longer boots and it virtually ran 24/7 for most of the last 6 years.
It was a Socket 754 Semptron and got by with 512mb ram running Win 7. It did good and thus my family does not require a lot- just general computing, with HD video for home movies, youtube.

Budget is < $300


So to begin I've found the following combos, but I realize they aren't the greatest, please help out :


i3 2100/gigabyte GA-H61M-DS2 (only two sata), 4gb ram (i'd add another stick of ram)
Buy the GIGABYTE GA-M68MT-S2 Thermaltake Barebones Kit at TigerDirect.ca

I like this, small case, low power, but wary of newegg shipping,
AMD A4-3400 apu/ Biostar A55MH /4GB (I'd buy another stick of ram )
Newegg.ca - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

:| old gpu; Biostar N68S3B, AMD Athlon II X3 445, 8GB, onboard geForce 7025...
Buy the Biostar N68S3B DiabloTek Barebones Kit at TigerDirect.ca


Will update with a non combo, personal parts list. Looking forward to this.
Thank you in advance :]
 
Do you need a case, hard drive, etc? Do you know what is causing the computer to not boot? At the low end there is a lot to like about the llano setups especially graphics wise.
 
xentr_thread_starter
Ahh good point I should have included that thanks,

Yes to a case and a new hard drive is overdue, as both drives in the old PC are IDE and one is 6 years old, the other 80gb is maybe 9? Sata would be a welcome performance boost.
Optical drive too, is still important.


As for diagnosis, the power supply seems good (though I admit is is a generic hp one, swapped in; it was free) green LED indicates power, but hitting the power button absolutely nothing happens. I tried jumping the switch on the board, and clearing the cmos for the heck of it.. no fans spin etc.
 
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Phew... !@#$ hard drive prices had it so I barely made the price limit.

How about a dual core Celeron package of sorts? Oddly enough Celerons beat out AMD's A4 by about $30 with Mobo+xPU. It should be barely able to play HD (Intel IGP's been all about just-good-enough), but the CPU can crunch any "light" computing just fine. I don't know anything about the case (really, just get some cheap thing locally).

Newegg.ca - Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model KVR1333D3S8N9K2/4G
Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GZ-KF03B Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAKX 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - this one's just plain ridiculous: you can actually get 50GB SSDs for this price
Newegg.ca - SeaSonic SS-300ES Bronze 300W ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies ** no power cord included, use your old one, any lower in price than this and you start going into the territory of exploding PSUs
Newegg.ca - MSI H61M-P21 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Newegg.ca - Intel Celeron G530 Sandy Bridge 2.4GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80623G530 - You could go down to a single core Celeron and save $10 but I wouldn't do it.
Subtotal: $276.94

Also try NCIX to pricematch NewEgg, DirectCanada, and BestDirect to save about ~$15.
 
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xentr_thread_starter
Wow, I wouldn't have thought of a build like this, thank you for beating the target budget!

I haven't given Celerons much of a thought since the Pentium II days, where we instead had a Celeron.. But if its sandy bridge.. And yeah that seasonic is a good PSU, thanks for finding it. I technically have geForce 7350le that would work in this build.


I have to step out but, I'll take a closer look later today/night.
:) thanks
 
wow thanks guys I find people pushing my stuff everywhere. And like all my buyers know if your doing something for more then just yourself(buying for your family, friends,donation ) I give even bigger discounts and save my special hardware for those builds.

If you are still looking msg me I will get you a great deal :)
 
One of the A series AMD chips would work well, and they have a gpu built right into them, the only thing you would need is
Case
motherboard
power supply (450-550 watt would be plenty)
memory such as gskil 8gb ddr3 1333 kit around $40 model such as GBRL, GBXL, GBRM, GBSR
dvd drive such as ASUS DRW-B1ST

and such.
A8 3850 is a decently fast cpu with a decent IGP built into it, more then powerfull enough for any "home" task such as internet, videos and such. here is a list of models AMD A-Series Processor Model Number and Feature Comparisons you wouldnt want to go below a A6 though, for performance reasons.
or you could go Athlon II x2, x3, x4 such as Athlon II x3 445 which are around $60 for a 3.1Ghz cpu but then you need a graphics card as well, or IGP on the motherboard.

Intel G530/540 are also good, good cpu, but the video side is quite underpowered compared to the A6 and A8 cpus.
 
xentr_thread_starter
Last words?

Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies. I've been mulling all of it over the last few days.

As I was liking the AMD A series I built this-
I do realize perhaps for the board I should use gigabyte and there might be better ram I missed:

$20.49 LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04

$46.99 SeaSonic SS-350ET Bronze 350W ATX12V V2.31 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

$84.99AMD A6-3500 Llano 2.1GHz (2.4GHz Max Turbo) Socket FM1 65W Triple-Core Desktop APU

$25.99 GIGABYTE GZ-KF03B Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

$35.49 G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory

$79.99Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAKX 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

$69.99 BIOSTAR A75MH FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard


Total is about $363- and while I know its still pretty great, the sandy bridge Celeron looks very good too, thank you frontier.
I did have a look at Soullessone's sale, but I would prefer to buy new, except for maybe a SATA harddrive, thanks for the heads up.

So I've narrowed down, any thoughts or votes on a build like this A6 one or going with the Celeron G530?

Thank again for the sound advice.
 
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xentr_thread_starter
Hey upon reading some real world comparisons, I am second guessing the llano A6.
the llano build I picked is more future proof with usb 3.0 , DDR3 1866 and sata 6.0gb

but do those benefits outweigh

the G530 and the upgrade path or this older Phenom II X6 955 being faster at most tasks?
Buy the ECS A880LM-M1 DiabloTek Barebones Kit at TigerDirect.ca
I am I just over thinking?
AnandTech - The AMD A8-3850 Review: Llano on the Desktop

thanks
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4476/amd-a83850-review/3
 
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