Hi all. I am in need of advice on a new build. $500 is the absolute max I can spend and I prefer not to involve rebates at all because I have had bad experiences with them in the past. I already have a keyboard, mouse, monitor (1680 * 1050), an AMD 7770 video card, and a DVD burner from a previous computer. I would like the new computer to have an upgrade path but I understand this might not be possible with this budget. I would prefer to buy from Amazon (I know their search function sucks) as they will not charge me sales tax (9% here) or shipping. Thanks for any help anyone can give me.
Comments
Ah, you live in New Jersey, one of the three states in which New Egg has a warehouse, and thus has to charge sales tax.
http://www.amazon.com/AMD-FX-Series-Six-Core-Processor-FD6300WMHKBOX/dp/B009O7YORK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359565793&sr=8-1&keywords=FX-6300
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GA-970A-DS3-AM3-SATA-Motherboard/dp/B0083R9QQG/ref=sr_1_5?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359566475&sr=1-5&keywords=AMD+970
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Builder-Watt-EPS -CX430/dp/B0092ML1SC/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1359565950&sr=1-1&keywords=Corsair+CX430
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1359566050&sr=1-4
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Carbide-200R-Compact-CC-9011023-WW/dp/B009GXZ8MM/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1359566086&sr=1-3
http://www.amazon.com/PNY-PC3-10666-1333MHz-Desktop-MD8192KD3-1333/dp/B004DHNAGM/ref=sr_1_17?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1359566341&sr=1-17
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-System-Builder-DVD-64-Bit/dp/B0094NY3R0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1359566251&sr=8-3&keywords=windows+8
That comes to $514.25. I'm assuming that you already have speakers and a surge protector from your old computer, though you didn't mention them.
I realize that goes a little over your stated budget. There are likely better deals somewhere on Amazon, but their search function is such a mess that I'm not willing to find them for you.
If you absolutely have to stay inside of a strict $500 budget, then the easy place to cut without getting cheap junk parts is to get a cheaper processor like one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Phenom-3-4Ghz-512KB-4000MHZ/dp/B002SRQ214/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359566803&sr=1-8&keywords=AMD+FX
http://www.amazon.com/AMD-6100-6-Core-Processor-Socket/dp/B005UBNKWO/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359566803&sr=1-11&keywords=AMD+FX
Alternatively, you could drop down to 4 GB of system memory rather than 8 GB. But in either of those cases, your upgrade path will be to buy essentially what I linked above. Saving $30 on a CPU today so that you can spend an extra $130 a year from now to upgrade to what you could have bought today isn't a good idea.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003HE260I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005POPRG8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AZCEI3EMXUPTH
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O65JXI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2EUTVCJXLAJ
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088PUEPK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026ZPTR6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003O8J11E/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009O7YORK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Total = $472.54
Thats without an OS tho. I would use the one you have and just " arrange" for it to work until you get a bigger budget. But thats just me.
I would also add another fan to the case, you may have an old one you can use, if not find a 120mm one for $4-5 and add it.
With the parts you have it will make a solid PC with upgrade options.
If you are withing driving distance of the microcenter they have great cpu/mobo combos for amd. This one would be really nice for you and would help out a lot to stay within your $500 budget.
http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx
The 6300 with the M5A97 from asus at $174 plus tax fits very nicely within your budget and has a nice feature set to boot.
edit bad link.