Desktop PC for $400-500 range, better to build or buy off the shelf?

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Is it unreasonable to build a new one with at least 8 GB of Ram? Isn't that kind of the bare minimum standard now?

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4GB could be considered bare minimum standard for anything new these days, but 8GB is considered "optimal." That's not the whole picture, of course, since having a certain amount of RAM doesn't matter if your computing habits/tasks never actually need to use that much. Also, a very weak CPU will likely be your bottleneck in even being able to run enough memory-hogging tasks like multiple browser windows, games, and video/image editing programs.

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It's just time. His monitor is his TV. About a 5 year old JVC LCD.

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I'm assuming it's 720P? If you're trying to get a new monitor to fit in the $500 budget, off the shelf is probably your best option, but gaming performance will suffer. Which leads me to...

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As far as what kind of video card he needs, I'm not really sure.

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You said he wants to play Steam type stuff, but Steam is home to thousands of games, ranging from Minecraft and casual puzzle/RPGs/etc type games that can be played on a low-end laptop, to GPU-intensive blockbusters like call of Duty, Metro, Batman Arkham series, Borderlands, etc. etc., and lots in between. So, it would help to know what kind of games he wants to play. The closer to the "blockbuster" spectrum he is, the more it makes sense to build, simply because off-the-shelf gaming PCs at low budgets are never configured correctly.

This is the best you'll do under $500.

LINK


You can build a much better configuration (especially if you pirate windows), but this build would be fine for Minecraft. I might catch some shite from the other PC folks of the gaming board for suggesting this build, but it's either build one or get something like this.

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I wouldn't call 4 the bare minimum, because I certainly do enough with it

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I still would call it minimum. Not because you can't get by with less, but because even a $250 Dell laptop has 4GB, so anything you bought today with less RAM is likely a poor value all around unless you're looking at a $100 refurb desktop. It's also worth mentioning that your 7-year-old laptop probably has a more powerful CPU than the $250 Dells, which contributes to your ability to run the programs you mentioned.

I just built one , last night, for my son.
$400 plus about $43 in shipping. All off of Amazon (except monitors and OS)

Seagate Barracuda ES ST3500630NS - Hard drive - 500 GB

Samsung TS-H493 CD-RW/DVD COMBO

Ark Technology PA-08 Black ATX Mid Tower / Computer Case with 500W Power Supply

AMD AMD A8 7600 FM2+ 4MB Box R7 Series Graphics 3.8 4 Socket FM2+ AD7600YBJABOX

Gigabyte AMD Radeon R7 240 GDDR3-2GB DVI-D/HDMI/D-SUB OC Video Card GV-R724OC-2GI REV2.0
(For DUAL Graphics use with the R7 APU)

CM Storm Devastator - LED Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Combo Bundle (Blue Edition)

GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-HD3 FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Radeon Memory AMD Radeon R9 Gamer Series Memory 8GB (2x4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) CL10 1.65V Unbuffered R938G2130U1K RoHS 8 DDR3 2133 (PC3

He games on Steam too so I am hoping this will get him by.

{edit to say that Steam has a free Linux based OS but I used a W7 64bit enterprise laying around}

Meh, slower RAM and Processor, no KB & mouse. But I like it!

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slower RAM

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Will make very minimal difference since I'm not running an APU

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Processor

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The G3258 would shite all over that APU

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no KB & mouse

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Can be added and would probably be the same price

And I specifically went thru amazon to avoid the mail in rebates. Ended up with a $10 one on the MOBO but I hate that shite.

OP, either get the pre-built in my link (if lazy and unwilling to learn to build) or Blue's build and pirate Windows.

Windows piracy is really the number one thing that provides significant value in building vs. buying in lower-end configurations. But the main issue is off-the-shelf gaming PCs of this price point being poorly configured, whereas Blue's is properly configured. It would obviously be overkill for Minecraft, but the value is clear.

Well, that CPU would perform a little better in any games that use 4 cores, but its single-threaded performance is typical AMD-bad, and the CPU is of much less importance. And of course the whole crossfiring low-end cards with APU is not the best idea. I don't know much about the R7-240, but based on the memory bandwidth, pixel rate, cores, FPU, etc. I would wager that it's about a third or less of the performance of a 270. Again, fine for minecraft, but not cost efficient.

dramatic speed increase