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Need help building a PC on a tight budget.
monochrome19
Member UncommonPosts: 723
in Hardware
Hey everyone, I was hoping you guys could help me build a PC for class. I wont be using it for gaming but the two programs i need it for are rather taxing. I'll use these programs primarily: Blender (3D modeling) and Source Filmmaker. Someone told me to aim for 8 Gigs because Source needs it and AMD instead of Intel. Also, my budget is rather tight: $350 (student check) sorry. Is it possible to build something powerful enough? All I need is a tower. I have a Dell mouse, keyboard, and monitor already.
Comments
On $350 very doubtful you can build something that will do what you need. I would think to get even started with something that is halfway decent you need at least $500 - $600, more likely $600.
It depends on the performance you are expecting out of the system. For $350, don't expect much. For 3-D modeling, you will need a decent GPU. For decent encoding speed, you need a decent CPU. I'm assuming Source Filmmaker does need to encode. I doubt you can get both on that budget.
Your friend may have suggested AMD due to the price. I suggest going with an AMD A8 or A10 APU and using the integrated graphics. That will get you some okay graphics performance but poor CPU performance.
Your other option is to use Intel and try to squeeze a cheap GPU in your budget. To do this, you would likely need to use a Core i3 or something cheaper.
Try and put a build together based on advice in the forum. It isn't that hard. Just match a motherboard with your CPU socket and find a case that fits the size of motherboard chosen. I just don't care to look up prices for every single item for you.
Thanks Jd and Syn,
as far as what I expect, I just want to be able to run Source without any hiccups. Here are the sys reqs for Source:
OS: Windows 7 / Vista (Windows 7 64 bit suggested)
Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)
Memory: 2GB (4 GB suggested)
Hard Disk Space: At least 15 GB of Space
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 200 series card or better, or AMD Radeon 3000 series or better (NVIDIA GeForce 400 series or AMD Radeon 5000 series preferred)
Monitor: 1366 x 768 (1920 x 1080 suggested)
Audio: DirectX 9.0c compatible
USB headset with mic (suggested)
Besides that, I dont really expect much. I just want to be able to do my work with it. If it takes a long time to render or load thats fine as long as everything I'm doing WITHIN the program is fluid/ not laggy. Some nice folks on reddit helped too, which do you think is the better option. I should be fine going a little over $350, maybe even to $400.
and
Let's see what we can do:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1722959
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128699
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820721107
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106393
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147167
That comes to $303 before $30 in rebates. But there's no OS, and adding $103 for a Windows license puts you over budget:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416776
You might want to see if you can get a cheap Windows license through your university. Linux obviates the need for this and will work fine for Blender, but apparently Source Filmmaker isn't available for Linux.
If you're willing to spend an extra $51 to double your performance, you can replace the combo deal by this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1722923
Both of those build have the glaring flaw that there's no OS. No Windows means Source Filmmaker won't run. If you can get a cheap, legal Windows license, that's great, but if you can do that, you should say so.
An A10-7850K is ridiculous on your budget. The system requirements make it sound like it wants OpenGL 4.x, and relying on Intel video drivers is risky. AMD and Nvidia update their drivers to support the latest versions, but Intel is typically years behind the curve on API support.
Haha, I would but I'm kinda busy atm. I'm still enrolled in summer semester (ends tomorrow) and next semester starts in a few weeks. Even if I wanted to I cant squeeze a job in the next few weeks because I'll be out of the country. So I'd like to purchase everything now, and when I come back be fully equipped to start class
Taking delivery when you're out of the country can be a problem.
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If you've already got a legal copy of Windows, then try my build above with the upgrade to the quad core. That's $354, before $30 in rebates. Do be warned that it only has 120 GB of SSD space, though if you're not a gamer, that should be plenty unless you need to store a bunch of movies that you make or some such.