Looking to Build a Midrange Pc on a TIGHT BUDGET

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JemJem

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Hi All. hope i can get some good advice seeing as this is my very first post!

i have been out of touch big time for the last couple of years about PC hardware. :cry:

i am contemplating building my own PC, trying to use as much second hand parts as possible, as i simply do not have the luxury that single guys have to splurge on rigs.
So, can someone guide me to some decent midrange PC builds? :cool:

i am definitely thinking of going the A.M.D way!

Need the following info:

what is the best AMD motherboard? (must be from 2015-2017)
What is the Decent AMD CPU? (must be from 2014-2017)
Graphics card..... (2015-2017)

thank you in advance!:)
Ps: if you have built your own decent PC at a very good price, then i would like to build mine in line with what you have. please send me your build, and i will check it out[/QUOTE]
 
Okay some questions first.

1. What exactly constitutes a tight budget here? Give a range (R10-12k or similar)
2. Do you need a full setup (monitor and perpherals) or just the tower?
3. What will it be used for? Gaming, development, media center, work PC?
4. Will you building it yourself, or having someone build it for you, or what?

In terms of finding parts, Carbonite.co.za is your best bet for a relatively safe, second-hand PC parts community.
 
Hi Urban,

thanks for the blitz quick reply. sorry yes i should have been more specifice

1. Budget- R3000-R5000 (this will take about 4-6 months to save)
2. My brother gave me his 20 inch monitor. Peripherals..what is that? just need the tower
3. Media Centre Definitely, watching movies, but also will use it for light Gaming like Need for Speed. but in essence its not a gaming pc, but if i need to...i would like it to handle any games from 2010-2015.
4. yes i will definitely build it myself
 
My Lga 1366 (x58 chipset) motherboard and my old GTX 460 died last year. Was lucky to get a hand me down i5-3570k with motherboard lga 1155 (Z78 chipset)from my brother. For a gpu, I got the GT 1030 (GDDR5 version) on bidorbuy for R650.

My specs: i5-3570k, 12gb ram, GT 1030 2gb GDDR5.

I run Fornite on 1080P on high. GTA 5 1080P on High. CSGO 1080P on high.

The GT 1030 2gb GDDR5 is a nice budget card/ lower end card.
 
Okay cool.

Peripherals would be mouse, keyboard, speakers, headphones etc.

Honestly, in 6 months when you're ready to buy, most advice you'd receive now would be outdated. I'd suggest going Intel, not AMD as the AMD processors in the time period you're looking at are unimpressive.

You could probably look at something like a 3rd or 4th gen Intel i5, 8GB DDR3 RAM and a GPU of some sort, you won't need anything too beefy to play what you're planning.

Ideally get an SSD hard drive (at least for your Windows drive) as this will breathe new life into older parts and is probably the best performance upgrade you'd get in that bracket.
 
DanDango said:
My Lga 1366 (x58 chipset) motherboard and my old GTX 460 died last year. Was lucky to get a hand me down i5-3570k with motherboard lga 1155 (Z78 chipset)from my brother. For a gpu, I got the GT 1030 (GDDR5 version) on bidorbuy for R650.

My specs: i5-3570k, 12gb ram, GT 1030 2gb GDDR5.

I run Fornite on 1080P on high. GTA 5 1080P on High. CSGO 1080P on high.

The GT 1030 2gb GDDR5 is a nice budget card/ lower end card.
Click to expand...


i would probably consider going the intel route IF the AMD route works out more expensive, but i really don't want to go Intel route
 
If you were in Joburg I'd give you my old AMD PC.

It is older than 2014 though. When I say PC, I mean CPU, Motherboard and RAM.

Specs are 6 core AMD Phenom 2 CPU with 8GB of RAM.
 
JemJem said:
Sounds like Intel? i am looking to build AMD pc.
Click to expand...

Any particular reason for this? I'm guessing this is a nostalgic thing, or, more likely, when you were involved with PC hardware, AMD was the bang-for-buck king. That hasn't been the case for years and is only now a sensible investment again with the advent of Ryzen processors. Can't recommend Intel strongly enough, for your budget.
 
For JemJem's budget and usage, I'd actually say that an AMD APU is the most cost effective way to go.
 
Ancalagon said:
For JemJem's budget and usage, I'd actually say that an AMD APU is the most cost effective way to go.
Click to expand...

But do you think it'll handle gaming at all? I haven't used one for gaming so can't say, was thinking discrete GPU.
 
JemJem said:
i would probably consider going the intel route IF the AMD route works out more expensive, but i really don't want to go Intel route
Click to expand...

I'd second the suggestion to go Intel. If you want performance per price, the AMD stuff before mid-2017 launch of Ryzen is just disappointing. There were a few good ones, but they were mostly on the high-end (phenom hexacore IIRC) which were good but they will likely be hard to find and out of your price range.

If I were building a new mid-range system at the moment, no ways I'd go Intel, AMD all the way. The Ryzen CPUs are legendary. I don't game, so I'm agnostic about the GPUs. But only their recent stuff. A couple of years ago they were a sinking ship, and (at least in SA anyway) not significantly cheaper than Intel parts.

Do look at Carbonite. Quite often people will sell existing assembled systems, and that saves you a lot of hassle.
 
UrBaN963 said:
But do you think it'll handle gaming at all? I haven't used one for gaming so can't say, was thinking discrete GPU.
Click to expand...

Some light gaming yes, they really aren't bad.

And to be honest nothing else will fit in a R5000 budget.
 
UrBaN963 said:
Okay cool.

Peripherals would be mouse, keyboard, speakers, headphones etc.

Honestly, in 6 months when you're ready to buy, most advice you'd receive now would be outdated. I'd suggest going Intel, not AMD as the AMD processors in the time period you're looking at are unimpressive.

You could probably look at something like a 3rd or 4th gen Intel i5, 8GB DDR3 RAM and a GPU of some sort, you won't need anything too beefy to play what you're planning.

Ideally get an SSD hard drive (at least for your Windows drive) as this will breathe new life into older parts and is probably the best performance upgrade you'd get in that bracket.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the breakdown of peripherals. i don't need peripherals.

i guess Intel it is then for me. what motherboard would i need to get with Intel?
 
JemJem said:
Thanks for the breakdown of peripherals. i don't need peripherals.

i guess Intel it is then for me. what motherboard would i need to get with Intel?
Click to expand...

As mentioned above. Check out Carbonite - there are a lot of combo deals / full PCs for sale. Often guys will upgrade existing PCs and then sell mobo/CPU/RAM combos.
 
UrBaN963 said:
Any particular reason for this? I'm guessing this is a nostalgic thing, or, more likely, when you were involved with PC hardware, AMD was the bang-for-buck king. That hasn't been the case for years and is only now a sensible investment again with the advent of Ryzen processors. Can't recommend Intel strongly enough, for your budget.
Click to expand...

wooaaah....that is totally SPOT on! thats so freakish man! yes that was ALWAYS my impression about AMD..from back in the day. but i will take you suggestion and go Intel:cool:
 
UrBaN963 said:
As mentioned above. Check out Carbonite - there are a lot of combo deals / full PCs for sale. Often guys will upgrade existing PCs and then sell mobo/CPU/RAM combos.
Click to expand...

This. See what's available, Google the model number, decide if it's okay.

Pretty much any brand-name mobo will suit, they don't really make bad ones anymore. If it's got a PCI-E slot and enough space for your RAM, you're basically good to go.
 
JemJem said:
wooaaah....that is totally SPOT on! thats so freakish man! yes that was ALWAYS my impression about AMD..from back in the day. but i will take you suggestion and go Intel:cool:
Click to expand...

I figured based on what you'd said. It was true, especially in the old Athlon XP days, but the Phenoms just never hit the mark. Ryzen though....that's some tasty AMD goodness right there.
 
UrBaN963 said:
As mentioned above. Check out Carbonite - there are a lot of combo deals / full PCs for sale. Often guys will upgrade existing PCs and then sell mobo/CPU/RAM combos.
Click to expand...

how safe is Carbonite? i don't wanna end up getting dud parts, and maybe even fraudsters who bail the minute they get the bucks
 
UrBaN963 said:
I figured based on what you'd said. It was true, especially in the old Athlon XP days, but the Phenoms just never hit the mark. Ryzen though....that's some tasty AMD goodness right there.
Click to expand...

awwww how i miss XP. im planning on reinstalling it on my 'hanging-by-a-screw' laptop this week.
 
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