Newbie looking for confirmed budget build

[Vendetta]

Thanks. I'll start ordering soon. If you can recommend a specific case or power supply, let me know. Great information and much appreciated.

Darn. I had something written up, and then accidentally closed the tab. If that doesn't mean that it's time for bed, I don't know what does.

Anyways, I put together a perspective build for you. It's by no means concrete, and you can change it around as you see fit. For most things, I went pretty middle of the road (PSU, Case, HDD, GPU, etc.), so there is a little bit of wiggle room. I didn't look around to price match, so that's probably something you'll want to do. Others can feel free to chime in with their opinion, but I'd like to think it's a pretty solid build. It's really just more of a guideline. With approx. $60 in rebates, it comes in under the $600 nicely. Enjoy...

 

[dacamp]

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Vendetta]

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[sumsaykra-z]

Do some serious shopping around. I was able to get a brand new i3-560 off of ebay for $110. That's faster than the i3-550 in the above build and significantly cheaper. If aesthetics aren't an issue you can find a really cheap case as well. This is my case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154094 . It's really light, small and the handle makes it real easy to carry around. A case is really all up to you. You just have to make sure the case matches your motherboard form factor. The two that are recommended here are micro atx boards and that can fit in case micro atx and up. Hardware is the major issue.

 

[Xenu]

I am looking for a build for under $500, including the monitor (I haven't had a desktop in almost a decade). Am very new to building computers and have hella sweaty, unsteady hands, so I am a bit apprehensive about it. I know Psystar got sued into oblivion, but is there a computer out there running another operating system and consisting entirely of parts that just happen to be hackintosh compatible? That would be the best.

 

[DoctorWho]

I am looking for a build for under $500, including the monitor (I haven't had a desktop in almost a decade). Am very new to building computers and have hella sweaty, unsteady hands, so I am a bit apprehensive about it. I know Psystar got sued into oblivion, but is there a computer out there running another operating system and consisting entirely of parts that just happen to be hackintosh compatible? That would be the best.

Good luck trying to build a rig for under $500 with monitor. About $500-$600 for the tower only is doable. You could buy your rig from places like CyberPowerPC or iBuyPower, order compatible parts; but you will be spending a little more than if you were to build the system yourself.

 

[connman]

I just finished my 4th Hackintosh (first 2 were Dell Vostro A90 and Mini9 netbooks) last 2 have been desktops. I am typing this on the last one, built for under $500 including 23" lcd.

Here is a great budget build:
Motherboard: G31M-ES2L (try to get a version 1.x, otherwise you will need to get a network card in addition. Have both a 1.1 and a 2.1, both work great with that difference)
Processor: E6300 @ 2.8ghz. Have had OC'd to 3.3ghz and was still stable.
Graphics: ASUS GeForce 8400GS
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc AD-7260S
Ram: 4 gig GSkill 800 mhz DDR2 SDram
HD: Western Digital 500 mb caviar blue
Case: FoxConn TLM-566
Cooling: Case fan and ThermalTake CPU fan
Display: LG W2361 1920x1080 @60hz

This rig runs great, and using the iBoot GE, MultiBeast 2.6.1 (using DSDTSE to create custom DSDT), and NVIDIA update, this works like a charm. Everything works, sleep works, restart and shut down, display detected at native resolution, the only kext is fakesmc.

Shop around for the components, but this build is less than 1 week old at the time of this post so price is current and accurate, and everything was purchased either through newegg, amazon, or overstock.

Tony has given us a great package to work with and even though he designed it to work with the newer boards and processors, it works perfectly with this one.

edit: forgot to add that I am running a vanilla install with the 10.6.5 combo update.

 

[slowjin]

Slowjin-

I wish it were true that the iMacs had good monitors but you can do a search for the terms "iMac" and "color calibration" or maybe "Eye One" and you'll find many messages on the problems related to this issue.

Basically, you can't accurately color calibrate with the iMacs despite their reputation for photo post-processing. The monitors are too bright and won't come down enough for correct calibration.

Hence my interest in a Hackintosh that I can connect to an ultrasharp Dell monitor.

I got you on the monitor piece hence my edit that was posted almost immediately after my reply. With your reco, I am actually looking into Dell's U2311 for my next build. I recently purchased a lower end ASUS 21.5 incher and as it sat next to my ultrasharp 19" from 7 years ago, noticed the colors and such were much better on the old 19" Dell.

 

[Xenu]

I am looking for a build for under $500, including the monitor (I haven't had a desktop in almost a decade). Am very new to building computers and have hella sweaty, unsteady hands, so I am a bit apprehensive about it. I know Psystar got sued into oblivion, but is there a computer out there running another operating system and consisting entirely of parts that just happen to be hackintosh compatible? That would be the best.

Good luck trying to build a rig for under $500 with monitor. About $500-$600 for the tower only is doable. You could buy your rig from places like CyberPowerPC or iBuyPower, order compatible parts; but you will be spending a little more than if you were to build the system yourself.

$500 for a tower is doable since I found an old monitor in a box. It's small, but I guess it can last me until I can get a better one. Which rig should I be looking for on these sites?