Believe it or not, it’s possible to put together a great value PC without having to spend the earth, remortgage your house or sell your first-born! I’m going to show you how to build a budget PC for under $500 around the AMD A8 Llano APU (Accelerated Processing Unit).
Related: How to: Stress test your new PC to shake out any faults
Note: As usual, I won’t be recommending a case or peripherals … there are too many possibilities, and personal choice/tastes are too varied.
Processor
As I’ve already said, this system is built around AMD’s A8 APU which sees the CPU and GPU combined into a single package.
The silicon I’m going to use here is the A8-3870K ‘Black Edition.’ It combines a 3.0GHz quad-core Socket FM1 CPU and a AMD Radeon HD 6550D GPU into a single package. Also, being a ‘Black Edition’ part it has an unlocked multiplier which makes overclocking easier (if you’re into that sort of thing).
Note: Because the APU is CPU and GPU, there’s no need for a separate graphics card, which reduced the cost of the overall build. Also, the heatsink and cooler are included in the bundle, so there’s no additional spending required.
Price: $115
Motherboard
Because we’re using an A8 APU, we need a motherboard that features a Socket FM1, but don’t let that put you off going for an A8 APU because there’s plenty of choice.
With a budget build we don’t really need to go overboard on the motherboard, we just need something solid and reliable. Fortunately, for under $100 you can not only get a good board, but also high-end features such as HDMI and UEFI firmware, even USB 3.0.
The board I’ve gone for here is there the ASRock A75 PRO4. It contains everything you need at a decent price point.
Price: $90
Next –>
"Wonder what readings we'll find when we tab the power rails?" 
*doink*
Many OEMs use proprietary parts and designs, including the ones you named, some more than others. They may look standard, but often are just different enough to cause problems if you didn't know better. You can't just shove Ford parts into Chevys, ya know? Sometimes you can find workarounds, and sometimes you cant.
