ned99

Hey everyone I'm building a budget PC for friends and thought I'd ask advice on the build. The key thing is that they don't have a TV and want to be able to watch movies on a big monitor. So I need to get a video card that will work smoothly with a 24" monitor. They won't be gaming or OCing, just using it for word processing, internet, and video.

Here's what I've got: (all parts from newegg.ca)

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L: 60.99
Rosewill Stallion 450w PSU: 44.49
Intel Pentium E6300 2.8Ghz: 89.99
WD Caviar Green 640GB: 79.99
G Skill 2x1 GB DDR2 1066: 34.99
EVGA GeForce 9500 GT 1GB: 70.99

Thanks for the help.

kaivorth

Looks solid for non gaming.

This may be better..and is cheaper than 9500gt http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814102794

Only other option I can see is going AMD here, getting another CPU/Motherboard. Not familiar with Canadian prices though...

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Spritanium

They should be fine with an e5200

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ned99

Yeah I think I might bump it down to a 5200. I was also thinking about getting a Mini-ITX board since they want a small case. I've never built a mini-ITX system before and was wondering if this board would work: ZOTAC NF630I

Do you think that the onboard GeForce 7100 would be enough for a 24" monitor? I was also going to put it in this case do you think the included 150w PSU would be enough?

Spritanium

I'd stay with micro-atx boards if you're going for small. They're still pretty small, and they often have more features than mini-itx boards. As for a case, the coolermaster elite 360 is really small because of its unique psu location. It can even fit full sized atx mobos iirc.

For movie-watching, get them a radeon hd4350. I don't know about canadian dollars, but in USD it's only around $40, which is a steal. That card can even game fairly well when overclocked.

I would never get a 150w psu for any build. Go with 300w or higher, just to be safe. And I've heard some bad things about rosewill psu's; you'd be better off going with a high-quality psu, even if it's the most expensive thing in the build (which it most likely will be).

You can also get away with 800mhz ram and save a few bucks.

So basically, we're looking at something like this:

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L
Corsair 400CX
Intel Pentium E5200
WD Caviar Green 640GB
2GB of ddr2 800
Radeon 4350 512mb (1gb is only useful to people who have really high resolutions)

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-iceblade^

i second the above. otherwise, try going for an AMD X2 550 and and a micro ATX board based on the 785G chipset... that way you get integrated video...

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BigpoppaFrary

get the corsair 400w psu,

Rosewill for me in the past have always been horrid.

ned99

Hey everyone thanks for the help. What do you think about this ITX build versus this mATX build:

ITX:
ZOTAC GF9300
LIAN LI PC-Q07R
APEX AL-A400ATX

micro-ATX
COOLER MASTER Elite 341
GIGABYTE ES2L
GIGABYTE GV-R435OC-512I Radeon HD 4350

I would go with the Corsair 400w but it's got way more cables than I need and space is going to be at a premium.

Spritanium

The mATX build definitely. Mini-itx boards have always seemed like novelty items to me. They're pretty much only useful if you have something really small as your case, like a game console. If someone really doesn't have room for a microATX case, they need to invest in a bigger desk rather than a new computer

The mATX build will be more expandable and a better choice overall.

Are you sure about the corsair psu? It's great, and it has a great price. Just do some quick cable management by putting the dvd-rw in the second highest drive bay and stuffing all the unused cables between it and the top of the case. It works wonders. Don't pass up on a great psu just because it has too many cables. You could always get a modular psu, but those cost more.

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