elementskater706

Hello. My dad is looking for a new PC and he wants an intel quad and 4GB of ram. He recently bought a dell with a Q8200 and 3GB of ram for 550 USD but the thing is riddled with problems. He will be returning that one shortly. There will be no overclocking (don't shoot me) on this PC. The PC will be for general websurfing, uploading pictures from his camera, email, and some other lightweight applications he uses. He may also be buying a security camera and would like lots of space to store recorded video and whatnot. I'm having trouble building a system with an OS and all the same specs or better that the dell had for a similar price. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!

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MICHIGAN OVERCLOCKERS

error10

Why do you need a quad? It doesn't sound like anything he's doing would really require one, especially if he isn't overclocking.

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elementskater706

He wants a quad so he doesn't need to upgrade for years to come. That and he thinks that since he found that PC from Dell with a quad for cheap that he shouldn't settle for less. I've tried to talk him into just getting a dual core but he wasn't buying it....

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MICHIGAN OVERCLOCKERS

kazakia

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017 Q6600 $185+Free Shipping
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227199 2x2GB $40
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131332 Asus G43 mobo $103
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341012 OCZ 500w $55+Free Shipping
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152052 500GB $55+Free Shipping
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156053 $22
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116488 Vista x64 $100+Free Shipping

Total:560 Before Shipping Before $57 MIR.

Should meet the specs unless his Dell had a dedicated graphics card.

but for this situation i think AMD would be better with a cheap quad and a 780G:

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103291 Phenomx4 9950 $165+Free Shipping
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227199 4x2GB $40
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131324 ASUS M3A78-EM $78+Free Shipping
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341012 OCZ 500w $55+Free Shipping
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152052 500GB $55
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156053 $22
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116488 Vista x64 $100

Total:515 Before Shipping and before $80MIR

elementskater706

That looks pretty good. He wants a 1TB drive also. Forgot to mention that. Here's the build I came up with so far:

CPU: Q6600
RAM: 2x2GB G.skill DDR2-800
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131288 ASUS P5KPL-CM LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103942 Antec 430w
Case: Rosewill
DVD Burner: Lite-on
HDD: Seagate 1TB
OS: Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit

The total comes out to $617 after shipping but before rebates.

How is that motherboard and PSU. Also one more requirement is a gigabit integrated nic.

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MICHIGAN OVERCLOCKERS

kazakia

It would be hard to fit a 1TB drive in the INtel build but you could add another 500GB and put them in RAID0 in the AMD Build which will give him better performance but also 1TB Drive space.

Lamb of God

That is a solid build.

bucdan

1TB? i wonder who has filled that yet, maybe full of family photos and videos? but recommend that intel rig that was posted earlier. id say drop him in a raid setup id say. raid 0 of 500gb will be nice.

EDIT: maybe a raid 1 as they are photos and can be lost, if i have my raid definitions correct.

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elementskater706

I don't know why he wants 1TB. I guess I could talk him down on that. He does have alot of photos and will probably soon need the space for alot of video from the security camera he's about to buy. He just doesn't want to have to constantly upgrade in the future. I forgot to mention that he is upgrading to this new system from a Pentium III 800 Mhz system lol. I'm sure he's going to be blown away by anything remotely new.

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MICHIGAN OVERCLOCKERS

error10

I only have about 575GB free on my 1TB drive, right now, but it varies widely. I can generate a LOT of data importing video off a DV tape.

He should spend a couple hundred more bucks and buy my extremely overclocked backup rig.

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The Ice Stone has melted!

I did error10's Windows Challenge and I now am an MCSE: Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert!