imho it looks perfect for a budget
500 dollar build (some opinions needed)
I was talking to my friend/coworker tonight and apparently his current PC is a pile of crap and broke down on him, and he said he'd like a better computer to use to watch some movies and do school work on, and store music on, so I figured I'd build a decent AMD rig for him.
I've got everything listed already, but I wanted some outside opinions on the build in general. (I know I could go with a single gig of ram, but meh, sometimes I like overkill, especially with memory as cheap as it is)
I know the CPU isn't listed, but that's because I'm going to give him the BE-2300 I have sitting in its case mounted on my wall that I got for free with my Antec P182, and overclock it to about 2.4ghz.
anyways, here's the list. Currently the price including shipping is 455.10
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The real thing I need advice about is the powersupply. I know a 380watt would be ok since it's running the onboard video, and I'm using a tiny little 45watt CPU, but it's been a LONG time since I've done a budget build haha.
(using my kill-a-watt my current system, with a 9600GT instead of the HD4830's wouldn't pull more than 380, I figure with the setup I'm building for him it shouldn't go higher than 200)
and please don't say go with a vista package. That's like telling someone to install windows ME hah.
I've got everything listed already, but I wanted some outside opinions on the build in general. (I know I could go with a single gig of ram, but meh, sometimes I like overkill, especially with memory as cheap as it is)
I know the CPU isn't listed, but that's because I'm going to give him the BE-2300 I have sitting in its case mounted on my wall that I got for free with my Antec P182, and overclock it to about 2.4ghz.
anyways, here's the list. Currently the price including shipping is 455.10
The real thing I need advice about is the powersupply. I know a 380watt would be ok since it's running the onboard video, and I'm using a tiny little 45watt CPU, but it's been a LONG time since I've done a budget build haha.
(using my kill-a-watt my current system, with a 9600GT instead of the HD4830's wouldn't pull more than 380, I figure with the setup I'm building for him it shouldn't go higher than 200)
and please don't say go with a vista package. That's like telling someone to install windows ME hah.
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thanks. I guess all these years of making wishlists on newegg have sort of paid off.
I would actually save him money by GIVING him my TA720a motherboard...but I sort of want to build myself a nice little quiet PC to use as somewhat of a media computer (the only thing I really need is more memory, a hard drive, a dvd drive, and a case)
I haven't decided yet. I really love that little motherboard, so I'll probably keep mine to make a fun little computer
Originally Posted by Hayday imho it looks perfect for a budget |
I would actually save him money by GIVING him my TA720a motherboard...but I sort of want to build myself a nice little quiet PC to use as somewhat of a media computer (the only thing I really need is more memory, a hard drive, a dvd drive, and a case)
I haven't decided yet. I really love that little motherboard, so I'll probably keep mine to make a fun little computer
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/facepalm
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Originally Posted by Acoma_Andy Also why not Vista? |
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| and please don't say go with a vista package. |
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Hmm, I don't know. I really like that biostar board. hell it overclocked like a beast and has a ton of really good features on it, and also was rock solid stable (it's one of those things where I know it's a good solid board that performs well, even with its onboard graphics)
also, the reason for getting that board is so we can upgrade his setup in the future without having to replace many components.
I don't like vista really. it's become the new windows ME. it has a screwed up file copy system, and it breaks itself very easily when it comes to upgrading parts. it LOOKS pretty, but that's about it to me. (my buddy doesn't care much for vista either)
Honestly, I'm skipping vista and waiting for Windows 7.
the reason for not getting a graphics card is that he isn't going to game at all with it, so there's no need for one at all.
Originally Posted by Acoma_Andy I wouldn't go with that mobo... Here's a better cheap one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186143 Also why not Vista? |
also, the reason for getting that board is so we can upgrade his setup in the future without having to replace many components.
I don't like vista really. it's become the new windows ME. it has a screwed up file copy system, and it breaks itself very easily when it comes to upgrading parts. it LOOKS pretty, but that's about it to me. (my buddy doesn't care much for vista either)
Honestly, I'm skipping vista and waiting for Windows 7.
the reason for not getting a graphics card is that he isn't going to game at all with it, so there's no need for one at all.
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I probably could, I basically threw that list together with parts that I knew where good parts (basically, parts that I've owned in the past) but I didn't want to go much over 400 dollars. I'd appreciate you making a list though, I want to see what you'd change. (I probably could get a cheaper case lmao)
Originally Posted by grahamcrackuh To be honest, you could do much better with 500 bucks. If you can wait I'll try to get you a wishlist tomorrow. |
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Well that's a very constructive post. I was asking why.
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Ok, I understand your reasoning now.
The reason I mentioned the other board is that it has the SB700 chipset, and I tend to stay away from nVidia chipsets with AMD builds.
Originally Posted by Hayday /facepalm |
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Originally Posted by Nenkitsune Hmm, I don't know. I really like that biostar board. hell it overclocked like a beast and has a ton of really good features on it, and also was rock solid stable (it's one of those things where I know it's a good solid board that performs well, even with its onboard graphics) also, the reason for getting that board is so we can upgrade his setup in the future without having to replace many components. I don't like vista really. it's become the new windows ME. it has a screwed up file copy system, and it breaks itself very easily when it comes to upgrading parts. it LOOKS pretty, but that's about it to me. (my buddy doesn't care much for vista either) Honestly, I'm skipping vista and waiting for Windows 7. the reason for not getting a graphics card is that he isn't going to game at all with it, so there's no need for one at all. |
The reason I mentioned the other board is that it has the SB700 chipset, and I tend to stay away from nVidia chipsets with AMD builds.
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That's what I was thinking.
Something like this I would assume:
CPU: E5200 $73
M/B: GA-EP45-UD3L $100
Vid Card: Gigabyte 4670 512MB GDDR3 $50
RAM: 2GB G.Skill $27
HDD: 160GB Seagate 7200.10 $40
Optical Drive: $25
Case: Antec 300 $60
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 400W $40
OS: XP $90
Total if I'm not mistaken: $505 w/ rebates
Originally Posted by grahamcrackuh To be honest, you could do much better with 500 bucks. If you can wait I'll try to get you a wishlist tomorrow. |
Something like this I would assume:
CPU: E5200 $73
M/B: GA-EP45-UD3L $100
Vid Card: Gigabyte 4670 512MB GDDR3 $50
RAM: 2GB G.Skill $27
HDD: 160GB Seagate 7200.10 $40
Optical Drive: $25
Case: Antec 300 $60
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 400W $40
OS: XP $90
Total if I'm not mistaken: $505 w/ rebates
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yeah, I understand your reasoning on that. nVidia chipsets for AMD boards has kind of sucked, but for K8 chips they still work pretty well in my opinion. The only reason why I upgraded was because of its 95 watt TDP rating, and I couldn't do crossfire/sli with it (and because I wanted to get a 940BE, which is in the mail right now)
edit:Aww CRAP I double posted.
Originally Posted by Acoma_Andy Well that's a very constructive post. I was asking why. Ok, I understand your reasoning now. The reason I mentioned the other board is that it has the SB700 chipset, and I tend to stay away from nVidia chipsets with AMD builds. |
edit:Aww CRAP I double posted.
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meh, I've never messed with sata dvd drives, but I've owned the drives I'm getting him and it works great.
He doesn't have an os, and his old system is starting to kick the can (the hard drive is totally shot, and the entire system is actually very dated)
Jspeedracer, that's pretty awesome, but the thing is, we aren't going to overclock this system (and I already have a processor for him) it also looks like you got a lot of deals on parts too. Anyways, without the OS this system is nearly 100 dollars cheaper.
linskingdom, that silverstone seems ok, but no active PFC? I'd rather not get one with passive (especially not after I saw how much of a difference an active PFC powersupply makes on your bill
)
Pretty much I'm trying to build a system that once I put it together, no matter how much it gets abused by not maintaining the components (basically, no cleaning or anything at all) it won't break down. at the same time I don't want it pulling a lot of power (the reason for onboard only, and the amd chip I have) plus it'll work for what he needs. I guess from the looks of it I don't think I can drop the price without going with parts that aren't as high of quality, which isn't what I want to do (I've done that before, it resulted in a motherboard being fried when the powersupply I had blew up, and cost me 10x more than the psu cost)
Originally Posted by My arms stuck I'm at school so I can't link it but why not an SATA dvd drive? and what about carrying over his old OS? |
He doesn't have an os, and his old system is starting to kick the can (the hard drive is totally shot, and the entire system is actually very dated)
Jspeedracer, that's pretty awesome, but the thing is, we aren't going to overclock this system (and I already have a processor for him) it also looks like you got a lot of deals on parts too. Anyways, without the OS this system is nearly 100 dollars cheaper.
linskingdom, that silverstone seems ok, but no active PFC? I'd rather not get one with passive (especially not after I saw how much of a difference an active PFC powersupply makes on your bill
)Pretty much I'm trying to build a system that once I put it together, no matter how much it gets abused by not maintaining the components (basically, no cleaning or anything at all) it won't break down. at the same time I don't want it pulling a lot of power (the reason for onboard only, and the amd chip I have) plus it'll work for what he needs. I guess from the looks of it I don't think I can drop the price without going with parts that aren't as high of quality, which isn't what I want to do (I've done that before, it resulted in a motherboard being fried when the powersupply I had blew up, and cost me 10x more than the psu cost)
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I had a similar system, my 7750BE (a chip with way more than double the TDP) with my 9600GT (overclocked as high as possible) would never pull more than 380 watts under maximum load. Considering that I'm using a 45 watt chip, and NO graphics card, It should pull no more than 280 watts of power.
Originally Posted by kaxel I think you might need more power. at least 450watt. |
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