Start with an AM3 785g chipset board, a Athlon II x2 240 regor, 4 GB DDR3 ram for core components. (If you can, that is)
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
From Newegg.com
![]()
Links:
DVD Drive.
Case.
HDD.
Motherboard.
Card Reader.
RAM.
CPU.
If you do not need the card reader, take it out, but it was only $10, and was still within the budget, so I said, "What the heck".
Also, if you wanted to get the Athlon II X4 630 instead of the 620, it is 20$ more for a 200MHz bump. That is your call though.
Links:
DVD Drive.
Case.
HDD.
Motherboard.
Card Reader.
RAM.
CPU.
If you do not need the card reader, take it out, but it was only $10, and was still within the budget, so I said, "What the heck".
Also, if you wanted to get the Athlon II X4 630 instead of the 620, it is 20$ more for a 200MHz bump. That is your call though.
Supposedly there is a shortage (or was very recently) of RAM chips or components, so RAM prices have sky rocketed at the moment, but if you need the PC now, not much you can do about that.
As far as Windows 7 vs XP, there's not really a comparison. If you are buying a new Computer, why would you put a 7 year old operating system on it? even beyond that, in my opinion, Windows 7 is wonderful in about every way, and is exponentially better than Vista or XP. And if you get more then 3 gigs of RAM, get 64 bit.
As far as the build itself goes, I wouldn't buy the quad core. If all he is going to be doing is school work buying any more than two cores is pointless. Also I wouldn't trust the built in PSU on a non "name brand" case (I didn't care for the look of the case either). I want a PSU from a company that I know makes reliable ones and Corsair makes some of the best you can buy and the deal of $50 with a $15 rebate is a STEAL.
Here is my recommendation:
MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128408
RAM (I chose G.Skill over the PQi's listed above) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231207
Case (Pick one, I prefer the Antec 300): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129070 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16811129041R (Open Box nice deal) or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139008
Processor (Dual core Athlon II x2 240): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103688
*If you want to pay $8 more you can get the Athlon II x2 250, which is basically the same chip, just 200 mhz faster
DVD Drive (doesn't matter what brand, just cheapest you can find): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136167
![]()
Total $385 ($370 AR) Still under budget
So, if you wanted to beef up this PC, you have a PCI-E 2.0 slot for a better graphics card, and it can support up to the best AMD processor (Phenom II x4 965) at this time, so it's got definite upgrade ability for future plans.
Hope that helps! Let me know what you think.
As far as Windows 7 vs XP, there's not really a comparison. If you are buying a new Computer, why would you put a 7 year old operating system on it? even beyond that, in my opinion, Windows 7 is wonderful in about every way, and is exponentially better than Vista or XP. And if you get more then 3 gigs of RAM, get 64 bit.
As far as the build itself goes, I wouldn't buy the quad core. If all he is going to be doing is school work buying any more than two cores is pointless. Also I wouldn't trust the built in PSU on a non "name brand" case (I didn't care for the look of the case either). I want a PSU from a company that I know makes reliable ones and Corsair makes some of the best you can buy and the deal of $50 with a $15 rebate is a STEAL.
Here is my recommendation:
MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128408
RAM (I chose G.Skill over the PQi's listed above) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231207
Case (Pick one, I prefer the Antec 300): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129070 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16811129041R (Open Box nice deal) or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139008
Processor (Dual core Athlon II x2 240): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103688
*If you want to pay $8 more you can get the Athlon II x2 250, which is basically the same chip, just 200 mhz faster
DVD Drive (doesn't matter what brand, just cheapest you can find): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136167
Total $385 ($370 AR) Still under budget
So, if you wanted to beef up this PC, you have a PCI-E 2.0 slot for a better graphics card, and it can support up to the best AMD processor (Phenom II x4 965) at this time, so it's got definite upgrade ability for future plans.
Hope that helps! Let me know what you think.
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
