$400 budget build

[Brawlin_Bimmy]

I've decided to build my first computer and I could use some suggestions on how to make a cheap build of around $400. This is what I have so far.

CPU $56.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103688
MOBO $59.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157176
RAM $56.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148149
GPU $74.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102855
HD $39.49 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136075
DVD $26.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289
PSU $49.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371029
Case $39.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119202

All the parts together add up to $405
For the OS, I'll just use a copy of XP that I have.
I already have a CRT monitor from my old desktop, speakers, keyboard and mouse.
I mostly plan to play games like HL2, TF2, L4d.
Also, do I need to buy any extra cables. I know retail purchases have cables included but will there be enough for the DVD Drive and HDD.

Thanks In advance

 

[MRKV]

What are you going to be using the computer for? Depending on usage 2GB of ram might be a little low

Also, do I need to buy any extra cables, or do they come included?

The motherboard comes with 2 SATA cables and the PSU should have its own power cord, so no you wouldnt need any other cables.

 

[mfenn]

$8 more will get you a 320GB HDD.
$15 more will get you a 500GB HDD.

Not only are these bigger than what you have, they will be faster due to higher density platters.

 

[Brawlin_Bimmy]

What are you going to be using the computer for? Depending on usage 2GB of ram might be a little low

I'll use XP for now and play some Direct X 9 games: TF2, STALKER, maybe some Borderlands. Once I get some more cash and decide to move onto Windows 7, then I would buy another stick of 2GB

 

[Brawlin_Bimmy]

$8 more will get you a 320GB HDD.
$15 more will get you a 500GB HDD.

Not only are these bigger than what you have, they will be faster due to higher density platters.

Your right, I might be acting a bit stingy if for $15 more I can get something much better. I'm don't know enough about computers to know about density platters on Hard Drives, but I'm guessing this would be a much better buy for a Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 $55.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

 

[Brawlin_Bimmy]

Also would getting this 520W power supply be worth it for this build?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371030
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power $69.99

I also found another Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102842
I can't really find a difference with the one I posted at the start of the thread except that this one doesn't have crossfire and there is no watt requirement. So would this one be better since I don't plan on using Crossfire?

 

[CurseTheSky]

520w would be overkill for this build, unless you're considering buying a $300+ graphics card in the future (or going SLI / Crossfire on a pair of ~$150 graphics cards).

I don't know how the NEO ECO series performs, but for similar money you could grab an Earthwatts 430D (if they're still on sale) or a Corsair 400CX. Either should be great.

Finally, if you can afford to throw in a little extra, I highly suggest an HD 5670 over the 4670. It should have quite a bit more power, and supports DX11 (for what it's worth). Here's an example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-870-_-Product. It "only" has 512MB compared to the 1GB card that you listed, but 1GB on a less capable card like the 4670 will go to waste. The 5670 also uses DDR5 vs. DDR3 on the 4670, giving it much more memory bandwidth.

 

[mfenn]

Your right, I might be acting a bit stingy if for $15 more I can get something much better. I'm don't know enough about computers to know about density platters on Hard Drives, but I'm guessing this would be a much better buy for a Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 $55.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

Yep, that's a much better choice.

Also would getting this 520W power supply be worth it for this build?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371030
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power $69.99

I also found another Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102842
I can't really find a difference with the one I posted at the start of the thread except that this one doesn't have crossfire and there is no watt requirement. So would this one be better since I don't plan on using Crossfire?

For your purposes, the 2 cards are identical. The difference in Newegg descriptions is likely due to the product info being keyed in by different people.

520w would be overkill for this build, unless you're considering buying a $300+ graphics card in the future (or going SLI / Crossfire on a pair of ~$150 graphics cards).

I don't know how the NEO ECO series performs, but for similar money you could grab an Earthwatts 430D (if they're still on sale) or a Corsair 400CX. Either should be great.

Finally, if you can afford to throw in a little extra, I highly suggest an HD 5670 over the 4670. It should have quite a bit more power, and supports DX11 (for what it's worth). Here's an example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-870-_-Product. It "only" has 512MB compared to the 1GB card that you listed, but 1GB on a less capable card like the 4670 will go to waste. The 5670 also uses DDR5 vs. DDR3 on the 4670, giving it much more memory bandwidth.

Agree on 520w PSU. I think what the OP currently has in his build will do fine. The Earthwatts is is a pretty old series, and it looks like the NEO ECO is it's replacement.

Check out Ryan's article on the 5670. It is a decent amount faster in some games, but not at all faster in others. I don't know if it's worth the $15 difference on this budget. Your call, OP.

 

[Brawlin_Bimmy]

Finally, if you can afford to throw in a little extra, I highly suggest an HD 5670 over the 4670. It should have quite a bit more power, and supports DX11 (for what it's worth). Here's an example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-870-_-Product. It "only" has 512MB compared to the 1GB card that you listed, but 1GB on a less capable card like the 4670 will go to waste. The 5670 also uses DDR5 vs. DDR3 on the 4670, giving it much more memory bandwidth.

For your graphics card suggestion, I don't see a display port for my monitor which is an old CRT monitor.

 

[mfenn]

For your graphics card suggestion, I don't see a display port for my monitor which is an old CRT monitor.

Check out the "what's comes in the box" picture on Newegg. It looks like that card comes with DVI-to-VGA adapter.

 

[Brawlin_Bimmy]

Check out the "what's comes in the box" picture on Newegg. It looks like that card comes with DVI-to-VGA adapter.

O wow, I feel stupid already. I can only imagine the mayhem of me trying to put all the parts together, lol. I guess I'll just think about which video card to get for now. The only reason I'm leaning towards cheaper parts (apart from a budget) is because I'm scared of breaking something since I never built my own pc before.

 

[MrK6]

Your right, I might be acting a bit stingy if for $15 more I can get something much better. I'm don't know enough about computers to know about density platters on Hard Drives, but I'm guessing this would be a much better buy for a Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 $55.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

Basically, more data per a platter means less movement to get to where you want to be (and therefore more faster performance) . I would go with this drive personally - http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...odlist=froogle . It's cheaper and faster.
I'd also get this DVD-burner - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151192
And with the saved cash grab this PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139003
Also, here's 4GB of RAM for the same price as that 2GB stick - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227199
If you live near a Fry's, they have that CPU on sale now (but in-store only) - http://www.frys.com/product/6050978?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG
Finally, I'd also go for this 9600GT over the 4670 as it will be much faster and neither card is capable of running the kind of eye candy that takes up 1GB of VRAM, so the 512MB is more than enough - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814141108

Figure those in, and you should have a good performance boost for the same cost, nevermind a great power supply that you can keep using for future builds. I didn't touch the case because I figured that was a personal choice, but if you're looking for suggestions, let me know . Good luck with your first build!

EDIT: If you're going to put some more money into the GPU budget, just grab a 4770 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127452&cm_re=4770-_-14-127-452-_-Product . It's much faster than any of the other cards listed.

 

[Brawlin_Bimmy]

Figure those in, and you should have a good performance boost for the same cost, nevermind a great power supply that you can keep using for future builds. I didn't touch the case because I figured that was a personal choice, but if you're looking for suggestions, let me know . Good luck with your first build!

I would love some case suggestions. I just picked that coolmaster because it looks decent for its price.

 

[M0RPH]

You're still using a CRT? You really should think about just getting a Dell deal with LCD monitor and Windows 7, then add your video card. Something like this:

Dell Vostro 220 Mini; Dell E2010H 20" LCD; Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93GHz; 2GB RAM; 250GB HDD; DVD-ROM; gigabit ethernet; Windows 7 Home Premium; 1yr warranty
$449 http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=brcwa1p&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&kc=desktop-vostro-220mt&dgc=BF&cid=27740&lid=1269901&acd=10709197-227502-B12A0A0AC43A01198055A0A1

You said you wanted to get Win 7 eventually, and you definately need a monitor... that's $200 value right there so its like you're only paying $250 for the computer.

 

[M0RPH]

Also, if you do build you can save money by using this kit http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch...iteria=SA02230
which includes
* AMD AM3 Athlon II 245 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor (45nm)
* MSI K9N6PGM2-V2 AM3/AM2+ Nvidia Geforce 6150SE MicroATX Motherboard
* Kingston 2GB DDR2-800 Desktop Memory
* GIGABYTE GZ-PH2A3 ATX Case
* PX+480RDF 480W Power Supply
all for $155

That's if you're ok with a Nvidia chipset mobo.

 

[Brawlin_Bimmy]

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for all your input. As a first time computer builder I appreciate all the information you have given me. With everyone's suggestions and my own looking around, I have enough information to make a decision on what I should buy.