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Another check before I buy thread!

I

iamskew

Senior member
Hey everyone,

I'm building a college computer for my sister to last her the next 4-5 years. She's not a gamer or hardcore enthusiast, but I want this to be fast and last for her, and also be able to easily run Windows Vista whenever it finally comes out. She doesn't do a lot of downloading, so I think the HDD is plenty big. The budget is +/- $2000, she already has a 2005fpw monitor and speakers. Please feel free to suggest different parts.
Anyway, here's a the list of what I want to buy, what do you all think?

COOLER MASTER Praetorian PAC-T01-EK Black - $109.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 300GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $99.99

ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $104.99

BFG Tech Geforce 7900GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $289.99

SeaSonic S12-600 ATX12V 600W Power Supply - $159.99

Logitech Internet Pro Black 103 Normal Keys 8 Function keys Function Keys PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - OEM - $9.99

Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 Black 5 Buttons 1x Wheel USB Laser Mouse - OEM - $27.99

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail - $202, $152 after mail-in rebate

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 2000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail - $632

BELKIN F5C980-TEL 12 Feet 8 2960 Power Surge Protector - Retail - $45.99

NEC ND-3550A DVD Burner - $43.99

EDIT: Forgot, the total is $1771 with shipping. She'll get Windows XP and Office 2003 cheaper through her university and she still needs a printer.

So there it is. Did I go overkill on the CPU, GFX Card and RAM ... yeah probably. Did I underdo the mobo ... maybe. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
skew
 
Does she plan on upgrading during the 4 years? If not the 600watt PSU although a beauty may be a bit of overkill, same with the SLI motherboard.
 
SLI is a bizarro choice if she's not a gamer. Get an Asus A8N-E or a Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 or something.
 
Yeah, I think you might be right. It's hard to say whether she'll upgrade. I doubt she'd go SLI, that's for sure. What mobo and psu would you recommend as replacements? I don't have much partiality for mobo manufacturer, but I am partial to forton/sparkle for psu.
 
Originally posted by: Sqube
SLI is a bizarro choice if she's not a gamer. Get an Asus A8N-E or a Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 or something.
Click to expand...


Right, but the A8N-E only drops the price like $10 and and you lose an x16 slot ... is that really worth it?
 
imho you went overkill on everything. I mean seriously, what do you think she's going to be doing with that thing? An SLI motherboard and power supply? A 7900gt? You're just throwing money away. Get a Pentium D from Dell for $600 w/ xp and tech support and warranty and save the rest of the money for things she'll really need in college. 90% of college students never need half of what you have there, even in 4 years they won't.
 
The motherboard price isn't half bad at the sale price so if there is room on your budget you can keep it, but I would save myself $80 and get this PSU.
 
Originally posted by: FrizQuadrata
imho you went overkill on everything. I mean seriously, what do you think she's going to be doing with that thing? An SLI motherboard and power supply? A 7900gt? You're just throwing money away. Get a Pentium D from Dell for $600 w/ xp and tech support and warranty and save the rest of the money for things she'll really need in college. 90% of college students never need half of what you have there, even in 4 years they won't.
Click to expand...

Right, but is a $600 Dell going to run Vista well?
 
Originally posted by: Firsttime
The motherboard price isn't half bad at the sale price so if there is room on your budget you can keep it, but I would save myself $80 and get this PSU.
Click to expand...


I agree. I made that change. I think I'm gonna save a couple hundred and take the CPU down to the 4400 or lower.
 
Originally posted by: iamskew
Originally posted by: bamacre
I think the whole thing is overkill. Bigtime.
Click to expand...


I can accept that ... but please point me in the direction of changes you would make.
Click to expand...

So many changes. First off, budget is too high. I realize this needs to be a fast machine for 4 or 5 years, but good God, an X2 4800+? A 7900 GT? SLI motherboard?

What exactly is she going to be doing with this thing?
 
Originally posted by: iamskew
Originally posted by: FrizQuadrata
imho you went overkill on everything. I mean seriously, what do you think she's going to be doing with that thing? An SLI motherboard and power supply? A 7900gt? You're just throwing money away. Get a Pentium D from Dell for $600 w/ xp and tech support and warranty and save the rest of the money for things she'll really need in college. 90% of college students never need half of what you have there, even in 4 years they won't.
Click to expand...

Right, but is a $600 Dell going to run Vista well?
Click to expand...

Sure, if you got the right one. Vista is an OS, not F.E.A.R. 😀
 
Originally posted by: iamskew
Originally posted by: Firsttime
The motherboard price isn't half bad at the sale price so if there is room on your budget you can keep it, but I would save myself $80 and get this PSU.
Click to expand...


I agree. I made that change. I think I'm gonna save a couple hundred and take the CPU down to the 4400 or lower.
Click to expand...


Why not just go with a Pentium 940 at $227 shipped (ZZF)? Corsair DDR2-667 2GB kit ($145), an Epox 945P motherboard ($97), and maybe a 7600 GS?
 
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: iamskew
Originally posted by: bamacre
I think the whole thing is overkill. Bigtime.
Click to expand...


I can accept that ... but please point me in the direction of changes you would make.
Click to expand...

So many changes. First off, budget is too high. I realize this needs to be a fast machine for 4 or 5 years, but good God, an X2 4800+? A 7900 GT? SLI motherboard?

What exactly is she going to be doing with this thing?
Click to expand...


Well, I wish I could say she'll be doing a lot, but she won't. I guess my main concern with this thing is that when it is facing 4 years of slowing down that it will still be fast.

Anyway, I made a couple of changes now:

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A, 2.0 version, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 500W - Retail - $89.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - $297.00

eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT CO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail - $169.99, + $20 MIR

That takes it down to $1248.47 shipped. The only other place I'd really want to save money is the RAM. I know the 7600GT is still overkill for a non-gamer, but I want full Vista graphics action at 1680x1050 for her monitor.
 
4800 = overkill, go 4400 or even 3800
7900gt = overkill, go 7600gt, it has the same features mostly and will last just as long
sli = overkill, a8n-e or a8n5x
seasonic psu = overkill, unless you're planning to upgrade her parts withthe money you saved by not getting those parts.
xms ram = overkill, corsair valueselect will be fine...
 
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: iamskew
Originally posted by: Firsttime
The motherboard price isn't half bad at the sale price so if there is room on your budget you can keep it, but I would save myself $80 and get this PSU.
Click to expand...


I agree. I made that change. I think I'm gonna save a couple hundred and take the CPU down to the 4400 or lower.
Click to expand...


Why not just go with a Pentium 940 at $227 shipped (ZZF)? Corsair DDR2-667 2GB kit ($145), an Epox 945P motherboard ($97), and maybe a 7600 GS?
Click to expand...


I'm partial to AMD, though you may be right in that there's no apparent need for dual core....And I know Vista is just an OS, but microsoft's web site recommends 128mb of gpu ram for solid performance, so I figure 256 will be real nice.
 
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: iamskew
Originally posted by: FrizQuadrata
imho you went overkill on everything. I mean seriously, what do you think she's going to be doing with that thing? An SLI motherboard and power supply? A 7900gt? You're just throwing money away. Get a Pentium D from Dell for $600 w/ xp and tech support and warranty and save the rest of the money for things she'll really need in college. 90% of college students never need half of what you have there, even in 4 years they won't.
Click to expand...

Right, but is a $600 Dell going to run Vista well?
Click to expand...

Sure, if you got the right one. Vista is an OS, not F.E.A.R. 😀
Click to expand...

He's running something even more demanding: B.L.O.A.T.
 
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
4800 = overkill, go 4400 or even 3800
7900gt = overkill, go 7600gt, it has the same features mostly and will last just as long
sli = overkill, a8n-e or a8n5x
seasonic psu = overkill, unless you're planning to upgrade her parts withthe money you saved by not getting those parts.
xms ram = overkill, corsair valueselect will be fine...
Click to expand...


I agree with the cpu, gpu and psu and I made those changes. The mobo and ram seem worth it because it's only $10 more for the mobo and the xms ram is actually $10 cheaper than the value select after MIR.
 
Oh yeah, one more thing. The 3800+, the 7600gt and the 500w PSu take the price down to $1248.47 shipped - $70 in MIR, so $1178.47 before OS, Office 2003 and printer. Is that better? Or should I cut more?
 
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
all depends on how much you're willing to spend, you can go lower than that if you want
Click to expand...

Well, I was willing to go all the way up to $2000, so I'm plenty happy here. And after the $155 for XP/Office from her university, the $100-$150 for a printer, that puts me up to $1500 ... which gives me plenty of leeway to get her some better speakers.

Would an upgrade to the 4000+ over the 3800+ be worth it? Should I consider an aftermarket CPU cooler with arctic 5?
 
Originally posted by: iamskew
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: iamskew
Originally posted by: Firsttime
The motherboard price isn't half bad at the sale price so if there is room on your budget you can keep it, but I would save myself $80 and get this PSU.
Click to expand...


I agree. I made that change. I think I'm gonna save a couple hundred and take the CPU down to the 4400 or lower.
Click to expand...


Why not just go with a Pentium 940 at $227 shipped (ZZF)? Corsair DDR2-667 2GB kit ($145), an Epox 945P motherboard ($97), and maybe a 7600 GS?
Click to expand...


I'm partial to AMD, though you may be right in that there's no apparent need for dual core....And I know Vista is just an OS, but microsoft's web site recommends 128mb of gpu ram for solid performance, so I figure 256 will be real nice.
Click to expand...

The 940 is a dual core, and very, very close to the performance of the X2 3800+. It's also $70 cheaper, and a 945P motherboard with it will allow you to use DDR2 memory, which is also cheaper than DDR.

EPOX EP-5P945-J 945P P4/Celeron D 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard
$96.75
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=246606

Intel® Pentium® D Processor 940 3.2GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 775, 2x2MB Cache, Dual Core Retail
$226.50
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80852

Corsair VS2GBKIT667D2 2GB Kit DDR2-667 PC2-5300 Value Select Memory Retail
$144.90
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85016-47
 
Wow...your insistence on the D 940 forced me to start checking benchmarks ... now I might have to reconsider because the 940 is holding its own and then some...
 
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