I will be building a computer for myself in July for college. I always am in to the high end equipment. I always see prices here and there for certain components, but what I want to know is what am I looking at for a top of line P4 3.06 with some of the better components? I wanted to pay around $2500 (incuding an LCD monitor, hopefully) but am I always wanting to go cheaper. What does your pc consist of and what was your acerage price? Also, what would be just as good as a 3.06 P4?
Average price of a customm pc?
- Thread starter Jbroad572
- Start date
Oh yeah, i forgot to mention i am a newbie and have never built a system before. I have been trying to get up-to-date with some of the terminology, but i have no idea what I will need. I have no idea what mobo I will need, kind of ram, fans, case, types of cpu, I know I'll get a ATI 9700 though, 
, so that's why it's hard for me to price a system. That's why I just wanted to hear some of your systems and the prices on them. So maybe I can find exactly what I need/want. Also I am open to OCing but I would at least like to hit the 3.0+ ghz mark. Is it possible to overclock the P4 3.06?
, so that's why it's hard for me to price a system. That's why I just wanted to hear some of your systems and the prices on them. So maybe I can find exactly what I need/want. Also I am open to OCing but I would at least like to hit the 3.0+ ghz mark. Is it possible to overclock the P4 3.06?Well i have:19 inch viewsonic p95+b,logitech 4.1 speakers,soundblasterlive,logitech keyboard,logitech optical mouse,logitech elite duo,logitech mx700,artec 16x dvdrom,lite on 48x24x48,ati radeon 9700pro,mushkin pc 2100 512mb cas 2-2-2,512mb corsair xms pc2700 cas 2.5,asus a7v8x,80gb western digital 7200rpm 8mb cache,floppy,black case with 300watt powersupply,amd2100 oc'ed to 2.19ghz,with vantec cpu cooler,viewsonic hdtv adapter. I got all this for about $1500
I would say I have close to a top-of-the-line machine, but it would be a good bit over your limit unless you have some of the parts. You can always cut a few corners to save some money, just don't do it in the wrong place. I would suggest picking up the April issue of MaximumPC, it has an article about the best pc parts for the price, and Anantech has a leader board thread (pined to the top of general hardware) where they give a list of peak proformers and value choices for some components. I built my system from newegg not to long ago, here is a list of my components at todays prices.
Basic over view; Aluminum case w/350 ps, Granite Bay board, 1gb Dual channel DDR, 2 80gb 8mb cache hard drives (raid 0), p4 2.66, ATI 9500pro, Microsoft keyboard and mouse, windows xp, ms office, and 5.1 sound. (I priced the system with the 3.06 and 9700pro)
278.00 - Cooler Master ATC-410-SX1. ,Silver All Aluminum Case.
76.00 - ENERMAX EG365AX-VE (W)FCA. 350W Power supply for AMD K7 & Pentium4
239.00 - Gigabyte GA-8INXP, Intel E7205 chipset Socket 478 P4 ATX motherboard, 8XAGP, SATA+ATA133 RAID, , LAN, 6USB 2.0, Dual BIOS Retail
87.00 - PLEXTOR PX-W4824TA/BPS/ 48x24x48 CD-RW - OEM
39.00 - LITE-ON 16X DVD ROM Drive BLACK- OEM
8.00 - *BLACK* PANASONIC 1.44 MB DENSITY FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
196.00 - (2) WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB
280.00 - (2) GeIL DDR RAM 512MB PC-3200 400Hz Ultra- CAS 2
29.00 - Microsoft Intelli-Mouse Explorer Version 3.0a
26.00 - Microsoft Office Keyboard - OEM
143.00 - Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 - OEM Full Version
179.00 - Microsoft Office XP Professional - 98/WME/NT/W2K - Academic Version - RETAIL
815.00 - Samsung 191T Silver 19" TFT LCD monitor
548.00 - Intel Pentium 4 / 3.06GHz 512k 478 Pin Processor HT Technology 533 MHz FSB Retail
355.00 - Sapphire ATI RADEON 9700 ATLANTIS PRO ULTIMATE 128MB DDR 8X AGP RETAIL
305.00 - Logitech Z-680 5.1 Metallic Silver Speaker 500Watt THX Certified with Dolby Digital - RETAIL
68.00 - Shipping Fedex saver
Total - $3675.00
This is my system minus the 3.06 p4, 9700pro, and monitor. I have a 2.66 ($230) and the 9500pro ($205) and dual sony 19" (but I doubt the dorm has room for dual 19s
-If you switch the CPU and the video card you can save $468.00.
-You can also buy a cheaper or smaller monitor but I assume you are a gamer (because of insisting on a 9700pro) you will want the samsung.
-If you have an operating system and office you will sabe some money there.
-You may also have some speakers, or maynot be able to have a 5.1 system in the dorm.
-You can save some money on the case and power supply by getting one of the Antec cases and ps combos (130.00)
Basic over view; Aluminum case w/350 ps, Granite Bay board, 1gb Dual channel DDR, 2 80gb 8mb cache hard drives (raid 0), p4 2.66, ATI 9500pro, Microsoft keyboard and mouse, windows xp, ms office, and 5.1 sound. (I priced the system with the 3.06 and 9700pro)
278.00 - Cooler Master ATC-410-SX1. ,Silver All Aluminum Case.
76.00 - ENERMAX EG365AX-VE (W)FCA. 350W Power supply for AMD K7 & Pentium4
239.00 - Gigabyte GA-8INXP, Intel E7205 chipset Socket 478 P4 ATX motherboard, 8XAGP, SATA+ATA133 RAID, , LAN, 6USB 2.0, Dual BIOS Retail
87.00 - PLEXTOR PX-W4824TA/BPS/ 48x24x48 CD-RW - OEM
39.00 - LITE-ON 16X DVD ROM Drive BLACK- OEM
8.00 - *BLACK* PANASONIC 1.44 MB DENSITY FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
196.00 - (2) WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB
280.00 - (2) GeIL DDR RAM 512MB PC-3200 400Hz Ultra- CAS 2
29.00 - Microsoft Intelli-Mouse Explorer Version 3.0a
26.00 - Microsoft Office Keyboard - OEM
143.00 - Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 - OEM Full Version
179.00 - Microsoft Office XP Professional - 98/WME/NT/W2K - Academic Version - RETAIL
815.00 - Samsung 191T Silver 19" TFT LCD monitor
548.00 - Intel Pentium 4 / 3.06GHz 512k 478 Pin Processor HT Technology 533 MHz FSB Retail
355.00 - Sapphire ATI RADEON 9700 ATLANTIS PRO ULTIMATE 128MB DDR 8X AGP RETAIL
305.00 - Logitech Z-680 5.1 Metallic Silver Speaker 500Watt THX Certified with Dolby Digital - RETAIL
68.00 - Shipping Fedex saver
Total - $3675.00
This is my system minus the 3.06 p4, 9700pro, and monitor. I have a 2.66 ($230) and the 9500pro ($205) and dual sony 19" (but I doubt the dorm has room for dual 19s
-If you switch the CPU and the video card you can save $468.00.
-You can also buy a cheaper or smaller monitor but I assume you are a gamer (because of insisting on a 9700pro) you will want the samsung.
-If you have an operating system and office you will sabe some money there.
-You may also have some speakers, or maynot be able to have a 5.1 system in the dorm.
-You can save some money on the case and power supply by getting one of the Antec cases and ps combos (130.00)
i just built nice amd system for $900 (asus a7n8x del, amd1700+, 512mg corsiar, liteon52x, 120gig IBM 180gxp, 9500np sapphire vid card, AMS case, antrec TruBlue 480watt power supply). that was without mouse/keyboard and most importanly, monitor. friend spend about a grand on his intel set up (asus p4pe/r/l/sata, intel 2.1mhz, 512mg crucial, liteon48x, 60gig maxtor, 9500pro, cheiftec case, antec tru430), again withough monitor. i'm also gonna do a system for another friend on a $500 system that will still be decent (decent as will run all games and last for at least 1 year, most likely 2 years where as mine *should* last up too 3 years). depends a lot on how long you want it to last and how much your willing to pay for bragin rights. for $2500, you will have one hell of a system. i would suggest scaling down, but i honeslty can't see spending that much for a desktop (laptop, i've spent more and have never regretted it).
brandon
p.s. i could have saved a good amount money to by scaling back on ram and ram brand, smaller HDD, and slower vid card and el'cheapo case and ps, prolly upwards of 300-400 bux and will the exclusion of slower card, would have been just as good for the most part. the ram brand was overkill as was the HDD size, case and power supply, but i like getting the best.
brandon
p.s. i could have saved a good amount money to by scaling back on ram and ram brand, smaller HDD, and slower vid card and el'cheapo case and ps, prolly upwards of 300-400 bux and will the exclusion of slower card, would have been just as good for the most part. the ram brand was overkill as was the HDD size, case and power supply, but i like getting the best.
Well, here is what I would build if I had the $$.
$152 Asus A7N8X Deluxe mobo
$370 AMD Athlon 2800+ Barton (I can't justify $185 more for the 3000+ maybe you can, 3000+ is comparable to P4 3.04)
$300 Radeon 9700 PRO
$136 WD 120GB 7200rpm hard drive (w/8MB cache)
$255 HyperX PC3000 DDR (3x) 512MB for 1.5Gig memory
$100 Antec Lan Boy w/350w PS
There's a start for about $1300. Add in a good LCD, DVD burner, CPU cooling of your choice, etc. and you are probably looking at your $2500.
$152 Asus A7N8X Deluxe mobo
$370 AMD Athlon 2800+ Barton (I can't justify $185 more for the 3000+ maybe you can, 3000+ is comparable to P4 3.04)
$300 Radeon 9700 PRO
$136 WD 120GB 7200rpm hard drive (w/8MB cache)
$255 HyperX PC3000 DDR (3x) 512MB for 1.5Gig memory
$100 Antec Lan Boy w/350w PS
There's a start for about $1300. Add in a good LCD, DVD burner, CPU cooling of your choice, etc. and you are probably looking at your $2500.
Case Antec, Chieftec, full tower with 2 exhaust fans or the shorter ones with 1 exhaust fan? Look at the exhaust and intake vents to make sure they can allow for good air flow. You could cut out the circle to increase airflow if you buy a cheap case. They make fan grills. Modding cases is not for everyone.
You could opt for small and build a system off of a Shuttle Kit and build a small computer that is more portable. Shuttle makes smaller computers shaped like a Cube that they sell as bare-bones. The cases are aluminum. In general Aluminum cases are 10 degrees cooler.
Power Supply Enermax or Antec True Power. 300 watt or 350 Watt or 400 Watt? May come with the Case. Buying the Antec case with the Antec power supply may actually save you money.
Motherboard :Money Issue the Asus Granite bay chipset is probably best. However you could opt for an Asus P4PE for close to half the price. The Granite bay has 4 Memory Slots, but you have to add the memory in pairs of DDR.
Processor (P4 - Retail Box)
Memory DDR Low prices right Now Crucial has free shipping. 2 or 4 X 512Meg
Hard Drive Many options Look for 8 MB Cache. Size: 40/60/80/120 Gig?
Floppy Optional. May need for College to copy stuff off of college computers.
CDROM/DVD/CDRW (Try a combo drive with CDRW and DVD)
Sound Card (Integrated Vs Sound Card) Most prefer a sound card from $150-$20? price is a quality issue!
Netwrok Card (Integrated Vs NIC Card) On-Campus Network??
Monitor/LCD ($$$ $700-300 for LCD Monitor) (There are models that double as a TV!)
I do not recommend a LCD Monitor due to the cost. For what you pay for a LCD you can buy a 21 Inch Monitor($300) a 17 inch LCD is about $500 or more.
TV Tuner Card ?
Video card - Very Important! I suggest an ATI 9700 All-In-Wonder because it has a TV/FM Tuner and you can import video off of a VCR or a DVD. This is a high cost item also about $300-$400.00. You could get a Geforce4 TI 4200 for half the price that will work fine, but it will not have the TV/FM Tuner. Get a good surge protector power strip. Otpional is a small UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). A UPS may be worth it. You never know how good the power will be where you are going. Freshmen usually get lousy dorms. This all depends what you want to lug around!!!!
Misc: Mouse (Optical), Game Controller,Keyboard, Speakers.
May want to look at some options in the speakers. You can get a simple pair or a 5.1 or 6.1 set of high fidelity speakers. This all depends how much junk you have room for!!! Keyboard is unimportant, since you could use the one you have or buy a new one for $20.00 or less. I definitely like the optical mouse.
www.newegg.com is a very good all-around online shop for computer parts.
You could opt for small and build a system off of a Shuttle Kit and build a small computer that is more portable. Shuttle makes smaller computers shaped like a Cube that they sell as bare-bones. The cases are aluminum. In general Aluminum cases are 10 degrees cooler.
Power Supply Enermax or Antec True Power. 300 watt or 350 Watt or 400 Watt? May come with the Case. Buying the Antec case with the Antec power supply may actually save you money.
Motherboard :Money Issue the Asus Granite bay chipset is probably best. However you could opt for an Asus P4PE for close to half the price. The Granite bay has 4 Memory Slots, but you have to add the memory in pairs of DDR.
Processor (P4 - Retail Box)
Memory DDR Low prices right Now Crucial has free shipping. 2 or 4 X 512Meg
Hard Drive Many options Look for 8 MB Cache. Size: 40/60/80/120 Gig?
Floppy Optional. May need for College to copy stuff off of college computers.
CDROM/DVD/CDRW (Try a combo drive with CDRW and DVD)
Sound Card (Integrated Vs Sound Card) Most prefer a sound card from $150-$20? price is a quality issue!
Netwrok Card (Integrated Vs NIC Card) On-Campus Network??
Monitor/LCD ($$$ $700-300 for LCD Monitor) (There are models that double as a TV!)
I do not recommend a LCD Monitor due to the cost. For what you pay for a LCD you can buy a 21 Inch Monitor($300) a 17 inch LCD is about $500 or more.
TV Tuner Card ?
Video card - Very Important! I suggest an ATI 9700 All-In-Wonder because it has a TV/FM Tuner and you can import video off of a VCR or a DVD. This is a high cost item also about $300-$400.00. You could get a Geforce4 TI 4200 for half the price that will work fine, but it will not have the TV/FM Tuner. Get a good surge protector power strip. Otpional is a small UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). A UPS may be worth it. You never know how good the power will be where you are going. Freshmen usually get lousy dorms. This all depends what you want to lug around!!!!
Misc: Mouse (Optical), Game Controller,Keyboard, Speakers.
May want to look at some options in the speakers. You can get a simple pair or a 5.1 or 6.1 set of high fidelity speakers. This all depends how much junk you have room for!!! Keyboard is unimportant, since you could use the one you have or buy a new one for $20.00 or less. I definitely like the optical mouse.
www.newegg.com is a very good all-around online shop for computer parts.
278.00 - Cooler Master ATC-410-SX1. ,Silver All Aluminum Case.
76.00 - ENERMAX EG365AX-VE (W)FCA. 350W Power supply for AMD K7 & Pentium4
239.00 - Gigabyte GA-8INXP, Intel E7205 chipset Socket 478 P4 ATX motherboard, 8XAGP, SATA+ATA133 RAID, , LAN, 6USB 2.0, Dual BIOS Retail
87.00 - PLEXTOR PX-W4824TA/BPS/ 48x24x48 CD-RW - OEM
39.00 - LITE-ON 16X DVD ROM Drive BLACK- OEM
8.00 - *BLACK* PANASONIC 1.44 MB DENSITY FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
196.00 - (2) WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB
280.00 - (2) GeIL DDR RAM 512MB PC-3200 400Hz Ultra- CAS 2
29.00 - Microsoft Intelli-Mouse Explorer Version 3.0a
26.00 - Microsoft Office Keyboard - OEM
143.00 - Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 - OEM Full Version
179.00 - Microsoft Office XP Professional - 98/WME/NT/W2K - Academic Version - RETAIL
815.00 - Samsung 191T Silver 19" TFT LCD monitor
548.00 - Intel Pentium 4 / 3.06GHz 512k 478 Pin Processor HT Technology 533 MHz FSB Retail
355.00 - Sapphire ATI RADEON 9700 ATLANTIS PRO ULTIMATE 128MB DDR 8X AGP RETAIL
305.00 - Logitech Z-680 5.1 Metallic Silver Speaker 500Watt THX Certified with Dolby Digital - RETAIL
68.00 - Shipping Fedex saver
Total - $3675.00
This is my system minus the 3.06 p4, 9700pro, and monitor. I have a 2.66 ($230) and the 9500pro ($205) and dual sony 19" (but I doubt the dorm has room for dual 19s
-If you switch the CPU and the video card you can save $468.00.
-You can also buy a cheaper or smaller monitor but I assume you are a gamer (because of insisting on a 9700pro) you will want the samsung.
-If you have an operating system and office you will sabe some money there.
-You may also have some speakers, or maynot be able to have a 5.1 system in the dorm.
-You can save some money on the case and power supply by getting one of the Antec cases and ps combos (130.00)
Wow thanks alot, that's what I really needed. That gives me something to go by. I would of course cut a few corners maybe with the monitor and the speakers are not necessary. I would also have to add some fans and and a heatsink with that right?
Thanks alot for all the suggestions. I will be asking plenty of questions between now and then.
wow, 2500 can get ya one heck of a system... how about an example of what you can get along with individual prices:
Motherboard: EPoX 4T4AU - $146
CPU: 3.06 GHz w/ Cooler Master Heatsink (KI4-7H52A) - $575
RAM: 2x512mb Samsung 1066mhz RDRAM (1024mb total) - $416
Hard Drive: 80GB Western Digital w/ 8mb buffer - $100
CD-RW: Sony 52x24x52 CD-RW - $62
DVD: Sony 16x DVD drive - $42
Video Card: Radeon 9700 128mb PRO - $275
Sound Card: Soundblaster Audigy - $70
Monitor: Samsung 17" LCD (171s) - $436
Case: Antec SX1040BII (Black Full Tower Case) w/ 400w power supply - $100
All together, that's $2225. Got 1066 RDRAM (wow fast..) and that 3.06 P4 along with a great case and PS... would be a sweet system. This rig would leave ya about $275 to play around with (to get a floppy, network card, speakers, etc). This would be one heck of a system IMHO... wish I had $2500 to mess around with =D
Motherboard: EPoX 4T4AU - $146
CPU: 3.06 GHz w/ Cooler Master Heatsink (KI4-7H52A) - $575
RAM: 2x512mb Samsung 1066mhz RDRAM (1024mb total) - $416
Hard Drive: 80GB Western Digital w/ 8mb buffer - $100
CD-RW: Sony 52x24x52 CD-RW - $62
DVD: Sony 16x DVD drive - $42
Video Card: Radeon 9700 128mb PRO - $275
Sound Card: Soundblaster Audigy - $70
Monitor: Samsung 17" LCD (171s) - $436
Case: Antec SX1040BII (Black Full Tower Case) w/ 400w power supply - $100
All together, that's $2225. Got 1066 RDRAM (wow fast..) and that 3.06 P4 along with a great case and PS... would be a sweet system. This rig would leave ya about $275 to play around with (to get a floppy, network card, speakers, etc). This would be one heck of a system IMHO... wish I had $2500 to mess around with =D
AgaBoogaBoo
Lifer
- Feb 16, 2003
- 26,108
- 5
- 81
In that much money you coudl even setup a nice Raid 1 + 0 configuration. Just get 4x 40gig drives, and you have 80 gigs of space and it will all be mirrored. Or if you wanted to, you could geta Raid 0 setup with 2 60 gig drives and then a 120gig drive and have it backup every night.
No to the fans and heatsink. The price was for the retail box. For about 20 more dollars (over OEM) you get a heatsink and fan and a full 3 years warrenty. Unless you are seriously OC the stock HSF is wonderful. And if you are talking about case fans, mine came with 2-80 in put 2-80 output and a 120-input. more than you will ever need. and the Antec comes with 4 or 5. you should be good to go. And don't skip on the MS office, I am about to get out and it has been my best friend!!!!
I noticed at least one person here recommended a big case, the Antec 1040B. While that's a good quality case, many users wouldn't want such a big case. A more space saving one is generally preferred by normal users. Just a reminder to ya, Jbroad =)
Mwave.com has great prices on barebones systems, they pretest each bundle, all you need to do is pop in hard drive, cd/dvd, video and your set. Just select what parts you want and your set!
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