Best Budget System?

[Mavrick007]

My friend wants me to make her a new machine and she is on a fixed budget (student).
I think I'm going to go with AMD cause of price and performance.

My idea is to get a 1600+ cpu, and pair it up with either an Asus A7N266-VM mobo (with the 220 nforce chipset), or go with an ECS K7S5A.

Both are decent boards with lots of features, but the Asus has GF2 MX graphics included and I can get it for only like a $20 difference between it and the ECS, and I don't see myself getting a half decent vid card for anything less than $50 which would even compare to the onboard.

If I went with the ECS, I could put pc133 ram on it cause I have some laying around here, but otherwise I would have to buy PC2100 ram (about 256megs should be good) for the Asus and it will share system memory.

Both have ethernet and audio (although the Asus has much better audio). The Asus has only 3 pci slots cause it's a mATX board as opposed to the 6 pci slots of the ECS.

I think the best cost effective case would be a chieftec with a 400watt psu for approx. $57.
For hard drives, I am taking into account size/price as well as warranty and I think the best deal is for the 80gig WD 800JB right now at $109 since it has a 3 year warranty and a 40gig of any brand costs at least $75 or more so an extra $35 with 2 years warranty is good for double the size and faster speed.
I could use a suggestion on a affordable (ie. "cheap") hsf for it too.

CD-rom, cdrw, dvd, floppy, kb, mouse, speakers and monitor are not necessary cause we can scrounge up some here (I have a bunch of components not being used).

(*all the prices here are taken from newegg*)


What would be the best option?

Go with the Asus nforce mobo $75, 1600+ $57, 256megs PC2100 ram (shared) ~$61, case w/ 400watt psu $57, 80gig hd $109 for a total of $359?

Or the ECS mobo at $54, 1600+ $57, 256megs PC133 $30, case w/ 400watt psu $57, 80gig hd $109 (plus a minimum of $50 for a half decent vid card) for a total of $357?

The Asus would have good sound, fair video, stable chipset, faster but shared memory, and only 3 pci slots.
The ECS would have slower ram, but it wouldn't be shared, and it would have a full ATX mobo. Also, what vid card would be a good choice?

If one of these is a good option, which one, or if you have a better system plan, what would it be?
Hehe I know it's hard with such limited resources but I want the best solution.

 

[alkemyst]

I havent compared pricing lately, but my 1.1 Tualatin that can hit 1.42 easy at $45 seems the best bang for buck now.

pair it with a tuatalin capable motherboard and smoke XP's and P4's at equal clocks.

 

[Zugzwang152]

why the 400 watt PSU? a 1600+ only needs 300 watts, maybe 350 if its got a ton of other stuff. i just picked up a generic Ever Case from Newegg for 23 bucks, now THATS cheap! What is the computer being used for? I bet you can shave off another 2 dozen bucks by going SDRAM, and another couple by downgrading to a 60GB HD...

 

[DrVos]

Well, one thing to consider about the K7S5A is that it is kinda finicky about its powersupplies. At minimum, I'd use a 350w PS from a reputable company. Its kinda it or miss. I had one K75SA that played nicely on a 275w Antec.... the other would have random reboots on my enermax 350w.

I'd go with the Asus setup, you'd end up paying slightly more for it, but I have great faith in Asus mobo's.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[xSauronx]

I just got a WD 40gb (cant remember the exact model right now) for 66 shipped (found it at pricewatch, 7200rpm). But 40 is plenty for me, not more than a few games at a time, and with my dialup I cant download but so much stuff.

Ive had ECS boards in the last 5 or 6 systems Ive built and theyve all run solid, and for cheap of course. Sound always left something to be desired though. And a gf2 will go at over 40 bucks anyway. Id go with the Asus. Better sound, built in video (not likely to do much hardcore gaming) and she's not likely to miss the expansion space or monstrous full tower. 400w does sound like a little overkill, just as well save a few more bucks and go for 300w. Oh, and justdeals.com had some decent labtec 2.1s for under 30 shipped (60 or so new) may go well with the asus sound.

Personally, im getting an athlon 1600 agoia and an epox board so I can oc, along with a radeon....but I DO like to game a bit. Anyway, Im still amazed at what one can build for under 400 bucks. I remember paying close to 600 for my p2300 when i built it a few years ago 🙁

 

[Mavrick007]

alkemyst: if you can find a Tually cpu and board for less and with the same amount of features or better, then point me to it.

Zugzwang152: Well, the case comes with a 400watt psu and it's a good solid case (an antec sx630 replica from Chieftec). I suppose I could go with the Foxcon Mid case for $35 and save $22 bucks (it comes with a 300watt psu), but it doesn't make sense to get the Ever case and then have to buy a psu which will cost more than just a good case with included psu. The case isn't going to be loaded with everything so it could get by on a 300watt psu. Hmmm.. I will consider the Ever case along with a sparkle 300watt for like $40 total cause it would be a quality psu and not just a generic one.

The machine will be used for a gaming and graphic machine like for web work and some light photoshop stuff mainly.

I could go with sdram, but then I'd have to go with the K7S5a and buy at least a Gf2 MX to remain similar to the Asus nforce board. Again the 60gig hd would save some money, but I don't find it worth it to go with a 1 year warranty and only a $20 savings for 20gigs less and a slower drive. If anything, I might trade her for the 80gig WD and give her a 40gig drive along with taking some money off of the price.

DrVos: I heard the ECS was finiky with psus as well so I thought I'd try the higher power psu, but I might just go with a quality 300watt. I have more faith in Asus than ECS as well considering I've had Asus and not too bad luck in the past.

xSauronx: a 40gig would be more than sufficient for her (considering she has like 3gigs of space now), but for the money you can get twice as much for less than half the amount more, and I hope you checked your warranty with that new WD 40gig drive, cause chances are that it's for 1 year if it came OEM. I am leary of going with the ECS but alot of people have them and it's usually the luck of the draw with those boards so that's why I'm also leaning towards the Asus. The 400watter psu isn't necessary, so I'm considering a cheaper, lower wattage alternative with a quality psu.

My idea was to overclock as well, but from what I hear, the nforce boards are just good stable mobos when you don't overclock much.

I think we can hold off on speakers cause I have some here which I could make a 4.1 set, but I could use a suggestion on a good hsf for "cheap", or I might just go with a coolermaster.

These ideas are good, keep them coming.

 

[DT4K]

I had that ECS board and was plagued by lots of minor but irritating problems. I replaced it with an Epox 8kha+ and have not had any problems with it.

I'd go with the Asus setup. They are a quality mobo maker unlike ECS.

I also agree that you don't need 400w, but that's a good price for a nice case so might as well get it. Or look at the Enlight cases. I got one with a 300W Enlight PSU for $45 at Newegg. It's worked great for me running an XP 1700+, 512MB Crucial PC2100, GF3 Ti200, Soundblaster Live 5.1, WD800JB, CD Burner, and NIC. It's pretty easy to get into and has plenty of room to work in.

If she's not a 3D gamer, the graphics on the Asus board will work well for her.

With onboard sound, I wouldn't worry about only having 3 PCI slots. Does the Asus have built-in Ethernet? If so, that's another reason 3 PCI should be plenty.

I've got the WD800JB and It's a great drive. Very fast and fairly quiet.

I would definitely stick with a DDR system. It's not worth trying to save a couple of bucks with SDRAM.

And you might look at bumping up a notch or two in processor speeds. Probably wouldn't cost much extra and will make the system last longer.

 

[Mavrick007]

Shanti: I hear ya, alot of people have the board and they either love it or hate it usually. The Asus is the nforce board and it actually has GF2 MX graphics so it shouldn't be a bad budget system (not to mention you can always upgrade later by adding an AGP card). She is a bit of a gamer but not as much as me and our other roommate has a GF2 MX and they can play RCTW and just about any other game with good settings so it shouldn't be too bad.

It does have an ethernet lan port too (as does the ECS). That 400w psu is not a big brand, so that's why I was thinking about going with the Sparkle 300w psu cause I have one and it works great.

I think the 1600+ should be enough for her at first and it's really cheap too (if she had extra money I would say go with a radeon 8500 or get a better board). Plus the 1600+ overclocks really well but I'm not too sure how well the nforce boards are with overclocking. Anyone know??

 

[peang]

I believe you will buy that xp 1600+ from newegg 🙂
if it is, it mean don't forget to include heat sink since the cpu is oem . 🙂

 

[Chang10is]

My preference is for the Asus setup. ECS mobos tend to have more compatibility issues, and Asus has a better reputation hands-down. I honestly really like your setup. I've been looking at parts for a good value system recently, and I came up with a very similar list of parts. The Evercase + PSU combo is worth considering if you really want to save money, but I'd rather get the Chieftech + Foxconn 400W because I think a better case and power supply is worth the extra $30. A well-designed case and a capable PSU allows room for growth in the future.