Budget PC

[Kaspian]

Can you guys review the following components. Its a budget pc I'm building for a friend.
Any feed back will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Mobo GIGABYTE GA-K8N Pro-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD

Video Card GIGABYTE GV-NX79T256DP-RH-ED Geforce 7900GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

PSU ENERMAX Noisetaker EG495P-VE SFMA ATX 485W Power Supply - Retail

CPU AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 2.2GHz Socket 939 Processor

Memory CORSAIR XMS 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory

Hardrive Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

 

[Bobthelost]

Ditch the XMS and see if you can't get 2GB of budget RAM. You could get a 380W or 400W PSU which may save you some cash. If you're overclocking then just get a 3200 (or rather, if they are going to overclock).

 

[Kaspian]

Thanks for the reply Bob. I was looking into getting the value ram from Corsair (which I have 2 gigs in my system right now). I was also going to get the copper heat spreaders for it (which I also have in my current mem sticks). The XMS mem is only $15 more (per gig) and comes with the heat spreader already. So, from that point of view, the XMS is the best bang for the buck.

With the PSU, you could be right. I might look into something a little smaller. I have the Enermax Noisetaker 420W in my system right now. I might get the same model instead of the 485W and save them a few bucks. I do want to go with the Enermax since I've used them for quite a while and had very good luck with them. Also the Noisetaker models are really quiet.

With the CPU, there will be no overclocking (I dont think they even know what that is, LOL).

Once again Thank you for your input.

 

[Fenixgoon]

you could go for the Athlon 3400+/mobo combo for $99 (if it's still alive). not sure how much a budget you're on

 

[Bobthelost]

Heat spreaders are a waste of money, you don't need them, you don't want them.

If you're an enermax fan take a look at the liberty line.

Overclocking is where you make the CPU run faster than it's meant to. So you buy a CPU meant to run at 2Ghz and you make it run at 2.5Ghz, it lets people buy $150 CPUs and get the performance of $1000 ones. There are some downsides to it like the danger of burning out the CPU, but some people think it's worth the risks (including me).

 

[Kaspian]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
you could go for the Athlon 3400+/mobo combo for $99 (if it's still alive). not sure how much a budget you're on

Thanks for replying Fenix.
I think that combo was with a Biostar mobo. Not a big fan of that line. Their budget is around $800. All the parts listed came to around $750 without shipping.

 

[dBTelos]

A Enermax Noisetaker doesn't fall into the budget category in my books. Try a fortron FSP or sparkle.

 

[Kaspian]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost

Overclocking is where you make the CPU run faster than it's meant to. So you buy a CPU meant to run at 2Ghz and you make it run at 2.5Ghz, it lets people buy $150 CPUs and get the performance of $1000 ones. There are some downsides to it like the danger of burning out the CPU, but some people think it's worth the risks (including me).

Thanks for the info Bob. But, I'm well aware of what overclocking is (cpu, mem, gpu). Is the people am building the system for that dont know what it is (and hopefully they wont mess around with the bios after they get the system). They are friends of ours and you know who'll get to fix their computer when it wont boot up..........yep,,,,me.

 

[Bobthelost]

Sorry, must read posts more carefully.

 

[Kaspian]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Heat spreaders are a waste of money, you don't need them, you don't want them.

.

If someone is running stock settings, you are correct. However, I found that I could get a little more agresive with the spd settings with the spreaders on (since I had to up the voltage a little, thus increasing heat). But thats just my personal experience. I might test the mem heatsinks on my next build. And compare them to the efficiency of the spreaders.

 

[Kaspian]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Sorry, must read posts more carefully.

NP

 

[Kaspian]

Originally posted by: dBTelos
A Enermax Noisetaker doesn't fall into the budget category in my books. Try a fortron FSP or sparkle.

Hello Telos,
"They" are not going to spend money on a case. I will be using an old case that I had laying around from an older built. Therefore, I can spend a little more on a psu for the system and still make their budget.