Building a computer - any mistakes?

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R

Rayden

Senior member
Jun 25, 2001
790
2
0
I am going to build a computer for a friend who has a celeron 400mhz right now. They don't want to spend too much so this is what i've come up with. I want to know if i have missed any obvious hardware, or if something i have is not good.

Recommended System
Case: Antec SX630 (PP303XP PSU) $60
AMD: Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53 GHz) OEM $84
Heatsink-Fan: ThermalTake Volcano 7 and Athlon XP Shim $28
Motherboard: MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU $115
Memory: 256-MB PC2700 DDR $53
Hard Drive: 60GB Maxtor D740X (Quiet Drive) ATA-133 7200 RPM $90
MSI G4Ti4200-TD GeForce4 Ti 4200 $148
Monitor: None $0
Sound Card: Integrated $0
Speakers: None $0
CD-ROM: None $0
NIC: D-Link DFE-530TX $15
Mouse: None $0
Keyboard: None or $15 $0
OS: WinXP Pro - Student ver. $100
Floppy: Brand Name $8
Total $701

This is pretty much a copy off the sharkyextreme.com budget computer, but it was what i was looking at anyway. He has a 15 in monitor, mouse, keyboard, cd-rw, cheap speakers, so i didn't add those. Only thing i can think off to change would be to add a 17in or 19in monitor, and maybe do 512mb ram. or some $50 4.1 speakers

All prices of pricewatch.com
thx for your input.
 
K

KillerCow

Member
Jun 25, 2001
142
0
0
I would definately upgrade the monitor to at least a 17" (19" prefered). I haven't used a 15" since my 486. 17's are so much better and make life easier. Don't cheap out on a monitor... your friend will be looking at it every time they use the PC. People get caught up with MHZ, Megabytes, Gigabytes and dont realize how much of a difference a good monitor makes. An amazing machine will be a piece of junk with a small monitor.

That said, you don't really need to upgrade the monitor with the PC... you may want to swap it before or after the other upgrades.

I would go with 512MB to make the machine more future proof... but then again, you can always add RAM later.

What does your friend use the machine for? Gaming? Development? Surfing? Music? Word Processing?
 
K

KaEdOgG

Member
Jun 25, 2002
73
0
0
Definitely up the size of the monitor. Why get a card that good and not be able to see the difference? Like hooking up a satellite dish to a black and white TV.

What is the machine gonna be primarily used for?
 
R

Rayden

Senior member
Jun 25, 2001
790
2
0
I was also looking at this motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7VRXP another good motherboard $110

sharkyextreme.com liked the msi board, but tomshardware.com didn't like it as much and like the gigabyte board. my friend won't do any overclocking, stability is more important.
 
R

Rayden

Senior member
Jun 25, 2001
790
2
0
he will mostly use it for word processing, browsing, and games. not any development or stuff. just a new computer for my highschool friend's family.

you guys say definately a monitor, i agree but i gotta keep the cost down. what would you recommend for a 17in and 19in monitor?
 

Go 19"!
I have upgraded everything on my computer for the past year and a half except my 19" monitor. I will keep it till i get rich enough for a 21".
Its the same difference IMO as going from a 5400rpm hdd to a 7200rpm.
 
W

WTT0001

Golden Member
Jan 2, 2001
1,510
0
76
Skip the Shim, you really don't need it if you are careful. If you go with the Gigabyte 7VRXP make sure you get the Revision 2 version, a lot of people are having problems with the Rev 1 and 1.1 (although I have had 0 problems with mine), it will save you a bit of money due to the built in LAN.
 
cmdrdredd

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
don't forget a little AS3 unless you have some I'd say add about $8 for a tube of the stuff.

Other than that I'd say get a case without a PSU and go for a 350Watt one. 300 is ok, but a good quality enermax/sparkle/antec 350watt one will last longer and provide more stable power. Not to mention allow you to add more stuff in the future.
 
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