building a SUPER budget system

[S4M33R]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
I was up early this morning, check this out

Case- $49 shipped
CPU- $62
Memory- $73
HD- $64
Mobo- $70

And you add the disk drives!

Forgot, add a sound card if he's gonna be doin a lotta audio work. $28 Since it's a budget system, the SB live card would work fine, i've had one myself, and I can say it was a decent card. The Audigy 2 ZS is better for $88 tho, all depends on his speaker situation I suppose.

These are some good choices.

edit: I would buy a 35 watt 2400 mobile and overclock it to appx 3 ghz speeds though (like I did) definately worth the money.
edit 2: ADATA 512MB PC3200 is also a good idea.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Let's clarify something here. A lot of people are talking about getting an Athlon XP or Mobile XP for OC'ing and that will just not be possible with this system. You are trying to build a "SUPER budget system" and budget parts do not OC well. Yes, the Athlon is a great OCing processor, but unless you have all high quality parts to support the OC it won't work. Besides, it sounds like your friend doesn't need it. Stick with your original idea of a Barton Athlon, some mobo w/good features (I can vouch for nForce2's, have one at the moment), and 2x256 PC2700. The rest is up to you, but don't worry about that OC crap.
(BTW, stay away from MSI nForce2 boards, they are very picky about memory and mine was picky in the expensive area.)

 

[CHarrington]

I have a 2600 unlocked cpu that will do 2.3ghz at 1.725v and an A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo that I'm looking to sell (I'd like to have a few more dollars to use to upgrade with).

I think you mentioned you're also looking for a Ti4200 - I had a Leadtek ti4200 that I'm also looking to sell (I originally bought it for a system I was going to put together, but never built the system).

Let me know if you're interested.

 

[Zap]

If your musician friend wants to go with an add-in sound card, why limit himself to Creative Labs cards? There are a number of budget cards (starting at $25) using the VIA Envy24T chipset. Those should make for a nice musician solution. He can even get higher-end cards that use the Envy chipset, complete with breakout box and such. The Creative Labs cards should be good for gaming, but I'd think the Envy chipset cards would be better for more professional audio.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Let's clarify something here. A lot of people are talking about getting an Athlon XP or Mobile XP for OC'ing and that will just not be possible with this system. You are trying to build a "SUPER budget system" and budget parts do not OC well. Yes, the Athlon is a great OCing processor, but unless you have all high quality parts to support the OC it won't work. Besides, it sounds like your friend doesn't need it. Stick with your original idea of a Barton Athlon, some mobo w/good features (I can vouch for nForce2's, have one at the moment), and 2x256 PC2700. The rest is up to you, but don't worry about that OC crap.
(BTW, stay away from MSI nForce2 boards, they are very picky about memory and mine was picky in the expensive area.)

The AN35N Ultra happens to OC very well, if you weren't aware of that With an unlocked CPU like a mobile AthlonXP, you don't need PC3500 or anything exotic. A stick of PC3200, crank the multiplier to 11.0 or so, set FSB and RAM to 200MHz/DDR400, and off you go at 2200MHz on your shiny blue $54 AN35N Ultra. Ok yeah, and a halfway-respectable power supply... but who would shoot themselves in the foot with a cheesy power supply that couldn't handle what amounts to an AthlonXP ~3200+?

(ok, so in reality a lot of people do buy cheesy power supplies... )

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Let's clarify something here. A lot of people are talking about getting an Athlon XP or Mobile XP for OC'ing and that will just not be possible with this system. You are trying to build a "SUPER budget system" and budget parts do not OC well. Yes, the Athlon is a great OCing processor, but unless you have all high quality parts to support the OC it won't work. Besides, it sounds like your friend doesn't need it. Stick with your original idea of a Barton Athlon, some mobo w/good features (I can vouch for nForce2's, have one at the moment), and 2x256 PC2700. The rest is up to you, but don't worry about that OC crap.
(BTW, stay away from MSI nForce2 boards, they are very picky about memory and mine was picky in the expensive area.)

The AN35N Ultra happens to OC very well, if you weren't aware of that With an unlocked CPU like a mobile AthlonXP, you don't need PC3500 or anything exotic. A stick of PC3200, crank the multiplier to 11.0 or so, set FSB and RAM to 200MHz/DDR400, and off you go at 2200MHz on your shiny blue $54 AN35N Ultra. Ok yeah, and a halfway-respectable power supply... but who would shoot themselves in the foot with a cheesy power supply that couldn't handle what amounts to an AthlonXP ~3200+?

(ok, so in reality a lot of people do buy cheesy power supplies... )

cheesy power supplies? but but but...they are 450 watts mechbon!? man, you sure are a computer n00b :roll:

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Let's clarify something here. A lot of people are talking about getting an Athlon XP or Mobile XP for OC'ing and that will just not be possible with this system. You are trying to build a "SUPER budget system" and budget parts do not OC well. Yes, the Athlon is a great OCing processor, but unless you have all high quality parts to support the OC it won't work. Besides, it sounds like your friend doesn't need it. Stick with your original idea of a Barton Athlon, some mobo w/good features (I can vouch for nForce2's, have one at the moment), and 2x256 PC2700. The rest is up to you, but don't worry about that OC crap.
(BTW, stay away from MSI nForce2 boards, they are very picky about memory and mine was picky in the expensive area.)

The AN35N Ultra happens to OC very well, if you weren't aware of that With an unlocked CPU like a mobile AthlonXP, you don't need PC3500 or anything exotic. A stick of PC3200, crank the multiplier to 11.0 or so, set FSB and RAM to 200MHz/DDR400, and off you go at 2200MHz on your shiny blue $54 AN35N Ultra. Ok yeah, and a halfway-respectable power supply... but who would shoot themselves in the foot with a cheesy power supply that couldn't handle what amounts to an AthlonXP ~3200+?

(ok, so in reality a lot of people do buy cheesy power supplies... )

cheesy power supplies? but but but...they are 450 watts mechbon!? man, you sure are a computer n00b :roll:

d'oh! I got called on my newbitude! Now I will write "the wattage on the label and the number of glitzy LED fans are the only thing that count" 100 times on the chalkboard

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Zap
If your musician friend wants to go with an add-in sound card, why limit himself to Creative Labs cards? There are a number of budget cards (starting at $25) using the VIA Envy24T chipset. Those should make for a nice musician solution. He can even get higher-end cards that use the Envy chipset, complete with breakout box and such. The Creative Labs cards should be good for gaming, but I'd think the Envy chipset cards would be better for more professional audio.

Was about to say that. Chaintech makes one that sells for $23 at newegg.com


If no gaming then go for a KM400 board. I built a cheap system with one. Very fast and stable.

If maybe soem light gaming then get a nForce2 IGP board. Better video card, esp if you use 2 slabs of ram.