Building New PC

[Mattlock]

I am building a new PC for my wife and I have a $700 budget.

She will use it primarily for her photographic business

I'm Rusty on the best deals out there. Any suggestions for

1) M/B and CPU
2) Video Card
3) Case
4) RAM

I can figure out the rest. (PSU, DVDRW, etc)
thanks

Mattlock

 

[pirred908]

If the computer is going to be mainly used for multimedia (i.e. photography), would you consider buying a used apple computer? I don't think you could find a new one for around $700. Apples are better for multimedia unless your willing to spend thousands of dollars on a high end PC.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Mobo: ASUS K8N-E Deluxe nforce3 250gb $138.00
CPU: Athlon 64 3000+ $172.00
Video: Matrox G550 $95.00
RAM: 1gb corsair PC3200 $155.00
Case: Antec Sonata $125.50

TOTAL: $685

the matrox card is not intended as a 3d card, but will provide you with the best 2d money can buy (well, reasonably, that card is WAY over priced for performance you get) I threw this together rather quickly

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Mobo: ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe nforce2 ultra400 $84
CPU: Athlon XP 2500+ $89.00
Video: Matrox P650 $155.00
RAM: 512mb Crucial PC3200 $86.00
Case: Antec Sonata $125.50

TOTAL: $539

the matrox card is not a 3d card, but will provide you with the best 2d money can buy (well, reasonably, that card is WAY over priced), you could also get a Athlon64 within your price range, i threw this together quickly.

i say...

bump that mobo down to the shuttle AN35N-Ultra and save $30
bumo that video card down to a 9200SE or something and save $100
bump that ram down to kingmax 3200, and save $13, with better timings to boot
bump that case down to the antec case with free shipping and save $60

boom, $200 cheaper with no performance hit for his uses.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Mobo: ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe nforce2 ultra400 $84
CPU: Athlon XP 2500+ $89.00
Video: Matrox P650 $155.00
RAM: 512mb Crucial PC3200 $86.00
Case: Antec Sonata $125.50

TOTAL: $539

the matrox card is not a 3d card, but will provide you with the best 2d money can buy (well, reasonably, that card is WAY over priced), you could also get a Athlon64 within your price range, i threw this together quickly.

i say...

bump that mobo down to the shuttle AN35N-Ultra and save $30
bumo that video card down to a 9200SE or something and save $100
bump that ram down to kingmax 3200, and save $13, with better timings to boot
bump that case down to the antec case with free shipping and save $60

boom, $200 cheaper with no performance hit for his uses.

or

generic case $14.50
512mb Mushkin PC2700 $73.00
Athlon XP 2500+ $89
Shuttle nforce 2 IGP Motherboard (onboard geforce4) $76.00

Total: $252.50

would do all that his wife wanted to do, if he does not slice his wrist on the case and kill himself

 

[ttown]

Fry's deal of the week mobo/cpu combo: sempron + mobo $49
cpu heat sink/fan: $15
generic case w/ps : $35 (skimmed a local computer magazine in the free-rack at Safeway, and this price was common )
graphics card vga/tv-out/dvi : $31.50 at newegg
256mb ram: $39 at newegg -- or commonly less (check "hot deals" forum)

------------ -
total: $169.50 For a perfectly fine web-browser/office-app machine.

add hard-drive (~60 AR), keyboard (~$10 or less), mouse (~$15 or less): $254.50

add OS... ( $0 for linux ), openoffice ( $0, openoffice.org ) : $254.50 + taxes + gas-money = <$300 complete!
-----------------------------------------------
EDIT: Or.... save yourself the hassle and also get something that looks nice by going with the dell outrageous deal
Dimension 4600 desktop loaded with

*Intel Pentium 4 Processor at 2.8GHz
*Microsoft(r) Windows(r) XP Home Edition
*Over $430 in savings! ( $280 Instant Savings+ $150 mail-inrebate)
* 256MB Memory
* FREE UPGRADE to CDRW Single Burner Drive
* FREE Hard Drive Upgrade to 80GB!
* FREE 3-5 day shipping!
*128MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI
* 2 year basic warranty


All for the low price of $449 after rebate and instant savings with free shipping

Good upgrade is the

SAVE $250! 17 in E172FP Flat Panel Display +$150

HOT DEAL link HERE Total :$600 + tax

 

[LordPhoenix]

^^^^ Nice