done

[dudekid]

Hey all,

Thanks a lot for all the advice. I mixed and matched with the items you guys showed me and I was able to get it down to about $520 shipped which will work just fine! Here's what I'm looking at, if you guys could maybe just take a quick look and let me know if I screwed anything up it would be much appreciated!

-Athenatech A412BB.400 Black / Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX 2.01v 400W Power Supply - Retail $38

-POWERCOLOR RS780G AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $70 AR

-AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $56

-G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $40

-Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $50 (the cheaper 250 on sale is out of stock )

-LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM $25

-Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail $33 (I know this may not be absolutely necessary, but she loves her music and I feel like this will help with lower quality speakers..any ideas?)


here's where it gets tricky...i also have to buy keyboard/mouse, speakers, & monitor (doh!)
for now this is what I've decided on, although I'm going to get some input from her and see what she likes better for a mouse/speaker setup...right now I just went cheap


-Logitech 967973-0403 Black PS/2 Standard Deluxe 250 Desktop - OEM $13

-Logitech S-220 17 Watts 2.1 Multimedia Speaker System - OEM $23

-Acer X193Wb Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail $120 shipped! (I just don't think a monitor bigger than 19" for her is really necessary)

I have it on newegg (without shipping) at about $477. I'm glad I asked, I took out the SATA cable and thermal paste. the one real thing in question I have is the soundcard...I mean for 33 bucks it seems like a decent card and I feel like it will help her sound because her speakers arent exactly prime. of course there's always room for upgrades in the future.

once again guys, thanks a lot for all the advice it really helped cut some costs and still put together (what I think, anyway) is a nice PC. I'm going to order this I think pretty soon but I figured I'd run it by y'all once more to see if I'm missing or forgetting or mismatching anything!

 

[krnmastersgt]

Alternatives for the video card/motherboard/cpu:
Mobo:
GF9300 mATX Zotac $115 ($20 rebate)
GF7050 mATX Zotac $45 ($10 rebate)
Biostar 780g $60 ($10 rebate)
Any of these should be more than sufficient for your needs, the GF9 board being the most powerful integrated of the 3 but again, all should be able to run everything you listed above.

The E5200 is a good choice for CPU, just a few $ more than the E2 series but runs cooler/higher stock/more cache.
As for the AMD board, this Athlon X2 BE-2300 should be fine I think (cheapest dual-core). If you have your doubts, ask around in the CPU section for what the most cost effective alternative is.

And most retail CPUs come with some thermal grease already included in the box, not the best stuff around but for stock cooling it's more than adequate.

 

[dudekid]

great advice, thanks a lot. the one thing is that I once owned a Biostar mobo and I vowed never again...Is there any way to find out if my proc will come with grease? no need to buy the high end stuff I agree...either way thanks!

 

[Chronicbs]

Computer case /w power supply $60

Dvd Burner: Sony Optiarc $23 f/s

Monitor: Acer 19" widescreen $120 f/s

WD 250gb hd (same) $40 f/s

Logitech keyboard/mouse (same) $13

Gskill ddr2 800 4gb (2x2gb) $40 f/s

ASrock 790gx/128m $105

Athlon X2 6000 3.1Ghz 89w $79 f/s

Total: $480 + taxes = $518.40 + shipping on motherboard/keyboard/case should come out to about $550. She should use headphones and buy some nicer speakers later from somewhere other than newegg when she can afford it imo. I got my new klipsch promedia 2.1's for $86 shipped on ebay.

Now to explain my choices, I chose this motherboard because of the very capable onboard ATI Radeon HD 3300 and the mb has 128mb ddr3 1333 "sideport" ram for the onboard video. with this selection you can do away with the aftermarket video card, if not forever at least for now. IIRC I saw a benchmark showing the onboard video playing Far Cry with barely playable (low 20's) fps and I think that was with the 3200 onboard w/o the "sideport" ram. In any case the onboard should be plenty of video power for the non gamer.

Removing the video card, there is plenty of money for more higher quality ram. I chose the Acer because of the free shipping. Hanns-g makes good value monitors also though, I'm using a 19" widescreen I got a few years ago myself, but its not worth paying extra over the acer for I don't think. I went with the Sony Optiarc because in my experience Optiarcs are the least picky when It comes to media so I can buy the cheap stuff my other drives wont burn.

 

[Denithor]

AMD X2 4850e (2.5GHz, 45W) $54
Powercolor RS780G $79 - $10MIR
Crucial 2x1GB DDR2 $18
Antec EA380 $35

Ditch the separate video card, it's just not needed (and too low end for gaming, anyway). All parts above have free shipping.

Total innards (with HDD & DVDRW you listed): $251 - $10MIR

Optional upgrades (these will make her daily use much much nicer):
Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard/Mouse 3000 $27 + shipping
Acer X223Wbd 22" LCD $160FS
Apevia X-Qpack $75 - $15MIR + shipping

Total (with the speakers you chose): $536 - $25MIR + shipping

Notes: This will cost less money, bump up to 22" LCD, give her a smaller/easier to stash case & better keyboard/mouse. All while still providing a great machine for multitasking & general use.

EDIT: Two more things to mention.
1) Don't bother with aftermarket thermal paste, just use the stock hsf + stock paste (pre-applied).
2) Do you have a copy of Windows to use on this build? If not, buy her a nice HP desktop.

 

[dudekid]

Wow thanks for all the great input! Denithor, yes I do have a WinXP to give her, the college we go to gives us 3 free licenses for any windows (xp, vista, etc..).

Here is the one concern I have. I've built a few pc's in my time (although, not very recently I'll admit) but the one system I built with AMD/Athlon completely died on me, while my Intel rig is still up and running after a long time. Not to mention I really love the dual core (perfect for multitasking). I'm just a little worried about AMD and almost feel safer with Intel? I don't really know the difference or what is better anymore (surprising for me to say this, I used to be an AMD fanboy!) but if you guys really recommend that I go with AMD/Athlon, it is a cheaper combo and I wouldn't be opposed to it, I just need to know why everyone picks that over intel. Again thanks so much guys I really appreciate the help.

Also quick side note, I need a SATA cable right? I mean I know they're only about 3 bucks just trying to figure out what I need for the complete system. Thanks so much everyone

 

[Denithor]

AMD chips are solid these days. The 4850e I linked is a low-power chip (45W dual-core) so her machine will run nice & cool even with the stock cooler.

Their 780G motherboards have an integrated GPU that's on-par with the older 8400GS cards, will do full Blu-ray decoding and *mild* gaming (don't expect to run Crysis at high resolution but for old games it will work).

You won't need a SATA cable. If you look at the photos of the motherboard accessories at newegg you will see it comes with 2-4 SATA cables.

I seriously hope you take all of my advice there, you will have a much nicer system than she would get from Dell/HP for that price with nice extras (small case, big monitor, nice keyboard/mouse).

One final thing - you might consider spending another $22 and getting the 4GB DDR2-800 kit from G.Skill (search newegg - it's the kit with free shipping for $40) and chose Vista 64-bit for the install. If you go for the 2GB kit get XP instead.

 

[dudekid]

hey guys thanks for all the advice, I went ahead and made the full setup on newegg and I managed to get it down to ~$480. If anyone has any other input it would be much appreciated. I just posted all the new parts to check and make sure they would all be compatible. Thanks again!

 

[Denithor]

Leave off the soundcard. Try out the onboard audio first. If she's not satisfied (which would surprise me, frankly - onboard has gotten very good) you can always add that later.

 

[dudekid]

yeah now that you mention it, the more i think about it, the less i think she'll need the soundcard. thanks again. going to order it up tomorrow and get to building next week! thanks a lot everyone for all the help!

 

[Denithor]

:thumbsup:

Keep us posted with how the build goes.

 

[yh125d]

Yeah definitely drop the sound card. If you want a little better quality, you will gain alot better sound by stepping up speaker wise than sound source wise. I use Logitech Z4's ($60-70) and they are amazing.

 

[dudekid]

Well before I order it, I have one more quick question. We decided that Vista would be the way to go over XP. Do these parts work with Vista? I've never installed Vista on a custom before, and I don't even know what version of vista I need, etc. I'm hoping I don't have to go and change anything, and I'm almost positive I don't, but I'd like to be sure.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: dudekid
Well before I order it, I have one more quick question. We decided that Vista would be the way to go over XP. Do these parts work with Vista? I've never installed Vista on a custom before, and I don't even know what version of vista I need, etc. I'm hoping I don't have to go and change anything, and I'm almost positive I don't, but I'd like to be sure.

Depends if you go Vista 64 or 32 and what programs you use cus you may want to check compatibility for those specific programs. If you're unsure than I would go XP so you know practically everything will work with it cus you'd have to do the trouble shooting if you are up to the task.

 

[dudekid]

Yeah, I'm really inclined to go with XP because I'm very familiar with it and it's so much easier...however she really wants Vista so I want to at least give it a shot. I can get free copies through my school of either, and here's the version of Vista I can get:

Windows Vista (x64) with SP1 - Business

It seems like it should work but I'm still not 100%.