first build, budget non-gamer; please critique

[poisonthewell]

*EDIT* Thanks for all the help!! I have bought my components and will hopefully have this together in a week or so.

Hi everyone,

Here's a little background identifying my preferences/goals:

1) First build
2) Want to maximize "bang for buck" so consider this a budget build
3) Non-gaming machine
4) Premium sound important (already have Logitech z-2300 speakers)
5) DVI a must, leaning toward Dell's 1905fp (but I'm not looking for monitor advice just yet)
6) Would like a chip that consistently overclocks well

Sempron 2800+ Palermo - <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80143-1&affiliate=pricegrabber
">$83</a>
DFI LanParty NF3-250 - $70 (bought one used from the fs/ft forum)
Corsair 1GB PC3200 CAS 2.5 - <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-21&affiliate=shopping
">$82.90</a>
Power Color RV6DL-A3 ATI Radeon 7000 - $33.99
Chaintech AV-710 VIA ENVY 24PT - $25.99
NEC ND-3540A - $45.99
Antec SLK 1650 (with 350W PS) - purchased for $59.56
Seagate 300gb PATA hdd - $83

Reasons behind my choices:

cpu: Much reported success on overclocking with this processor. Some have brought this up to 2.7ghz using aftermarket heatsinks. Goal is to get this from 1.6ghz to 2.2ghz with stock hsf.
mobo: originally wanted to go with a cheap $55-70 mobo, but the DFI LanParty is too tempting. Plus I lucked out and got it at a great price.
ram: Good cheap brand name - can't beat the price
gpu: Cheapest card I could find with DVI. Only planning on watching DVDs and doing some basic Photoshop work.
audio: Wolfson DAC kicks ass.
optical: These will probably be cheaper soon (along with the 3420A), but I'm upgrading from a 4x external cdrw drive.
case: Case with a PS is helpful for me, just one less thing to worry about. Dollar for dollar this appears to be Antec's best budget case. Was also considering the SLK3700-BQE but it's more expensive, I don't like the front door and many people have reported it is very flimsy.

In the sprit of building a budget box, I was originally willing to spend around $250 on the cpu/mobo/ram. Amazingly the used mobo put me at $235.90 and under budget.

In the end I guess I could get a Dell that fits my needs and save a bunch of time and maybe a little money, but crunk that!!

Thanks!

 

[theMan]

a gig of ram would be nice, if you can pay for it. corsair value select is good. everything else looks really good.

 

[shoRunner]

good budget setup

 

[imported_Kensai]

:thumbsup: but don't expect to do any 3D work at all.

 

[CreativeTom]

No compaints here go for it

 

[JacobJ]

Looks good. The only thing I might suggest is looking into the new socket-754 NForce4 boards -- newegg has an ecs one available for ~$70. Not sure how the ones in your range would fare as overclockers though.

 

[NeonFlak]

I have a chaintech VNF3-250 in all my machines currently. I think it's a great mobo. It has been stable for me in all the machines and is a great with overclocking.

 

[Kenazo]

If you're already spending $35 on a video card, at least make the step up to a Radeon 9200 or something better than that 7000. It'll cost you very little more and you'll be able to play some of the games from two years ago quite well. You never know.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Looks wonderful. Actually, that's the best setup I've seen anyone here post. Nice job! My only question is this: why are you spending $26 for some crappy sound card when your board already has integrated 5.1 audio? If you want to do some nice audio work, at least get something that supports 96KHz A/D conversion.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Actually I think that sound card is quite good

 

[poisonthewell]

kenazo - Spending $15 really won't get me anything here unless I'm missing something. The difference between a Radeon 7000 and 9200 is negligible for a non-gamer/video editor.

hurtstotalktoyou - At first I didn't think much of the sound card either. As mentioned I am going with a 2.1 speaker setup (Logitech z-2300). Here is the thread that got me interested and here is the review that sealed the deal. As corny as it might sound, this was actually the first component I decided upon for the build.

Thanks for the suggestions - keep them coming.

 

[poisonthewell]

Bumping this to get a few extra looks before i start purchasing components.

Thanks in advance to anyone adding their .02

 

[poisonthewell]

One last bumpity before purchasing components.

Any suggestions with regard to this setup?

 

[imported_Kensai]

For 40-50$, you can get a Ti4200/4600 which will stomp that 7000 in the ground.

 

[poisonthewell]

Kensai - yes, alternatives might stomp a 7000 into the ground. Could you mention any benefits I'll reap by following your advice?

I simply don't see any justification spending the extra money for what I (perhaps wrongly) percieve is little to no gain. Is there something I'm missing?

 

[fatty4ksu]

my 4600 can stil play hl2, doom 3.

sweet gpu.

 

[Beiruty]

So with an LCD and keyboard and a mice, how much is your total?

 

[poisonthewell]

beiruty:

all items listed above @ today's prices w/1 gig of ram (excluding hd, monitor, mouse/keyboard, speakers) - $389.43

+ items already purchased

logitech z-2300 speakers - $101.71
seagate 300 gb hd - $127.58

+

budget for 19" flatscreen monitor w/dvi - $250 (hoping for a deal on dell's 1905fp)

= grand total of $868.72 right now

I have an old mouse and keyboard already, but will probably upgrade soon.

Wow, over 800 bucks for this "budget build" and my video card sucks. Obviously I could have made this a lot cheaper with a smaller hd, crappy speakers, and a crt or smaller lcd, but chose not to. I might have to get a better video card just for the hell of it. I'm beginning to think $33.99 for that is an ultimate waste.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: CreativeTom
No compaints here go for it

 

[SrGuapo]

Originally posted by: poisonthewell
Wow, over 800 bucks for this "budget build" and my video card sucks. Obviously I could have made this a lot cheaper with a smaller hd, crappy speakers, and a crt or smaller lcd, but chose not to. I might have to get a better video card just for the hell of it. I'm beginning to think $33.99 for that is an ultimate waste.

Still a great price considering you have a good monitor and speakers along with it.

That shoiuld be a great PC for your type of work. You have obviously done quite a bit of research! If you are sure you won't be playing any 3D games, that GPU is fine. The only reason to upgrade is if you need a higher resloution (not likely with 1280x1024 LCD) or plan on doing 3D work.


Have fun with it!

Edit: Is this your first build?

 

[poisonthewell]

 

[Avalon]

No need to waste more money on a higher up video card, since you won't be playing games at all. There is no benefit to getting something better than a Radeon 7000 if you aren't gaming. I use them in budget builds typically, and they get the job done. Everything else looks very good. The chaintech should be able to provide 275HTT to reach 2.2 on your Sempron. If you tried to configure a Dell with anything that would perform roughly similar to your setup, you'd be looking at over $1000, so you did well. Enjoy.

 

[PingSpike]

You can sometimes find old school AGP cards new for builds like this if you dig around...ATI Rage or something like that. You'd still only be shaving like $15 off though. If you absolutely do not play games this is fine...if you play any games at all it'd probably be worth the nominal extra cost to buy like a GF4ti or something.