Help build $400 AMD PC

[Boy Hits Car]

Ok. Did some rearranging and ditched the DVD-R for a DVD/Combo and got this for the same price:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail $158.79

BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100-M9 Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $59.00

Kingston ValueRAM 512MB (2 x 256MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model KVR400X64C3AK2/512 - Retail
$44.25

Western Digital Caviar SE WD400JD 40GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 HD-OEM $49.00

Antec Solution SLK1650B Black Steel ATX Mini Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail $60.99

Logitech Internet Pro Desktop 967457-0403 Black PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM $16.00

LITE-ON Black IDE CD Burner Model SOHR-5239V BK RT - Retail $22.49

for a total of: $447.

Bold shows what I changed

 

[alimoalem]

i would say drop down to a 3000, get 1 stick of 512 instead of 2 sticks of 256, get an 80 gig hard drive (for like $5 more) and you're set. maybe buying used stuff would help

 

[Boy Hits Car]

The 3200 is cheaper than the 3000, shrug. You are right about the hard drive. 2 sticks aren't better for dual channel motherboards? If not, then one stick of 512 it is.

 

[Tostada]

Like poisonthewell said, you're not going to get much cheaper without moving to Socket 754. It's just ridiculous to try and build a 939 system for that price. Look at what you're doing. You're building a system that can't even read DVD-ROM just to save a couple more bucks. You're spending $1.23/MB on your hard drive when larger drives are down to $0.40/MB.

I think you're overestimating the benefits of Socket 939. A Socket 754 machine would actually be better in this price range. You would be much happier with a Sempron 64.

 

[duragezic]

939 isn't going much faster. Buying a 939 system for future upgradeability prolly won't work. No matter what you do, if you want to upgrade in say 2 or 3 years, you're gonna need mostly new stuff.

So as Tostada pointed out, Socket 754 would be the way to go. And as the other guy above pointed out, try used. I'd imagine there's quite a few Socket 754 mobos, RAM, and CPUs in FS/FT. With a used Sempron, mobo, and 512mb RAM, you'd be left with more money for the hard drive, DVD drive, and case.

 

[Boy Hits Car]

Originally posted by: Tostada
Like poisonthewell said, you're not going to get much cheaper without moving to Socket 754. It's just ridiculous to try and build a 939 system for that price. Look at what you're doing. You're building a system that can't even read DVD-ROM just to save a couple more bucks. You're spending $1.23/MB on your hard drive when larger drives are down to $0.40/MB.

I think you're overestimating the benefits of Socket 939. A Socket 754 machine would actually be better in this price range. You would be much happier with a Sempron 64.

A DVD/Combo drive doesn't read DVD-Rom?

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: Boy Hits Car
A DVD/Combo drive doesn't read DVD-Rom?

Of course it does. But the drive you listed:

LITE-ON Black IDE CD Burner Model SOHR-5239V BK RT - Retail $22.49

is not a combo drive.

 

[Tostada]

And you're not even listing shipping. You're not getting that case for $60.99. It's $62.99 + $18.99 shipping (I think it's actually about $1.50 cheaper on ZipZoomFly for the shipping, but it's a bit of a hassle to calculate).

For example, unless you really need that CPU, I think a more reasonable system would be:

CPU: AMD Sempron 64 2800 Retail $75 (ZipZoomFly)
mainboard: Biostar GeForce 6100-M7 $63.99 (ZipZoomFly)
HDD: Western Digital 250GB SATA WD2500KS $103.9 (ZipZoomFly)
RAM: Corsair 2 x 512MB DDR400 $78.49 (ZipZoomFly)
CD: NEC ND-3550A black DVD-R $44.64 (newegg)
case: Antec SLK1650B black $81.98 (newegg)

$448.00

There you've got a much better hard drive, twice the RAM, a DVD-RW, and shipping is included.

Note that 754 is single-channel, so for another $2 you can get a single 1GB stick (maybe the G.Skill CL2.5) and have more upgradability.

 

[Boy Hits Car]

Originally posted by: Tostada
And you're not even listing shipping. You're not getting that case for $60.99. It's $62.99 + $18.99 shipping (I think it's actually about $1.50 cheaper on ZipZoomFly for the shipping, but it's a bit of a hassle to calculate).

For example, unless you really need that CPU, I think a more reasonable system would be:

CPU: AMD Sempron 64 2800 Retail $75 (ZipZoomFly)
mainboard: Biostar GeForce 6100-M7 $63.99 (ZipZoomFly)
HDD: Western Digital 250GB SATA WD2500KS $103.9 (ZipZoomFly)
RAM: Corsair 2 x 512MB DDR400 $78.49 (ZipZoomFly)
CD: NEC ND-3550A black DVD-R $44.64 (newegg)
case: Antec SLK1650B black $81.98 (newegg)

$448.00

There you've got a much better hard drive, twice the RAM, a DVD-RW, and shipping is included.

Note that 754 is single-channel, so for another $2 you can get a single 1GB stick (maybe the G.Skill CL2.5) and have more upgradability.

I meant SOHC-5236V
$447 is with shipping.

 

[i1o0i]

AMD Sempron 64 2800+
Biostar Geforce 6100-M7
Western Digital SE 80GB IDE Ultra ATA100
Corsair VS 1GB (1x1GB) DDR400 RAM
Antec SLK1650 Black w/ 350 watts power supply
NEC ND-3550A DVD Burner

Cost- $370+shipping and tax

 

[d3lt4]

If you get a socket 754 you can get an AMD 64 3000 for $125.80, or a 2800 for $115.90.

 

[duragezic]

Originally posted by: i1o0i
AMD Sempron 64 2800+
Biostar Geforce 6100-M7
Western Digital SE 80GB IDE Ultra ATA100
Corsair VS 1GB (1x1GB) DDR400 RAM
Antec SLK1650 Black w/ 350 watts power supply
NEC ND-3550A DVD Burner

Cost- $370+shipping and tax

These recommendations look the best to me so far, especially since you say its for a family member. Very unlinkely that they would notice any difference between the Sempron 2800+ and a Venice 3200+, and its way cheaper. Plus you'll have 1GB which can be a huge difference for those who love running 100 system tray programs, 5 retarded security centers, etc

 

[Boy Hits Car]

Originally posted by: i1o0i
AMD Sempron 64 2800+
Biostar Geforce 6100-M7
Western Digital SE 80GB IDE Ultra ATA100
Corsair VS 1GB (1x1GB) DDR400 RAM
Antec SLK1650 Black w/ 350 watts power supply
NEC ND-3550A DVD Burner

Cost- $370+shipping and tax

This is the exact config I just made (except I had 512 & sempron 3000 instead of 1gig and 2800), with shipping it came out to be around $401. Didn't think there was any tax to be paid. I think you guys are right. I just assumed if I got a socket 939 3 years later I could get an FX or X2 processor for a quick and easy upgrade.

 

[athlonxp2200]

I have a question for Boy Hits Car.
If you don't mind my asking, is your real name Brian? I'm asking because you are talking about building a computer with the same specs as someone else I know. You are also building it for a family member.

Forgive me if you are not who I think you are.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: Boy Hits Car

This is the exact config I just made (except I had 512 & sempron 3000 instead of 1gig and 2800), with shipping it came out to be around $401. Didn't think there was any tax to be paid. I think you guys are right. I just assumed if I got a socket 939 3 years later I could get an FX or X2 processor for a quick and easy upgrade.

Well, the Sempron 3000 isn't really a better processor. It's $10 more with half the L2 cache. Since you're getting it for a family member (didn't see that before), though, I suppose that system's a good idea. They would probably never use the extra hard drive space, and 3000 looks better than 2800.

You'd probably never upgrade the CPU in 3 years anyway. By then, there will be a newer socket type out and there will be better ways to spend any upgrade money than trying to find a better Socket 939 CPU.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: athlonxp2200
I have a question for Boy Hits Car.
If you don't mind my asking, is your real name Brian? I'm asking because you are talking about building a computer with the same specs as someone else I know. You are also building it for a family member.

Forgive me if you are not who I think you are.

I await the response to see if it's going to be creepy

Go Wisconsin!

 

[Janet Reno]

Can microATX boards fit in normal ATX cases and function properly?

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: Janet Reno
Can microATX boards fit in normal ATX cases and function properly?

Yes.

 

[Boy Hits Car]

Originally posted by: athlonxp2200
I have a question for Boy Hits Car.
If you don't mind my asking, is your real name Brian? I'm asking because you are talking about building a computer with the same specs as someone else I know. You are also building it for a family member.

Forgive me if you are not who I think you are.

No, but small world.

 

[Boy Hits Car]

Originally posted by: Tostada

Originally posted by: Boy Hits Car

This is the exact config I just made (except I had 512 & sempron 3000 instead of 1gig and 2800), with shipping it came out to be around $401. Didn't think there was any tax to be paid. I think you guys are right. I just assumed if I got a socket 939 3 years later I could get an FX or X2 processor for a quick and easy upgrade.

Well, the Sempron 3000 isn't really a better processor. It's $10 more with half the L2 cache. Since you're getting it for a family member (didn't see that before), though, I suppose that system's a good idea. They would probably never use the extra hard drive space, and 3000 looks better than 2800.

You'd probably never upgrade the CPU in 3 years anyway. By then, there will be a newer socket type out and there will be better ways to spend any upgrade money than trying to find a better Socket 939 CPU.

Yeah, my family member will never fill up an 80gig drive. It's just office apps and internet(with a modem btw). That's why the video card(none), hard drive, and cd-burner/combo I picked would be fine (can't see him burning dvds). Was planning on a 939 so after a few years I could just pop in an X2 and another stick of 512, and be all set for another few years. If you guys think the sempron 2800 with 1gig ram would run windows xp for a good 5 years, then I'll go with that.

 

[Icepick]

Originally posted by: duragezic

Originally posted by: i1o0i
AMD Sempron 64 2800+
Biostar Geforce 6100-M7
Western Digital SE 80GB IDE Ultra ATA100
Corsair VS 1GB (1x1GB) DDR400 RAM
Antec SLK1650 Black w/ 350 watts power supply
NEC ND-3550A DVD Burner

Cost- $370+shipping and tax

These recommendations look the best to me so far, especially since you say its for a family member. Very unlinkely that they would notice any difference between the Sempron 2800+ and a Venice 3200+, and its way cheaper. Plus you'll have 1GB which can be a huge difference for those who love running 100 system tray programs, 5 retarded security centers, etc

This is the best advice given in this thread. The Sempron 2800+ will run Windows XP and general office apps just as fast as an A64. I would recommend taking i1o0i's advice and spending $5-10 more on the 80GB hard drive. You never know if the person you're building it for is going to get into digital photography in the next few years and need the space. Not to mention if they start getting into mp3 players and start ripping their CD collection to the PC. They'll thank you for it later!

 

[diablofish]

Here's a Fortron 24-pin, 400 Watt, with PCi-Express for $46 shipped:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953