Help me build a computer for $500

[JoeKing]

Hey guys,

I've been told to build a new computer from scratch with only $500 to work with (damnit I wish for the day when I'm given a 4 figure budget). Do you guys think this can be done?

Here's what I figure I need.

Mobo (power supply hopefully included)
Case
Processor
ram
harddrive
floppy drive
cdrom drive
vid card
sound card
speakers
modem
keyboard
mouse
**am I missing somthing**

I know its a big list and I'm not sure where to start. I'd like to order everything one one place to save on shipping costs. I also live in CA so there's tax to deal with.

Obviously I'd like the most bang for my buck, but items such as speakers I can scrimp on.

Any suggestions would be great. I was thinking of perhaps a motherboard with onbaord sound and video to save a bit. This is not meant to be a gaming rig, instead its a computer for my parents and youngest sister to surf the net, and do some light gaming. I was thinking abolut an emachine or some Frys special, but I'd like to be able to upgrade them whenever the time comes...plus its a bunch more fun building somthing from scratch.

 

[Therapist928]

Monitor?
Power Supply?
IDE cables?
Can you save some money by using an old keyboard, mouse, speakers, modem, etc?

You might want to consider the ECS K75SA mobo (ugh, forgot if that's the right order of letters) mobo for an AMD chip, you could use the integrated sound and ethernet card on it, plus get some good speed.

I think you'd want to pick out the parts for yourself - that's part of the fun too. It can definitely be done though.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Qty Product Item # Unit Price Qty x Price

Cases PC - ATX - Mini/Med Tower
BLACK EVERCASE E4252B005 No Power Supply Intel P4 / AMD 10-Bay Truely Screwless ATX MID Tower Case. BLACK with GRAY trim. *** No Power Supply. ***
N82E16811127003 $24.00

CD ROM
SONY 52X MAX EIDE INTERNAL CD-ROM DRIVE CDU5211, 7,800 KB/sec. data transfer rate, 33.3MB/s OEM version -
N82E16827101119 $24.00

Floppy Drives
SONY 1.44MB 3.5 INCH INTERNAL FDD DRIVE - OEM Model MPF920-Z
N82E16821103109 $8.00

Hard Drives - IDE
WD WESTERN DIGITAL EIDE HARD DRIVE 20GB 7200RPM MODEL # WD200BB -Caviar OEM, DRIVE ONLY
Specifications:
Size: 20 Gigabytes
Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA100
Seek time: 8.9ms
RPM:7200
Cache 2MB
OEM(Drive alone) 3 Year Manufacturer Warranty --* Works With PC & Mac *--
N82E16822137116 $64.00

Keyboards - English
KB-2000 107-KEY WIN98 PS/2 KEYBOARD RETAIL BOX IBM Compatible With ATX System. The special function keys for windows 98 power Management System Requirements. the BIOS of Mainboard support windows 98 ACPI Management Keys. Microsoft windows 98 system or higer
N82E16823131100 $3.50

Memory - PC (DDR)
CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM 184-Pin, CL=2.5-Unbuffered 2.5V,6-Layers CT3264Z265.16T. Requires DDR supported Motherboard - Lifetime Warranty. OEM
N82E16820145001 $49.00

Modems
ArchTek SmartLink 56K V.92 PCI MODEM- RETAILDATA FAX VOICE, PLUG AND PLAY, INTERNAL MODEM
Connexant Brand Rockwell chipset XP V.90 V.92 Driver included.
Microsoft WHQL certifed
N82E16825125002 $11.00

Motherboards - AMD
ECS K7S5A SiS® 735 SOCKET A MOTHERBOARD - RETAIL with On-Board LAN Port and Sound 5 PCI Slots, 1 4X AGP slot, 1 AMR slot. 2 DDR DIMM sockets and 2 DIMM sockets support (can not be used simultaneously). Two 184-pin DDR SDRAM (DDR200, DDR266) or Two 168-pin 3.3V SDRAM (PC100, PC133). Maximum: 1.0GB (DDR or SDRAM). Supports all AMD XP Processors.
N82E16813135102 $54.00

Mouse
Designer-Plus Scrolling Internet Easy+ Mouse PS2 connectors two buttons, High Precision Input Device. 600DPI High Resolution, for IBM PC & Compatible. Compatible with Microsoft Mouse. Easy to use Plug & Play. Retail Box. Special Deal **LIMIT 5 PER CUSTOMER!**
N82E16826129001 $.69

Power Supplies / Inverters / Converters / Strips
Antec P4 ATX12V 400 Watt Power Supply With 2 Fans - Retail ATX12V Form Factor, 2.03 compliant for Pentium 4 (backward compatible with previous Pentium versions) and AMD systems L5.9" x W5.5" x H3.4" +5V Stand-By & Logic On/Off Additonal Fan for cooling, built in. Smart Fan Feature (Thermal Controlled Variable Speed Fan) SL400 is a 400 Watt 6-output, fan-cooled ATX (Baby AT or PS/2 Size) power supply designed for personal computer or industrial applications. Its ATX12V and ATX 2.03 compliance allows its use with the latest Pentium 4 processors while its backward compatibility ensures its usability with any system.
N82E16817103912 $63.00

Processors - AMD Athlon Thunderbird, XP, MP
AMD 1700+/266 FSB Athlon XP PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL 1700+/ 1.47GHz, AX1700BOX. 3 Years Warranty. With heatsink and cooling fan. The Ultimate Digital Media Experience in an x86 Platform.Tailored for Microsoft® Windows® XP. Featuring QuantiSpeed? Architecture for Rapid Execution of Applications. Tomorrow?s Technology Today.The Power of a Reliable Partner.
Specifications:
CPU: 1.47 GHz
Type: 1700 XP
Cache: 256K
BUS: 266MHz
Socket A (PGA) Retail (Box with Heatsink and fan)
N82E16819103306 $95.00


Speakers
Benwin S-10 (BLACK) multimedia speaker system
It is a lightweight, two piece system designed for use with a wide variety of audio devices including desktop and laptop computer systems.
System Specifications:
Total Power Output: 2W + 2W
Frequency Response: 60Hz 20KHz
Driver: 2" x 3.5" Full Range
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Cable Length: 6.0 Ft.
Dimensions: 2.5" x 6.3" x 3.8"
Weight: 1.3 Lbs.<--* Works With PC & Mac *--
N82E16836123021 $4.00

Video Cards
VISIONTEK Xtasy 5632 GEFORCE2 GTS-V 4X/2X 32MB DDR AGP - OEM
This VGA card offers high performance based on the GeForce2 GTS-V chipset and 32mb 256 bit DDR memory. Visiontek is the only Nvidia board partner to offer this card. Part# 72440.0
N82E16814129007 $45.00




Grand Total » $ 445.19


Yes, it's possible!!!



😀

Edit: Dumped soundcard

 

[JoeKing]

thanks for the help guys. How about this system I put together

MSI KT3 ULTRA-Specs;
AMD ATHLON XP 1600+;
128MB NON-ECC PC2700(333Mhz);
SONY 24X/10X/40X CDRW;
ENLIGHT 7250
AOPEN V.92/56K FM56SV SOFTWARE MODEM
ALTEC LANSING AVS300W 3PC SPEAKER SYSTEM
SONY 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE
ATI RADEON 7000 64MB AGP SDR W/DVD PLAYBACK
MAXTOR 40.0GB DX6L040J2 EIDE ULTRA-ATA 133 8.5NS 7200RPM 2MB BUFFER

Grand total including shipping and tax
$567.28

what do you guys think? Any mistakes or things I may have forgotten?

 

[FrustratedUser]

I can' t comment on the details but it's more than $500 and does not include all the things you wanted. But hey, looks OK to me.

 

[JoeKing]

yeah, I remebered I have a few mouses and keyboards laying around that'll do (I think I even have an optical intellimouse somewhere)

 

[CrazySaint]

Just a couple notes, A) Stay away from software modems, they're nothing but a headache. You can get a cheap PCI modem for about $10. B) Don't waste your money on PC2700, the performance increase is practically non-existant. You would be *far* better off to spend another $10 and get 256MB of PC2100.

 

[TimeKeeper]

FrustratedUser list

Looks perfect to me!!!!!!

Actually that's pretty much what I ordered last week for a P4 system for around $440 Shipped.
Except, I bought P4 1.6a retail + refurbish Abit BD7 and OC it to 2.0Ghz. (like to keep it cool 😉 )
And I pick up a 300Watt P4 Midtower for $40 only at local store.


Edit: you really don't want a Radeon 7000! BIOS flash GTS-V to make it GTS-PRO w/ 5.5ns RAM

 

[JoeKing]

thanks for all the help guys! I've just finished the computer and the parents are estatic about it. I decided to follow FrustratedUser's list to the letter with a cd burner on top of it. Thanks man.

I also picked up another GTS-V for myself while I was at it. So TimeKeeper, where can I find this bios at? Btw any opinions on which the best drivers are for this card?

 

[TNTrulez]

Nice nice. . . under $500 too huh?😀