Help me build a system for under 600? ...hopefully...

[NoahFrenzy]

Hey all,
I'm going to be putting together a system for my brother, 600 bucks for everything including monitor and speakers. So far I was thinking of getting (all newegg prices):

AMD XP1600 - 105.00
ARKUA TECHNOLOGY 7528 HSF - 22.00
ECS K7S5A - 52.00
Samsung DDR333 - PC-2700 256mb 86.00
MAXTOR 20GB 7200RPM Model # 6L020J1 - 69.00
AOPEN CD-952E 52x CDROM - 32.00
GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce2 MX 400 - 68.00
BLACK EVERCASE E4252BEF5 - 44.00 (though I'm not certain about this one, it only has a 300w PSU)

That brings things to 478.00 not counting shipping. Or a monitor... or speakers. Bleh. If anyone has ideas how to squeeze those in and shuffle current ideas around, I'm listening.

 

[ShadowDJ]

I'd change the MX vid card to a GeForce 2 GTS-V or one of the low-priced Radeons floating in Newegg. They're both in the 40 dollar range and are overclockable.
I'm in the same situation, trying to canvince my parents also. 😉

 

[chasem]

Dood, im telling you, get a dell.
They damn near give these things away, and they are already setup, you donthave to waste an afternoon to do it.

I got mine for 550 including shipping.

p4 1.6ghz, 640 ddr pc2100, wireless koyboard/mouse, 40 gig hdd, nic, modem, soundcard, geforce2 64 mb ddr w/tvout, and 8x cdrw.

the comp is SOOOOO quiet, and fast. boots up in like 3 seconds too

 

[NoahFrenzy]

550... dollars? I just looked over there and the lowest priced system I could find was 600... and that was a low end model. What model and what area of the site am I supposed to be looking at to see that deal?

 

[ahsia]

For Dell, you will have to wait. Sometimes they have deals for $499 or $599 for P4s and stuff, usually those are great deals to jump if you are looking for a budget computer. Here is my suggestions (all from newegg as well):

$76 SHUTTLE AK31A AMD K7 VIA APOLLO KT266A DDR SOCKET A ATX MOTHERBOARD
$99 AMD Athlon XP 1500+/266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU - OEM
$67 WD WESTERN DIGITAL EIDE HARD DRIVE 20GB 7200RPM MODEL # WD200BB - OEM, DRIVE ONLY
$70 KINGSTON KVR266X64C25/256 256MB 32x64 PC2100 DDR RAM
$31 AFREEY 52X BLACK INTERNAL ATAPI CD-ROM, MODEL CD2052E - OEM
$44 ATI Radeon 32MB DDR 4X AGP Video Card - OEM
$36 Altec Lansing AVS500W Multimedia 5 Piece Speaker
$24 Microsoft OEM Internet Keyboard and IntelliMouse PS/2 Bundle
$16 VANTEC CCK-6035D
$44 BLACK EVERCASE Intel P4 / AMD 10-Bay ATX MID Tower Case

Total: $507 before shipping and taxes.

I choose the Shuttle because it is just overall more stable than the ECS. You will not notice the difference between XP 1500 vs. 1600, so save a few bucks. You won't need PC2700 unless you plan to overclock, so Kingston PC2100 is sufficient. WD is few bucks cheaper than Maxtor, so pick what you prefer. I've always liked Vantec because they have better clip design. As for the monitor, you can't go wrong with the Samsung SyncMaster 753DF at Dell.com. Comes out to $156.56 after 10% discount coupon you can find. This is an excellent 17" monitor.

Your total will be a little more than $600, but I think overall, worth the money. If money is tight, go with a Duron for now, maybe try the ECS motherboard, and get a 15" rather than a 17" monitor. That should lower it to closer to $600.

Good luck!

 

[NoahFrenzy]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Does anyone else have any more suggestions or ideas to add before I start buying stuff? hehe

 

[fatbaby]

I'd reccomend going for a different hsf such as a svc golden gate or svc gc-68

$15 for the former and $13 for the latter

 

[Shuten]

Buy a retail version of the AMD XP.. This way you get a
decent HSF and for the fraction of the price. If you're
going to overclock or what not then you might need to upgrade
but if this can wait untill you have the money then you can save
yourself 20 30 bucks easily.

Just my thought
shuten