Help me set up a new computer

[tigersty1e]

Help me set up a computer for $500 (not including video card). I'll buy a video card when a good deal pops up.

Will this budget give me a middle market computer or middle-high market computer?

I do want to overclock my stuff, so good overclocking potential is a plus.

 

[razor2025]

For AMD route, you can do...

X2 3600+ Brisbane - $72
Biostar 690G - $90 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138057
SuperTalent DDR667 2x1GB - $90
160GB SATA Samsung - $50
DVD Burner of your choice -$40
Total is ~ $350, giving you $150 to pick a case and power supply, and maybe a sound-card if you hate Realtek or value proper EAX support. The brisbane should overclock well to performance of stock E6300. The on-board X1250 isn't too well in gaming, but if you're willing to wait, then it should allow you at least play CS:S at 1024x768 w/o too much drop in frames.

If you want to shoot for C2D:

E4300 Retail - $120
P5B - $120
SuperTalent DDR667 2x1GB - $90
160GB SATA Samsung - $50
DVD Burner of your choice -$40

Total is ~ $420, giving you $80 to pick a case and power supply, and a low-end video card. The on-board ADI for the P5B is actually much better than any Realtek one, so unless you hearing is fine-tuned, it should be more than enough. It would be really hard to stretch the $80 left in budget for buying any decent combination of any of the remaining 3 items, so I'd suggest increasing it by $50 more. C2D will definitely blow your budget no matter how you shape it, unless you sacrifice the motherboard quality. However, the E4300 will overclock decently and far surpass anything that the Brisbane is capable of.

This is on sale for ~$50: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102035
Should provide enough horses to do most games @ 1024x768 and lower quality @ 1280x1024.

 

[AVP]

Well go for a intel e4300 for starters, maybe this case for $50, if you do not mind open box this Asus mobo is a good deal for the money.

I am not a big overclocker so you are going to have to pick the ram yourself. Newegg has good deals with mail in rebates if you can squeeze that into your budget.

 

[bobbyz]

This is what I am planning for my system.

E4300 $118
965P-DS3 Rev 3.3 $118
Supertalent DDR2 667 2GB $80
Case $30 AR

Add power supply and SATA drives.

 

[Vogel515]

Get a dell or HP... Dell has great outlet deals.

 

[kalrith]

Borrowed from another thread:

Originally posted by: engineereeyore
I just posted this on another thread, but here it is again.

I just finished upgrading my rig and here's what I went with.

Intel C2D E4300 = $120

MSI P965 Platinum = $130

2GB Super Talent Ram = $85

Corsair 520W PS = $70 (with Google checkout discount)

Scythe NINJA CPU cooler = $35

Sony 18X SATA DVD burner = $32

EVGA 7600 GS Video Card = $70

Total = $472 + ~$40 in shipping. This worked well for me. There's also a 500GB SATAII hard drive for $100 at Fry's.