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Is it possible to build a decent complete comp for ~500?

R

RaNDoMMAI

Senior member
Hye guyz

my cousin is in desperate need of a new comp.

He has saved ~500 for one. He doesnt plan on playing top notch games, but he does plan on playing some.

so far i have this
AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2400+, 266FSB, 512K Cache 77
Super Lan Boy 75
Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 92
Sparkle Power 300W "FSP300-60GRE" - 34
Shuttle "AN35N-Ultra" nForce2 Ultra 400 57
on-board sound
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9200 Video Card 54
Lite-on 52x32x32 35
thermalright ALX800 24
SAMSUNG 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model SP0802N 68
NEC/MITSUBISHI FE770-BK 17" 161
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, 11

Total 688

The only thing he picked out was the case. He really likes it after seeing it at compusa.

I think i can get a cheaper monitor but then cheapest i found was at like 125 and it got horrible ratings. I dont want to get to cheap of a monitor so i dont kill his eyes.

Now is it possible to get a good comp for ~500?

Maybe i will just tell him to sell something for the extra 100+.

We have no extra parts laying around expect for panaflo fans for the HS and exhaust.

thx
~RaNDoM
 
That is a pretty good value build that you put together. You would be able to save a little bit of money by getting in on the Kingston valueram 512 deal in the hotdeals forum through shop.kingston.com. There is a MIR involved but you would save around $22 for similar quality RAM. He is also killing you on the case. You could save about $40 on the case and power supply by looking for an Antec deal or checking around NewEgg in the $60 shipped price range. You can get some decent cases, with good power supplies for that price. If you look around at retail stores in your area, you might be able to get a better deal on a good 17" monitor. Other than that, you put together a good value system.

Mike
 
Super Lanboy case, sparkle psu, yet only a 9200? That's crazy.

I'm in Canada, and this would be my "Budget system" (cdn prices)

Athlon XP 2500 retail $109 OC to 3200
Soltek SL-75FRN2 $80
512 megs PC 3200 Kingston Valueram (or whatever is cheapest that day) $142
Sapphire Radeon 9600pro $174
Cheap case/350w PSU $30
52x cd burner (LG or Liteon) $40
Floppy $10
80GB Seagate 7200rpm $80
Dell 17" Trinitron Refurb $120

Grand total (In Candian): $785
In US$'s $561+Tax

There ya go, ppl need to realize that what's inside is far more important than some $100 case.

Oh, that's w/o speakers, but a $30 pair of headphones will fit the bill.
 
Looks good. Might keep your eyes open for a deal for a monitor over on the Hot Deals board. I've seen decent deals under $100 several times. A rebate or two might make the monitor buying a bit less painful.

One more thing. Were you going to be purchasing Windows? Might have to budget that in the price.
 
Originally posted by: paladiin
One more thing. Were you going to be purchasing Windows? Might have to budget that in the price.
Click to expand...

Maybe he's planning on running Linux... yeah... that's it.... 😉
 
http://www.tcwo.com/ ..as you are in Pinellas 😉
on the monitor catch a sale this coming weekend at Staples 🙂 Envision 19" CRT- $189.94 before $80 mir (501712) ..also..Maxtor 160gb HD $89.94..not sure if that'll be straight out the door or MIR(s)..appears to be straight out the door 😀
 
To get a decent PC on a budget that low, go Nforce 2 400 with IGP. Get a Barton 2500+ and shoot for 400fsb (3200+ speeds). Make sure you get 2x256MB memory modules (PC3200) as dual channel makes a HUGE difference on IGP performance.

That should knock you into budget, and the Radeon 9200 sucks anyway for gaming.

My only advice.

Edit: Tell your cousin another $200 will take him VERY far in this type of situation.
 
Originally posted by: Acanthus
To get a decent PC on a budget that low, go Nforce 2 400 with IGP. Get a Barton 2500+ and shoot for 400fsb (3200+ speeds). Make sure you get 2x256MB memory modules (PC3200) as dual channel makes a HUGE difference on IGP performance.

That should knock you into budget, and the Radeon 9200 sucks anyway for gaming.

My only advice.

Edit: Tell your cousin another $200 will take him VERY far in this type of situation.
Click to expand...

hitting 400fsb w/ IGP isn't all that easy, though I agree that it is a nice cheap route. However, I find IGP performance to be about on par with a Radeon 8500.

I was thinking more about the $500 thing, and I think it is very possible to be under that, and build a good comptuer if you are willing to buy off the AT FS/FT forums, and to build a great computer to boot.
 
LOL, too bad not too many colleges have surplus stores. Rutgers out in Jersey has a surplus store that sells computers/monitors that were used by the RU departments. Got myself Dual Dell P990's (19" trinitron) for a grand total of $40. Heh heh heh.
 
Hm, I just recently put together a system as well and initially $500 was my target. You did a nice job. You could save a few bucks by recommending something like th SLK3700BQE (nice case for $80). Also, buy kingston ram off of their web site. Go to the Hot Deals forum. There is a stickied post that shows 512mb for $68.

Have fun.
 
I though dell have budget comp for less than $500 and i think enough to play decent games. plus it come with warranty and windows xp even if it's home edition 🙂
 
@ mbackof
thx, all these prices are from newegg so it wasnt hard to look everything up.

I was wondering How long does it take Kingston rebates to come in?

I know the case is killing me. He wont get a BQE becasue i have one and he doesnt want to copy me. maybe i can convice him to get an 3700AMB, same case but brown=P

@ Kenazo

Where is the specs for the Soltek mobo, i never heard of it before.

also, why do u recommend the barton 2500 over the XP-M 2400? because the barton has a FSB of 333? does that make much of a difference? the XP-M is $77 while the barton is still $80, but the XP-M will run cool and i dont have to worry about getting a mega cooler like a thermalright 900A

Does the dell refurb monitor come with shipping included and a warrenty at all?

@paladiin

Windows is covered, have been looking at hot deals for a while, hopefully a monitor deal will come in.

Can you recommend any brands i show look for and brands to stay away from?

@ScrapSilicon

I live in Tampa and TWCO is only 15 min away, i use to go there alot before they switch to their new bigger warhouse, then i found out about newegg.
I might grab that maxtor for myself=)

@Acanthus
Can you recommend a mobo with a good on-board VGA, i looked at some reviews at newegg and some ppl have problems with the video and end up getting their own AGP card.

@waterhouse

Their machine seems rather weak, i never heard of some stuff like In-Win V564G case and Chaintech 7NIL1-SUMMIT.


Thanks to everyone for the input
I will look some more at other sites and see if any good deals happen locally

~RaNDoM
 
I'm not sure how long the Kingston rebates take. I just sent one in last week, so I will let you know.
NewEgg is generally a great choice if you need everything from one source. Many times you can get deals on hard drives from local retailers, CompUSA and Staples especially if you are willing to deal with the rebates.
I just built this system:
Athlon 2000+ Tbred Retail - $57 NewEgg
Antec A7V8X-X refurb - $35 NewEgg
Kinston VRAM 256MB PC2700 - $36 shop.kingston.com
WD ATA100 7200 160GB 2MB cache - $68 - CompUSA
Kingcase ATX 300W MidTower- $25 - ebuyer.com
Coolermaster 80mm Case Fan Blue Neon - $8 NewEgg
Apollo GeForce FX 5200 128MB AGP Refurb - $48 NewEgg
Optorite CDRW Black Retail - $33 NewEgg
So that is $310. This was for a person who isn't using the machine for gaming, but it is a pretty fast machine.

Mike
 
@ mbackof

I went to ebuyer to look at those kingcase's. They look pretty decent. How is the PSU? i have two friends who got the X-Dreamer II case from newegg a while back and both of those PSU died, one of them had a little sparkle show!

How does the GeForce FX 5200 compare to the Radeon 9200?

Thx for the input
~RaNDoM
 
Originally posted by: RaNDoMMAI

How does the GeForce FX 5200 compare to the Radeon 9200?

~RaNDoM
Click to expand...

I believe the general consensus of the above two video cards are that they are "teH sucK" for gaming so....
 
Originally posted by: RaNDoMMAI
@ mbackof

I went to ebuyer to look at those kingcase's. They look pretty decent. How is the PSU? i have two friends who got the X-Dreamer II case from newegg a while back and both of those PSU died, one of them had a little sparkle show!

How does the GeForce FX 5200 compare to the Radeon 9200?

Thx for the input
~RaNDoM
Click to expand...


9200 would probably be slightly faster, expecially if the 5200 was a 64bit
 
I probably spent $200 on my gf's new computer last year.

Athlon XP 2200+ and ECS MB = $60 (at Frys. MB has been rock solid)
512 2100 DDR = Free AR
CDRW drive - Free AR
80 Gig hard drive = 20 AR
etc

If you don't mind dealing with rebates you can get a computer for real cheap
 
Here's some recommendations

Check out this case since it is tooless, has a Sparkle 300W, and only costs $39 with free shipping. It looks nice: CPU duct, 4x 5.25" bays, 4x hard drive bays, front audio and USB, etc.

See if you can get a CD burner locally for less money. Maybe a hot deal to get one for $10 or so at OfficeMax (after coupon, rebates etc).

See if you can get a hard drive locally for less. Just a few weeks ago Best Buy had the 80GB Seagate 7200.7 for $50 after rebate. $50 for 80GB isn't a very hard price point to meet.
 
Originally posted by: RaNDoMMAI
@ Kenazo

Where is the specs for the Soltek mobo, i never heard of it before.

also, why do u recommend the barton 2500 over the XP-M 2400? because the barton has a FSB of 333? does that make much of a difference? the XP-M is $77 while the barton is still $80, but the XP-M will run cool and i dont have to worry about getting a mega cooler like a thermalright 900A

Does the dell refurb monitor come with shipping included and a warrenty at all?
~RaNDoM
Click to expand...

SL-75FRN2-L I've never seen it in purple before though. I've built a couple computers w/ this mobo, and have never failed to hit 400fsb using the AXP2500 retails.

As for the XP-M question: The reason i recommended the 2500 retail is that it comes with a heat sink that is quite sufficant for oc'ing to 400fsb (3200 speeds), this will probably save you $, since you don't need to buy one. And it has a 3yr warranty (not such a big deal)
 
@bolido2000

See, i live in tampa and we dont have a frys, i really would love to grab on one of those athlon XP with mobo for the price of the CPU. I think this week there was a 2400 with ESC mobo for like 70, that would be awesome!

@Ionizer86
That model sparkle is only 13A on the 12V, ppl have always told you need at least 15A in the 12V, i have a sparkle 300 model GRE and it is rock solid powering my barton OC 3200, it is 18A on the 12V line

@Kenazo
Where can i buy this mobo, it looks pretty good

thx for the input guyz, that case Ionizer86 said might be a great solution.

~RaNDoM
 
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