Need advice on a new rig

[sabka]

been looking to get a new rig to update my old Athlon 1200.
but after looking around and selecting the components (i.e. Asus A7N8X Deluxe and Athlon XP 3000+)
i end up spending more $$$ than just getting a pre-built HP Pavilion with the following specs:

processor AMD® Athlon? XP processor 3000+ (2.16GHz)

operating system Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

memory 512MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM Memory (expandable to 2GB)

hard drive 120GB Ultra DMA hard drive [gigabyte is defined as 1,000,000,000 bytes, accessible capacity may vary]

multimedia drive DVD+RW/CD-RW; 48x CD-ROM

display sold separately

communications high-speed V.92 ready data/fax modem; Integrated 10/100Base-T network interface; 7-in-1 digital media card reader; IEEE 1394; 1 USB 2.0 port; microphone/headphone/line-in

video NVIDIA® GeForce4? MX graphics with 64MB allocated to video memory

sound Integrated AC '97, 6-speaker configurable; speakers sold separately

Should I just opt for a pre-built (which I never bought before)?
I'm not big on OC, but I do need a secondary HD (which I already have at home) in there.

Ohh, the price for the pre-built is around $850 while just the RAM, CPU, Mobo, and HD alone will cost me that same amount if i purchase the components.

any other system config suggestions?

 

[Nothinman]

If it's got the hardware you want, why worry about buying a packaged system? For my workstation I don't use them because I never replace the whole thing, just a piece or two at a time, but usually if you buy a whole system it'll come tested and under warranty which is definately worth something in and of itself.

 

[jonmullen]

The thing you have to question is the parts that they use....for example what mother board...I doubt it is as nice as the A7N8X and what not...when you built it you know what goes in .

 

[drag]

I spec'd out:
BYTECC HR1-U2 7-IN-1 USB Card Reader

NEC DVD Recorder Drive Model DRW-NE-0ND1100A OEM
Specifications:
DVD+R 4X, DVD+RW 2.4X, CD-R 16X, CD-RW 10X, DVDROM 12X, and CDROM 40X

MAXTOR 120GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # L01P120 - Retail Box (8meg cache)

KINGSTON KVR333X64C25/512 512MB 32x64 PC2700 DDR RAM

ENCORE ENF656-EHW-INPR/ENF656-PCIE-IN 56K INTERNAL PCI FAX

A7N8X Deluxe Retail (on sale 🙂 )

AMD Athlon XP? 3000+ "Barton" 333 FSB (retail)

XFX Geforce4 MX440 64MB DDR

Pro Source Full Tower case Model 606LUNA Case.

This came out to a grand total of: $792.88@Newegg.com (not including shipping and operating syste)

If you decide to go with a same clocked 2700+ (2.17ghz) cpu, but is throroughbred, instead of barton chip you drop that price down to: $669

Of course the case I picked is cheap(thin sheet metal with some colored bits of plastic clipped on the front), so you could add another 60 bucks for a nice one.

But like was said before, you don't know these devices are all functionable until you get it put together and turned on. If something goes wrong you don't have anybody to turn to, and if a part is broke when you got it you have to pay for shipping to newegg to replace it sometimes (newegg is usually pretty good about this sort of thing). If you chip the cpu when put the heatsink on it, you eat the price of a another new cpu for a replacement.

 

[Tbirdkid]

its is up to you... i build only because i am not having an idiot come to my house to tell me what is wrong with my machine. i built it, i know what is wrong most times. that is me. if you want dependability and security and are scared buy a dog and a prebuilt. if not build it.