Need help building a PC for neighbor

[UglyCasanova]

My neighbor asked me to build him a new computer. The guy doesn't have alot of money so I want to make it as cheap as possible. He was hoping I could do it for around 500-600. He also said that he wanted at least 1 GHz and 256 MB RAM. He wants it to be good, but it can't be expensive. Here are the parts I picked so far:

1.0 GHz Athlon Thunderbird
256 Mb Crucial PC2100 DDR
20 GB 7200rpm Maxtor HD
Epox 8k7a mobo
Santa CRuz
Teac 16x10x40 CD/RW (is this a good one?)
Radeon 64 Mb

He will also need a case and he wants a 17" monitor. The guy is using a 486 right now. His HD is in MB's, and he said he didn't even fill that up. I might drop the radeon, but for what? Should I also give him a 5400 rpm HD? Also, which 17" monitors and cases would you recommend. I am trying to get this down to at least 6-700 including shipping, but I also want it to be good because he's a really nice guy.
Any help appreciated.🙂

 

[Survey23]

Couple suggestions....

1) Go with the ECS sis 735 mobo... a lot cheaper and a better performing chipset then the epox...Not a big ocer board though if that matters...The shuttle kt266a board is also cheap and better performer then the epox...

2) I would probably go with the newer audigy technology..but that is my opinion...

3) I would go with the liteon 16x cdrw...great price and a good performer...save money

4) I would get a geforce 2 pro or better before I got a radeon 64mb....


Shop at places like newegg or mwave or tcwo.com....great prices and shipping is good...

 

[UglyCasanova]

What chipset do those mobos use? I have the epox in mine and like it. Is the Audigy improved over past Creative products? I have a SC in mine and it works fine, but if the Audigy is better then ok. How much do GF2 Pro's run, and are they even moderately fast? I have a GF3 in mine, but I know he doesn't want that.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

<< What chipset do those mobos use? I have the epox in mine and like it. Is the Audigy improved over past Creative products? I have a SC in mine and it works fine, but if the Audigy is better then ok. How much do GF2 Pro's run, and are they even moderately fast? I have a GF3 in mine, but I know he doesn't want that. >>


He actually told you the chipsets not the model #s. The ECS is the K7S5A and has the SiS 735 chipset which as he said performs better than the AMD 760 chipset on your board and costs less. The Shuttle is the AK31A which uses the VIA KT133A chipset which is the best performer currently available for AMD CPUs and it costs less than the AMD 760 solution as well.
The Audigy is better than past creative products, but not a ton better. GF2 Pro's are very fast (just below the GF2 Ultra which is right below the GF3) and they run $100-140, which isn't too bad.

 

[Survey23]

The shuttle is actually the kt266a model....


The audigy is newer and pretty much a toss-up on price...

The GF2 pros are by far the best bang for the buck in video cards IMO....The radeon 64mb for more can not really compare to the GF2 pro or ti models...I know cause I have had them both...

 

[jacklutz]

What kind of speakers/headphones is he going to use? I really doubt he'll notice the difference between a SB Live! and a Santa Cruz or Audigy.

 

[jacklutz]

Oh, and I've heard the EN-72370X3C4 ($47 at NewEgg, 300W) is a good budget case.

 

[Dundain]

Well if ya want to save money on this but still have good quality heres what I'd look at changing:
EpoX 8K7A -> ECS K7SA (I think thats the model number, basicly the board everyone else is saying, its fast and cheap)
TEAC 16x CDRW -> Lite-On 16/10/40x or AOpen 16/10/40
Radeon 64Mb -> Radeon VE (You'll save a good bit of cash there, but yes you'll lose speed but quality will still be as good. If the guy barely uses a 486 up and wants cheap then he doesnt NEED a GeForce Pro. Especially since the Radeon will have better 2D quality and DVD playerback)

For a case I'd say go with an Enlight 7237. They can be had for less than $50 and are really good quality for the cases and have a good powersupply (make sure ya get the 300 watt one). My only complaint with em is that at times they are a tiny bit cramped. For the moniter I'd say Hitachi CM615 (which ya can find for like $155-170 not counting shipping) or Viewsonic E70. Also, you'll need a good heatsink unless you plan on going the retail box route. Since the guy probably doesnt like alot of noise get a Taisol CGK760. Their a little hard to find, but at the same time you'll be hard pressed to find something that cools better with a dinky little fan 🙂 Just upgrade it from the 60x10mm fan it has to maybe a 60mm Y.S.Tech or other quiet but ok CPM fan. (Panaflow maybe?)

 

[ThatDumbGuy]

If someone handed me some money and told me to build it now, here is what I would go with. We need to know whether he needs keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc...

256mb pc2100 crucial from crucial.com using anandtech discount in hot deals... 32.75

the following newegg order, part by part, shipping he will have to find himself, was 44 bucks for me:

ENLIGHT EN-72370X3C4 MEDIUM ATX TOWER CASE with 1 Internal CaseFan - OEM Recommended by AMD and INTEL Pentium 4 Ready with 300Watts Power Supply, 4 5.25" Bays, 2 3.5" Bays & 1 Hidden 3.5" Bay (Click here for Cooling Devices) N82E16811116119 $47.00 $47.00

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 $57.00 $57.00

OEM ATI RADEON 7200 64MB 4X/2X AGP - OEM The RADEON 7200 is a 64MB SDR (Single data rate) graphics board, and offers such features as hardware transformation, clipping and lighting (T&L) geometry, CHARISMA ENGINE, and an on-chip harware DVD decorder. The RADEON 7200 is based on the RADEON 7200 chip. N82E16814102191 $59.00 $59.00

AMD Althon XP 1600+/266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL 1600+/ 1.40GHz, AX1600BOX. 3-Year 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. N82E16819103304 $139.00 $139.00

MITSUMI D359M3 FDD 1.44MB 3.5INCH - OEM N82E16821103104 $9.00 $9.00

WESTERN DIGITAL WD200BB CAVIAR 20GB - OEM 3.5 inch EIDE Hard Drive WD200BB 7200rpm Ultra ATA 100 - OEM VERSION - Drive Only - Three Year Manufacturer Warranty - (Click Here for IDE cable) N82E16822137116 $77.00 $77.00

Zoom 56k V.92 PCI Modem Voice, Data, Fax, Voice Mail, Plug and Play, Internal Model# 1120M N82E16825115106 $22.00 $22.00

LITE-ON LTR-12101B 12x10x32 CD-RW - OEM 12x record, 10x rewrite, 32x read, includes CD Creation
Software - Click Here for Blank Media N82E16827106149 $67.00 $67.00

AOPEN CD-956 56x CDROM - RETAIL Internal EIDE, with User Manual and Audio Cable N82E16827132001 $28.00 $28.00


Subtotal » $505.00
shipping about 45...
memory 32...

so about 585, find a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and the OS.
seems kinda high for your pricerange, but see notes below.

Notes...

the motherboard has integrated sound and network interface card

using his old floppy would knock off about 10 bucks

dropping the cdrom and just using the one drive (which would suck for copying cd's, but would be okay for everything else) would save 30-35

Dropping down to a 5400 rpm maxtor 20gb from newegg would save about 15

dropping the processor would save some money depending on what. the 1.2 ghz tbird is 115 as opposed to 139.

video cards are one of my worst areas, changing the video card would save some money, if you wanted to go that route. Im just going with the underdog in this ati/nvidia thing, so the video card is pure personal preference. Sorry for the bias.


Hope this helps you out, newegg is a great site, as is mwave, and a couple others. Note I did not try to find the lowest prices, I just went straight through newegg. KISS is my motto with these kind of things, at least when I know newegg is just about the lowest most of the time, especially if you count saving on shipping because of the amount of items you order in one place, as opposed to spreading it out.

 

[BigFatCow]

id recommend going around to local shops for the case and monitor, to save on shipping costs.