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need help building system

6

68falcon

Senior member
im upgrading/building a new computer. i have some parts allready to use from a past computer and need to upgrade some. I allready have a hard drive (ata 100), a modem, and a powersupply. I need a desktop case with a front bezel and front usb, a motherboard, ram, a proccesor, and a cd-rw. the computer will be used for surfing the internet, doing cad drawings, and typing papers and stuff. the kicker is i also need an upgrade version of xp pro, and office (i think theres like a home version with only word and excel) all this for under 700 dollars. please help
 
Originally posted by: 68falcon
im upgrading/building a new computer. i have some parts allready to use from a past computer and need to upgrade some. I allready have a hard drive (ata 100), a modem, and a powersupply. I need a desktop case with a front bezel and front usb, a motherboard, ram, a proccesor, and a cd-rw. the computer will be used for surfing the internet, doing cad drawings, and typing papers and stuff. the kicker is i also need an upgrade version of xp pro, and office (i think theres like a home version with only word and excel) all this for under 700 dollars. please help
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I think you need to try to price out a system yourself and then ask for some advice on that. Are you a student??? If you are a student you can get a nice discount on Microsoft Products.
 
That system in your sig looks fine. Why are you upgrading now? You might be better off waiting a while, 'till you have more dosh.

RoD
 
im a student in high school if that counts, and heres the parts im currently looking at
Case:Coolermaster
Motherboard:MSI
RAM:OCZ value series
im not sure how to get the student discount or if thats just for college, but i am taking some college courses so that might work. and i havent found a cd-rw yet
 
That system in your sig looks fine. Why are you upgrading now? You might be better off waiting a while, 'till you have more dosh.
Click to expand...
its not that computer, its my moms, shes been needing to upgrade for a while, and her monitor just went bad so that spurred her to do it.
 
Ah, OK. Are you going for the socket 478 p4 for any reason?... A socket939 Athlon64 or LGA775 Pentium4 would be easier to upgrade in the future.

You could get the A64 3000+ or P4 3GHz with a cheap MoBo, 1GB value RAM and a DVD/CDRW combo drive within that price.

Do you also need a video card? The 6600GT would be great if you want to game, or the 6200TC if you dont want to play the latest games.

Do you need XP Pro? You can probably get a copy of Win2000 off ebay for cheap. Also, if your Mum has MicroSoft Office, you can legally use it on your computer, if you live in the same house as her. MSOffice liscences let you have one copy on a few machines (not sure exactly how many), so long as they are all in the same house.

RoD
 
Since you're a student in high school, you probably won't be able to get a discount. And why do you need XP Pro? Home only costs like $90. I'd go with an Athlon 64 setup, and some Corsair Value RAM. That's excellent RAM if you're not overclocking it much.
 
im going to try to stay with pro, and intel. I was hoping to get a mobo with onboard video just for the price because all shes going to do is get on the internet and play solitaire, no gaming. no overclocking, this is just a basic build to get her up to speed. her current computer freezes a lot if too many windows are open or whatever. she has office 97 and her computer is the only one on the internet we do most of our school work on her computer so id lik to get office xp. should i spend the extra money and get hyperthreading or just dont worry about it.
 
Originally posted by: 68falcon
im going to try to stay with pro, and intel. I was hoping to get a mobo with onboard video just for the price because all shes going to do is get on the internet and play solitaire, no gaming. no overclocking, this is just a basic build to get her up to speed. her current computer freezes a lot if too many windows are open or whatever. she has office 97 and her computer is the only one on the internet we do most of our school work on her computer so id lik to get office xp. should i spend the extra money and get hyperthreading or just dont worry about it.
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I am going to ask the same question again as that other guy, why do you need XP Pro?? I don't think you really need it unless you plan on using the machine in a business environment.
 
BECUZ PRO F*CKING SOUNDS COOLER DUUUDE

Also, isn't Office 2k3 > Office XP?

Any reason why you're sticking with Intel? Company loyalty or something along those lines? You're pretty much guaranteed to get more for less by going the AMD route, and s939 will be good for upgrades for a few years. Not Intel-bashing or anything, but if you're on a tight budget I think AMD is the better buy.
 
i will go with home edition, but i dont know anything about amd speeds so ill need some help deciding which one to get and try the amd, thanks for the advice
 
anyone have any suggestions on a s939 mobo and processor, ive never messed with amd so i have no clue. i want it to run smooth and fast, it shouldnt be put under much stress, should i get onboard video, if yes whats a good one
 
I recommend an A64 3000+ Venice core cpu. In the AMD world, the rating (3000+) is what their chip is equivalent to in a P4. Well close, the + actually means it's better! Seriously. For a motherboard, the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra is a good value. IT doesn't have onboard video but you can get a nice, cheap, decent card for not much money. For a nVidia card, I'd say go with a Geforce 6200, $70 For ATI I don't know, but may be some options there too, someone else will have to fill that in.

Chaintech VNF4 Ultra
A64 3000+ Venice

EDIT: added links
 
DFI Lanparty nF4 Ultra-D
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i think thats a little above what i need, i dont need dual lan, or 2 pci x16 ports, and i would like to have on with onboard video beings that no games will be played on this computer, only surfing the web and cad drawings, right now she is on a 32 mb shared nvidea alladin tnt2 and it works just fine for what she does
 
Yes but your choices for a good reliable mobo with integrated video are somewhat limited. So get the cheapest video card you can. I had integrated video on my work machine and I threw in a cheap MX440, even 2D stuff looks better. And since you're doing CAD, you'll be glad.

This card shares system memory.
6200TC $52

This one doesn't. (better)
6200 $68

That isn't a big price to pay, especially since your budget is $700 You can build a nice *complete* system for that, easy.
 
falcon,

You stated that this would be used for CAD drawings... what are you running autocad?
In any case you will want a good amount of ram and discrete graphics (to reduce the CPU load) if possible.

If you read the articles on Intel's "on-board" graphic chips you find that they can consume 20%+ of the CPUs clock cycles... a cheap ATI 9550 Radeon ($50) will be worth it to you.

My recommendations:
AMD Venice 3000+ (Retail $150)
Chaintech VNF4 ($90)
Geil/OCZ/Patriot/"name brand" RAM 2x512MB ($120)
SATAII 80GB HD (WD/Samsung/Maxtor) $60
Antec Solution case/350W PSU $80 (shipped)
DVD/CDRW (Liton/Sony) $50
ATI X300 PCI-Express $70
XP Home (OEM) $90
Total: $710
 
falcon,

You stated that this would be used for CAD drawings... what are you running autocad?
In any case you will want a good amount of ram and discrete graphics (to reduce the CPU load) if possible.

If you read the articles on Intel's "on-board" graphic chips you find that they can consume 20%+ of the CPUs clock cycles... a cheap ATI 9550 Radeon ($50) will be worth it to you.

My recommendations:
AMD Venice 3000+ (Retail $150)
Chaintech VNF4 ($90)
Geil/OCZ/Patriot/"name brand" RAM 2x512MB ($120)
SATAII 80GB HD (WD/Samsung/Maxtor) $60
Antec Solution case/350W PSU $80 (shipped)
DVD/CDRW (Liton/Sony) $50
ATI X300 PCI-Express $70
XP Home (OEM) $90
Total: $710
Click to expand...

First of all, thanks everybody for all the help
going mostly off of kleinwl's advice heres what i have so far
Chaintech VNF4/Ultra (85)
AMD Venice 3000+ (146.00)
Memory (several options and need help deciding):
1. 1GB mushkin (79.95)
2. 512 OCZ (42.50)
3. 2 x 512 Patriot signature series (82.99)
case (has to be a desktop, is the psu enough) coolermaster desktop w/300 psu (119.20 shipped)
Drive Sony DVD-RW/CD-RW (45.99)
ATI x300 pci-express (70)
Microsoft xp home (88.95)

I still need office its 199.95 so that comes to 635.09 with out shipping except the case, and with office its 835.04 i need to trim off a little fat, i dont need the dvd-rw so how cheap can i get a reliable cd-rw and then maybe just 512 would work
 
512mb would be just fine, you can always add another stick later. Sure ram is cheap, but it will save you $40.
PQI 512
Has a $10 rebate good until the end of the month, $40 shipped after rebate.

If you really don't need the DVD burner right now, then fine, but consider this.

CDRW - $25
Combo drive(cdrw, dvd-rom) - ~$34
DVDRW - $42 - NEC 3520
all prices are shipped

I'd at least get a combo drive so you can read DVDs, but it's only a few bucks more to get a DVD burner. I just looked again and you said this build is for your mom, so a CDRW may be just fine, you'll have to decide. Can you take the burner and swap out what you have now into her system?

Here's another site with cases. The case is a good place to shave some cost. You can really get a cheap but decent Raidmax minitower, but since you want a desktop... Post what case you're looking at. A 300W supply will probably be fine for what you say the usage will be but it has to be of decent quality.

 
512mb would be just fine, you can always add another stick later. Sure ram is cheap, but it will save you $40.
PQI 512
Has a $10 rebate good until the end of the month, $40 shipped after rebate.

If you really don't need the DVD burner right now, then fine, but consider this.

CDRW - $25
Combo drive(cdrw, dvd-rom) - ~$34
DVDRW - $42 - NEC 3520
all prices are shipped

I'd at least get a combo drive so you can read DVDs, but it's only a few bucks more to get a DVD burner. I just looked again and you said this build is for your mom, so a CDRW may be just fine, you'll have to decide. Can you take the burner and swap out what you have now into her system?

Here's another site with cases. The case is a good place to shave some cost. You can really get a cheap but decent Raidmax minitower, but since you want a desktop... Post what case you're looking at. A 300W supply will probably be fine for what you say the usage will be but it has to be of decent quality.
Click to expand...

case
its hard to decide between building one or buying a dell, with the dell i get,
p4 2.8GHZ
xp pro
512mb dual channel ram
keyboard and mouse
17 inch crt (makes me want the dell right here)
Integrated extreme graphics 2(doesnt make me want the dell because of sharing)
40 gb hd
3.5 floppy
10/100 intergrated ethernet
56k modem
adobe acrobat reader 6.0
48x cd-rw
intergrated audio
office (outlook, word, and excel)
and the warranty and stuff
for 751 after mail in rebate and free shipping

 
How bout you just take my semi-working 3-year-old p4 2.0ghz 512mb DDR333 vaio off my hands for only 400$? Ill throw in a ti4600 for free😉.
(This post can be counted as either a joke or serious offer:laugh: )
 
You're going to be hard pressed with Office to get a decent computer under $700. Have you tried openoffice yet?

I just checked at academicsuperstore.com and you are eligible for the student package of Office 2003 for $130 if you need to. I'm sure there are other places that are cheaper, but at least that just saved you $70.
 
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