New Rig... Could use some input!

[Revolution09]

I'm helping a friend build a new computer, and I'd just like some input on what I've put together for him so far. His budget is around $700 CAN, and all he needs is basically what goes in the tower

Motherboard: ASUS M2V, $86
CPU: AMD X2 4200+, $117
Video Card: eVGA GeForce 8600GT, $139
Memory: Kingston DDR2, 2gb, $74
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 250gb, $96
DVD-RW: Samsung S183L, $41.50
Power Supply: Enermax Liberty 400w, $86
Case: CoolerMaster 534, $79

Total: $718.50

and a couple of questions:
- Should I stick with a low-end DX10 card like the 8600GT? or go with something like an X1950 Pro?
- Is Vista required for DX10?

 

[Sinn707]

Hello, here's the build I came up with, it will be noticeably faster for not much more $.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 $136.99
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 $134
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro $25.99
Thermal paste: Arctic Silver 5 $7.83
Video Card: XFX 8800 GTS 320MB $325
Memory: Kingston 2GB, $74
Hard Drive: Seagate 320GB $78.99
DVD-RW:SAMSUNG DVDRW , $41.50
Case & PSU Radiant P4 ATX Mid Tower Case with 500w $35.99

Total : $860

E4300 with that cooler can be easily overclocked to 3.0ghz, it also has 4 times as much cache and will work noticeably faster than AMD X2. 8800 GTS works twice as fast as 8600GT or X1950Pro.

In my opinion your friend should save just a little more and get the system above, he won't be sorry.

P.s - Infonec doesn't always have the best prices, always use ShopBot.ca, it's a great tool we Canadians have.


Good luck.

 

[Revolution09]

Thanks for the suggestions. A few things I should have added to my original post: I'd rather buy it in a store, rather than online, thus using Infonec. Canada Computers and PC Village are fine, too. Also, I don't want to do any overclocking. If it helps as well, the computer will be used for gaming and 3D animation mostly (along with web browsing, music, etc. of course)

 

[Sinn707]

All of the stuff I listed can be bought in store. ETC has a store on Eglinton & Dufferin. Is there any particular reason why you don't want to use overclocking? It's fairly easy and 100% safe when you know what you are doing.

EDIT: Shopbot searches within local stores such as tiger direct, pcv, canada computers, infonec, icct and many others as well. just fyi.

 

[Sinn707]

Without overclocking and with AMD you can go with ASUS M2A-VM $73, X2 4800 (2.5ghz) $145, no cooler and the rest of the stuff I recommended (including the 8800 GTS). Total would be $773. Maybe that sounds a little better to you.

 

[Revolution09]

bump, I'll keep those options in mind.. any other suggestions though?

 

[Sinn707]

That's about as good as it gets for that money.

 

[Noobtastic]

If you want to go the AMD (cheaper) way...:


DVD burner: LG 18X DVD±R Lightscribe DVD Burner Black

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16827136118


Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16811119068

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16822148262

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-MA69G-S3H Socket AM2 AMD 690G ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16813128052

GPU: 7900GS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16814130056

PSU: FSB 400 watt

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16817104953

RAM: Patriot 2 gigs DDR2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16820220091

CPU: AMD 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16819103759

Grand Total: $709.35 SHIPPED

Shipping is less because all the hardware is from one retailer, opposed to buying individual parts from various online stores. (someone posted parts from 3 different stores.)


While obviously you can get better hardware for a couple hundred dollars more, this build is still a monster. I chose parts not only on performance, but reliability. The listed hardware is VERY low maintenance, so newbie computer geeks wishing to own a screaming system without the hassle of bios erros or lemon gpu's, won't have to worry.

At stock speed, this machine will definitely beat out the vast majority of budget builds.


I guarantee you won't be RMAing a single part, rearranging hardware in the case, modifying memory devices to fit mobo, or messing with the bios.


I'd rather sacrific a pinch of performance for a tablespoon of reliability and ease of use.



I'm pretty much an idiot when it comes to super parts, and I don't know a lick about intel, so take my advice like a grain of salt.


Hopefully fellow posters can back me up. If not, eat my @ss.

 

[Sinn707]

Originally posted by: Noobtastic
If you want to go the AMD (cheaper) way...:


DVD burner: LG 18X DVD±R Lightscribe DVD Burner Black

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16827136118


Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16811119068

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16822148262

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-MA69G-S3H Socket AM2 AMD 690G ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16813128052

GPU: 7900GS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16814130056

PSU: FSB 400 watt

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16817104953

RAM: Patriot 2 gigs DDR2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16820220091

CPU: AMD 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16819103759

Grand Total: $709.35 SHIPPED

Shipping is less because all the hardware is from one retailer, opposed to buying individual parts from various online stores. (someone posted parts from 3 different stores.)


While obviously you can get better hardware for a couple hundred dollars more, this build is still a monster. I chose parts not only on performance, but reliability. The listed hardware is VERY low maintenance, so newbie computer geeks wishing to own a screaming system without the hassle of bios erros or lemon gpu's, won't have to worry.

At stock speed, this machine will definitely beat out the vast majority of budget builds.


I guarantee you won't be RMAing a single part, rearranging hardware in the case, modifying memory devices to fit mobo, or messing with the bios.


I'd rather sacrific a pinch of performance for a tablespoon of reliability and ease of use.



I'm pretty much an idiot when it comes to super parts, and I don't know a lick about intel, so take my advice like a grain of salt.


Hopefully fellow posters can back me up. If not, eat my @ss.

LoL I wish Newegg serviced Canada