New System Build

[piasabird]

I plan on building a new system maybe sometime before Christmas. I want the system mainly for E-mail, and Web Access. However, I do some light gaming for older video games like Age of Empires, Dune 2000, etc. I may do some newer games. I dont want the fanciest video and I am satisfied with low end video quality.
Have you guys tried to run 16 bit games in Vista?
Do you think I should stick to XP?

Platform:
Intel Processors only. No AMD at all will be considered.

Overclocking: Never Ever Overclock.

Price: Trying for around $500.00 or a little over.

Oper System:
I can get access to a free copy of XP or Vista Business Ultimate. I actually have an order in for a copy of Vista Business Ultimate. We have a MS License at work that permits one computer at home with the Group License. We just have to purchase the Media for around $9.00.

Software:
I have a Group License for MS Office Suite 2007, and I already have my copy on DVD.

Case:
Old Win XP Case Antec with 12cm Exhaust fan Something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129018
Hard Drive bay in the bottom. Old 380 Watt power Supply - Will Upgrade.

Power Supply:
Antec Power Supply Maybe Earth Series 400 or 500 watt or other good quality brand.

Motherboard:
Usually buy Asus.
Considering Asus P5KPL-VM Not sold on this.
Mainly looking at P35/33 chipset. Want options.
1066 fsb maybe up to 1333fsb as an option.
I probably will not get a 1333 FSB Processor, but maybe 1066FSB If I can afford it and it has the larger L2 Cache. I never buy the newest processor. Dont want Quad
Solid capaciters a plus. Considering Full ATX motherboard if not with Integrated Video and a good price.
No SLI needed.
No Raid Wanted or Needed.
Desire a 1 or 2 Hard Drive System. Might add old Hard Drive for extra Capacity or Backup/storage.

Processor:
Core 2 Duo - May go low end.
Preferrable larger L2 Cache like 2MB Core 2 Duo.

Memory:
2 peice 2 gig kit - Usually buy Crucial standard RAM.
Maybe other quality brands.

Video Card:
May consider Low-Mid Range Video Card or Integrated Video like Intel GMA X3100. So If integrated I want a PCI Express Slot to keep my options open

Optical Drive:
Prefer one drive; DVD +-R/CDROM+-R Not stuck on any brand. Peviously used Asus and Lite-on and LG. I like Asus because they seem to run Quiet. No loud noisy drives.
May consider DVD RAM/CD+-RW DRIVE. Or I may use a drive I have that can read DVD and write to CD. I dont have a real nead to write to DVD because I have a 2 gig Flash Drive.

Hard Drive:
Seagate Drive at least 80GB up to about 320 GB if price good.

Floppy:
None
Have USB Flash Drives.

Speakers:
None
Used Stereo Speakers.

Monitor:
None
Used Samsung/Mag 19" Monitor. My monitor is fine and fairly new.

 

[NXIL]

Hi Pia,

I would recommend XP, unless you want to learn/play with Vista: just seems like XP works really well, whereas Vista is still a work in progress. My 2 cents....

Case: you have a nice one.

Mobo: one of these, about

~$120

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...%2c717%3a29251&bop=And

CPU: all dual core, 4MB shared cache:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...5029%2CN82E16819115030

~$200

Note that the faster clocked 2.66 Ghz 6750 is less expensive that the 2.4Ghz 6600--I assume that is becuase of overclockability of the 6600....

The 2MB cache CPUs are of course less expensive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...5014%2CN82E16819115031

Note that by the time you jump up to the 1066 FSB CPUs, you are at about the same price as the 4MB cache versions....

~150?

I would go for the 4MB version myself, since you are scoring on the OS....

320 so far.

HDD:

Seagate 250, one disk, thin, runs cool and quiet:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822148262

$380.

Memory:

2 x 1GB, all run at 1.8V like the Crucial--I have a set of the Crucial that is now out of stock at Newegg--works great.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...2c2599%3a16288&bop=And

Other highly rated: note that they are not all DDR2 800, some are 533,667--but, cheap and stable is good:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...8144%2CN82E16820144071

~$100

~480....

PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...1006%2CN82E16817151033

~ 60?

$540.

Other PSUs that look decent:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...2076%2CN82E16817153060

DVD: I have the Asus Retail, works great: quiet, no coasters, I do use the lightscribe....slow, but I just let it run in the background.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...6070%2CN82E16827136120

~$35

Video: fanless, at least one DVI port, less than a hundred smackers:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...2c2953%3a18921&bop=And

~ $60....and, just like you prefer Intel CPU, I do prefer nVidia GPUs: better drivers?

OK, blew through the budget a little bit, but, call it about:

$630 or so?

You can save on the CPU since your needs are pretty light--but, it's hard to go back to a slow CPU even for routine tasks once you've tried a faster one....

Hard drive is hard to top for value.....same with DVD-RW....you can save some in the memory department, too, as the memory won't be a big bottleneck....DDR2 800 to 533 won't mean your PC is 40% slower....

Vid card: you don't need much, or, get one of the mobos with onboard graphics for now, and a PCIe16 slot to upgrade later--an 8800GTX will be about $4 in a year or so.

OK, that's not true, but, prices will drop on those, as you know....

HTH

NXIL

 

[tcsenter]

Well you can see that enthusiasts have an entirely different notion of "value" segment than pretty much anyone one else on earth. ;-)

Web surfing, email, general computing, office apps, and older games run very adeptly on my old non-overclocked Athlon XP 2500+ Barton system with 1024MB RAM and Radeon 9600 AGP 128MB, so I think you can't do any worse with current generation hardware such as:

ABIT IP35-E ATX Intel P35+ICH9 (support up to 1333MHz FSB) - $70.00 AMIR @ MWave.com (rebate link)

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2GHz 2M L2 800MHz FSB - $144.00 shipped @ Newegg.com

COOLMAX CP-500T ATX/EPS12V 500W PSU with Active PFC - $40.00 shipped AMIR @ Newegg.com (rebate link)

A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 Dual Channel Kit - $70.00 shipped @ Newegg.com

HITACHI T7K500 320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA 3.0Gb/s - $73.00 shipped @ Newegg.com

ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 - $55.00 shipped @ Newegg.com (combo deal includes FREE copy of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2)