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Please critique <=700 total, budget/value system.

G

GremlinHater

Senior member
Linky

I'd like to as stated above, stay 700 or below with shipping and handling. Someone said to go with a cheaper mobo and get a budget geforce 4 but I'm not sure on that as this computer is for my budget conscious sister. She want's performance were she doesn't have to wait on her, but the last time i checked i don't think she was planning on buying Doom III. So maybe some of you can help me figure out which is the best option, if this were a budget computer i could build with cheaper (in price and quality) components but as the title says, VALUE is also a consideration, so I hope you understand my dilemma.

If any of you have suggestions for alternative configurations, please let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it. I think this is configured to have everything but the software, so keep that in mind, don't worry about software. Thanks in advance.
 
Not too bad, I wouldn't go with an nforce, butthat's just a personal prefferance. Defintely ditch the duron though, and get a t-bird at least...
 
Ok, if not nforce, then what then? that meets the requirements of a "Budget/Value" system? I'll have to figure out the costs for a higher performance processor.
 
Nothing wrong with the nForce chipset, but you should get a full ATX motherboard, not a micro ATX. I would recommend the Abit NV7-133R (which uses the nForce 415-D chipset (no IGP though) and also has the excellent nForce audio, which the A7N266-VM doesn't) and costs the same and also has USB 2.0, although with those speakers, unless your sister needs the USB 2.0 or RAID that the N7V-133R offer, you could probably do just as well the cheaper Shuttle AK31A based on the KT266A chipset for about $60. I'd go with the OEM XP 1600+ for $68 from newegg over the Duron. Get a SVC GC68 HS/F from SVCompucycle for about $5, and pick up some ASIII while you're at it. You didn't list any graphics cards. The nForce IGP is only suitable if she isn't going to play any video games (especially on the nForce 220). Even if you got an nForce 420 chipset and two sticks of RAM, the IGP performance would still only be that of a gF2MX400. If your sister does some very light gaming, then you could get her a Radeon 7500LE for about $60 or if she does some more moderate gaming then you could get her the 8500LE which should plenty for anything out there today for about $90. Also, for about $30 more ($175) you could get your sister the NEC FE700+ which is a VERY nice flat screen aparture grill monitor and has an excellent screen (compares with Sony Trinitron monitors).
 
I personally think the nforce is a good choice for a budget system. If the onboard graphics is good enough for you I'd say go for it. I'd look at an XP1600 if the budget allows, +$30 I know but more power, twice the cache and 266 bus. You could drop the floppy and save $10 there unless you really need it. Do you already have a HD, didn't see one listed?

I think your on the right track for a nice system.

rb56
 
didnt anand do an article recently about budget systems?

ahh... here we go...


edit: total cost on that system is about $750, you can probly modify it to what you need
 
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