Need some help with a buget pc.

[jabramo]

Hi, first post here.
Anyways I have been asked to build two budget towers (500-650$). Now on newegg I have Attempted to build a pc but it has gone way over budget. I need some help I have never built a pc under 1500 dollars. The one in the picture is costing me around 710 bucks.

Mind you in this pc I don't need any strong video processing for games or anything. I really like the motherboard so if you decide to stay with amd please keep that motherboard. Everything else change it up all you like.



Thanks for all your help

[Tazer-[X]]

well, if you live in alberta, go to BCOM, in edmonton, go to a-computers. If you live in BC, go to NCIX, or in van, go to atic computers. 650 for a word/excel machine is easy

[JD]

Just so you know, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is for Intel (LGA775) so it won't work...

Here's my choices:
COMBO DEAL:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.1GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GPM-DS2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply
LG Black 22X DVD+R DVD Burner with LightScribe

Subtotal: $464.95 USD (I'm assuming your from the states since us Canadians tend to use NCIX)

That Gigabyte motherboard has on-board HD3200 graphics with 128MB of DDR3 so it doesn't use system RAM.

Antec Sonata III has the EarthWatts 500W PSU in it and is much better quality than Coolermaster's PSUs.

Western Digital 640GB drive is the fastest 7200RPM drive on the market right now and is cheaper than the 500GB drive you were looking at.

Overall a great budget system IMO, though you'd need a 64bit OS to fully use all 4GB of RAM. Otherwise you're limited to about 3.5GB. Of course, there's money to spare so you could get upgraded graphics (HD4650/70 would do nicely) or a Phenom quad-core though that 9600 apparently is the buggy version so I'd avoid it. You need to be careful with the Phenoms since a bunch of them have problems.

[JMCD]

Tigerdirect.ca has 4gb PC6400 for 40 bucks after rebate.

Also jdrom17 newegg.ca has recently opened for us Canadians.

[tzetsin]

KK, two things right off, you want to make a 500 -650 machine, thats easy enough, all you gotta remember is that a machine that cheep isnt going to perform as nice as one somewhat more expensive.

I can see two things there that will drop at least a hundred from the price...

#1, Case. coolermaster makes nice cases no doubt, but we're talking budget here, 125 for a budget case is way too much, go find a case thats like $50 with a psu, its going to be plain jane, and the psu will be suck ass, but if you want cheep... that'll save you 75 bucks right there.

If your running a 32 bit OS, you dont need anymore than 2 gigs of ram, sure it'll recognize 3.5, but we're budget here, and that'll save you another 75 bucks.

ditch the HDMI cable, if your using a tv and not a monitor, ok, but if your using a monitor and think that hdmi is better, its not.

ditch the aftermarket cooler, Unless your planning on overclocking (in which case i'd say go with an intel) you dont need an aftermarket cooler. At stock speeds, the aftermarket does an excellent job.

Jdrom, has the right idea with onboad graphics, they'll do an all right job playing the sims or something, but if you want to really game, 500 bucks isnt enough, unless your planning on buying the Gcard at a later date, which is still fine if you go with the board with onboard graphics, though if you get the case with the wimpy PSU, you will probly need to upgrade it to run a powerful graphic card.

[JD]

Originally Posted by JMCD

Tigerdirect.ca has 4gb PC6400 for 40 bucks after rebate.

Also jdrom17 newegg.ca has recently opened for us Canadians.

I'm well aware of it, though TBH I see no reason to shop at Newegg with NCIX. If by some chance Newegg is cheaper, you can just price match on NCIX and the shipping will most likely be cheaper, plus I pay less taxes from NCIX (only GST) than Newegg (GST+PST). Also Newegg ONLY ships by UPS (which is like the most hated shipping company) and their shipping seems to be a bit on the pricey side.

[Mr. Gruntsworthy]

Here's my idea of an intel budget build, similar to my old system:

Case: Antec NSK4480 380W Mid Tower ATX Blk/Slv
OS: Windows XP
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 @2.4Ghz, 800MHz FSB (65nm)
HSF: Stock intel cooler
Motherboard: ASRock 4COREDUAL-SATA2 LGA775 SATA2 MB
Power Supply: Included with case
Graphics Card: Asus AH3650 Silent HTDI 512MB AGP8x
Memory: 2GB Kingston Value RAM
Hard Drive: 500GB Western Digital SATAII
Optical Drive: LG GH22NS30 22x DVDRW SATA BLK

Not quite sure what it adds up to, but it should definitely be under budget. Use this as a nice base to build off of.

[Tazer-[X]]

honestly, thinking bout it, i dont think you can build a better machine on a budget than jsut outright ditching the 'archaic' towers. The most of peeps today that i work with carry laptops. Macs, Acers, you name it. And rignt now, on my acer, i have an nVidia 8600 that can run supcom and CnC 3. It came with 4 GB of DDR2, a 1.83 GHz core 2 duo, a wxga screen, 320 GB sata 2 drive, dolby digital sound, none of that creative spunk:P and this was for 699 or so. Cant beat that. And, the best part of it is, i dont even have Inet at home LoL. THe wireless set on this is soo strong, i can read BLOCKS away LooL

[Kayen]

CPU: Pentium Dual Core or Celeron Dual Core // AMD x2 5000+ BE
MOBO: P35 or P43 // That asus 780G board.
All i could think of.
If it doesn't need tha great of a graphics processor then the IGP in the 780G boards should be great though shouldn't it?

[JMCD]

Originally Posted by jdrom17

I'm well aware of it, though TBH I see no reason to shop at Newegg with NCIX. If by some chance Newegg is cheaper, you can just price match on NCIX and the shipping will most likely be cheaper, plus I pay less taxes from NCIX (only GST) than Newegg (GST+PST). Also Newegg ONLY ships by UPS (which is like the most hated shipping company) and their shipping seems to be a bit on the pricey side.

I couldn't agree more, same goes for tiger. Personally I ordered all my parts from DirectCanada with the exception of cpu/ram from ncix and my 1 video card from tigerdirect. No Gst is a big bonus and shipping specials are awesome.