Challenge

[CactusJoe]

Hey guys! Its me again!

So, after I made my very own first build, I was asked by a friend to make him a build for about 300$ (tanks for all the help btw). So, that friend was really impressed and he talked about his brand new computer to his friends! And now, his friends (3x) are asking me for a nice - very cheap - build.

Budget Build
400$
Purpose : web browsing, standard working applications (word, excell, msn and surch) and extremelly light gaming. Starcraft/diablo2 at most.
What I already have : All the wirring and 3x OS

Heres the catch. The computers must come with a LCD flat screen, 200gb hard drive AND 4gb ram.

129.99$ - MONITOR : Canadian Prices: Acer - Acer X183HB 18.5 Widescreen LCD Monitor - 5ms, 1000:1, Black - ET.XX3WP.001
The acer 19' could be good too for about the same price. The 18.5 is not standard and it bugs me. I didnt find cheaper.

37.80$ - CASE AND PSU : Startech ATX6350BK Value Series Silver Black ATX Mid Tower Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT 350W - DirectCanada
Cheap case, cheap psu but that is what they asked me for so..

MOBO - Integrated, but I really do not have a clue of which one I should choose. It must have an "ok" integrated video (if its not standard) and 2-4 sata ports.

79.50 - CPU - https://www.pcczone.com/amd-athlontm...5200dobox.html
dual core 2.7ghz is good, but i guess i could drop it to ~5000+ to save an extra few bucks. I need the computer to run smoothly tho..

50-52$ - RAM - Random 800 valueram or G.skill depending on rebates so far I didnt find anything cheaper than 50$.

25$ - DVD

60$ - HDD 500gb

SUBTOTAL : 394.29$
SHIPPING : Around 15$
TAXES : Around 25$

That dosnt leave me much budget for the motherboard

So my questions are
1- Do you guys know a site like NCIX for older but new computer parts?
2- What mobo should I use and why?
3- What should I downgrade, will the computer still work as smoothly?
4- Comments (else than "that computer will suck!! ), suggestions?

thanks again guys, have a nice day!

[JD]

Scrap the monitor or tell them to increase their budgets. If you want a decent $400 computer, a monitor can't really be part of it. Especially with the way the Canadian dollar has gone. If the need a monitor, get them a CRT

Maybe one of these motherboards:
NCIX.com - Buy ASUS M3A78-EM AMD 780G mATX AM2+ PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI SATA HDMI Video Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard - M3A78-EM In Canada.
NCIX.com - Buy ASUS M3N78-VM SLI mATX AM2+ GeForce 8200 1PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI HDMI Video Sound GBLAN Motherboard - M3N78-VM In Canada.
HD3200 vs Geforce 8200. No idea which one is better.

And I definitely would advise against that case + PSU. I'd never let such a crappy PSU touch anything.

[jay51]

there some cheap barebones kits around Asus M2N-MX SE Plus Socket AM2 Barebone Kit - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.20GHz OEM, 2GB Corsair DDR2 PC6400, 250GB SATA HDD, ATX Mid-Tower Case, 450 Watt Power Supply in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

XFX GeForce 8200 Socket AM2AM2+ Barebone Kit - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5800+ 3.0GHz OEM, 2GB DDR2 PC6400 Corsair, ATX Mid-Tower Case, 600 Watt Power Supply in Canada at TigerDirect.ca
just add a hdd burner and hsf,and you have complete pc ,maybe add cheap gpu .
and either one will do tasks you listed

Edit: would need 2x2gb ram tho,mobo only has 2 slots

[D4ng3r]

why on earth do they need 4 gigs of ram in a value system?

[jay51]

Cactusjoe: D4ng3r is right ,
i built many value systems in last while and i never needed more than 2x1gb@5300(even 1gb will work for xp) those kits include 2x1gb@6400
my htpc in sig runs 6400,never have problems ..
running 1 gb only for past 2 weeks..

Edit: Asus M2N-MX SE Plus Socket AM2 Barebone Kit - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.20GHz OEM, 2GB Corsair DDR2 PC6400, 250GB SATA HDD, ATX Mid-Tower Case, 450 Watt Power Supply in Canada at TigerDirect.ca
lcd
Acer X183HB 18.5" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 5ms, 1000:1, VGA, 1366x768, Black ET.XX3WP.001 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

429.24 shipped pc&lcd just add burner

[JD]

Monitor: Newegg.ca - Hanns·G JC-199DPB Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 700:1 Built in Speakers - LCD Monitors
CPU/Motherboard: Newegg.ca - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
RAM: Newegg.ca - Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
HDD: Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar SE WD800AAJS 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
DVDRW: Newegg.ca - SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache PATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners
Case: Newegg.ca - Linkworld PRESCOTT 437-01-C2222 Black SECC/SGCC MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case 430W Power Supply - Computer Cases

Total: $427.61. Of course that's using Newegg entirely, might be able to do better else where but at least it's a base idea.

IMHO, a 5:4 19" LCD is much better than a 18.5"/19" widescreen LCD. Those have pretty minimal screen space.

Though personally I'd never, ever, use such a shyt case and power supply. Just don't be surprised if your friends come running back asking why their computer doesn't turn on anymore. I could live with the other components but I just hate working in cheap cases and using cheap power supplies.

And tell your friends, a LCD, 200GB HDD, and 4GB of RAM is NOT reasonable for $400. The usage you describe does not need 4GB of RAM nor does it need a ton of hard drive space.

[Dashock]

This setup is screaming for something to go wrong be carefull with cheap psu's sure they'' run fine for 2-4 months and one day POOF if your lucky yu will notice it before it does any damage if your not and you were my brother his motherboard and videocard got fried.

2gbs of memory is more then decent. I definetely agree with Jdrom17 if your going to get an Lcd in the lower price range i would definetely get a 19 5:4 Over the wide-screen. I still have my Trusty Viewsonic VX922 Lcd 19" it was brilliant it looked sexy costed a pretty penny tooo but it was extremely good at playing games just im more of a media person.



I would tell them to dish out atleast another 200 buy a decent case with a decent power supply you can get one of the lower model OCZ, Crosairs, Sesonics etc.
Like this Crosair one "http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33357&vpn=CMPSU-400CX&manufacture=CORSAIR" its for under 55 bucks which i think is a decent price and since i dont see a video card being mentioned it would be more then plenty for that system.

And if they do decide to put a video card like an 8800GT which now can if your lucky be bought for a 100 dollars it would suffice thats if they game but even if they do not at that price i would not complain. The 8800gt/9800gt has become my budget gamer build card for all of my customer builds its a brilliant card for the price.

[CactusJoe]

Thanks for the tips guys :)

I know 4gb of ram is overkill and i know that a cheap psu is bad but that is what they asked me. I woulnt go for it otherwise.

Thanks again ^^ I'll check this out :)

[cadaveca]

Did you consider the intel ATOM packages? case/mobo/psu/dualcore cpu for $150...vgas suck a fair bit, but it doesn't look like gaming is a big consideration here...

[CactusJoe]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Did you consider the intel ATOM packages? case/mobo/psu/dualcore cpu for $150...vgas suck a fair bit, but it doesn't look like gaming is a big consideration here...

I tought Atom was only for laptops?

Where should I look for good desktop atoms?