$1000 Build For a Friend

[geokilla]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Moderate Gaming and Homework and Folding for me. He agreed =D

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$1000 including monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. So Around $700 for the computer only. There's also the assembly fee since he's too lazy to build it.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

Canada, NCIX

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

No

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

No

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Of course. =)

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Moderate overclocking done by me

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Hopefully sometime during this NCIX sale or the next NCIX sale.


NCIX.com - Buy Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 2.8GHZ 1066FSB 3MB Retail - BX80571E7400 In Canada. - $148.99 after PMing Newegg

NCIX.com - Buy Gigabyte EP43-DS3L ATX LGA775 P43 FSB 1600 OC 1PCI-E 2PCI DDR2 SATA2 HD Sound GBLAN Motherboard - GA-EP43-DS3L In Canada. - $99.99

NCIX.com - Buy Patriot Viper Extreme Performance 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12 Memory Kit - PVS24G6400LLK In Canada. - $49.99 AR

NCIX.com - Buy Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan - CMPSU-650TX In Canada. - $95.99 AR

NCIX.com - Buy XFX Radeon HD 4830 575MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card - HD483XYDFC In Canada. - $149.99 AR

OR

NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT Superclocked 55NM 650MHZ 512MB 1.9GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-N977-TR In Canada. - $143.88 AR

NCIX.com - Buy Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA2 3.5IN 8.5MS 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive OEM *3YR MFR Warranty* - ST3500418AS In Canada. - $68.98

NCIX.com - Buy LG GH22NS30 Black DVD+RW 22X8X16 DVD-RW 22X6X16 DL 16X/12X 2MB SATA OEM - GH22NS30 BLACK In Canada. - $27.99

Total comes to $642 + assembly fee with the XFX 4830. I still need to get him a good HSF, thinking of getting the OCZ Vendetta 2 from Canada Computers since it's only $30.99 AR, then I'd just install it for him.

[Trevor]

Always go ATI for budget rigs, in this case the 4830 is a great choice. You don't need that great of a power supply unless you're trying to future proof it, so you could save money with a 450W Corsair and use the money to get an E8400.

[geokilla]

I just realized I forgot to pick out a case for him. I'm thinking of getting him an Antec 300 or a Cooler Master Elite case, which is the same one I have. The final choice is up to him, but I'm just helping him out.

Would a 450W corsair really do it? From what I've seen and learned, having a PSU at around moderate load gives the best efficiency. The TX650 might be a tad expensive and un-needed for him, but the current NCIX sale doesn't seem to have anything good. Might have to wait till the next sale at this rate.

Can anyone else chip in as well? =)

[JD]

Seems like an awful lot of mail in rebates...Is he okay with that? Because that means he's probably spending closer to $1500 with taxes/shipping and then he has to assume that he'll actually get all these rebates back.

That RAM is cheaper at Newegg: Newegg.ca - Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Also could get a HD4850 for the same price AR: ASUS EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 Might not be the best cooling though I guess.

And well there's cheaper HD4830s too such as: HIS Hightech H483FN512P Radeon HD 4830 or ASUS EAH4830/HTDP/512MD3 Radeon HD 4830

And I'd go with this HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F1 Series HD642JJ 640GB (only 3 left though as of posting) since it's a faster drive.

[sswilson]

I know I sound like a broken record when it comes to budget builds... but seriously consider the Sonata III w/500W PSU.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by geokilla

I just realized I forgot to pick out a case for him. I'm thinking of getting him an Antec 300 or a Cooler Master Elite case, which is the same one I have. The final choice is up to him, but I'm just helping him out.

Would a 450W corsair really do it? From what I've seen and learned, having a PSU at around moderate load gives the best efficiency. The TX650 might be a tad expensive and un-needed for him, but the current NCIX sale doesn't seem to have anything good. Might have to wait till the next sale at this rate.

Can anyone else chip in as well? =)

450W would be perfectly fine, but, like I said before, it may limit expandability in the future.

[LCB001]

If he is going to be Folding the 9800GT will easily double the PPD of the 4830 and also out Fold the 4850...

[geokilla]

Originally Posted by sswilson

I know I sound like a broken record when it comes to budget builds... but seriously consider the Sonata III w/500W PSU.

You know, I never thought about that. Newegg has it for $124.99 too.

@jdrom. Thanks for the info. Will definitely look into those. Reason I chose the Seagate 7200.12 is because I think it's the newest and fastest drive available. Gotta double check on that. As for the ASUS 4850, I'm not a fan of those cooling because they don't cool the VRAM very well.

@LCB. I'm not sure if he's going to fold or not. Hopefully he will. But the thing is, the 4830 is better than the 9800GT in gaming, whilet he 9800GT is better in folding.

[LCB001]

Originally Posted by geokilla

You know, I never thought about that. Newegg has it for $124.99 too.

@jdrom. Thanks for the info. Will definitely look into those. Reason I chose the Seagate 7200.12 is because I think it's the newest and fastest drive available. Gotta double check on that. As for the ASUS 4850, I'm not a fan of those cooling because they don't cool the VRAM very well.

@LCB. I'm not sure if he's going to fold or not. Hopefully he will. But the thing is, the 4830 is better than the 9800GT in gaming, whilet he 9800GT is better in folding.

If you can convince him to get the Sonata III/500wPSU combo, put the savings into this; NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GTX+ SC 756MHZ 512MB 2.24GHZ 256BIT DDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-N884-AR In Canada. ..179.99 after $20 MIR.

It only has the single six pin PCIe power connector, so it won't OC as well as the GTX+'s with two but will easily out game and out Fold the other cards...

[geokilla]

Originally Posted by LCB001

If you can convince him to get the Sonata III/500wPSU combo, put the savings into this; NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GTX+ SC 756MHZ 512MB 2.24GHZ 256BIT DDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-N884-AR In Canada. ..179.99 after $20 MIR.

It only has the single six pin PCIe power connector, so it won't OC as well as the GTX+'s with two but will easily out game and out Fold the other cards...

Rebate ends today, and he won't be able to get the build ordered in time. He still has to tell his parents that he's gonna get a custom PC and not one already pre-configured from NCIX.