$700 budget

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wubbie412

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Messages
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my little brother gave me a$700 to build a comp for him. its a very small budget compare to my other one.

i need help and suggestion to build a comp under $700.

any suggestion (i dont need to buy a monitor so dont worry about that)
 
x2 3600 brisbane and biostart tforce 550 conbo - $168
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103036

1 gig g.skill ddr2 800 - $109
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231102

7950gt $200 (after $15 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130074

wd 250gb sata2 16mb cache $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701

lite-on sata dvd burner $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106046


coolermaster centurion $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119088


antec truepower trio $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103942


$707 after rebates.

with this you will be able to play just about any game out there, overclock some, have a little storage space. psu is a little light, but should be plenty for this machine.
 
well you have not told us which router you wanted to go amd intel shuttle big tower etc etc!
i personally would get a 939 since the parts are dirt cheap.. new intel cpus are gonna be 350$ alone but a 939 chip will be under 40$ for 3200+.. i got some cooler master cases off ebay like new 32$ shipped each cant ever beat that deal.. centurion 5 nice cases with window and warranty. 7800gt's can be had for around 100$ dfi ultra D mobo that im using goes for as little as 60$ ram is the hard part and will have to be bought used. you have to make choices like onboard audio.. power supply cpu cooler etc!

vanilla_guerilla
tax on 700$ would be 70$ let alone before rebates tax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i agreed on the case tho but neweggs isnt 50$ its 50+ship+ tax i bet.. and you recommend BIOSTAR mObo?
 
There's a few nice 7900GS's on 'Egg - there's an XFX for $159 after $30 rebate that probably comes pre-voltmodded, and so should OC very easily and should match a stock 7950.

That would help put a few dollars towards beefing up some other things, or towards a monitor or something.
 
killster1 said:
vanilla_guerilla
tax on 700$ would be 70$ let alone before rebates tax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i agreed on the case tho but neweggs isnt 50$ its 50+ship+ tax i bet.. and you recommend BIOSTAR mObo?
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i didnt know that he lived in california, so i didnt know that he would be paying tax, especially a 10% sales tax.
yes i would recomend a biostar mainboard to anyone, i have had 2 tforce 6100-939, and a 965pt. both boards are excellent overclockers, and have fine build quality. i have sent out at leat 15 or 20 systems with s939, s754 and am2 versions of the 6100 chipset and have yet to do warranty work on any of them. i wish i could say the same for asus, gigabyte, nsi and abit boards i have put in systems. check the sff forum here, the tforce 6100 is universally accepted as the best overclocking matx board, and one of the best overall boards. the 965pt and the 965 deluxe are in the top 5 965 chipset overclocking boards. this is common knowledge. i am suprised you have never heard/read this. biostar nay have been a lower tier board maker a few years ago, but no more.

and good luck with ebay. let me know how that goes when you need rma, or tech support or if they dont bother to ship your product for a few months . i guess you wouldnt want to depend on a nickle and dime outfit like newegg.

to the above poster - he states he has a monitor in his post. i dont understand why he would get a volt modded 7900gs and balls out overclock it for his little brother, when he could just buy the 7950gt.
 
shrug. it wasn't a major nitpick.

Just saying. $159 vs $200 = something to put towards beefing up something else.

If he's not comfortable OC'ing the cpu for example, a more powerful cpu would help.
 
Vanilla's suggestions are very good however i would get a pentium D 805 with a Core2 compatible board for future upgrading. Not to mention the 805 is a beast of an overclocker i have seen people push them to 4 ghz plus on air cooling. my friend has his at 3.2 on stock cooling.

Over all the 805 is lga 775 for future core 2 compatibility (If he wants to upgrade he will already have the board and ram if you go this route) and its a dual core processor for under $100 thats pretty damn hard to top.
 
the x2 3600 is a dual core cpu for $115. and as we all know the x2 blows away the pentium d.. if his little brother decides that he needs c2d in the future, he will need a board and a cpu, rather than just a cpu. but he will have better performance now, and he might not be inclined to overclock (i am assuming we are talking about a little kid here), which put the 805d about equal to a 3000 venice, maybe.
 
well the cases i got on ebay are from coolermaster returns basicly.. i have orderd them and not much to go wrong.. coolerplanet is the seller and it does have warranty same as new case and wont find a cheaper case let alone a cheaper case shipped! 5 5.25 bays everything you would want 805 is very cheap and biostar does sound good now
 
I'm not sure that we all know that an 805D blows away an X2, let alone a 3600+ X2.

Looking at several reviews, it looks to me like an 805D at 3 - 3.3ghz sits between an x2 3800+ and a X2 4400+. And while I doubt many people would want to go to the trouble of cranking up an 805D to 4.1ghz, it looks like it holds its own with the rest of the X2s at stock at those speeds.

A good Core2 capable mobo would run $86 - 109. An 805D clocks in at ~ $79.

It would be a viable option to consider.
 
I would highly recommend getting an used X1800XT off ebay. They can be had for less than $150 and is the best bang for the buck.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
the x2 3600 is a dual core cpu for $115. and as we all know the x2 blows away the pentium d.. if his little brother decides that he needs c2d in the future, he will need a board and a cpu, rather than just a cpu. but he will have better performance now, and he might not be inclined to overclock (i am assuming we are talking about a little kid here), which put the 805d about equal to a 3000 venice, maybe.
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The x2 may be $115 but you missed the fact that its OEM and comes with no HSF so they would have to buy one themselves. Not to mention the future upgrade options they would have going the intel route would make up for it in the long run if they intend on keeping this computer around. And your motherboard pick has no option for crossfire or SLI.

All im saying is the way you put it is there is no real upgrade path with a small performance gain right now. My suggestion was to give them a full upgrade path and a small loss in performance now.

Im not bashing your suggestions i think they are good suggestions im just trying to give other options as well. Nothings wrong with more options.
 
well sli and oem heatsinks arnt needed imo! who uses stock heatsinks anyway? and sli why not just buy a better card for cheaper than the second so so one you will be sli'ing with! i tried two 7600gt's in sli and it was not very good compared to one 7800gt and was more expensive!
 
killster1 said:
who uses stock heatsinks anyway?
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95% of the world... Enthusiasts are a minority hell theres probably 10 dells for every one enthusiast out there. Not to mention it seems that he has $700 cash on hand and no real wiggle room on his budget having to buy a HSF will put it at about $775 when you figure in shipping before the $15 rebate.

killster1 said:
and sli why not just buy a better card for cheaper than the second so so one you will be sli'ing with! i tried
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Not everyone buys 2 cards at once It sounds like this person has no intention on doing so either so if he feals his computer is not up to snuff anymore down the road its a simple as buying a second card and going SLI or crossfire...without a compatible mobo he does not have that option and will either have to deal with it or buy all new shit again.

killster1 said:
two 7600gt's in sli and it was not very good compared to one 7800gt and was more expensive!
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See my point above...its not always people buying the 2 cards at once if someone already has a 7600GT in thier computer it would financially make more sense now since thier so much cheaper to buy a second one and SLI/Crossfire them than to buy a new card and try to sell the old 7600 not to mention how much more convenient it would be for them. Buy another card and instant performance gain very little hassle involved.

To be honest im just trying to give the guy options like i said earlier. With my suggestions he would have a netter upgrade path for the future wich if he plans on keeping this computer will save him alot of cash.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
x2 3600 brisbane and biostart tforce 550 conbo - $168
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103036

1 gig g.skill ddr2 800 - $109
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231102

7950gt $200 (after $15 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130074

wd 250gb sata2 16mb cache $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701

lite-on sata dvd burner $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106046


coolermaster centurion $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119088


antec truepower trio $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103942


$707 after rebates.

with this you will be able to play just about any game out there, overclock some, have a little storage space. psu is a little light, but should be plenty for this machine.
Click to expand...




He hit the nail on the head.
 
i went w/ vanilla guirella's advice
bought all the things he mentioned except the case. i had disagree w/ the case my man.. lol
i spent a little more on the case.. nxt apollo case.
n i got 550 pw supply instead too..
other htan that.. the rest of the parts i went w/ ur words ;)

thanks bro.

oh total was $801 before rebates.

i guess i can spend an extra $100 for my little brother.. lol
 
You can get a good C2D rig with $700:

Intel E4300 CPU $180 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2644000&CatId=0


ASUS P5N-E SLI $140 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?ATT=13131142&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16813131142

Seagate 320GB 7200RPM 16mb Perpend. $90 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?ATT=22148140&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16822148140

OCZ Gold 2x512mb $95 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?ATT=20227077&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16820227077

Ultra V Series 500W Power Supply Free After Rebate ($8 shipping) http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4587977

Ultra Wizard Black Mid Tower Case Free After Rebate http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5124886?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

EVGA 7900GS $160 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130056


Total: $673 (use the remaining $30 to buy a DVD burner)
 
Filippo said:
You can get a good C2D rig with $700:

Intel E4300 CPU $180 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2644000&CatId=0


ASUS P5N-E SLI $140 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?ATT=13131142&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16813131142

Seagate 320GB 7200RPM 16mb Perpend. $90 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?ATT=22148140&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16822148140

OCZ Gold 2x512mb $95 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?ATT=20227077&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16820227077

Ultra V Series 500W Power Supply Free After Rebate ($8 shipping) http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4587977

Ultra Wizard Black Mid Tower Case Free After Rebate http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5124886?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

EVGA 7900GS $160 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130056


Total: $673 (use the remaining $30 to buy a DVD burner)
Click to expand...

He already bought the rig... Although thats not a bad little rig for the price.
 
Only problem I see with the E4300's are if they will work out of the box or do they need bios updates on existing mobos?
 
kirbyrj said:
Only problem I see with the E4300's are if they will work out of the box or do they need bios updates on existing mobos?
Click to expand...

I would imagine intel has thought about this and made them compatible with the current C2D systems.

At least i really hope so it would only make sense.
 
kirbyrj said:
Only problem I see with the E4300's are if they will work out of the box or do they need bios updates on existing mobos?
Click to expand...

compatible guaranteed.but don't get the P5N-SLI. Forget that shit. It's a horrible motherboard. I'd recommend maybe an MSI 965 Platinum edition. that's a good motherboard.
 
StealthyFish said:
compatible guaranteed.but don't get the P5N-SLI. Forget that shit. It's a horrible motherboard. I'd recommend maybe an MSI 965 Platinum edition. that's a good motherboard.
Click to expand...

Where did you see that? Just wondering (the compatible guarantee part)
 
i know that it doesnt always work this way, but the allendale should be compatible - its just like a 2mb l2 conroe, minus enhanced speed step, virtualization and maybe a couple other things. not really a great buy yet - usually only around $10 less than a 6300.
 
The thing I like about that mobo, on paper at least, are the SLI (even if it is dual 8X) and the sensible dual PATA connectors, a good number of SATA connectors, etc.

It seems like a solid, well rounded mix for a reasonable price - with very respectable overclocking potential according to the reviews.
 
Filippo said:
These people seem to differ:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2894

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4450&s=1

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1687_1.html

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/434/1/
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Everybodys opinions differ quite a bit. Not always does a review properly reflect how good a product is especially with computers. its when many people use them for a longer period of time that a true consensus of the quality can be given. The problem with reviews like those is thier in and out the reviewers have the boards a few days test them then on to the next one wich gives a great view on general performance and such but not long term reliability and hidden flaws.

IMHO ASUS to me has always been slightly overrated and very overpriced. Personally im partial to Gigabyte they have yet to do me wrong and i get the features that ASUS has maybe minus a few and spend much less in the end. Only downside i can say for Gigabyte is their customer service is not bad its just they barely know english.
 
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