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Build Advice for ~$900

I

Istasi

n00b
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Messages
5
Hey guys,
Father's day is a month away, and I've been commissioned by my mom to build a new PC for my dad (Shh! It's a secret.) Right now he's using a Dell Optiplex from 4 or 5 years ago, and it's starting to show its age (HDD is going bad, general finnicky issues). He uses his PC for browsing the internet, email, a bit of media, and that's about it. I know I could build him an ultra low-end system and he'd be happy, but there's nothing wrong with a little too much performance. This rig would also be used for gaming by my brother/friends (Comapny of Heroes, FEAR, GRAW @ 1280x1024.) The budget is $800-900, and all that needs to be purchased is hardware and OS, already have a monitor and all the peripherals.

Here's what I was thinking

CPU: Core 2 Duo E4300 - $115
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 - $105
RAM: Wintec AMPX DDR2 800 2GB (2x1GB) - $90
Video Card: Asus EAX1950PRO - $165
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA II - $55
PSU: Antec NeoHE 430W - $80
Case: Lian Li A05B - $100
Optical Drive: Asus 18x SATA DVD Burner - $36
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium - $120

Total: ~$890 incl. Shipping

Any thoughts?
 
how about a Geforce 8800 Ultra, that way you'd have like 50 bucks to spare :D
just kidding, the specs look good, but no sound card ? and i dunno about that PSU.
Vista? :confused:
 
It all looks good to me, but I'm with leSLIe, Vista? Are you sure about that?
 
I've used Vista before and despite some minor annoyances, everything was very acceptable for me.
 
The E4300 will perform fine with DDR2-667 RAM so I recommend this set for $20 cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161677

Go with this x1950Pro because it's cheaper and will still provide some decent performance:
Sapphire 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB PCI-E Video Card - $146

If you're gonna spend that much on a power supply, at least get a better quality one like this one:

Enhance ENP-5150GH 500W PSU - $69

Also, you can get 20X DVD burner for $3 cheaper:
LITE-ON LH-20A1S 20X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA - $33
 
I don't know about that RAM. I've never heard of Wintec, and I wouldn't trust a no-name brand for RAM. Though, I'm not a huge buff, so if it's an underground name or something great that I don't know about, I apologize. It's just been my experience you get what you pay for , and a $70 2 gig kit of RAM seems a bit low for me.
 
I put this together....you really don't need a fancy case.

But YOU DO NEED a good PSU...$95 (after $10 rebate)
You do need a Good memory.
As you said, you want to play games, well DX-10 is here, and you gonna need a dx10 card. My friend just got the same thing, its really good. And besides, its nvidia ;) made by evga, you get 90 days step up program and lifetime warranty

Good choice on the CPU and mobo and the DVD drive.


 
FYI I have put Wintec (not the AmpX, just regular cheap stuff) in a few PCs for people and it's always been fine. Sure, you can't OC for crap with it, but it runs rated speeds just fine and has lifetime warranty just like any other RAM AFAIK.

Overall, that looks to be a great system, though as the above poster said, you might want to consider a DX10 GPU such as the 8600GT(S). And TBH, I'd stick with the Lian Li, high quality case and a breeze to work with (at least the one I worked with was awesome). Plus they just look very stylish and professional to me, something your dad will probably like. You may want to upgrade the PSU, but I've had good luck with Antec in the past, generally pretty reliable. Of the 3 I've used/installed for people, all still work without a hitch.
 
bass_ec said:
I don't know about that RAM. I've never heard of Wintec, and I wouldn't trust a no-name brand for RAM. Though, I'm not a huge buff, so if it's an underground name or something great that I don't know about, I apologize. It's just been my experience you get what you pay for , and a $70 2 gig kit of RAM seems a bit low for me.
Click to expand...

All right, understandable. Wintec is a decent brand and I haven't had any problems with them. But you don't have to go with the RAM choice I recommended but do go with my other suggestions.

And GJohn, not a good choice for RAM. There are better choices for RAM in that price range.

Also, Vista Home Basic? You might as well have gone with XP Home. Home basic is way too crippled to be a good operating system.

Also, there are no DX10 games out right now. Also, even when those games come out, no one knows whether Nvidia's or ATI mid-range DX10 cards will run those games at DX10 level or "might as well be DX9" levels.
 
Sorry home premium was out of order thats why i just put in the basic ;)

What would you suggest for the ram?

Soon there will be dx10 games, even today a dx10 game demo is suppose to come out. I mean your spending the money, why not get the latest. And besides, i would take 8600GT over 1950pro anyday. And you can run dx9 games, its not like its made to only run dx10.
 
The only problem I have with the current mid-range DX10 cards is their Price-to-performance value. In many of the reviews out there of the 8600GTs, the card had lower performance than the 7900GS or x1950Pro. You can find the x1950Pro for $146 now while the cheapest 8600GTS I could find was around $200.

While the 8600GTS does have the video decoding and such, thats not too important to gamers who want performance. If it took an overclocked 8600GTS to beat the x1950Pro, think the the 8600GT has a chance against the x1950Pro?

As for RAM recommendations, I recommend the Wintec set in my previous post or, if you want a bit more quality), this set:

G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $89
 
Took in some of your suggestions, here's an updated build.

CPU: Core 2 Duo E4300 - $115
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 - $105
RAM: G.Skill DDR2 800 2GB (2x1GB) 2GBNQ - $90
Video Card: Sapphire X1950PRO - $145
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA II - $55
PSU: Silverstone ST50EF-Plus - $80
Case: Lian Li PC-7B Plus II - $80
Optical Drive: Asus 18x SATA DVD Burner - $36
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium - $120

Total: ~$860

Stickin with the X1950Pro because it outperforms the midrange DX10 offerings right now, and I doubt much Crysis will be played on this rig anyways. Changed PSU to an ST50EF-Plus, should be plenty. Not sure if I'll stick with the Lian Li, might just grab a Centurion 5 or something like that.
 
Istasi said:
Took in some of your suggestions, here's an updated build.

CPU: Core 2 Duo E4300 - $115
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 - $105
RAM: G.Skill DDR2 800 2GB (2x1GB) 2GBNQ - $90
Video Card: Sapphire X1950PRO - $145
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA II - $55
PSU: Silverstone ST50EF-Plus - $80
Case: Lian Li PC-7B Plus II - $80
Optical Drive: Asus 18x SATA DVD Burner - $36
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium - $120

Total: ~$860

Stickin with the X1950Pro because it outperforms the midrange DX10 offerings right now, and I doubt much Crysis will be played on this rig anyways. Changed PSU to an ST50EF-Plus, should be plenty. Not sure if I'll stick with the Lian Li, might just grab a Centurion 5 or something like that.
Click to expand...
you may want to save some money and just get the Centurion 5.
It's is a very nice, sleek case. I have two right now. They are incredible value for what they cost. I would expect them to cost a lot more for what you get.

Actually, if you buy the centurion 5 soon, they are $49.99 with a mail in rebate so they are even less....
 
Istasi said:
Took in some of your suggestions, here's an updated build.

CPU: Core 2 Duo E4300 - $115
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 - $105
RAM: G.Skill DDR2 800 2GB (2x1GB) 2GBNQ - $90
Video Card: Sapphire X1950PRO - $145
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA II - $55
PSU: Silverstone ST50EF-Plus - $80
Case: Lian Li PC-7B Plus II - $80
Optical Drive: Asus 18x SATA DVD Burner - $36
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium - $120

Total: ~$860

Stickin with the X1950Pro because it outperforms the midrange DX10 offerings right now, and I doubt much Crysis will be played on this rig anyways. Changed PSU to an ST50EF-Plus, should be plenty. Not sure if I'll stick with the Lian Li, might just grab a Centurion 5 or something like that.
Click to expand...

Looks good to me. Go for it.
 
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