Cheap build for my nephew.

[Outamyhead]

Okay building my third AMD system for my nephew, I have not built an AMD since 2007 for customers, and not since 2004 for myself (system in sig) that the nephew has right now.

I'm treating him to an update of the innards as he has finished High school and community college, here is what I have put together:-

SAMSUNG EcoGreen F2 HD103SI 1TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $54.99


GIGABYTE GA-880GM-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$89.99


EVGA 01G-P3-1366-TR GeForce GTX 460 SE (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $30.00 Mail-in Rebate Card $144.99


Thermaltake TR2 W0388RU 600W ATX 12V v2.2 Power Supply
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card $64.99


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM $46.99


AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX $119

I haven't seen anything in the way of reviews of the motherboard apart from buyers opinions, which are always varied, and I have found a way to shave $40 off the taxes and delivery buy ordering the board, GPU, and CPU from Amazon. And due to the board having PATA/IDE, I'm going to use the existing CD burner,and DVD burner, as it saves money.

Any thoughts, on the board?

I went with that one primarily because it was under $100, had mostly good reviews, and at the time I was looking at the on board graphics, but he will need the 460 for his game playing needs...and it's over $100 cheaper than what Intel can cough up as a comparison, they don't have any quad cores under $140.

 

[teletran8]

There's these ASUS and GIGAYTE AM3+ Motherboards both @ Newegg for 64.99, no PATA/ATA but for the difference you could pick up a brand new DVD SATA Drive for 20.00 or less quite easy.

Your nephew will want AM3+ compatibility in the future, if he wants a more powerful CPU for 3D games or demanding programs in the next year or 2. Standard AM3 boards will becoming outdated real soon. Show him you love him, show him you care, get an AM3+ board.

Also with the Hard Drive you could pay 5 dollars more and get an 1TB Hard Drive that spins @ 7,200 RPMs vs 5,400 RPM's. Why not go faster for 5 dollars more? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145304 Or look for a sale and get it less or same price. Do you not buy from Newegg because you would get taxed? If your out of state shop Newegg, you won't be taxed.

You also might be able to find some RAM for 39.99 4 GB kits if you look around. The graphics card and CPU look great, but that Power supply, well you might be able to find an 80+ or better certified one that could last longer or run more efficiently, heck if you get a more efficient one it would most likely pay for the minor difference in a few elecric bills in the same price range. A 600 watt sounds better, than a 520 watt 80+ at first glance, but if the 600 watt only holds up a year and a half (instead of 5+) and also shorts out or melts the cable and smells up the place or starts a fire in his room or the PC was it really worth it? I say that cuz I bought a cheap 630 watt a few years ago and it melted my cable! Luckily no fire because I was in the room and heard sum popping going on, dunno what could have happened if no one was home?!!

Good luck!

 

[fattypants]

I have a 785g gigabyte in my HTPC for a year and a half and it's great. The one thing I hate about Gigabyte is that all their SATA ports face forward (on most boards), but that's usually not a problem unless you have a MATX board or you're crossfire/SLIing.