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paintb4707

Limp Gawd
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Jul 10, 2005
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Well, I plan to build a cheap pc for my sister in need for christmas. Right now she has like a 200mhz HP machine and I feel incredibley sorry for her. My budget is around 300 give or take shipping. I have no experience what so ever with cheap hardware so I could use some suggestions. I chose microatx because it is overall cheaper and she doesnt have much room anyways.

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1783878&WishListTitle=jenpc

Thanks
 
When I read your post, I went straight to finding the best budget stuff I knew of - Athlon XP-based. Surprisingly, they never dropped the price of the 2500+ Barton CPU so I went to the next best set up. Either way, here is the components:

Basic Budget Workstation:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157022
Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104210

Your RAM and DVD Burner choices are all good.

The hard drive is a waste - The price isn't good and the DiamondMax 8 has huge issues too. Go for the next best of 80 GB drives. The case is OK but not the power supply. You're better off getting a Sonata case of a simple $100 investment that includes a qualified PSU.

BTW, I would really recommend you to buy parts from the FS/T section. You'll save a bunch, really.

-J.
 
Ah, forgot about those Dell machines. I recommend either that or the FS/T section.

-J.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I think buying an OEM is out of the question though. I rather not deal with proprietary crap.

And how about just buying a seperate psu? The sonata seems out of my budget and incredibley fugly for the price.

**list updated however**
 
You can go to 754 cheaper than Socket A.

For example, you posted:

AMD Sempron 2400+ Thoroughbred 333MHz FSB Socket A Processor Model SDA2400BOX - Retail
$84.00

but you could get the:

AMD Sempron 64 2600+ Palermo 800MHz FSB 128KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor - Retail
$64.00

for $20 cheaper and its a faster processor.

For motherboard you posted:

ASRock K7S41GX Socket A (Socket 462) SiS 741GX Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$43.25

but you could get a:

BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100-M7 Socket 754 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$59.99

True, it is more expensive but it has pretty much the fasest onboard video available and the net cost for the two components would still be $4 cheaper than what you posted.
 
GeForceX said:
The case is OK but not the power supply. You're better off getting a Sonata case of a simple $100 investment that includes a qualified PSU.
Click to expand...

I think that the Sonata is a bit pricey (1/3 of the total budget) and overkill. I would look more at something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129150

It still looks decent and comes with an adequate power supply (that is better than what you have posted) for almost half the cost of the Sonata.
 
I didn't look into the other Sonata but sure I agree. It's cheaper and more than enough. That's actually what I have for my Athlon XP platform workstation computer.

-J.
 
meatycheesyboy said:
You can go to 754 cheaper than Socket A.

For example, you posted:

AMD Sempron 2400+ Thoroughbred 333MHz FSB Socket A Processor Model SDA2400BOX - Retail
$84.00

but you could get the:

AMD Sempron 64 2600+ Palermo 800MHz FSB 128KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor - Retail
$64.00

for $20 cheaper and its a faster processor.

For motherboard you posted:

ASRock K7S41GX Socket A (Socket 462) SiS 741GX Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$43.25

but you could get a:

BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100-M7 Socket 754 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$59.99

True, it is more expensive but it has pretty much the fasest onboard video available and the net cost for the two components would still be $4 cheaper than what you posted.
Click to expand...


I think that 754 is the way to go, as well.
 
meatycheesyboy said:
You can go to 754 cheaper than Socket A.

For example, you posted:

AMD Sempron 2400+ Thoroughbred 333MHz FSB Socket A Processor Model SDA2400BOX - Retail
$84.00

but you could get the:

AMD Sempron 64 2600+ Palermo 800MHz FSB 128KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor - Retail
$64.00

for $20 cheaper and its a faster processor.

For motherboard you posted:

ASRock K7S41GX Socket A (Socket 462) SiS 741GX Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$43.25

but you could get a:

BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100-M7 Socket 754 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$59.99

True, it is more expensive but it has pretty much the fasest onboard video available and the net cost for the two components would still be $4 cheaper than what you posted.
Click to expand...

Thanks alot. ill add those to my list. Could anyone comment on the psu I picked?
 
The PSU is good. CoolerMaster makes PSU's for OEM's such as Gateway, Dell, Compaq, etc. sometimes.

-J.
 
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