Check my budget rig pls.

P

palindrome

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 24, 2004
Messages
217
I know you guys get about 100 of these threads a day, but i'm a noob and really don't want to make a mistake. I had a budget of about $900. I have an lcd, keyboard and mouse, dvd+rw, and will be using my older 9600xt till christmas. :cool:




Lian Li Black Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower Case, Model "PC3077B" -RETAIL
Item# N82E16811112048
$90.50

Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, MODEL 6Y080M0, OEM Drive Only
Item# N82E16822144318
$72.49

Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - OEM
Item# N82E16820146541
$78.00
$156.00


SOLTEK "SL-K8AN2E-GR" NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL
Item# N82E16813180061
$99.00

COOLMAX 400W CX-400B, BLACK, Taurus CX Series Silent Power Supply; 1 x 120mm fan, 3 Speed Fan Control Switch ( Auto, Low, Medium).
Item# N82E16817159023
$38.00

AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1MB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor - Retail
Item# N82E16819103426
$375.00

Product total: $830.99

Am I missing anything? Thanks in advanced! :)
 
Skip the Soltek and buy the MSI K8N Neo Platinum nforce 3 250 chipset, best for the 754.
Get the Antec TruePower 430, more expensive but alot more reliable.
Tone down the 64 3400+ and gor for the 3200+ and oc it to that speed, stock cooling can get it there no prob.
Get the Seagate 120 HD, not only are they more stable, they are also faster and come with a five year warranty.
 
I've heard that Soltek is an awesome board from more than one person. Stick with it. And I'd agree with the notion to get a cheaper case for a bigger budget on other parts. And why not get either a Fortron or a Super Flower PSU instead?
 
Craftish said:
I would cut back a little bit on the case and get a gig of RAM.
Click to expand...


Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - OEM
Item# N82E16820146541
$78.00
$156.00

Looks like he has 2 sticks of 512mb :)
 
you could save onto it and see what comes out in a few months or if the prices drop and not spend as much.

arent there suppose to be some nice budget PCI-E SLE cards coming out soon? could wait for those and just buy 1 card then and get the other for christmas.
 
Looking good. Get a better PSU, that's for sure... even if it means a lower processor or not quite as nice of a case.
 
judging by your list of parts, you havnt built many computers to go with a pos motherboard over a Asus for like 10-20 bucks more then what that costs,
Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - OEM dont go with that crappy memory, if your trying to save money go with pqi turbo series, or corsair's value select series, i would definatly look into an antec psu. if your going to trust a shitty psu to your computer and only have it kill ur puter then go ahead. :D
 
That is a sweet budget rig. All the parts look great except for the PSU. I would advise that you get a nice AntecTruepower for about $40 more and then you will have a nice system.
 
one of my favorite things to do when i get bored at school is bargain shop for building a new pc or upgrading one...

anyways, i saw your thread and thought i could be of service. i read everyone else's suggestions and agree with most of them. i normally utilize more than just 2 sites, but for simplicity's sake i only used www.mwave.com and www.newegg.com for this pc.

before i post up the layout, let me say that i've bought from both of these retailers (some here may have never heard of mwave) and they are great at shipping & quality. newegg is obviously very popular, but i recently found out about mwave.com and it has cheaper prices than newegg on some parts.. soo here we go! Also, keep in mind these are just my personal opinions of what is good hardware, but I believe I've managed to pretty much better your performance for the cost in every category with this setup.

From Mwave.com:

HDD- Western Digital 160GB SATA150 7200RPM 8MB buffer - $99
CPU- AMD ATHLON 64 3200+ Retail Socket 754 3 yr warranty - $210

with shipping & handling you are looking at about $320

From Newegg.com

Case- Lian-Li "PC65b" - $105.50
MOBO- MSI nForce3 250 AMD 64 Socket 754 Model "K8N Neo Platinum" -$126
PSU- Antec 480W Power Supply,Model "TRUE480" -$87.50
RAM- Corsair Value Select Dual Channel Kit (2x 512) DDR400 - $153
Heatsink- Thermalright Model "SLK948U" -$33
Fan- Vantec "Stealth" 92mm - $7.05

without shipping & handling you are looking at $513.04

Grand Total (without newegg's s&h) = $833.04

Explanations for parts:

Case - This is a proven performer, much better cooling than the one you had picked out. It has 4 ball-bearing fans, instead of the 2 sleeve fans yours had... believe me it will make a huge difference, both in cooling quality and the life of your fans. It does have a window, so if you don't like that you may consider the "PC61b". Also, it has a slidable mobo tray and a fan controller for your case fans.

MOBO- An awesome board!! Great chipset, plenty of ports, front audio, 7.1 onboard sound, onboard gigabit LAN

PSU- This is more powerful and more reliable than the one you originally chose.

RAM- Corsair Memory is good quality and very fast. Can't go wrong with them!

Heatsink/Fan- You might have wondered why I had a heatsink and 92mm fan added onto the list. THEY AREN'T NECESSARY, however since I was maximizing your performance/cost, a 3200+ processor with this baby and the fan on it will run very quiet & cool! You will not only be able to overclock it to 3400+ speeds (with ease), you may be able to get it higher without much trouble. Since money was saved elsewhere, I thought you may want to get these two parts. However, according to the others stock cooling would be fine for hitting 3400+ speeds.

HDD- Mwave is a little harder to navigate than newegg, but you should be able to find these parts without too much trouble. This HDD is a better brand, has 2x as much space, a nice warranty, and doesn't cost too much more. With the savings elsewhere it is easily affordable.

CPU- Obviously this is the one part that actually went down in "speed". You originally had the 3400+, but the price for performance of it wasn't very good. As I said earlier about the heatsink/fan, you will be able to easily overclock this thing to 3400+ speeds and save almost $200 doing it! (Tah-dah, thats where all that extra money came from) Anyone here can help you figure out how to overclock it if you aren't sure.

-----------------------------

Anyways, I hope this helps you out! Let me know if you need any assistance with finding the parts or anything! Good luck & enjoy your new pc!!! :D
 
XeRo_Dark said:
did you forget something, a graphics card and sound card?
Click to expand...

I can make due with the leftovers from my old system till my birthday (12/4) and christmas. :)

XeRo_Dark said:
judging by your list of parts, you havnt built many computers to go with a pos motherboard over a Asus for like 10-20 bucks more then what that costs,
Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - OEM dont go with that crappy memory, if your trying to save money go with pqi turbo series, or corsair's value select series, i would definatly look into an antec psu. if your going to trust a shitty psu to your computer and only have it kill ur puter then go ahead. :D
Click to expand...

You are right about that, this is my first time building a computer.

Here is the updated list...
Lian Li Black Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower Case, Model "PC65B" -RETAIL

Thermaltake Venus 12 CPU Cooler For AMD Opteron and Athlon 64, Model "A1744"

Seagate 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model ST3120026A, OEM

pqi TURBO Series 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 Black - OEM (x2)

MSI nForce3 250 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Athlon 64 Socket 754 CPU, Model "K8N Neo Platinum" (MS-7030) -RETAIL

Antec 430W Power Supply, Model "TRUE430" -RETAIL

AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512k L2 Cache, Retail


Total (Before tax): $ 784.48

Thanks for all your help everyone :eek:

edit: list subject to change because of the big post above me. Don't have time to read now but will check later :)
 
lol, sorry for the big post! haha!

btw, that processor is designed for laptops, not sure how well it will work out in a desktop
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top