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Computer For College

D

debrain

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
126
As Im going off to college in the fall I figured I would go ahead and start looking at betting a computer for myself. The computer I use now is 500mhz Dell with 12gig ram. Pretty much anything would be a big upgrade. The budge right now is around $500 but the computer ive gotten together is $486 w/o shipping so obvisously the cheaper the better. I dont need a monitor or keyboard/mouse. Heres the items i got so far:

Case - $55 with psu
Motherboard - $74
Video Card - $124
Proc- $80
Memory - $70
Hard Drive - $56
CD-RW - $26

Now this is the first time I would be building a computer but im having a friend guide me along in the process. Another thing i wanna make sure is that all the parts go together and it will be all i need in building the computer besides the os.

Any help would be great.
 
If at all possible it might be a good idea to get another 512MB stick of RAM and perhaps a 8MB cache hard drive.
 
ohnnyj said:
If at all possible it might be a good idea to get another 512MB stick of RAM and perhaps a 8MB cache hard drive.
Click to expand...


Be serious here, is he really going to need a gigabyte of ram to write up reports and chat on msn?
 
Yeah, 1 gig of RAM and high-end hard drives are unnecessary unless you're using heavy applications. You could always look into a refurbished thinkpad or something. Believe you me, laptops are real nice for college, especially if your uni has Wi-Fi.
 
D1sc1pl3 0f Mal1c3 said:
Yeah, 1 gig of RAM and high-end hard drives are unnecessary unless you're using heavy applications. You could always look into a refurbished thinkpad or something. Believe you me, laptops are real nice for college, especially if your uni has Wi-Fi.
Click to expand...

So if a "High end" hard drive is cheaper then a mid range, he shouldn't take advantage of that?
:rolleyes:

I believe mac came out with a cheap laptop that would work great for your needs.
 
If you're not going to be gaming, I would get rid of that video card and put that extra money into other components. Try this setup maybe:

Case and Power Supply:
ANTEC Solution Series Mid Tower Case with 300W Power Supply, Model "SLK2600AMB" - Retail
$55

Motherboard:
MSI "K8T NEO2-F" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL
$98

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.8GHz, 512KB L2 Cache 939-Pin 64-bit Processor - OEM
$151

Memory: Geil Ultra Series Value Dual Channel 184 Pin 512MB(256MBx2) DDR PC-3200 w/ Blue Heatspreader - Retail
$77.50

Hard Drive: Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD1600JD, OEM Drive Only
$99.00

Optical Drive: Lite-On Beige 52X32X52X16 Combo Drive, Model SOHC-5235K BEIGE, OEM
$38.50

This system comes in at $519 without a heatsink for the CPU or a videocard.
 
Ok, that was a typo on the computer...12 gig hd and 128 mb ram

I forgot the mention I do want to play games on it...Halflife 2 would be great but I dont care if it cant be played at the highest quality possible. The harddrive wont need to be bigger than 80 gigs...I dont download that much crap.

Thanks for the info on the heatsink/fan and the hd info...Ill be sure to look into that.
 
earthscore said:
So if a "High end" hard drive is cheaper then a mid range, he shouldn't take advantage of that?
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Maybe there aren't any Staples locations in his area?

:rolleyes:

Well, there aren't any in the greater St. Louis area, at least.
 
Staples.com says there aren't any locations within 50 miles of the city. I'm from out of state, so what do I know...
 
You may not need a 9600 pro. Try to look for a used TI4200. You should be able to play HL2 with a TI4200 on low settings. This will allow you to maybe get s hd with 8MB cache or upgrade something else.
 
debrain said:
Motherboard - $74
Video Card - $124
Memory - $70
Click to expand...
MSI K7N2 Delta2-LSR nForce2 Ultra 400 Athlon(XP)/Duron/Sempron SktA DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 266/333/400FSB, ATA/133, AGP 8X, 3DDR DIMM, 5PCI, USB, Audio, LAN, RAID/SATA
zipzoomfly $60
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=241151

The 9600Pro is one of the best deals going and if you're going to play HL2, stick with ATI. Here's another good deal for $20 more (the $20 you can save on the MB)
$142 Sapphire Radeon "9800 Atlantis" 128MB DDR 128bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-369

Here's an alternative to the Kingston and it saves you a dollar (woot!)
Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail
$69 newegg.com

Unfortunately for you, CPU prices went up dramatically after Christmas.
 
Thanks mac cool for those parts...Made a little changes...but that motherboard you gave me didnt seem to support the harddrive i had or did i miss something?

Also, on a case that has a door on it, are you able to take the door off without breaking anything or is it pernament.

Thanks for the help.
 
debrain said:
Thanks mac cool for those parts...Made a little changes...but that motherboard you gave me didnt seem to support the harddrive i had or did i miss something?

Also, on a case that has a door on it, are you able to take the door off without breaking anything or is it pernament.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Should be no problem with your drive unless I am missing something.
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K7N2_Delta2-LSR&class=mb
Supports ATA 66/100/133

Don't know about the case door, never had one. Probably depends on the case.
 
Most doors are permanent. Stick with at least a 9600pro class for HL2. Looks like a great budget system you have there :)
 
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