Help, need something fast

I

intercollector

Gawd
Joined
Aug 5, 2003
Messages
530
Laptop of 6 years just blew up on me (it's a sad day). Anyways, was hoping to replace it ASAP with a desktop. It's mostly just an office computer that I use for work.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Software dev (Java, Apex, PHP) using eclipse (thus, need lots of ram). No gaming, maybe a tiny bit of graphic work, using GIMP.

I'm thinking 4-8GB of ram, with an average CPU (but staying budget conscious). Ram is more important than processing power.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$600 before taxes and shipping

3) Where do you live?
Canada

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
CPU, RAM, HD, Motherboard, Monitor.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Have a 400Watt ATX Powersupply and case (I've been out of the loop for almost 10 years on this site, so not even sure if ATX is still used or not)
Also, have a PCI-X video card that I want to reuse.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
20" minimum for a monitor (have a 17" as a secondary).

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Lots of RAM is all I need, but would like to support a PCI-X graphics card if i can.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
64 bit linux.
 
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Had a quick look around, and the Ath II X3 445 is popular.

How is this deal then, and how good is the Motherboard?

Edit:

Link to site didn't work (i'm guessing an advertiser block).

Anyways here is the deal:

Gigabyte 880GM-D2H 880G HDMI Motherboard & Athlon II X3 445 Processor - $159
 
intercollector said:
Have a 400Watt ATX Powersupply and case (I've been out of the loop for almost 10 years on this site, so not even sure if ATX is still used or not)
Click to expand...
Which 400W PSU? Which case?
intercollector said:
Also, have a PCI-X video card that I want to reuse.

...but would like to support a PCI-X graphics card if i can.
Click to expand...
You've either got the terminology wrong or have a really really old card: PCI-Express is the current standard GPU interface, not PCI-X. Did you confuse the two? If you in fact do have a PCI-X card, and not a PCI-E card, I do not recommendend reusing that card as onboard video would more than likely be faster than it
 
Ya...sorry the video card is a PCI-E 1.0 card. 8400GS. Nothing spectacular, but I'm not much of a gamer any more. I bought it years ago, and it's still in the box fully shrink wrapped. Maybe I can get SC2 going? Maybe not...not much of a big deal.

Powersupply and Case are both Antec. The Powersupply is actually 350W, but I know that it's a true 350W, not like some of the other bogus ratings out there.

Any other recommendations out there for CPU/Memory/Motherboard?
 
intercollector said:
Ya...sorry the video card is a PCI-E 1.0 card. 8400GS. Nothing spectacular, but I'm not much of a gamer any more. I bought it years ago, and it's still in the box fully shrink wrapped. Maybe I can get SC2 going? Maybe not...not much of a big deal.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm fairly sure the 8400GS is slower than many onboard video.
intercollector said:
Powersupply and Case are both Antec. The Powersupply is actually 350W, but I know that it's a true 350W, not like some of the other bogus ratings out there.
Click to expand...
Which Antec PSU and which Antec case?
intercollector said:
Any other recommendations out there for CPU/Memory/Motherboard?
Click to expand...

Can't make any recommendations until we know what PSU and case you have. That is unless you're willing to get a new case and PSU.
 
Getting a new PSU isn't out of the question, but I'm quite fond of the case as it's nice and quite and has a design that goes well with my desk.

Just for record sake the PSU is an SL350S and the case is a Antec 2650.
 
intercollector said:
Getting a new PSU isn't out of the question, but I'm quite fond of the case as it's nice and quite and has a design that goes well with my desk.

Just for record sake the PSU is an SL350S and the case is a Antec 2650.
Click to expand...
The case you can reuse but not the PSU: It's simply too old.

Now for hardware recommendations:
Athlon II X4 6xx series CPU (Cheapest one that you can find)
That Gigabyte mobo you chose isn't a bad choice.
4GB to 8GB of the cheapest DDR3 1333 RAM you can find. Timings do not matter.
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB Hard drive
Corsair 430CX 430W PSU

All of that should be under $600 CAD.
 
Ok...thanks. I think I'll probably end up downgrading to the X4. I honestly don't see myself using 6 cores for much and don't mind saving the cash.

Definitely want to stick with the Phenom over the Athlon though, correct?
 
Phenom if you can afford it, Athlon if you can't.

Danny chose the Athlon based on your budget. The key difference between that and the Phenom is that it lacks L3 cache.
 
tiraides said:
Phenom if you can afford it, Athlon if you can't.

Danny chose the Athlon based on your budget. The key difference between that and the Phenom is that it lacks L3 cache.
Click to expand...

Ya....only $40 more for the Phenom II, and still going to be well under the budget
 
Yeah if it's within budget, then yes go for a Phenom II X4 CPU.
 
Danny Bui said:
Yeah if it's within budget, then yes go for a Phenom II X4 CPU.
Click to expand...

Much appreciated my man. These forums certainly bring back a lot of memories for me. Was quite a hobby of mine for a while there.....enjoyed building and tweaking the hardware more than even using it to play games. Now with a kid and a wife, I don't even have time to research my own rigs, let alone helping others.
 
Ugh, sorry but 1 more question:

What's the state on SSD drives? 5 years ago, they were way over priced. But I'm interested in them for this build since I'll be doing a lot of compiling, and compile times are mostly dependant on disk I/O. Any advice?
 
intercollector said:
Ugh, sorry but 1 more question:

What's the state on SSD drives? 5 years ago, they were way over priced. But I'm interested in them for this build since I'll be doing a lot of compiling, and compile times are mostly dependant on disk I/O. Any advice?
Click to expand...

Don't cheap out on a SSD. When it comes to SSDs, it really does matters that you spring the extra cash for the better sustained performance, quality, and support. Right now the best bang for the buck SSDs are Crucial's C300 SSDs.

Oh and avoid OCZ SSDs at all costs due to them failing all of the above criteria for a SSD.
 
Danny Bui said:
Don't cheap out on a SSD. When it comes to SSDs, it really does matters that you spring the extra cash for the better sustained performance, quality, and support. Right now the best bang for the buck SSDs are Crucial's C300 SSDs.

Oh and avoid OCZ SSDs at all costs due to them failing all of the above criteria for a SSD.
Click to expand...

Thanks...done and done. Went with a 64GB C300. I don't need more space as I already have 2TB in network storage + essentially unlimited in the cloud.

When I started this morning, there's no way I thought I'd be going SSD. Not only that, but also excited about the X4 processor. All for only $606 before shipping and handling.

In summary, here's the build:

Corsair CX430 - $44.99
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - $139.99
GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H - $84.99
Crutial C300 64GB - $129.99
GSkill Memory DDR3 1333 2X4GB - $79.49
ASUS VH238H Black 23" - $179.99
 
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