Hey! Help with building/updating new computer

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o3dwade

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Oct 15, 2010
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Hey guys. I have a really old computer, a 2004 Dell Dimension 3000. I took out all the parts, the only things left on it are the CD drive, internal hardrive, and the motherboard which I will take out soon. I want to update it and the requirements I have are below. I want a computer that can do things at this time period because my dimension 3000 is very old.



1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Mostly be watching videos, and small PC gaming but not too much. Photoshop yes. Basically I want a decent computer that can play videos well(HD too) i'm not that into gaming though sorry

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
My budget would have to be $450 but I will go up to $500 or $550 if I have to.

3) Where do you live?
Washington DC

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Okay,
1.)Motherboard(don't know too much about motherboards)
2.)CPU(Intel i3 or i5)
3.)4-6 GB RAM
4.)Power supply
5.)Cooling fan(something good to keep my computer quite during the during summer)


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
1.) Dell Dimension 3000 case
2.) Internal Hardrive and CD disc player

6) Will you be overclocking?Mildly
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? I already have one. But a 19 inch is what I use.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? yes

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc. USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, NO CROSSFIRE OR RAID OR FIREWIRE.



10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit? 64 bit Windows 7 ultimate
 
Please read questions 8 again and answer correctly.

Oh and I recommend getting a new case as well, That Dell Dimension case is simply too old and insufficient for most modern hardware. Also is the hard drive you're reusing PATA or SATA? If PATA, I recommend a new drive as well.
 
With your main objective being viewing media and Photoshop editing, they can be on completely different sides of the spectrum. Photoshop can be handled on even the oldest computers dating back to P4 days, but with applications like that, it is a matter of how long you want to wait for the editing of fully rendered images, as long as the gpu supports Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0.
With a budget of $500 you are looking at low-end hardware, and if you are thinking about overclocking and keeping the cpu temp down, aftermarket cooling might be required depending on your interpretation of mild.
Parts:
Motherboard could run you from $70-$100 for an 1156 socket
Recommended brands are Gigabyte and Asus H55 models
CPU $100-$140 for i3 500 series
RAM $100-$150
Recommended Corsair brand
PSU $60-$80
Recommended Corsair brand 80+ model
Cooling fan if you are looking at case fans, it depends on how much noise you can stand, just make sure to go with as large of a diameter as you can. For a office fan, I have no recommendations other than a nice ceiling fan, for a CPU fan I would look at Zalman CNPS series and then base your decision on the space that will be required and price, with my experience as long as you go with Zalman you get what you pay for.
You have a larger range of prices on the RAM and CPU so that is most likely where you'r decision on how much you want to spend will be decided.
As for a tip on saving money
1) Buy from HardForum and monitor SlickDeals
2) The more time you wait the better the deals will get
 
o3dwade said:
Hey guys. I have a really old computer, a 2004 Dell Dimension 3000. I took out all the parts, the only things left on it are the CD drive, internal hardrive, and the motherboard which I will take out soon. I want to update it and the requirements I have are below. I want a computer that can do things at this time period because my dimension 3000 is very old.



1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Mostly be watching videos, and small PC gaming but not too much. Photoshop yes. Basically I want a decent computer that can play videos well(HD too) i'm not that into gaming though sorry

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
My budget would have to be $450 but I will go up to $500 or $550 if I have to.

3) Where do you live?
Washington DC

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Okay,
1.)Motherboard(don't know too much about motherboards)
2.)CPU(Intel i3 or i5)
3.)4-6 GB RAM
4.)Power supply
5.)Cooling fan(something good to keep my computer quite during the during summer)


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
1.) Dell Dimension 3000 case
2.) Internal Hardrive and CD disc player

6) Will you be overclocking?Mildly
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? I already have one. But a 19 inch is what I use.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? yes

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc. USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, NO CROSSFIRE OR RAID OR FIREWIRE.



10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit? 64 bit Windows 7 ultimate
Click to expand...

I strongly recommend an entire new build. That Dimension 3000 case has almost no internal air circulation to speak of (there is only one single 80mm rear fan for intake, with all exhaust going through the PSU alone) - and the CPU intake hood gets in the way and will not line up at all with many of the CPU sockets on newer motherboards. The front of the case has no provision at all whatsoever to accommodate a fan. Those drawbacks make that case extremely ill-suited for anything even remotely modern.

What's more, the Dimension 3000 almost always shipped with a first-generation SATA hard drive and a PATA optical drive. That first-generation SATA hard drive is now way too slow compared to even the slowest of the currently-available internal hard drives: That first-gen SATA hard drive barely gets 40 or 50 MB/s even on the outer tracks while most current hard drives already beat that at even the innermost tracks. Thus, if you carry over that old drive to a modern system, you might end up with overall performance that's barely any faster than the fastest of the Intel Atom netbooks.
 
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Okay thanks a lot guys. I've decided that to change some of the things I have listed on top. I know I am NOT going to need a dimension 3000 case, and for question #8.) I want to make this computer by january 2011.AND I do Not want to Overclock! I have heard For my motherboard I heard two sockets could combine two graphics cards. I also have a question about those two graphic cards slots I want on my motherboard. My friend told me i could put ONE graphic card on my motherboard, and the other i will need if i want my computer screen to move wirelessly to my television screen across the room, for that to happen will the 2 graphics cards slots for my motherboard ?
 
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If you're not serious about gaming, you don't need a second video card. Plus, that one video card will work on both your monitor and your HDTV.

I have a couple of more questions for you:

- Do you want to start building now or are you trying to wait closer to January 2011?
- Assuming you want to build closer to January, are you willing to go beyond your $500 budget? (Can you add more money to your budget?)
 
k thanks I was wondering about the screen moving thing. No I'm planning on having all of my stuff by winter break though. And I'm new to building a new computer computer so I'm sort of lenient with my budget but I don't think I'll need to go past my $500 budget unless I absolutely have to. If I were to go past my budget it would be for small things like internal hardrive, RAM and things like that. I am mostly concerned with my motherboard, case, graphics card, power supply
 
Here's something for right now:

$178 - AMD Athlon II X4 640 & Asus M4A88T-M combo
$65 - Geil 2x2GB DDR3 1333 kit
$17 - LG GH22LS50 SATA DVD burner
$50 - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400 watt power supply
$40 - Cooler Master Elite 310 ATX mid-tower case
=====
$350 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

Some extras to consider:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU cooler
$55 - Samsung F3 HD502HJ 500GB hard drive
$70 - Samsung F3 HD103SJ 1TB hard drive
$150 - Sapphire 100283L Radeon HD 5770 video card

The Hyper 212 Plus CPU cooler is one of the best choices for overclocking that's also an inexpensive CPU cooler that performs better than the stock AMD cooler.

Either of those two hard drives will outperform your older hard drives. Plus, you can now find a 1.5TB or 2TB hard drive for less than $100.

If you develop an urge for gaming, the HD 5770 is a very good choice for gaming on your monitor. However, new video cards from AMD (formerly ATI) are coming soon, so you may want to wait on that.

Keep in mind that prices aren't static; there's a very good chance that the parts we recommend now won't be the same parts we recommend a month or two from now.
 
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My winter break is right before new year's. And tiraides thanks a lot this helped a lot more than I expected. You want me to get an AMD processor? I was hoping for an Intel. and when do you think new AMD video cards are coming out? Also, I don't plan on overclocking.
 
Assuming that Photoshop is the most resource-intensive task/program you'll use, the quad-core Athlon II X4 640 would be more beneficial for your needs than the Core i3 with the integrated (equivalent to Intel onboard) GPU or the dual-core Core i5. You could go with the more powerful quad-core Core i5 750 or i5-760, but a system built around one of those two processors could easily exceed your $550 if you're not careful. Since a quad-core Core i5 processor doesn't come with an integrated GPU, and the onboard Intel GPUs suck compared to AMD's (which are based off the same Radeon GPUs used in its video cards), you'd also have to factor in a $40-$50 video card to handle graphics.

The Hyper 212 Plus allows your CPU to run cooler and is quieter than the stock AMD CPU cooler. However, it's not really a necessity.

The new AMD video cards are supposed to arrive within the next few weeks. At the latest, we should see them by Black Friday.
 
Ok. I WILL need to buy a new video card right? Can this motherboard support good video without a video card? And what video cards should I get once Black Friday is out? What is the difference between the video cards that are already out compared to the new AMD video cards that are coming out, is it a big difference?

How come this AMD processor type computer is a lot cheaper than intel's? Why is AMD cheaper? Also, I have a 1 TB external hardrive, could I base everything off of my external hard drive and just buy a basically cheap internal hard drive just to save money or would it be better to guy a regular sized(500gigs) internal hard drive? I like everything you've suggested it has made my life a lot easier. Also, I want blue light out of my case will i be able to do that because I saw my friend's and his case is amazing.

Thank You
 
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If you go with my suggestions, you won't need a separate video card as the board that I picked out for you comes with an onboard GPU.

If you want a video card, wait until the reviews for the new AMD 6-series video cards come out. I can't pinpoint the exact date or time that the cards (or the reviews, for that matter) will arrive.

For years, AMD has priced its processors for less than Intel's, which are generally more powerful in comparison, to create the best price/performance ratio out of the two. For raw power, however, Intel is still generally recommended. That said, since price is the priority and Photoshop benefits from multiple CPU cores, I chose the quad-core Athlon II over the Intel Core i3 and Core i5 options.

I recommend buying the 500GB Samsung F3 hard drive in addition to the rest of the parts that I recommended earlier. It's much faster than your current internal hard drive, and it's a better deal than smaller capacity (320GB or less) hard drive.

I'm not going to research which case uses blue LEDs right out of the box. You should also ask your friend which case he's using, as well as whether or not he changed out the LED on his own.
 
If you want a video card, wait until the reviews for the new AMD 6-series video cards come out. I can't pinpoint the exact date or time that the cards (or the reviews, for that matter) will arrive.
Click to expand...

Um, yesterday? :)
 
Well, now... I guess you're right.

If the reviews are true and the new HD 6850 and HD 6870 cards are designed to compete with the HD 5850 and GTX 460/470, then my advice is to stick with the HD 5770 if you plan on gaming. Unless you plan on performing the majority of your gaming on your HDTV, the 5770 is more than enough for your monitor's resolution.

Again, you don't need a new video card if you stick with my earlier processor/motherboard recommendation and gaming isn't on the horizon. If you're curious about the costs on an Intel option, here are two examples:

$199 - Intel Core i3 550 & MSI H55M-E23 combo

$298 - Intel Core i5 760 & Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 combo
$41 - Sapphire 100291L Radeon HD 5450

Compared to the AMD setup from earlier, the Core i3 setup gives you a dual-core processor and inferior integrated graphics, whereas the Core i5 setup gives you a better processor and a discrete video card for over $100 more.
 
K thanks. One more question:

The HD 5770 is an amazing graphics card! Will the GPU that'll come with the processor/motherboard be a fine? Or will videos lag a lot if I want to watch HD videos?
 
AMD's onboard GPUs are capable of playing HD videos; IIRC, Intel's onboard (motherboard) GPUs struggle with HD video whereas the Core i3 integrated GPUs can play it. However, I don't have much hands-on knowledge with onboard/integrated graphics, so you may want to perform some follow-up research.

Before I forget, I just found out that the newly arrived 6850 and 6870 are designed to replace the 5770 and 5830; the 6-series "replacements" to the 5850 and 5870 (known as the 69xx cards) are to arrive in another month or two.
 
are to 'replace'? meaning the HD 5770 won't be sold anymore and the 69xx will replace them instead? So basically I have a month or two to decide if i want the HD 5770 or not?
 
o3dwade said:
are to 'replace'? meaning the HD 5770 won't be sold anymore and the 69xx will replace them instead? So basically I have a month or two to decide if i want the HD 5770 or not?
Click to expand...

5770 series will be replaced by the 6770 at a later date. You will still be able to purchase 5770s.
 
o3dwade said:
are to 'replace'? meaning the HD 5770 won't be sold anymore and the 69xx will replace them instead? So basically I have a month or two to decide if i want the HD 5770 or not?
Click to expand...

The 68xx series cards merely replace the 5770 and 5830 as primary options for gaming. The 5770 and 5830 aren't going away any time soon.

Again, for emphasis, if you go with the AMD processor/board combination I recommended earlier, you won't need a dedicated video card for HD video playback. The HD 5770 was recommended for gaming on your 19" monitor, but only if you plan on primarily gaming on that monitor (if at all).

There's really no need for you to complicate matters. The AMD setup a better for your needs as the quad-core processor will help you with Photoshop, the onboard GPU is capable of HD video playback, and the build as a whole is a considerably cheaper option than the Intel "equivalent." The only add-on that I'd recommend is one of the two hard drives that I suggested earlier.
 
I don't plan on buying it until in the next month or two but I will let you guys be informed. I'll most likely go with your suggestions for the AMD processor
 
o3dwade said:
I don't plan on buying it until in the next month or two but I will let you guys be informed. I'll most likely go with your suggestions for the AMD processor
Click to expand...

Please come back then with a new build list. This is because prices and combo deals can change every two weeks.
 
I would suggest you get a completely new system except for the optical drives. Since you are on a rather low budget, I would suggest either
1. buy a refurbished/used system off hard/craiglist/ computer manufacturer's outlet
2. get a complete combo from the online dealers such as this one

Hope that helps
 
Or 3) go with my suggestion in post #9.

I'm against a barebones system in general because the bulk of the parts chosen aren't very good -- especially the PSU, if they include one.

Buying anything from either our FS/FT forum here or Craigslist is a crapshoot if you don't do your homework beforehand. Or, in other words, caveat emptor.

While I'm not against going with a prebuilt system from, say, Dell or HP, I recommend buying one that's on sale. However, the sales have been hit-or-miss lately, and even when they're not, you'd still have to shop around to ensure you find something similar to what you ultimately want.
 
gaconlonton177 said:
I would suggest you get a completely new system except for the optical drives.
Click to expand...

Maybe so. But if the optical drives have a PATA (IDE) interface instead of a SATA interface, the OP might run into a chance that the new motherboard would have no IDE ports at all. And the IDE-to-SATA adapters are now no longer cost-effective since they are all priced too close to a new SATA optical drive for comfort.
 
Hey its me again, long time since I've posted something up about my computer. I havn't bought the parts yet, but I've decided to go on with the process and start buying the parts for my computer. I've decided to buy the AMD Athlon II X4 640 & Asus M4A88T-M combo computer w.o. the graphics card. Once again, thank you for all your help guys
 
Are you buying parts this week or can you wait a couple of weeks? Some of the prices have changed since October and the good combo deals expire this weekend.

Has your budget increased since your OP?
 
I was about to, but I wanted to know what you wanted me to do. And yeah I'm willing to spend up to $600 or $700 if I have to. I'd like to be able to watch HD movies, and fast video play with high quality. I've had a job lately and I've been saving up and yeah its been more than 2 months lol but now I have the time to build one. I can definitely wait a few more weeks. Could I still go with the AMD processor? My friends tell me its not as great as Intel. Should I get Intel instead now then?
 
Since it's been a while, I have a few follow-up questions:

How much at most (including shipping and taxes) are you willing to spend on this build?

What will be the primary role of this system? Secondary?

Do you plan on purchasing a new, larger monitor within the next six months? If so, what?

Do you still have that legit, unused copy of Windows available for this build?
 
At most, including shipping and handling is 700 dollars and all the taxes includes. My Windows 7 is legit, and I dont plan on buying but I have a 24-25 inch at home and I'm going to use that one instead. My role of the system is for me to be able to search things up and do my homework, multi task, watch movies in HD, watch streaming videos. It is basically a family computer and a main computer thats going to stay in our house. Main thing I want for it is speed. I would like to not overkill my computer. I also want a reliable computer, and if it is reliable would I turn to Intel or AMD?
 
ignore that multi task link there, no relations. And I would prefer to pay 400-500.
 
alright. I have all my stuff set up I just need to order the pieces. The total is $450 including everything, but I just want to make sure if its all I need. I don't want to buy a part and have to return it because it doesn't work or it isn't what I've expected. What I have in my shipping cart on Newegg.com is

-COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-BWN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case($40)
-SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive($55)
-ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard($100)
-Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W Continuous Power ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply($54)
-G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL($50)
-AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX($106)
 
Your build list is fine. To save some more money, look for a NewEgg combo deal or two and pick up some cheaper DDR3 RAM.
 
alright. I have all my stuff set up I just need to order the pieces. The total is $450 including everything, but I just want to make sure if its all I need. I don't want to buy a part and have to return it because it doesn't work or it isn't what I've expected. What I have in my shipping cart on Newegg.com is

-COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-BWN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case($40)
-SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive($55)
-ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard($100)
-Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W Continuous Power ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply($54)
-CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL($50)
-AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX($106)
-COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus($30)
 
There are some things wrong with that list:
- The RAM is stated as a Corsair but the model number belongs to G.Skill. So what RAM did you actually choose?

- Your price for the 640 is off as well: It's $100, not $106.

- At $203 shipped, that CPU + mobo setup seems a little pricey for the performance offered. I recommend this combo deal setup instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.613757
 
Sorry about the RAM mixup, heres my new model.

-CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMV4GX3M2A1333C9

And I've just changed my model to the combo you've suggested. What is the difference besides the max RAM usage? I know the combo has maximum 8gb ram being used, but the one I had before had 16gb and I'm fine with that. Is there anything else I might need?
 
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