I have already bought parts for two new builds...

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E4g1e

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...for someone who is a relative of one of the owners of the pizza business. He needs two PCs that he will buy off of me once I finish building them.

Here are the answers to the questions (as applicable to him):

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mainly for Web surfing and listing multiple items on auction sites
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
N/A. Most of the parts had already been purchased. If purchasing a case and an optical drive, about $100.
3) Where do you live?
Chicagoland area
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
One case, possibly an optical drive
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
PC #1 (almost completed, except for a few software tweaks):
Intel i3-2100
4 GB Patriot DDR3-1333 RAM
1TB Seagate 7200.12 SATA drive
SATA DVD burner
(Onboard Intel HD 2000 graphics)
Intel DH61CR motherboard
Cooler Master Elite 341 case (pulled from my auxiliary editing system)
Antec EarthWatts EA-380D Green PSU

PC #2:
Intel i7-920
6GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600 C7 RAM
1TB Seagate 7200.12 SATA drive
512MB GeForce GT 240
Intel DX58SO motherboard
Antec EarthWatts EA-650 PSU
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Unknown
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
One PC already built. I just need a case and an optical drive on the second PC. Will be purchasing those last two parts tomorrow.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
N/A. Already have the motherboards.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 64-bit


PC #1 listed above shows how one can get a $410 complete self-built PC without it being totally crappy. (Sure, the H61 chipset is a stripped-down version of the H67 chipset that allegedly did not suffer the same problems with SATA 3.0 Gbps reliability as its bigger brothers in their B2 stepping. But for the lower price, I can't complain.) Also, it was the very first time I have ever gotten my hands on a self-built system with an IGP; my previous builds have always had discrete GPUs. Though I would have loved to get a quad-core CPU, budget constraints precluded this (I don't really trust AMD quad-core CPUs that may perform slower than this dual-core, quad-threaded CPU). The hard drives in both systems are carryovers from my previous builds.

PC #2 consists largely of parts left over from my now-dismantled auxiliary editing PC.

I just want to ask Danny and others if I made the right call.
 
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Well you know more than me about hard drives so I'm gonna defer to your judgement on that. As for the CPU + mobo platform itself, it's a good call. Outside of certain usage scenarios which haven't been stated at all so far, there is in fact a good chance that the Core i3 2100 will outperform the AMD Phenom II 955 in the usage scenarios described. Not to mention that the Core i3-2100's significantly low power usage and relatively low running temperatures should make things a tad easier when it comes to system longevity and electricity bills.
 
Thanks, Danny.

While I picked out the parts, I nearly picked up a Cooler Master Elite 343 mATX case until I realized that it is a step downwards from the Elite 341 it's replacing: While the older 341 had the provision for two 120mm fans (of which the rear fan was included and preinstalled), the newer 343's rear exhaust could only accommodate up to a 92mm fan (the front intake fan on the 343 is 120mm). Both of those cases come supplied with a single 120mm fan (the second fan is optional).
 
E4g1e said:
While I picked out the parts, I nearly picked up a Cooler Master Elite 343 mATX case until I realized that it is a step downwards from the Elite 341 it's replacing: While the older 341 had the provision for two 120mm fans, the newer 343's rear exhaust could only accommodate up to a 92mm fan (the front intake fan on the 343 is 120mm).
Click to expand...
I wonder what CM was thinking when they put that 92mm fans there.
 
Today I picked up a Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX case and a $20 LG SATA DVD burner.

The Elite 430 is a slightly nicer case overall than the Elite 335 it replaced in Cooler Master's case lineup. It comes stock with a window on the left side panel, blue LEDs around its stock front fan (though I had to supply a rear fan separately) plus provisions for two 120mm top fans. The rear mount can accommodate fans up to 120mm.

Roominess-wise, both cases are about equal: They are somewhat cramped, but their cable management features are of significant help. But for about $40, I can't really complain.

Two drawbacks to thie 430: There are not enough toolless drive locking brackets (only two 3.5" hard drive type, two 5.25" and one 3.5" floppy type), and the expansion card area is no longer screwless (although I could have used thumbscrews for the cards).
 
Compared to other case manufacturers, Cooler Master is a bit more "generous" when it comes to tool-less features on its sub-$60 cases. But I'm somewhat surprised that there was a front-mounted fan when most "cheap" cases normally come with a rear-mounted one.
 
I am here again...

I am reluctant to part with my i7-920. I have been thinking of selling that Core 2 Quad Q9450 that's currently in my secondary Internet-surfing build instead. Although I might get nearly as much money for that CPU as I would the i7-920, I'm not sure how much I could get for some of the other core components.
 
You are getting a fair price for that Core 7 920 right from your friend right?
 
Danny Bui said:
You are getting a fair price for that Core 7 920 right from your friend right?
Click to expand...

Actually, I am scouring other sites to determine what might be a fair price.

And instead of the GT 240, I temporarily have a Radeon HD 4850 in that i7-920 rig. I might change this to an HD 5770 that I currently have in my Internet rig and downgrade the GPU on the Internet rig itself (since I have not been gaming at all).
 
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Well why are you reluctant to part with the i7 920?
 
The i7-920 is worth keeping as the X58 chipset offers more memory capacity and more PCI Express lanes. For an "outdated" piece of hardware, you'll have more long term options with it.
 
Thanks. After all that I have decided to part with the i7-920 (and put the HD 5770 in that system) - and use the proceeds from selling both the 920 and the new i3-2100 build to upgrade the existing Internet system's Q9450-based build to an i5-2400 or 2500K and an H67 or Z68 mobo.
 
I am updating this because the would-be buyer is backing out of the i7-920 deal (the finished build is too expensive; he's still buying the i3-2100 system). So, I decided to go with my alternative plan: Sell him the Q9450 parts, and keep the i7-920 parts. The Q9450 CPU would fetch me almost as much money right now as the i7-920 CPU, but the rest of the parts for the Q9450 are significantly less expensive.
 
Sucks that the deal fell through, though I'm somewhat surprised that the buyer is willing to buy your Q9450 setup and still pursue the i3-2100 system.

Could you tell us what he plans on doing with the Q9450 build?
 
tiraides said:
Sucks that the deal fell through, though I'm somewhat surprised that the buyer is willing to buy your Q9450 setup and still pursue the i3-2100 system.

Could you tell us what he plans on doing with the Q9450 build?
Click to expand...

Same thing. Mainly to put up multiple auction listings, plus Web surfing. Same purpose as the i3-2100 system.

And the deal for the 920 fell through because he did not want to pay more than $1,000 total for both builds combined. So I managed to swap motherboards, CPUs and RAM - plus, I decided to put in the GT 240 into the build that I am finally selling.
 
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Update:

It turned out that the second of the two DIMM slots was bad on the particular DH61CR board that I got. Off to return the board tomorrow morning for possible exchange.
 
E4g1e said:
Update:

It turned out that the second of the two DIMM slots was bad on the particular DH61CR board that I got. Off to return the board tomorrow morning for possible exchange.
Click to expand...

Injust got back from exchanging a "defective" motherboard - and the replacement board did the exact same thing: It locked up with messed-up video with both DIMM slots filled. So I pulled out two of the three Corsair DDR3 memory modules from my now-secondary i7-920 system, and guess what? They worked flawlessly on the i3-2100/DH61CR system! That means that the original set of Patriot DDR3-1333 Sector 5 RAM was faulty.

Off to get new RAM anyway since it was past their return time period.
 
So you're gonna RMA those Patriot RAM after picking up its replacements?
 
An update on the not-yet-finalized sale of these components:

It looks like I will be selling both my Q9450 and my i7-920 systems instead due to the falling price of the components (especially RAM). And since the secondary system is now doing nothing but Web surfing, I will most likely keep the i3-2100/H61 build with onboard graphics. Besides, I now need a new monitor for the main i7-2600 system (the existing four-year-old LG can no longer power on, and repairing that monitor would have cost more than the monitor is worth). I will use part of the proceeds towards a new monitor for the main system.
 
I will be starting a new thread on what was originally an i3-2100 Web-only build for someone else that I'm now keeping since the deal fell through when the buyer ran out of money after he became unemployed. The details of the build will be in the new thread.

By the way, many of the core components of the other two platforms (an i7-920/X58 and the Q9450), but not all, have been sold separately to other buyers.
 
Yes, please, Danny. This particular topic is closed.
 
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