My Budget Build.

[GooG]

Wanted to keep it under 500 with decent parts.

Main Purposes, General Websurfing, Picture editing, DvD Burning (dvd to dvd) Gaming (Battlefield Games, CS ect, also d3 when it comes out )


I have an 80gb IDE hard drive that i will use for now along with a copy of windows xp office.

Heres what i came up with.

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-04 - OEM $47.98 (2 of them)

ASUS M2N-E AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $89.99

OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $43.99

COMBO: $81.99
Thermaltake SopranoRS VG7000BWS Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition Processor Model ADO5000DSWOF - Retail

COMBO:$139.98
EVGA 512-P2-N757-TR GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RP-550-PCAR 550W ATX from factor 12V V2.01 Power Supply - Retail




Total With Shipping: $439.79

- Rebates...
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$25.00 Mail-in Rebate

=359.79

I will soon buy a new monitor, keyboard, speakers and monitor!

What Do you guys think?

 

[Toaster Oven]

You can do a lot better with $500 budget.


Intel Pentium E2180 $70
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L $90 + $8 shipping
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $44 + $6 shipping - $25 MIR
Diamon Radeon HD4850 with 5% coupon $176
Antec NSK6580 with Earthwatts 430W PSU $55 + $12 shipping
Samsung SH-S203B x2 $58

Total Shipped: $519
MIR: -$25
Final Total: $494


The E2180 will overclock to around 3.2Ghz and will be around 20% faster than an overclocked X2 5000+ BE. Radeon HD4850 is waaaaaaaay faster than the 8600GT. No comparison at all. That system will let you play games at very high settings for a long time. Also, I know you want dual DVD burners. But I would drop one and use the cash saved to upgrade your CPU to an E7200. The HD4850 is so fast even an overclocked E2180 may start to bottleneck it. For best burning results you'd want to rip to HD first anyhow.

 

[GooG]

You can do a lot better with $500 budget.


Intel Pentium E2180 $70
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L $90 + $8 shipping
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $44 + $6 shipping - $25 MIR
Diamon Radeon HD4850 with 5% coupon $176
Antec NSK6580 with Earthwatts 430W PSU $55 + $12 shipping
Samsung SH-S203B x2 $58

Total Shipped: $519
MIR: -$25
Final Total: $494


The E2180 will overclock to around 3.2Ghz and will be around 20% faster than an overclocked X2 5000+ BE. Radeon HD4850 is waaaaaaaay faster than the 8600GT. No comparison at all. That system will let you play games at very high settings for a long time. Also, I know you want dual DVD burners. But I would drop one and use the cash saved to upgrade your CPU to an E7200. The HD4850 is so fast even an overclocked E2180 may start to bottleneck it. For best burning results you'd want to rip to HD first anyhow.

is the performance really going to be that much better to where the final total is 130 more?

just curious?

might just buy it in two batches.

 

[engiNURD]

Don't count your chickens before the eggs are hatched. Rebates aren't guaranteed.

FYI, thats a black edition CPU that needs a CPU HSF -- it doesn't come with one. If you decide to stick with AMD, get the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro.

I used an ASUS M2N-E in a build probably 2 yrs ago, or so, and it had problems booting RAM that wasn't spec'd for 1.8v, so be aware of that. While the problem should have been fixed by now on both ends (mobo and ram), I've still run into the issue on newer AM2 boards.

Performance on the 5000+ will be better at stock speeds, but once you OC BOTH CPUs, the E2180 will outperform the 5000+.

While that is a killer combo deal for the AMD CPU and Soprano case, the PSU you've chosen is so much worse than the Antec EA430 that the Antec Combo would be a much better buy, along with the E2180.

I agree with everything Toaster said.

...Also, I know you want dual DVD burners. But I would drop one and use the cash saved to upgrade your CPU to an E7200. The HD4850 is so fast even an overclocked E2180 may start to bottleneck it. For best burning results you'd want to rip to HD first anyhow.

QFT. I highly agree with this part. The E7200 would give you even more performance for your dollar.

 

[Toaster Oven]

is the performance really going to be that much better to where the final total is 130 more?

just curious?

might just buy it in two batches.

Take a look at this chart along with all the others found in that review. You can see HD4850 is on average 4-5x faster than 8600GT, with the gap increasing at higher resolutions and settings. There really is no comparison between the two setups

 

[GooG]

what about a 8800gts and a e7200?

 

[Itchyeyes]

what about a 8800gts and a e7200?

e7200 is a good processor for its price, but I think it might be pushing your budget a bit if you want to stay under $500. 8800gts is overpriced now IMO. Go with an 8800GT instead. It's a better value and fits your budget better too. If you're wanting to step up from that get an HD 4850. Definitely don't get that 8600GT if you plan on doing any gaming.