Poor economy build help

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sparky3009

Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
530
Haven't built a computer in a while, and i sold my last desktop over the summer so I haven't really been paying attention to the whole hardware thing. Last news I hard, Phenom was having a hard time getting off, and was getting a lot of negative feedback for the forums. I guess AMD was having some problems getting the 65nm proc's released. Anyways I'm wanting to build a new computer used mainly for research, a small amount of WoW, and just a little farting around with networking. (running it as a gateway, stuff like that)

Anyways, I don't need all the components... Just mobo, proc, ram, hdd, maybe a psu, and a few misc parts (fans).

Requirements:
Affordable (#1 bottleneck, as usual)
Minimum 1Gig ram
Want onboard video for now, and at least 1 pcie slot for expansion later (dont want to budget in a vid card)
Don't want anything thats already obsolete (no 939 pin proc/mobo's)

I want it to last me a good 2 years with relatively minimal upgrades (no mobo swaps), and I think 2x2gig max mem will last until then, even though I'm not getting that much now.

Here's what I came up with....

AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor - Retail New arrival, Athlon 2.7GHz Black Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

ASUS M2N68-AM AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7050PV Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131342

Kingston HyperX 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104012

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148230

OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ400MXSP 400W ATX12V V2.2 Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341015

Grand total for that is $263.22

I was also looking at Intel proc/mobo's but couldn't find a processor that was relatively top-end in terms of performance that also met the 'under $100' thing I'm aiming for.

I found a mobo I'd rather use than the amd one above, but idk what I want for a processor then.....
XFX MG-63MI-7109 Motherboard - NVIDIA nForce 630i/7100, Socket 775, MicroATX, Audio, Video, HDMI, PCI Express, Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF, USB 2.0, SATA, RAID, DVI Support
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...?EdpNo=3517183&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

Anybody have any suggestions? Definitely not looking to go over $350, would LIKE to keep it under $300 but I guess I don't have to. I always set my price range and spend $50+ more than I budgeted for so I'll probably spend $400-$500, but you didn't hear me say that! :-O
 
sparky3009 said:
... I was also looking at Intel proc/mobo's but couldn't find a processor that was relatively top-end in terms of performance that also met the 'under $100' thing I'm aiming for.

I found a mobo I'd rather use than the amd one above, but idk what I want for a processor then.....
XFX MG-63MI-7109 Motherboard - NVIDIA nForce 630i/7100, Socket 775, MicroATX, Audio, Video, HDMI, PCI Express, Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF, USB 2.0, SATA, RAID, DVI Support
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...?EdpNo=3517183&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

Anybody have any suggestions? Definitely not looking to go over $350, would LIKE to keep it under $300 but I guess I don't have to. I always set my price range and spend $50+ more than I budgeted for so I'll probably spend $400-$500, but you didn't hear me say that! :-O
Click to expand...

As Danny mentioned, the E5200 outperforms many of the AMD parts. You can also OC it to around 3.6Ghz with good cooling. It will definitely reach 3.0Ghz with stock cooling, though.

What about that motherboard makes you want it so bad?

A $350 build is a lot different than a $500 build. Pick a #. :p
 
heres my 2 cents

AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition $77.99
ASUS M3A78-CM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780V Micro ATX $72.99
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $39.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $54.99
PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W $69.99 -$20 mir

Total: $315.95 - $20 mir + shipping.

That G.Skill ram will allow for some nice overclocking
the amd cpu will oc some ive seen over 3 gig
the mobo has 3100 series onboard video which can handle some light gaming nicely
pc&power cooling is one oft teh best psu companies.

GL!
 
The xfx I want because it's cheaper and I sort of want to get an Intel but I don't know enough about the cores out now to know what's worth buying and what isnt.

Im glad I asked about the PSU, because I can't tell how well it's made until I've used it for 6 months so that helps out a lot.

Hossdaddy, thanks for your input. That system looks much better than what I was looking at, and not a whole lot more. I'll probably end up going with the rig you mentioned unless someone has a 'better' suggestion. I'll look at changing the amd stuff with intel, but processor really isn't going to be the bottleneck with this system. I do a lot of file transferring between my home computer and my work computer (20gig hdd at work and I back it up over ssh to a linux box I setup for my dad).
 
The E5200, E7300, E8400, and Q6600 are all worth buying for low-midrange budget systems. Please answer Danny's question.
 
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