Post your recomended budget rig!

[Deadly_Spatula]

Come one come all and post your budget rig. Make the rig under 600$ (excluding monitors, keyboards, etc.), just the hardware, and explain why you chose each part. i will pick the best 3 tonight at 9:00 o clock central time.

 

[Mabrito]

Ok here It goes:

Motherboard:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131529

Processor:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116200

Memory:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

Video Card:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150080

Hard Drive:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106

Total comes to $580.73

These are just the parts. I choose these parts, mainly because my friend got these exact same parts except the hard drive on his new rig. That new computer of his is rock solid, and quite fast! Now I didnt know if you need case and power supply, and that will bump you over $600. So in that case I would drop that ram for this ram:

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145477

and then get this case:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156002

That case is the case he brought on his new computer also. The only thing about that case is, that it doesnt have a good air flow system, because things get cluttered to easily on in that case. So you will have to do wire management. Also, we jimmy rigged another fan in there on the unused PCI slots on the back of the case

Then get this power supply:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153006

That total will be $577.66!!!

Hope this helps you on your decision.

One more thing, that heatsink Intel gives you is shit!!!

You might want to get this thermal paste:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835100007

and then this heatsink:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106048

But if you need a case and a power supply also, that going to bumb you over $600 a tab. But its well worth it.

 

[Nuc_E]

I'd go with a 939 A64 3000+ w/ NF4 Leadtek mobo combo from Monarch for $216.


Corsair Memory
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

PCI-E 6600
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=0-N82E16814139168

Seagate 80gig SATA
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148019

Lite-ON DL DVD+-RW
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=0-N82E16827106966

Antec Case with PSU
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129150


Total: $581.72 w/o shipping. With Shipping: $620.69.



The weak link in this config is the video card. The 6600 should give you performance just below that of a 9800 pro. The rest of the components are pretty solid with the Corsair memory, Seagate HD (5 yr warranty), Lite-ON DVD-RW, and Antec case with PSU. A quality case and PSU is vital. Antec is probably the top manufacturer of mainstream computer cases/psus.

If an optical drive isn't needed, you can ditch the Lite-On and bump the video card up to a PCI-E 6600gt.


This system should give you a lot of upgrade headroom with the 939 motherboard with PCI-E.

/EDIT Forgot to add that this includes HL2 and Farcry for free.

 

[Merithiel]

Lazy_Moron: If you go with an Asus motherboard you may as well get the ASRock ones since they are pretty much half the price of any other ASUS board and it is still made by ASUS.

 

[HvyMtl]

how Budget do you mean? What do you want it to do?

NON-gaming- surfing/light office werk budget rig recommendation:
Dell Dimension Desktop entry level pc - $299 plus ship and taxes -
2.4ghz Cel, 40gb hard drive, 256mb shared, 48x cdrom, onboard sound/vid, 90 warranty, 1 year tech support, keyboard, mouse, 17inch E773 monitor, and free 720 inkjet color printer
E-value code 03681-D50404
I'll add a parted- more gamer -system later mebbe

 

[Stoopid Guy]

OK then, this is my superduperbudgetcomputer attempt, A64 754-based:

Motherboard:
CHAINTECH SK8T800 Socket 754 VIA K8T800 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813152039
$59.00

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ / 512KB Cache / 1600MHz FSB / Socket 754 / Processor
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...b32V5Eq&siteid=0029226583&CMP=AFC-AFFIL&Tab=5
$129.99

Memory:
Premium 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400Mhz Memory 2-Pack (2 x 512MB) (PNY brand)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...=TC3A-1000&CMP=EMC-TIGEREMAIL&SRCCODE=WEM873C
$49.99

Video Card:
Leadtek Geforce 6800 128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - OEM
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122193R
$175.20

Hard drive:
Western Digital Caviar 120GB, 7200RPM, Internal EIDE Hard Drive, Special Edition
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=293303&pfp=hpf2&ref=cj&pfp=cj
$39.99

Case:
RAIDMAX ATX-228S Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156002
$22.50

PSU:
Antec TRUE430 ATX 430W Power Supply
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103908
$70.00

Optical Drive:
SONY Black 16X DVD+R 4X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131251
$49.99


Grand Total: $596.66 !!!

Okay then, now the explainations:

Motherboard:
Chose Chaintech because I've never heard anyone complain about them. I have a video card from them (NV 6800), and it works great. I chose Athlon 74 because of price, 754 because of MORE price.

Processor:
Well, already said why I chose 754. Chose 3400+ because it will last a good long while, will be decent at overclocking if you want to overclock it (but I did not design this computer to be overclocked!!! The motherboard is not so good at overclocking).

Memory:
Well, 1gb is always nice, PC3200 is pretty much required. PNY is good enough a brand, and it was cheap.

Video Card:
Leadtek's a solid name in video cards, good deal on refurb. 6800 is so much better than 6600 that there is no reason not to get it rather than a 6600.

Hard Drive:
Western Digital is top 2 with Seagate, it's a good brand. 80 GB is too small in my opinion, 160 is too expensive for a budget computer. IDE because SATA costs too much, I like the 120GB.

Case:
I have a Raidmax case now, and I like it. But to get the same case I have now would have gone 4 dollars over budget, so I went with this one.

PSU:
Hey, who doesn't like Antec? 430W should be enough for an OK level of overclocking if you get another motherboard later. It's ANTEC COME ON.

Optical Drive:
Sony is a good brand in just about everything. I like 16x DVD+R and DVD-R. It's one of the fastest drives, for a nice price point.


Looking at what I was able to put together here, I am embarrassed at how much I spent on my current computer back in October, even when I made it myself. ($1200ish for 3200+ 754, asus k8n-e, 6800, wifi card, samsung 8x dvd burner...)