Reccomendations for a budget system

[Zyzzyva100]

The frankenstein system that I built my girlfriend 2 years ago is finally starting to die, and I really have no idea what the problem is. Its really not worth trying to fix, but some of the parts are salvagable/going to be sold off.

So, with that said, I want to spend between maybe 400 and 500. Onboard lan and onboard sound that will at least be as good as the old soundblaster live gamer card that she currently has. Her currently system is an athlon xp 1.4 gig processor on a POS iwill motherboard. So heres what we can keep from the system:
-2x 256 meg pc 2700 ram (corsair or kingston, its good ram, so if it passes memtest86, I would like to reuse it)
-52x cdrw
-4x dvd-/+ rw drive (gave it to her after I bought a dual layer burner)
-sound blaster live gamer (if the onboard sound isn't going to be any better)
-A bunch of new fans that I have 80 and 120 mm
-she also has a 15 inch lcd, some logitech 2.1 speakers, nice mouse keyboard, etc

So, I need a processor, motherboard, video card, hard drive and a case/psu.

So, reccomendations? I just built a high end socket 939 system, so Im not really up to speed on budget stuff. The system will really only be used for normal college student stuff, and maybe some very light gaming, but nothing more than a modern laptop could handle. Anyway, who has some ideas?

I was thinking an 80 gig sata drive from hitachi (70 bucks), sempron processor maybe? Antec budget case? Im not really sure, so thats why I need some help here. We start classes tomorrow, and her computer went from not really working, to totally screwed today.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chelica]

This Motherboard:
AN35N-Ultra

Any cheap AMD CPU that you can afford. Can prolly get a retail package that comes with a HSF.

One of those Solution series Antec cases that comes with a PSU. Should spend no more than $80 bucks on the Antec case and a 350 Antec PSU.

At least 512MB of PC3200 Ram. If not, get 256 for right now and get another 256 later to run in pairs.

80GB Hard Drive that you can afford. I don't really like Hitachi these are the new IBM Deathstars, should go for Samsung or Seagate.

For Video card is really up to you and your budget.

 

[Zyzzyva100]

That shuttle motherboard sounds like a great deal. Yea, the hitachi drive may not be the best idea, and since the board does't have sata, so I will just go with a cheaper pata drive.

I guess now I just need to see if that mobo will take a sempron processor, and since they are 333 fsb, I should just be able to reuse the ram.

 

[Dark Assassin]

I'd say even go for less of a pricetag with integrated video, audio, and LAN capabilities. I am building two new systems for someone and I'm using the Biostar M7NCG 400 as the backbone of these systems. I'm really hesitant to use Biostar since I've almost never heard a single good tally regarding their components, but I can't find the Asus A7N8XVM-400 anywhere anymore, so I'm forced to look elsewhere.

Here are the specifications of the budget systems that I'm attaining:

Biostar M7NCG 400 motherboard
Crucial PC 2700 DDR RAM (512 MB)
Maxtor 40 GB IDE Hard drive
Dynapower mid-tower case with 430 Watt PSU
Athlon XP 2200+ retail processor
NU Technology CD-RW/DVD ROM combination drive

All for an extremely modest price, as price was the name of the game over performance. Hope that adds some insight. If anyone knows about the motherboard at all, please share your personal experience.

Dark Assassin

 

[Zyzzyva100]

Ok, so here is what I have planned out, any final thoughts from anyone?

-AMD Athlon XP Barton 2600
........or -AMD athlon XP Tbred 2800
-Abit NF7-S v2
-2x 256 meg corsair value select pc3200
-eVGA fx 5500 128 meg 128bit
-WD 80 gig sata drive

That right there comes out to about 400

I am getting her a descent looking case, tigerdirect and peformance-pcs have some nice cases with good psu's for around 100.

So, my only real question now, is it worth going with the barton core over the tbred core? For about the same money I could get a slightly faster tbred, but I also plan to overclock a bit with a nice slk heatsink I have left over.

 

[SJetski71]

Ok, so here is what I have planned out, any final thoughts from anyone?

-AMD Athlon XP Barton 2600
........or -AMD athlon XP Tbred 2800
-Abit NF7-S v2
-2x 256 meg corsair value select pc3200
-eVGA fx 5500 128 meg 128bit
-WD 80 gig sata drive

That right there comes out to about 400

I am getting her a descent looking case, tigerdirect and peformance-pcs have some nice cases with good psu's for around 100.

So, my only real question now, is it worth going with the barton core over the tbred core? For about the same money I could get a slightly faster tbred, but I also plan to overclock a bit with a nice slk heatsink I have left over.

Barton>Tbred despite mhz difference. Since you're willing to oc then get a mobile Barton XP2200+, raise the fsb to 166 or whatever ram can handle then jack up the mulitplier too. It's cheaper, runs cooler, and oc's better than a standard desktop barton. You'll also have those oc options in the cheaper AN35N ultra so you may want to consider it.

Is the FX5500 better than a 9600 non pro?