Super budget build

[grayprint]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Photoshop, web surfing, encoding, movie watching
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$350 shipped!
3) Where do you live?
CA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, PSU, MOBO, CASE, RAM, and 1TB HD.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
DVD burner, speakers, mouse, KB, monitor.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Maybe a little depending how time consuming it is and if the temps are good with stock cooler.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
22inch LCD.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
No time soon, just taking a look at the current options.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
USB, Onboard video, onboard sound, and onboard NIC.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yea still have an XP key.

Well so far I've picked:

CPU: E5200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

RAM: OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227269

MOBO: ASRock G31M-S
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157146

CASE/PSU: Rosewill TU-155 Black 0.8mm SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W ATX12V Version 2.2 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147001

HD: Hitachi 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233

Grand total: $320.87

 

[gregnash]

So I take it you will be running off the onboard video from the G31 board?
Other than that it doesnt seem like too bad a build. I would spend a little extra cash and go with a better HDD (either WD or Seagate) and a better Case/PSU combo (would personally go with a SFF but that is your choice).

 

[grayprint]

Yes I will be running off onboard. There will be no gaming on this system. There will be general xvid and dvd watching but the onboard should be enough no (forgot to add that in my first post; will add now)? As for HD, I'd like to get the WD Green just for lower heat and power consumption so hoefully when the time comes to buy there's a deal up for them

The case I'm not too worried about but the PSU I am. I would have a spare though if anything bad were to happen. What case/PSU would you recommend to keep me within my budget?

 

[Dangman]

The case I'm not too worried about but the PSU I am. I would have a spare though if anything bad were to happen. What case/PSU would you recommend to keep me within my budget?

Ummm, having a spare PSU won't help if A) your system is fried as a result of that piss poor Rosewill PSU or B) that spare PSU is also of low quality. One vital lesson of PC building: NEVER SKIMP ON THE PSU!

Anyway, here's what I recommend:
$92 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 CPU + OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 4GB DDR2 800 OCZ2N800SR4GK RAM combo
$55 - Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 AMD 740G mATX AMD Motherboard
$55 - Antec Truepower Trio 430W PSU
$35 - RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WU ATX Case
$92 - Western Digital 1TB Green Drive
------
Total: $331 plus tax and shipping

I got some of the parts from Amazon.com since Amazon.com does not charge us CA residents tax while Newegg does.

The X2 7750 is equal to the E5200. The mobo I chose above is of sligthly better quality than the mobo you chose. The PSU above is far superior to the Rosewill PSU (The EA430 is a Lexus compared to the Geo Metro like the Rosewill is).

 

[grayprint]

Thanks man. Point taken. Looks like an awesome build for the price

 

[DrFreeze]

how about basing this on the KPC from shuttle?

$ 99 AR: KPC k45 case/mobo/psu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101081
$69 intel e5200 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072
$34 AR 4gb corsair 1066 DDR2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145215
$95 Samsung 1 TB drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102

comes down to 297 after you get the rebates back, ~350 without the rebates.

This way you get a very small and nice little system, only downside would be the noisy PSU and no room for a standard DVD drive (but who uses optical drives these days? i only do for games, which isnt needed here)