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Upgradeable computer for 400

P

P!rate

Move Like a MoFo
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Messages
6,073
Hey all, so i have a good deal on selling my laptop for 400, and since i don't want to be without a computer for a month, I'd like to have one thats customizable, as in, motherboard with sli/crossfire capability, ability to switch from dual core to quad core, and also extra RAM slots.

Not sure if this is possible, but if so that would be awesome, i make a decent amount of money and would be able to buy new parts soon, but hit a car the other day and need the cash i have right now to go towards that. Anyways, thanks and here it is ;)


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, web browsing, pretty much anything anyone would do with a computer + gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
400, yes they are included, can go like 5-10 over but no more then that
3) Where do you live?
Northern Virginia, near microcenter/bestbuy
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Need motherboard/ram/cpu/psu/harddrive/case ((don't need a big harddrive right now, have an external))
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Reusing 9600gt, monitor (benq), keyboard/mouse
6) Will you be overclocking?
Later on in its life yes, not a big deal right now
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24" 1900x1200
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Pretty soon, around a week or so
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire?Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Cross/sli support possibly, if it doesnt blow up my budget
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
w7 ultimate

But yes, upgradable would be awesome, my last comp had a crappy motherboard, and for that had trouble updating without having to blow 500 dollars for mobo+ram + part i wanted to upgrade.. anyways thanks a lot!
 
motherboard - 173 - Foxconn A9DA AM3 AMD 890GX - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.436766
ram - 57 - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231185
cpu - 000 - AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz - Combo with motherboard
psu - 95 - Antec NEO ECO 620C - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.432096
harddrive - 55 - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
case - 000 - Antec VSK-2000 - Combo with PSU

Shipped total is 373.. Also while you could technically squeeze out a 2x2gb kit into budget I went with a faster 2x1gb kit since you said you would eventually be overclocking & That way later add a 2x2gb kit & give you 6gb of ram with overclocking headroom instead of still having to buy the 2x2gb & only ending up with 4gb..
 
gwarren007 said:
I would go with this mobo combo instead:
GA-790XTA-UD4 / Regor 250 - $185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.436572

Cruical 2gb ram 1333 $46.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148221
Click to expand...

The mobo CPU combo is fine other then being so much more for a lesser chipset. I Honestly dont think that its worth the price difference though. As for the ram, the downgrade for the ram is a crap move since if going to OC later it would need to be replaced, not just added to.. When you take that change into account to keep the above combo under budget you end up paying more like 90 dollars difference for the motherboard & its definitely not worth that.
 
Thank you so much guys this helps a lot! I'm selling the laptop tomorrow and will definetly do this. Would you say there are any parts i can look in the hot deals section or something to save money and get a better quality or higher performance part? I'm thinking RAM or hard drive, i guess i could look at that more by myself. I've always had help picking mobo/RAM when building desktops and never completely understood them, i should really get on that.

Also, what would be my next purchase after this? Upgraded gpu?
 
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P!rate said:
Thank you so much guys this helps a lot! I'm selling the laptop tomorrow and will definetly do this. Would you say there are any parts i can look in the hot deals section or something to save money and get a better quality or higher performance part? I'm thinking RAM or hard drive, i guess i could look at that more by myself. I've always had help picking mobo/RAM when building desktops and never completely understood them, i should really get on that.

Also, what would be my next purchase after this? Upgraded gpu?
Click to expand...

Yes your next upgrade should be a GPU. Come back to us when you have a set budget and we will recommend you the best card for the price.
Current GPU recommendations:
$100 and below - 4850 at 95-100$ / 9800GT at 80-90$
$150ish - HD5770
$200ish - GTX460
$300ish - HD5850
$400 and above - 5870 or GTX480 if you can handle the heat/power.

As for the Motherboard and Ram compatibility it's not too difficult to understand. Here is a quick guide for say... the AM3 socket.
Motherboard:
If the chipset says G in it then it has onboard video. (Ex: 880G, 890GX)
800 series is the newest chipset that "usually" has support for usb3.0 and sata6.
The numbers relate to the features that a chipset will have. Ex: an 890 will have more features than an 860 chipset.
890FX is the top of the line chipset for AM3 and usually supports full x16/x16 crossfire.
Gamers who aim for using a single card can really benefit from the 770/870/880 chipsets as they are usually cheap but have all the features of the more expensive motherboard but lack fully capable crossfire support.

RAM:
For AM3 you are running dual channel DDR3 memory. You want to aim for DDR3-1333 or above. You should prefer memory that runs at 1.5v but 1.65v is ok (but again, aim for 1.5v). Timings shouldn't really matter to the normal user as someone won't notice the difference between 7-8-7-24 or 9-9-9-24. If you have the choice between equally matched voltage and frequency ram, choose the lower frequency only if there is little to no price difference (it is faster, just not exactly noticeably faster).
I prefer G.Skill and Corsair for memory, although most memory manufacturers still have decent stuff.

Hope this helps!
 
Shadowssong said:
Yes your next upgrade should be a GPU. Come back to us when you have a set budget and we will recommend you the best card for the price.
Current GPU recommendations:
$100 and below - 4850 at 95-100$ / 9800GT at 80-90$
$150ish - HD5770
$200ish - GTX460
$300ish - HD5850
$400 and above - 5870 or GTX480 if you can handle the heat/power.

As for the Motherboard and Ram compatibility it's not too difficult to understand. Here is a quick guide for say... the AM3 socket.
Motherboard:
If the chipset says G in it then it has onboard video. (Ex: 880G, 890GX)
800 series is the newest chipset that "usually" has support for usb3.0 and sata6.
The numbers relate to the features that a chipset will have. Ex: an 890 will have more features than an 860 chipset.
890FX is the top of the line chipset for AM3 and usually supports full x16/x16 crossfire.
Gamers who aim for using a single card can really benefit from the 770/870/880 chipsets as they are usually cheap but have all the features of the more expensive motherboard but lack fully capable crossfire support.

RAM:
For AM3 you are running dual channel DDR3 memory. You want to aim for DDR3-1333 or above. You should prefer memory that runs at 1.5v but 1.65v is ok (but again, aim for 1.5v). Timings shouldn't really matter to the normal user as someone won't notice the difference between 7-8-7-24 or 9-9-9-24. If you have the choice between equally matched voltage and frequency ram, choose the lower frequency only if there is little to no price difference (it is faster, just not exactly noticeably faster).
I prefer G.Skill and Corsair for memory, although most memory manufacturers still have decent stuff.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
That actually helps a ton thank you very much! And i guess for the rest like cpu compatibility for mobos you just look it up online? There's nothing technical you need to match up?
 
P!rate said:
That actually helps a ton thank you very much! And i guess for the rest like cpu compatibility for mobos you just look it up online? There's nothing technical you need to match up?
Click to expand...

Well for AMD its fairly simple.

AM3 cpu's will work in AM2+ sockets, but AM2+ cpu's will NOT work in AM3 sockets. All you have to do is just match up the sockets.

Intel is quite a bit more confusing...

For LGA1366 (X58 for motherboards), you can choose from the i7 920/930/940 blah blah and above.

For LGA1156 (P55 or H55 which has onboard video for CPU's that support it) you stick with the i7 860, i5 750, and all the i5/i3's below that.
 
Ok thank you so much shadowsong, helps a lot, really had no idea before haha. Thanks :)

I have 50 dollars to spend and a keyboard to buy, what should i do? Spend like 10 bucks on a keyboard and the rest on something else to uprade? thankss
 
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enginurd said:
Find a keyboard you like and pray its less than $50, lol.
Click to expand...
Found one for 7 dollars ;).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.432072
^ Is this much better then the above psu/case? and is it compatible? I can spend up to 45 dollars more and would like to spend it on the case/psu as I didn't see too many great reviews of the above listed cases.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.429137
Or that?

Or just a separate case/psu, preferable a case with good cable management
 
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Avoid the rosewill stuff all together. That case might not be bad but I don't trust any of their psu's.

Personally I would go with this case/psu setup (non combo)
$70 - CM 690 II
$50 - Corsair CMPSU-400CX 400w PSU
-----------
$130 ($110 after rebate, if you care about that)

The only thing about that is that the psu limits you to about an HD5770 as the highest GPU you can get (without replacing the psu). Not to say it isn't a good psu, its great, especially for a 400w, but it does have its limits. The next step up PSU wise would be the Antec Neo Eco 520w for $70.
 
 
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You could save some money and go with this combo:
$124 - MSI 785GM-E51 AM3 Mobo + Athlon II X2 245
and with the money you save you could bump up to 4GB of ram:
$82 - G.Skill DDR3-1333 4GB (2x2GB)

Only thing is that mobo doesn't support Xfire. Only reason I suggest it is because I have never really heard many good things about foxconn mobos, on the other than MSI is a very reputable vendor. So 4gb of ram or the ability to xfire, kinda a choice to be made there.

Up to you though, I'm sure that foxconn mobo will be fine if you do choose it.
 
Shadowssong said:
You could save some money and go with this combo:
$124 - MSI 785GM-E51 AM3 Mobo + Athlon II X2 245
and with the money you save you could bump up to 4GB of ram:
$82 - G.Skill DDR3-1333 4GB (2x2GB)

Only thing is that mobo doesn't support Xfire. Only reason I suggest it is because I have never really heard many good things about foxconn mobos, on the other than MSI is a very reputable vendor. So 4gb of ram or the ability to xfire, kinda a choice to be made there.

Up to you though, I'm sure that foxconn mobo will be fine if you do choose it.
Click to expand...
That actually looks really good thank you, Is there any difference between having a miniATX or ATX? And doesn't that mean i can save money on a case by getting a miniATX?

For example, so im thinking of getting your ideas for the miniATX and ram, and then
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16811144140
or more likely
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16811112222
^ straight niiiceee
 
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Well the mATX doesn't support dual card solutions and inherently has less slots, but otherwise no. The MSI mobo is an older chipset (785g vs 890GX) but it would still perform just as well.

You could get a mATX case but theres really no great ones out there, and just because they are smaller it doesn't mean its going to be cheaper. That 690 II is a great case, especially for the price.
 
Shadowssong said:
Well the mATX doesn't support dual card solutions and inherently has less slots, but otherwise no. The MSI mobo is an older chipset (785g vs 890GX) but it would still perform just as well.

You could get a mATX case but theres really no great ones out there, and just because they are smaller it doesn't mean its going to be cheaper. That 690 II is a great case, especially for the price.
Click to expand...

Yea it looks like a great case but i guess i just love miniATX cases. My friend has one and looks really cool. I also realized i probably don't need crossfire or sli, i'd prefer just buying a new GPU rather then buying two of them haha, and doubt i would need that much power. But would i have to be worried about gpu size if i bought a miniATX case? Considering i bought the cubed ones.
 
Shadowssong said:
Yeah you'd have to worry about that too. The 690 II has plenty of space.
Click to expand...

Ok then i will get that :), thank you very much for the help, ill probably order later on tonight after completing it and double checking here :)

For the PSU i'm trying to get a psu with removable cables, so i don't have unneccesary ones, is this a good/bad idea?
 
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P!rate said:
For the PSU i'm trying to get a psu with removable cables, so i don't have unneccesary ones, is this a good/bad idea?
Click to expand...

Only real bad part is that it generally costs more money for a modular PSU:
$88 - Silverstone DA650 650W PSU
 
P!rate said:
Ok then i will get that :), thank you very much for the help, ill probably order later on tonight after completing it and double checking here :)

For the PSU i'm trying to get a psu with removable cables, so i don't have unneccesary ones, is this a good/bad idea?
Click to expand...

Like Danny said, it just makes it cost more, and when you are on a budget its not worth it. The 690 II also has good cable management so you shouldn't have a problem hiding your unused cables.
 
Shadowssong said:
Like Danny said, it just makes it cost more, and when you are on a budget its not worth it. The 690 II also has good cable management so you shouldn't have a problem hiding your unused cables.
Click to expand...

Haha youre making me really want a 690. For LANs you don't think a cube shaped box would be better? Sorry for the relentless question asking but i've made bad decisions in the past buying stuff and don't want to repeat :)

edit: nvm, loooked online and don't want to bother with small form cases, have enough to do without having to worry about size :)

still... a miniATX case is like 100 with a 500w PSU, and here im paying 80 for case + 80 for psu, is there any way to bring that down some?
 
Last edited:
P!rate said:
still... a miniATX case is like 100 with a 500w PSU, and here im paying 80 for case + 80 for psu, is there any way to bring that down some?
Click to expand...

I'm willing to bet you're looking at an Apevia or something similar as I'm not aware of any mATX case that comes with a decent 500W PSU for $100. Apevia makes/bundles/brands/selects some of the worst PSUs in the world. Link to the case you're looking at?

However you can go with a cheaper case like this:
$50 - NZXT M59 ATX Case

And drop the PSU down to this:
$65 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
 
Okay as it is now, just cut down the PSU a bit and go it to have removable power cords, or modular i guess.
And yes Danny Bui I was looking at that and after seeing the horrendous reviews i steered clear :)

81.99 RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253
59.99 PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016
123.98 MOBO http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.444390
0.0 CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.444390
54.99 Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
69.99 Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215
0.0 Video Card ((9600t that I have already))

Total = 395.77
Budget = 430

Anything i can change that would be beneficial and not over my limit? And is my psu just as good as your suggestion or worse/better?
 
P!rate said:
Okay as it is now, just cut down the PSU a bit and go it to have removable power cords, or modular i guess.
Click to expand...
The Cheapest quality modular PSU was that Silverstone that I linked to earlier

P!rate said:
And yes Danny Bui I was looking at that and after seeing the horrendous reviews i steered clear :)
Click to expand...

Kinda figured :)
 
Shadowssong said:
Only reason I suggest it is because I have never really heard many good things about foxconn mobos, on the other than MSI is a very reputable vendor. So 4gb of ram or the ability to xfire, kinda a choice to be made there..
Click to expand...

Every heard anything good about any Intel Boards? Foxconn probably made it (atleast within the last few years). Downside to Foxconn is that there US support leaves a little to be desired.. Then again so does MSI, ASUS & to a lesser extent Intel.
 
Danny Bui said:
The Cheapest quality modular PSU was that Silverstone that I linked to earlier
Click to expand...

So 2nd guessing you on PSU's is probably off base, but what about these..

56 shipped Antec Neo Power 500 500W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
62 shipped Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 Modular Active PFC Power Supply
55 shipped (w/ promo ending today) Antec NeoPower 650 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
 
bastage said:
So 2nd guessing you on PSU's is probably off base, but what about these..

56 shipped Antec Neo Power 500 500W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
62 shipped Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 Modular Active PFC Power Supply
55 shipped (w/ promo ending today) Antec NeoPower 650 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Click to expand...

The last one looks awesome! Waiting for Danny to answer then my build is complete and I'm buying it, nothing you see out of the ordinary or that i'm missing?
 
Don't get the bp, they are not as high of quality as the neo eco, earthwatts or true power series from antec.
 
bastage said:
56 shipped Antec Neo Power 500 500W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
62 shipped Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 Modular Active PFC Power Supply
55 shipped (w/ promo ending today) Antec NeoPower 650 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Click to expand...

The Neopower 500W is a 5 year old Seasonic design. It was a good design but after 5 years, the quality has more than likely degraded. So not a good idea.

The Antec BP5550 is a low-end Delta design but low-end Deltas have been shown to have be pretty crappy and not exactly capable of providing their full wattage. So I can't recommend this PSU until there's a proper review of it.

The Neopower 650 is an excellent buy. I'd get that.
 
Danny Bui said:
The Neopower 500W is a 5 year old Seasonic design. It was a good design but after 5 years, the quality has more than likely degraded. So not a good idea.

The Antec BP5550 is a low-end Delta design but low-end Deltas have been shown to have be pretty crappy and not exactly capable of providing their full wattage. So I can't recommend this PSU until there's a proper review of it.

The Neopower 650 is an excellent buy. I'd get that.
Click to expand...

Alright then i guess im done building it, going to buy it then build in a couple days when parts get here :).

thank you very much for all the help guys!

sorry one last question, for this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215 is there any way i can tell how many fans i should buy? Some places say it comes with 3 fans or 2, some say there are 10 available spots, are they all the same size??

Think i found it, just going to get 3 120mm fans extra.

Lol have another question, do i need to buy thermal paste or does it come with cpu?
 
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P!rate said:
The last one looks awesome! Waiting for Danny to answer then my build is complete and I'm buying it, nothing you see out of the ordinary or that i'm missing?
Click to expand...

Everything should work fine, But I personally try not to buy a component that I can see that I will want to replace.. that being said if it were me with that budget I would get the Foxconn (review) with the Faster g.skill ram (2x2gb kit) to leave the overclocking & Crossfire options open without having to replace either piece.
 
Danny Bui said:
The Neopower 500W is a 5 year old Seasonic design. It was a good design but after 5 years, the quality has more than likely degraded. So not a good idea.

The Antec BP5550 is a low-end Delta design but low-end Deltas have been shown to have be pretty crappy and not exactly capable of providing their full wattage. So I can't recommend this PSU until there's a proper review of it.

The Neopower 650 is an excellent buy. I'd get that.
Click to expand...

this is why I asked.. Danny is the lord supreme of PSU's

edit: Sorry for the double post..
 
P!rate said:
sorry one last question, for this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215 is there any way i can tell how many fans i should buy? Some places say it comes with 3 fans or 2, some say there are 10 available spots, are they all the same size??

Think i found it, just going to get 3 120mm fans extra.
Click to expand...
Yeah three should be enough.

P!rate said:
Lol have another question, do i need to buy thermal paste or does it come with cpu?
Click to expand...

Comes with the CPU.
bastage said:
this is why I asked.. Danny is the lord supreme of PSU's
Click to expand...

I'm actually a vassal compared to the PSU experts I know of :D
 
Thank you so much everyone! Threw in an optical drive, mouse + keyboard, and total at 446 :). Thanks alot again!
 
P!rate said:
Alright then i guess im done building it, going to buy it then build in a couple days when parts get here :).

thank you very much for all the help guys!

sorry one last question, for this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215 is there any way i can tell how many fans i should buy? Some places say it comes with 3 fans or 2, some say there are 10 available spots, are they all the same size??

Think i found it, just going to get 3 120mm fans extra.

Lol have another question, do i need to buy thermal paste or does it come with cpu?
Click to expand...

You don't NEED to buy any extra fans for it. It comes with 2 fans (rear exhaust and front). You can put many extras in it (2 side, 2 top, 1 bottom, another on the HD cage, small one behind the mobo[worthless]).

What fans did you choose? Fan's vary more than any other part of a computer (some are shitty while some are great).

And no you don't need paste, the stock cooler comes with paste pre-applied.
 
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