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New Budget Computer Computer Challenge
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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27. May 2006 @ 11:16 |
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Ok computer experts. I have a suggestion/request. If anyone has the time and inclination, could you please do all the newbies a HUGE favor and post the absolute best possible PC someone could build with a maximimum budget of $1000. Please also include links that show where we can order - that way we can also see the price breakdown. Also please include the following...
1. Motherboard
2. Processor
3. Hard Drive (120 GB minimum, 250 GB preferable)
4. RAM (1 GB minimum - one stick for future expandability to 2 GB)
5. Case
6. Cooling system (fans, etc.) - must be quiet and power-efficient
7. Basic required accessories (DVD/CD burner is probably the only thing)
A 17" or 19" flat panel monitor would be a nice bonus. But I'd say spend the $1000 trying to optimize items 1-7. Also don't worry about accessories such as keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. We'll assume even newbies already have that.
There are TONS of questions that newbies have about building a PC and it's too overwhelming to try to be an expert on everything. So if some of you PC building experts could compile a list along with links for where to order, the newbies (myself included) could just buy whatever you lay out for us.
Let's also assume that this PC will be suitable for gaming (although it doesn't have to be top of the line...just good enough for Diablo, Age of Empires, Diablo, or whatever other common favorites). Case doesn't have to be flashy. Just quiet and power efficient.
THANK YOU!!!
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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27. May 2006 @ 11:20 |
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Let's just make it a little easier as well and assume we'll buy everything from newegg.com so it's a quick one-stop-and-shop order and we can also save on shipping.
Thanks so much!
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tocool4u
Suspended permanently
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27. May 2006 @ 11:50 |
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Senior Member
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27. May 2006 @ 11:52 |
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Intel C2D E8400|Asus P5Q Pro|Diamond Radeon HD 4850|WD 640GB SATA 2| Pioner DVR-215BK|2GB Corsair PC 6400| Corsair HX-520|Antec Three Hundred
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. May 2006 @ 14:55
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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27. May 2006 @ 12:02 |
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Yes, I see there is a thread on this...but it is a bit outdated, so I thought i'd start a new thread to raise some interest again.
Thanks for the post sukhvail. This is exactly what I was looking for and had in mind. Hopefully others will post similar suggestions as well. Very helpful.
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Senior Member
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27. May 2006 @ 12:48 |
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Intel C2D E8400|Asus P5Q Pro|Diamond Radeon HD 4850|WD 640GB SATA 2| Pioner DVR-215BK|2GB Corsair PC 6400| Corsair HX-520|Antec Three Hundred
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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27. May 2006 @ 13:13 |
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Sukhvail...
Thanks again. This is the original setup I was considering a couple months ago...
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor $357
ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard- $76
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB of ram (2 x 512MB) $66
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $75
eVGA 256-P2-N369-T6 Geforce 6600 256MB 128-bit DDR PCI Express x16 $99
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner With LightScribe $53
Do you suggest swapping any of these components with anything you've suggested?
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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27. May 2006 @ 13:27 |
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Sukhvail...
This site seems to have some great deals on custom PC's...
http://www.cpusolutions.com/html/index.htm
What do you think? This might be easier than ordering all the parts separately and having to build your own. Is there any one or two or three on this page that you think is especially good and a good value?
I was just looking at the gaming PC's, and they look pretty good and nicely valued as far as I could tell.
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Senior Member
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27. May 2006 @ 13:53 |
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your original build is alright but i would go for the am2 parts because it is the newest technology and for a comp for a grand, you want the newest technology in your computer. i see you had dual chanell ram in your previous build so i would go for something like this:
OCZ Value Dual Channel 1024MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory (2 x 512MB)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details....
the computers on that site wont be able to come close to the one you will have with the parts i suggested.
Intel C2D E8400|Asus P5Q Pro|Diamond Radeon HD 4850|WD 640GB SATA 2| Pioner DVR-215BK|2GB Corsair PC 6400| Corsair HX-520|Antec Three Hundred
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Member
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28. May 2006 @ 11:59 |
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You can get a Geforce 7600GS for $99 right now.
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Senior Member
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28. May 2006 @ 13:00 |
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@ShBm - yo dude where from, cus im kinda looking for new upgrades all the time
The sig is back!
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Senior Member
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28. May 2006 @ 18:06 |
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wow that is a good price but the x1800xt will easily outperform that. it is supposed to be compared to some of the better models of the 7900
Intel C2D E8400|Asus P5Q Pro|Diamond Radeon HD 4850|WD 640GB SATA 2| Pioner DVR-215BK|2GB Corsair PC 6400| Corsair HX-520|Antec Three Hundred
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novicebb
Member
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28. May 2006 @ 19:26 |
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This is what I bought about 2 months ago.
Biostar Micro ATX T-force 6100 939 for $69 with 4.86 shipping
Western Digital WDC2500 250gb SATA-150 OEM harddrive 86.00 and 4.81 in shipping
2gb 2-1gb modules A-Data ADC PC3200 Dual Channel with red heatsink 139.99 with 4.81 shipping
Computer case with 3 80mm fans and four 5.25in bays and side window with lights on the side window and headlights in the front. Case has handle. really nice. Only thing I don't like about it is that it gets scratches and marks really easy. Plus it is cheap steal and plastic so when I clean it daily (because I hate dust) the colors of the case is fading. Reduce clean to once a week and still is fading. Case is by Lynksis 21.99 and 15.99 shipping
AMD San Diego Core 3700 1mb cache with stock heatsink and fan 213.00 free shipping
NEC ND-3550 Dual Layer DVD R+- opitcal drive 37.99 and free shipping
I have no graphic card since mobo has onboard graphic card.
MS XP professional SP2. OEM 119 plus free shipping
Total cost was about 740 dollars or so. Even with a 160 dollar graphic card and adding a 50 dollar fan and heatsink I shouldn't spend more than $950 dollars. Even with out the fastest fans or heatsink my cpu is overclocked to 2.4ghz with no adverse effects, temp is not more than 45 degrees c plus front side bus is sat 2040mhz and memory is overclocked to 404mhz. No hiccups or anything.
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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29. May 2006 @ 05:33 |
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Thanks novice BB.
How is the onboard graphics card? Good enough for gaming? Or would you recommend a separate mobo and graphics card?
Any chance you could send links for where you bought this stuff at those prices? Or at least just mention where you bought them from? I'll probably just order everything from newegg. I've bought from them before and had a good experience. Quick shipping and reasonable prices.
Thanks.
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Senior Member
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29. May 2006 @ 07:51 |
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@ sukhvail - yeh but doesnt the x1800 cost quite a bit more, plus i dont relly play games too often , i just want a ggraphics card which sounds cool plus is cheap and does a gud job when i do play games
The sig is back!
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novicebb
Member
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29. May 2006 @ 15:27 |
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To Dougisjc: Yes the onboard graphics is real nice but not enough for the advance gaming. Now for basic gaming it is good enough and the my dvd playback is awesome but if you are a gamer and like your bench marks I would suggest getting a graphic card. With the Biostar T-force 6100-939 MATX mobo that I have it supports up to 4gb of dual channel ddr and PCI-express x16 graphic card so when I am ready to upgrade I can. I got this board because of the case will be able to blow plenty of air around the components and because of its overclocking tools. Pretty damn good for a Micro ATX board. Plus it supports PCI expressx16. Now it only supports up to 2 SATA harddrives so I suggest you get one that is large enough for you liking which shouldn't be hard.
Oh with the price of my total computer I forgot to include the SATA 24pin Power supply. It is 400watts and very stable. 25.99 plus 6.99 shipping. Supports up to 4 SATA harddrives and has all the power connectors you can need. Now is this a gaming psu-no but for basic computing, adobe photo shopping and things like that it is great plus it is handling my system that is slightly overclocked.
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JaguarGod
Senior Member
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29. May 2006 @ 17:36 |
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novicebb
Member
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29. May 2006 @ 18:37 |
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I don't like the MSI board because it only has one PATA connection so it can only support 2 dvd drives and I am about to get another one so that will make four in all. I will wait till prices come down and till I get reports on how the AM2 is performing. That harddrive is a nice choice and memory is very good choice. Will wait till see what Nvidia and ATI next graphic card so I can get the last or next to last generation graphic cards at a much lower price.
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JaguarGod
Senior Member
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29. May 2006 @ 20:40 |
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You can try this Motherboard ($80):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128009
The cap on RAM is 4GB though. That is overkill now, but I suspect that Vista will have something to say about that...
As for the next gen video cards, you can take a look at current 3DLabs cards to get an idea of the features. Just note that those 3Dlabs cards are not meant for gaming and suck at it, so don't go out and buy one for that sort of thing.
The x800 series will not drop much in price, but the current series will. Not stuff like the 7900GTX or x1900xtx, but the ones like x1800xt and 7800GT. Look at the 5950Ultra and 6800 Ultra for an idea.
Yeah, those AM2 are very pricey. The FX one is over $1000 and the X2 are over $500. Within 2 months they should fall 10% or so, but the big drop should be around November when they are in every AMD store bought PC.
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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7. June 2006 @ 15:46 |
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Is this RAM a good deal?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141224
Not sure what kind of RAM is the best to buy. DDR2 SDRAM? Unbuffered? Number of pins? Not entirely sure what these things mean and what is best.
Thanks for your help.
Also...I'm looking into buying a flat panel monitor. I hear 17" monitors are actually better than 19 inch because 19 inchers try to fit the same number of pixels as a 17 inch, just within a 2 inch bigger screen. So the pixels are therefore bigger and the picture doesn't look as great.
That said....i'm trying to find the best possible 17" monitor under $200. Is 700:1 contrast ratio, 8 ms response time, and DVI pretty much the only essentials?
Thanks again friends.
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tocool4u
Suspended permanently
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7. June 2006 @ 16:54 |
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Your Motherboard will say what RAM it supports(DDR,DDR2..ect)And i would go with corsair Ram as my choice
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catchy
Newbie
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8. June 2006 @ 04:54 |
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ok i need a little help ive built a few pc's but that was a while ago and im not that good with knowing what to get.
Please can someone help. I want to spend about £400 pounds on a computer. What would people recommend i get i.e complete setup not including monitor,keyboard,mouse and speakers.
Also where to get it from. Ive always got my stuff from ebuyer.com, is this the best site or not?
Many thanks in advance
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