Need suggestions for building a comp for < $1000.00 w/o monitor (Results)

[Ice_Berge_00]

Hey guys, so as the topic said I'm going to be building a replacement for my parents computer which is quite old. The requirements aren't too steep, basically has to run XP Pro, Office, Quicken deluxe and basic comp stuff.

 

No gaming requirements (parent's PC remember), but I do want to build something that won't need to be replaced or upgraded (at least not significantly) for the next 5 years or so (considering I live 350 miles from them) and will still perform well towards the end of that timeframe.

 

The bad news is I'm on a little bit of a time crunch in that I want to start ordering parts by end of day Thursday Since there old comp is having severe problems and they need a comp).

 

I was wondering if anyone can offer suggestions that would keep the price under $1000 but get the most bang for buck. I haven't been following processors much over the past couple years so I'm not sure what the better deal is for that price range.

 

Basically the components I'm looking at are:

CPU

Mobo (specifically not integrated video)

RAM (2 GB)

Video Card

HD

Case (mid tower, w/ or w/o window, don't care really, but needs decent cooling)

DVD burner 16x or greater

 

 

Plus if anyone has suggestions about stuff to lean towards or keep a HUGE distance from I'd appreciate that as well Preferably I'd like to stick with newegg as I've used them a number of times before and know them to be reliable, but I'd also be able to hit some stores locally as well.

 

A couple main questions I have are:

1) AMD or Intel? Generally as I understand it for high end Intel unquestiongly, but mid range I'm not sure on

1a) Also what are the rough equivalents here? exa. a Core 2 Duo 2.83GHz ~= AMD Athlon xxx ?

2) DDR2 or DD3? I've seen a number of mobo's that are DDR3 lately, should I be looking for DDR3 specifically?

 

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer

[ZeroDamage]

It is late so I will look at your post more thoroughly in the morning and toss out a recommendation for you.

[Kruten]

Without the monitor or anything and for those purposes, $400-$500 would get a decent system.

[anonymo]

GB P35 Motherboard 79.99

Intel C2D E6550 2.33Ghz w/4mb cache 169.99

Corsair 2x1gb DDR2 49.99

EVGA 8600GT 512mb DDR2 109.99

WD 250Gb 7200RPM 16Mb Cache HD 59.99

Antec Case 89.99

Lite-On BluRay Player/Burner 399.99

 

Total = $959.93

 

And you put in a BluRay Player/Burner!! Holy crap! Good luck not keeping this for yourself and giving your p-rents your old beater! haha!

 

I just found some of the cheapest half decent components I could find...I'm sure someone else will provide a better planned system, but this gives you a good idea of the cost...cheap!

 

Stick with Intel (unless someone knows something I don't) there isn't much from AMD that compares...(they are cheaper for dual cores but I hear the performance just isn't there on the low end AMDs)

 

DDR2 should last your folks for a long time (unless they get into StarCraft2 or something lol!)

[ZeroDamage]

While I do not have the time at the moment to spec one up for you, I would consider an AMD system if money is a concern and gaming is not a factor. The cpu's and mobo's are cheaper. You can ditch the blueray player and get just a dvd-rw. If in a year or two they want a blue-ray player, then get one at that time as they will be much cheaper then than they are now. good choice on case, ram, and hard drive.

[[LaW]Maverick]

Here's what I'd Build:

 

Antec Solo Mid-Tower: $79.99 ($30.00 MIR bringing it to $49.99)

Seagate Barracuda SATA 250GB: $69.99

Gigabyte P35 Board:: $89.99

2 GB DDR2 1066 Crucial Ballistix RAM: $89.99 ($20.00 MIR bringing it to $69.99)

CoolerMaster Real PowerPro 550W Power Supply: $99.99 ($20.00 MIR bringing it to $79.99)

E6750 Core2Duo @ 2.66 ghz: $189.99 (will OC up to 3.4 easily)

ASUS DVD RW/CD RW Drive w/ Lightscribe: $31.99

XFX 8600GT OC'ed: $109.99 ($30.00 MIR bringing it to $79.99)

 

Total before taxes/shipping: $731.92

After MIR: $631.92

 

This is a bit more powerful than previous suggestions and has enough juice to last in terms of how I think you're thinking. Hope this helps!

 

Edit: If you have any questions as to why I picked a particular item over another, lemme know.

Edited February 6, 2008 by [LaW]Maverick

[mookie]

Is there a reason you guys would drop $80 after MIR on a video card for a non-gaming PC? I think I'd just use this. Similarly spending $50 on a case plus $80 on a PSU after MIR seems a bit over the top.

[Ice_Berge_00]

Thanks guys, I'm looking at those now. Question though Mav, I noticed you don't have a mobo listed there, were you thinking to use the same one that annonymo had suggested?

[mookie]

For the chip it might be more practical to get one of the cheaper Semprons that are listed at only 45W, or the newer Celerons (Conroe) that are listed at 35W. I'm guessing you're expecting to find the old computer completely caked with dust on the inside, and probably expect no different for the future. Don't forget thermal paste. Just about any CPU you can find should be fast enough.

 

Can't go wrong with that 250GB Barracuda.

 

Mav did list a motherboard, it's a P35.

[Ice_Berge_00]

ah you're right, I must have missed it. Sorry I've been on the phone while reading this all here helping them get my brother's old (er) comp running for the time being. I'd like to get the most I can for the price limits in terms of performance, so I'm not sure I want to go to a celeron. I did notice that people are commenting on Newegg that the e6750 overclocks very nicely.I'm thinking to go with the stock cooling for the fan unless there's a real bad need to get something higher performance. Right now I'm not planning to overclock it. Of course I assume that it comes with a stock heat sink/fan.

[mookie]

In the retail box they should all come with the heatsink and fan. OEM not.

[Fatty]

DIdn't read above....but aren't a couple people (M2 and preacher) from our community selling systems for like 800 bucks?

[Ice_Berge_00]

Any comments on going with this 32 MB cache drive instead of the 16 MB Seagate?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148309

 

I'd prefer to see people having bought and reviewed it but it must be a very new drive.

[mookie]

Barracuda ES2 is for servers really. Save yourself the $10 I'd say.

[dragonfly]

It is, and there's prolly not much difference to performance (I'd expect). I just bought a WD 500GB myself, and have only heard good things about the 500GB Seagate, which also has 32mb cache. Might wanna check it out.

[Ice_Berge_00]

DIdn't read above....but aren't a couple people (M2 and preacher) from our community selling systems for like 800 bucks?

 

That's ok, I'm very comfortable building my own, kinda prefer it, but I haven't been following computer components lately and value any input everyone can offer. Seeing as we have a few members that know quite a bit about this.

[Ice_Berge_00]

So far I've determined the Motherboard, CPU and HD. Deciding on the RAM and Video here now.

 

I went with the E6750 CPU, P35 GB Motherboard and Seagate 7200 16GB drive.

[Ice_Berge_00]

Looking at this possibly for video card. They really don't need anything heavy duty, but I want to be able to run Vista (or the next OS afterwards) if necessary in the future.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814143104

 

I'm gonna put XP Pro on it for now. This seems like a good deal after the rebate and doesn't use shared memory either. I've used BFG before on my current computer and have had good experience with them before. Not to mention their HQ is within a few miles of where I live.

[Clueless]

I personally have had problems with BFG...as in 2 DOA's right out of the box...I love eVGA, great product and support. Just my opinion from experience

 

Usually all have a lifetime warranty also!

[Ice_Berge_00]

I had just the opposite, my eVGA card had issues from nearly Day 1. My friend bought a BFG around the same time, nearly same card in fact. He did have 1 problem after some time. They did the replacement ASAP for him and he actually got a free upgrade out of it since they no longer made his model.

 

I replaced my eVGA with a BFG after about 15 months of fighting with it and haven't looked back since.

 

I'm probably premature for wanting to stay away from eVGA after 1 card but I don't think I'd be comfortable going with them for this PC.

 

Plus BFG has a lifetime warrenty whereas eVGA was only 2 years.

[[LaW]Maverick]

My BFG treated me right, and my 8800 GTX can easily be manually overclocked to Ultra speeds....

 

The reason I picked the graphics card I did was because it was inexpensive and you still got decent power. Just because they're not going to game doesn't mean that future iterations of things like Vista won't slow down a very low-end card. The more your processor has to compensate for a lack of graphical power, the slower the overall system goes. That, and you said under 1k, so I got reasonably below that while still maintaining some juice under the hood.

 

XFX also has a limited lifetime warranty like BFG and eVGA

 

Edit: I ALWAYS avoid turbo-cache cards. I allow no video card to share my onboard RAM, the overhead of managing that slows down the entire system even when not gaming. You want something to last 5 years, put a dedicated card in there.

 

Oh, and no problem on the help, we're always here for ya'!

Edited February 7, 2008 by [LaW]Maverick

[Ice_Berge_00]

I agree about the video for shared vs dedicated. My laptop has shared and I'm not very fond of it.

 

One thing I'm still debating is to go with the power supply in the case I picked ( i did go different from the ones you guys recommended) or to buy a separate one still. There seems to be a lot of people that recently ran into issues with it. The case is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811156062

 

I'm thinking a thermaltake power supply 420 newegg has for 27.99 after rebate (1600 reviews and 5 eggs still), I ended up getting a 8500 vid card and BFG recommends 300W or greater so I think I'd be safe with that.

[Ice_Berge_00]

The power supply I'm thinking of replacing it with is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817153023

Note quites as high as what comes in the case but it should still be good enough based on the hardware I have (BFG 8500 GT) and the Gigabyte P35 mobo linked in your post above.

[[LaW]Maverick]

I think you'd probably be fine with that. I was only suggesting the 550 so that they could slap higher end hardware in there in a few years if they needed to. However, I think you're good with the 430 Thermaltake, and Thermaltake makes great PSU's.

[Bewildered]

If you're going to buy a separate psu, I'd buy a case that doesn't come with a throw away psu.

 

Like this one. I've built two machines with this case, and I really like it.