EggXpert

Hey~ Its me again =D

Just a quick question... I want the base computer to cost around 700 (inc. tax/shipping), and was thinking of putting in a tv tuner (ATSC and the old one)... while having a pretty high amount of memory to record =)

Do you think I should buy it off newegg? Or do you think I should go on ebay and bid on one and hopefully win one? (This One)

So far, this is my build... Rig 2

jsv35,

First, very good information, thank you for taking the time to put it together and keep it up.

Since I think my MOBO is dying or going flakey, I would like to build another system, saving what I can.  I am looking to use your $700 budget machines as a starting point.  I want to try to keep my case, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc.   I was looking at just replacing the MOBO/CPU and GPU, however, I am thinking my thermaltake 450W won't be up to the task.  I mostly just play Everquest and occasionally an older Doom.  I normally play with my Hitachi 21" monitor at 1280 x 1024 or less but would like to go to 1600 x 1200.

I have some questions that I am hoping I can get answered here before I make my final selections for your review:

1. From reading different posts I think that the SLI or Crossfire technology would not benefit me in anyway, correct?

2. What O/S is recommended?  I have been using XP SP2/3 for years and it is extremely stable now.   I have read a lot of horror stories about Vista and the drivers/stability issues.

3. Is there any reason to go 64 bit over 32 bit?  For example is the ability to handle whatever memory you can throw at a 64 bit worth the stability issues that might be encountered vs the stabile XP that can handle 2+ gigs

4. I believe there is only 1 or 2 games that are multi-threaded now.  While I know you don't have a crystal ball what are your thoughts on the rest of the games recoding for this, time-wise, i.e., should I even consider quad core now since I would not be using it at present?

5. As I mentioned above I guess my current PSU will not be strong enough.  The Ant4x 650W PSU is the recommendation for the $700 systems.  If I can afford it should I go higher and how much higher (if at all)?

Thank you in advance for any ideas.

jamorama:

Hey~ Its me again =D

Just a quick question... I want the base computer to cost around 700 (inc. tax/shipping), and was thinking of putting in a tv tuner (ATSC and the old one)... while having a pretty high amount of memory to record =)

 

Do you think I should buy it off newegg? Or do you think I should go on ebay and bid on one and hopefully win one? (This One)

 

So far, this is my build... Rig 2

 

I would focus on newegg.com - You get great CS, fast shipping and dont have to worry about dealing with so many different sellers.

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Sneekysnake:

jsv35,

First, very good information, thank you for taking the time to put it together and keep it up.

Since I think my MOBO is dying or going flakey, I would like to build another system, saving what I can.  I am looking to use your $700 budget machines as a starting point.  I want to try to keep my case, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc.   I was looking at just replacing the MOBO/CPU and GPU, however, I am thinking my thermaltake 450W won't be up to the task.  I mostly just play Everquest and occasionally an older Doom.  I normally play with my Hitachi 21" monitor at 1280 x 1024 or less but would like to go to 1600 x 1200.

I have some questions that I am hoping I can get answered here before I make my final selections for your review:

1. From reading different posts I think that the SLI or Crossfire technology would not benefit me in anyway, correct?

2. What O/S is recommended?  I have been using XP SP2/3 for years and it is extremely stable now.   I have read a lot of horror stories about Vista and the drivers/stability issues.

3. Is there any reason to go 64 bit over 32 bit?  For example is the ability to handle whatever memory you can throw at a 64 bit worth the stability issues that might be encountered vs the stabile XP that can handle 2+ gigs

4. I believe there is only 1 or 2 games that are multi-threaded now.  While I know you don't have a crystal ball what are your thoughts on the rest of the games recoding for this, time-wise, i.e., should I even consider quad core now since I would not be using it at present?

5. As I mentioned above I guess my current PSU will not be strong enough.  The Ant4x 650W PSU is the recommendation for the $700 systems.  If I can afford it should I go higher and how much higher (if at all)?

Thank you in advance for any ideas.

Hi and thanks for the compliments!

1. I think that a quality SLI/Crossfire is out of your budget, and it sounds like you wouldn't benefit too much from it.

2. I recommend moving on to Vista, most of the driver problems were very early on in Vista's life and it is fine OS and the logical step with a new system in my opinion.  No one that I've built a computer with has had a problem with Vista.

3. I think unless you know that you will need a 64bit OS that its pretty much a toss up, do some reading on it and determine if you think that ~512mb of ram is really important to you.

4. The tendency right now is to have higher clocked dual cores and lower clocked quad cores at the same price points.  Right now I think that unless you're planning on overclocking the quad core to atleast the same speeds or higher, dual cores are the way to go.

5. It never hurts to have a more powerful PSU than what you need, check out my sig for my overkill/future-proof PSU that I got while on sale.  650W is really quite a bit and is more than enough to handle any quadcore and single GPU setup.  If the Antec EA650 is not on sale any more, there are other options as well that are around the same power or more.  Take a look at the Corsair 650TX as well.

If you've got any questions make sure to post back or PM me!  Good luck!

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Samsung 320gb is also discontinued...

Hey! What do you think about this build?

My Build

Google and Youtube are helpful in your situation, otherwise check out the A+ Hardware Support section of the forum.

Jamorama, that looks like a fine, well balanced build.

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good morning. This is a great thread by the way i am going to build my first pc and I think i'm going to go with this build here you suggested

$500 Budget (AMD)

SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Model

GIGABYTE GZ-X2 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3H AM2+ AMD 780G ATX Motherboard

Antec Basiq 500W Power Supply

WD Caviar SE16 500GB Hard Drive

G.SKILL 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 Dual Channel Memory

AMD Phenom 8650 2.3GHz AM2+ 95W Triple-Core Processor

One of these GPUs:

MSI GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 Video Card

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4830 512MB GDDR3 Video Card

I had one question. What other case would you suggest I use that has a nice glow to it and a see through side!!  Also I need a OS what would you suggest putting on this? and could I use this for gaming? And would you suggest changing out any parts since I plan to order this today.

thanks,

Geremy

Here are some cases that are relatively cheap, but they are all going to be more expensive than the Gigabyte one:

		APEVIA X-Plorer ATXB8KLW-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811144102	-$10.00	$59.99
		APEVIA X-DISCOVERY-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811144170		$69.99
		NZXT Alpha Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Open Window - Retail Item #: N82E16811146041	$25.00 Mail-in Rebate	$69.99
		Rosewill TU-155-P Black 0.8mm SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811147106	-$15.00	$39.99
		Tuniq 3 IC-TQ3-US-BK Black Aluminum front bezel, 0.8mm SECC chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811167001	-$10.00	$59.99

As for the OS I'd recommend going with Vista Home Premium, either the 32bit or 64bit.  The 64bit version will use all 4GB of RAM you install though, so that might be worth looking into.

If you're interested in the NVIDIA card, here is alternative since the MSI is deactivated at the moment:

		EVGA 512-P3-N971-TR GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail Item #: N82E16814130397	$20.00 Mail-in Rebate	$114.99

The Sapphire doesn't have a variable speed fan, so it might be louder than the EVGA card, though with such a cheap case and PSU you're already not going to have too quiet of a case, but for me my video card is the loudest piece in my build easily.

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Hey, my mom's computer had some old problems (actually it was mine, she loaned me her heatsink fan). Now that I'm looking to spend Jan getting it up and running, she's gotten used to my Vista 64 bit and is looking for some new hardware.

I figured I'll keep the processor and power supply (2.6ghz Athlon 64 X2 and Corsair 450VX) and the IDE combo drive and scrap everything else. Her old IDE combo drive is pretty darn fast for an IDE, so I think I'll leave that for her. However, her old mobo is horrible, I will be replacing that with a newer model. If onboard graphics works out fine, I'll just leave that for her. Her old IDE combo drive is pretty darn fast for an IDE, so I think I'll leave that for her. I'll be giving her a new Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro to cool her processor.

I will be using your 400 dollar budget build for everything else, JSV. Only thing is she wants to skimp 10 dollars and get a 320GB Caviar SE16.

Is this going to work? Please advice before I pull the trigger.

Antec 900 case

Antec EA650 650W Power Supply

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2HP AM2+ AMD 780G Motherboard

G.SKILL 2 x 2GB DDR2 1066 Dual Channel Memory

AMD Phenom 9950 2.6GHz AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor

EDIT: Trigger pulled. Stand by for report. report = ok it works

 Hey jsv35 nice guide! im planning on building my first rig to hook it up on my 40" 1080p lcd, im planning on playing blu ray and some basic gaming (counter-strike, wc3, etc). Can you shed a light on this build?

Update		Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - RetailModel #:Three HundredItem #:N82E16811129042Return Policy:Limited 30-Day Return PolicyIn Stock Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$69.95	-$10.00 Instant	$59.95
	Update		GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - RetailModel #:GA-EP45-UD3PItem #:N82E16813128358Return Policy:Limited 30-Day Return PolicyIn StockMail-in Rebate Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$136.99		$136.99
	Update		ASUS EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - RetailModel #:EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512Item #:N82E16814121272Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn StockMail-in Rebate Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$169.99	-$5.00 Instant	$164.99
	Update		AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe ATSC/NTSC/QAM TV Tuner Card (White Box)w/L-P Bracket 7 95522 96058 0 PCI-Express x1 Interface - OEMModel #:7 95522 96058 0Item #:N82E16815100015Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn Stock Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$89.99		$89.99
	Update		CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - RetailModel #:CMPSU-650TXItem #:N82E16817139005Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn StockMail-in Rebate Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$159.99	-$60.00 Instant	$99.99
	Update		Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - RetailModel #:BX80562Q6600Item #:N82E16819115017Return Policy:Processors (CPUs) Return PolicyIn Stock Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$189.99		$189.99
	Update		Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EACS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEMModel #:WD10EACSItem #:N82E16822136151Return Policy:Limited 30-Day Return PolicyIn Stock Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$104.99		$104.99
	Update		LG Black Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA Model GGC-H20L - RetailModel #:GGC-H20LItem #:N82E16827136133Return Policy:Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return PolicyIn Stock Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$129.99	-$15.00 Instant	$114.99
	Update		Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEMModel #:AS5-3.5GItem #:N82E16835100007Return Policy:Consumable Items Return PolicyIn Stock Note (Add) Save   Cancel	$5.99		$5.99
	Update		ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - RetailModel #:CNPS9700 LEDItem #:N82E16835118019Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn Stock

should i get a e8500 instead of the quad core? will it playback blu ray smoothly, and lastly for the os, should i go 32bit or 64bit, thanks for your time

Er... I would get an E7300... since that is already very fast (even faster if overclocked), and quite cheaper than the quad core.

 For the blue ray, i remember seeing that there was a lite-on one was like 75 bucks or so... you should look it up.

Everything else seems to look fine... but double check just to be sure.

I love advising people to use this thread to start out, but it really is "outdated" a lot especially when considering the fluidity of Newegg's prices...

I would love to see a wiki-like structure to this thread where other users can make changes; it would surely improve the quality.

Slmclarengt