EggXpert

I'm glad that you've come across this then!  I find it fun and exciting helping others out with they're computer building decisions.

Well first off, that FX 5200 is no where near the leagues of today's video cards.  Dare I say that some onboard video solutions are better than that video card.  The naming schemes and be very confusing and deceiving and it not enough to merely go by just the name.  Basically, if you are interested in recent video games, then I highly recommend getting an ATI HD3850 or NVIDIA 8800GS as they are far superior to your old one.  If your old one is PCI and not AGP, you might consider keeping it around if you ever consider using more than 2 monitors, otherwise, I'd just leave your old system intact and give it to a child/nephew/niece.

If you are interested in overclocking, this would probably be one of the easier ways to save money on your build.  If you are, then I'd recommend the Intel  $600 build and drop the Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 for maybe the Intel Pentium E2160.  I'd also recommend switching the case out for a Coolermaster Centurion 5 if you could possibly swing it.  It is another $25 which may nullify the savings from the CPU, but it is a far superior case to the Rosewill and I'm sure you would appreciate that, as I have.  You could use the same DVD burner from your current computer, but I'm guessing that it's IDE, which I really can't wait to ditch in my own PC.  The optical drives in my builds are all SATA drives, so you don't have to deal with jumpers and big cables.  Otherwise, I'd say go with the $500 AMD build and get the NVIDIA 8800GS along with the Coolermaster case.  I'm sure you'll be quite happy with that system!

Besides the CPU and DVD drive, I'm not sure I would cut much else for saving money.  Your best bet would just be to check for savings elsewhere than Newegg, such as ClubIT.com; zipzoomfly.com; frys; etc.  Just look for free shipping and rebates. 

I couldn't really tell you if just throwing more ram into your current box would effect your games at present because it really depends on the games.  It certainly would help with the over all smooth working of your computer, but the biggest boost would probably be from a new video card.  In general though, I hope you build a new one though!  Make the jump into dual core computing! :) 

hello jsv, i'm back again. this time my question is about ram. should i go with 4 gb ram? i found one that's ~$90 and has good ratings (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122).  are there any disadvantages to replacing the 2 gb ram (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820146565) in the $1100 build?

If you plan on overclocking your CPU to over 400 FSB, then I'd say stick with the Crucial memory kit as it is better performance and overclocking.  Otherwise, it wouldn't hurt to go with the G.Skill kit.

thanks man. i dont think i'll overclock because i don't wanna risk any parts. i guess i'll get the 4gb memory. the only thing i was scared of is if it won't fully perform because i think i read somewhere that a 32 bit OS doesn't take 4gb or something.

Ah! I forgot to mention that!  32bit Windows will only see something like 3.25-3.5 gb of it.  So yeah that would be another downfall of the 4gb right now, unless you don't mind upgrading to the 64bit Windows.

does upgrading cost any money or have any disadvantages?

If you buy a retail version of Windows, it includes both versions, but if you buy an OEM copy, both versions are the same price or the 64bit version may have a small premium over the 32bit.

64bit does come with a couple disadvantages, but I'm sure there are enough advantages over 32bit that would make it worth it to some people.  The main thing is that you might run into driver issues, or if you have older software or peripherals, they may not work.  There are work arounds for many of these problems and companies have been better recently about getting out 64bit drivers, but if you have anything you're wanting to bring over from your old computer, check with the company to see if it will work with 64bit Windows.  You may want to look for some 32bit vs. 64bit comparos on the web somewhere, here's just a quick one I found that showed that 64 bit was a little faster overall.

thanks a lot. just how do i tell if it's 64 bit or not? this is the one i found from one of your packages i think:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16832116400

If it's not Retail, for Windows XP it will just say Windows XP Professional for the 32bit version, the 64bit version will specifically say 64bit or X64.  For Windows Vista, it should say 32bit and 64bit on either version.  So that link you have there should be for a 32bit version.

k, thanks a lot for the help man. i think i'm set  i probably won't be asking you for help in a while.

Hey! Your welcome, glad I could help you out.  If you do happen to have more questions, don't hesitate to stop into the forums.  Let me know how things go!

ok, i'm finally ready to order the 600 budget (AMD) package that you put together, but I have a quick question...could I possible use this case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208008

instead of the one you suggested?  It includes a power supplym which leads me to my next question...if I could use this case with that build (parts will all fit fine, etc) then would this included 450w power supply be ample enough to power the unit itself?  Or would I have to just take it out and still buy the one suggested by you.  Sorry if that seems confusing, it's just that this is the one issue that my wife is having before I put the order in.  Thanks in advance!

You can go ahead and get that case, but I'd not trust that powersupply with the duty of holding up that system.  It has less power than a similar wattage XCLIO Stablepower 460W with the XCLIO having two 12V rails with almost double the Amps.  The one that comes with the case is also over rated, low efficiency, and built by a relatively no name company.  Your system would be much better off with either an Antec earthwatts 500W or XCLIO Stablepower 500W PSU.  You could probably drop that down to the XCLIO Stablepower 460W if you need to save some money, but to be safe on the power side, I'd go with one of the two 500W PSUs.

Otherwise, the case itself would work fine!  None of these parts are overly huge and should all fit in there fine.  If you'd like some other options for cases that don't come with PSUs so that you don't feel like you're paying extra for a worthless part, I've made a quick list of cases with similar styles/color schemes for you to browse.  These will all put your build at something like $650 or something, so if that doesn't really fly, you could look at something like the Coolermaster Elite 330 which sells for something like $35 and is an awesome case.

APEVIA X-Plorer ATXB8KLW-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

APEVIA X-DISCOVERY-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

APEVIA X-JUPITER-JR G-Type X-JPJGT-BK Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

NZXT HUSH Black SECC Steel/ Aluminum/ Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

NZXT Alpha Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Open Window - Retail

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black SECC STEEL ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

RAIDMAX Smilodon Extreme Black ATX-612WEB SECC STEEL ATX Mid Tower Computer CaseNo Power Supply - Retail

RAIDMAX SAGITTA ATX-921WB Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

RAIDMAX Sagitta 2 ATX-928WS Black/ Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Also, I just updated the $600 AMD build quickly, the memory was deactivated so I threw in some new ones and a better hard drive.

Greetings,

I've read a bit of your posts and was wondering your opinion of putting in 2 HD's a small one running at 10,000 for thr operating system and a larger one at 7,200 for files?

d

I think it's not a horrible idea if you have the money and are satisfied with the other parts of your build.  Myself I think I would get two smaller 16mb or 32mb cache 7200 RPM hard drives and put them in RAID 0 and then have the large hard drive as storage.  Either that or just get three of the same hard drives and put them in RAID 5.  You'd have to have a motherboard that supported RAID or a RAID PCI card, if you don't have those, two separate hard drives is nice to have just so things are organized a little bit.  Even just two separate 7200 RPM hard drives is nice to have if you're wanting to keep your OS/programs and media/documents separate. 

I don't have too much experience with RAID or that deep of a knowledge of it, you might get more help if you've got questions about it over the Storage section or the Motherboard section.

jsv35 I just wanted to personally say thank you for your efforts in doing this. Im sure it will help new comers, such as myself, quite a bit.

Thank you for your guidance.  I am building a new system and I haven't built one in many years.  On your $1300 Intel setup.  You chose 800 MHz RAM when the board will take 1200 MHz.  Is there a big difference I found http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208343 
Transcend 1200 MHz for $118.99.  I know it is more then twice the price.

My other question is your MoBo doesn't use the PCI Express 2.0.  Is there a big difference?

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/287059.aspx  This is my posting from yesterday.  I would like you to look at it please.  I know the video card is wrong but I have found a few in the $250 range. 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069633099+1068423256&Configurator=&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

If I drop down the MoBo and the RAM then I might beable to afford the $419.99 you suggest.

Again thank you again

 Max

The 1300 build you have listed for AMD... in comparison to the 1200 build just above it, aside from an extra 15 bucks for the 1066 ram it seems that the tower (at 100 bucks more) is the only real difference.

 Is there a cooling difference here, or is that just a stylistic choice?

 Also, would it be beneficial to add another 2 G ram right off the bat or would that be excessive (and would it be a good idea once another vid card is added?)

PirateChris:

jsv35 I just wanted to personally say thank you for your efforts in doing this. Im sure it will help new comers, such as myself, quite a bit.

You're very welcome, thanks for stopping by and checking it out! 

Thanks for looking here!

About the memory, I'd say just get some DDR2 800MHz memory with 4-4-4-12 timings, or some DDR2 1066MHz memory instead of going with DDR2 1200MHz.  Just because the motherboard says it will work with it doesn't mean you can't use lower speeds of memory.  I don't know how much of an improvement you will see using 1200MHz over 1066MHz, also you can then find 2gb sticks easily.

The X38 based motherboards all support PCI-e 2.0, and they are also backwards compatible with PCI-e 1.1 cards.

You've gotten some good advice on that post of yours, they've got the  memory,  OS, case, and PSU covered well for you. 

For the video card, since it sounds like you will be using this mostly for CAD and the likes an NVIDIA Quadro or ATI FireGL are probably better suited cards but are far more expensive.

Otherwise, the HD 3870 is a great product as well!

Good luck, and any other question stop on back! 

The $1300 AMD is really only a minor upgrade in actual performance over the $1200 one, but the upgrade to a larger case is welcomed with the HD 3870 X2.  Really I only put it up there because I wanted to get an Intel $1300 with Crossfire up there.

The Thermaltake case that is in the $1300 AMD case will probably allow for easier breathing with a Crossfire or SLI set up as it is larger over all, but the Coolermaster RC-690 is no slacker when it comes to cooling as it has a lot of mesh and plenty of spots for fans. Really the case can be totally up to the person that is building it because it is a pretty personal choice.

It can be beneficial to have 4 gigs of ram if you're using a 64bit OS, right now I think that most systems will still perform very well with 2gb of memory so I haven't updated my systems to 4gb yet.  DDR2 memory is so cheap right now though, so it would be very easy for someone to upgrade very quickly if they would like.

I appreciate your comments! 

Hiyas!

 Ive been very busy with life, My wife and I are expecting twins in a few months, so I've had no time for my passion... PC Builds!!

 Its great to see that your keeping it up with the budget picks jsv35, Keep up the great work man, this thread has been a major help to many I'm sure!

I would chime in with some builds of my own, but since Ive been outta touch for a few months, its almost impposible.... months equal decades when it come to PC hardware, lol.

 

anyway, I thought I'd stop by and say Hi.

 

Cyas around,

Wasper

Hey Wasper!

That's exciting news and I hope everything goes well for you!  Make sure to stop on back whenever you get a chance!

It's been fun updating and maintaining a thread like this and enjoy hearing all the feedback from it. 

Being out of the loop sucks, but you've got something that's worth being distracted for. 

Congrats and thanks for stopping by!

jsv
 

Hi jsc35

I am back again. I have not had any problems knock on wood. Sorry I don't have pics yet, I have been really busy. I am looking at your 400 Budget Home Use Computer on page one for a family member. I might make some changes any thounghts. The total as is 383.48 with shipping, without is 357.93 I had to change the motherboard the on you have listed is out of stock. I went with the GIGABYTE GA-MA770-S3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128327 for 84.99. They just need a good home computer I am tring to give them the most for their buck. They have a good monitor.

Any thoughts and help I would be thankfull.

Tommyboy1900