EggXpert

Oh I almost forgot what would be a good video card that is cheap but good.  I change the memory with a brand I feel better with. I am going with the AMD.

Thanks

Tommyboy1900

Hi again Tommyboy1900!

Glad to hear that your system has been trouble free so far and I hope that stays true.

The board I have listed in the $400 build looks to still be in stock to me.  If for some reason it isn't that motherboard you have chosen is a good board, but you will then need to purchase a video card.  The motherboard listed in my build has the AMD 780 chipset which has onboard graphics.  If you aren't able to get the Gigabyte board in my build I'd recommend getting this ASUS board instead as it has the same chipset and almost as many features just so that you don't have to worry about purchasing discrete graphics in addition to the motherboard itself.  Otherwise if they're looking to do a little bit of gaming then get that Gigabyte GA-MA770-S3 and an NVIDIA 8800GS.

If you're interested in keeping them pretty future proof, here is a good kit of 4gb RAM for under $70.

Good luck with it!
 

How about this

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S OEM BK - OEM Item #: N82E16827106070   $25.99 
   
COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811119115    $39.99 
   
Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM Item #: N82E16822136062 $59.99 
   
GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Item #: N82E16813128090 $99.99 

GIGABYTE GV-RX365512H Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814125092 $84.99 
   
Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR800D2N6K2/2G - Retail
Item #: N82E16820134635 $38.99 
   
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO4000DDBOX - Retail Item #: N82E16819103774  $55.99 
       
XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W ATX V2.2 460W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817189013
XCLIO Amazing Fan - 12cm 120mm Red, Blue, Green & Random LED Case Fan - Retail
Item #: N82E16835234001 -$14.99 Combo $74.98 $53.99
 
Subtotal: $459.92

What do you think? I found that motherboard is back in stock.

I picked this video card http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814125092

and I changed the memory to http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820134635

unless you have used that memory brand and trust it I feel better with one I know.

I have to keep the total cost under 500, you know everyone want something for nothing.

Thanks for the help.

Tommyboy1900

Well I'd just say go with my $500 AMD build then and replace the PSU I have listed there with the XCLIO Stablepower 460W and trade out the Transcend memory for that Kingston.  If you feel you need to save a little more money, get the Athlon X2 4000+ instead of the Athlon X2 4200+.  I think that will be a better build for you.  What do you think about that?

Family, I should have remebered the golden rule never do work for family.

Now they want the TOTAL to be no more that 450.

 COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811119115   $39.99      
  Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136062   $59.99      
  GIGABYTE GA-MA770-S3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128327 $84.99      
  GIGABYTE GV-RX365512H Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail Item #: N82E16814125092  $84.99      
  Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR800D2N6K2/2G   $38.99  
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO4000DDBOX - Retail Item #: N82E16819103774 $55.99         
XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W ATX V2.2 460W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817189013  -- $19.99 XCLIO Amazing Fan - 12cm 120mm Red, Blue, Green & Random LED Case Fan - Retail Item #: N82E16835234001  -$8.00 Instant -$14.99 Combo $74.98 $51.99 

Subtotal: $416.93

I know no cd/dvd drive but you get what you pay for. I guess I will have to reuse their CD RW. Your idea was good but the subtotal was 501 plus shipping.What are your thoughts on this I know it not great but with shipping its under their 450 total.

Thanks

Hiya Tommyboy1900,

 I used to do alot of builds on here, I have been reading up your plight.. Yes, never do work for familly, lol... I am now the familly PC tech and my phone is always ringing, lol.

 I figured I would pop in and do a build for you in your budget... other can pick it apart, I admit Im rusty, but its like riding a bike ;)

Rosewill R220-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail  $30.99

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS ATX12V / EPS12V 500W Power Supply - Retail  $59.99 ($44.99 after rebate)

BIOSTAR TA770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail  $79.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Brisbane 2.2GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO4200DOBOX - Retail  $64.50

SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail  $74.99 ($64.99 after rebate)

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail  $34.99

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM  $47.99

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S OEM BK - OEM  $25.99

Grand Total = $419.43 ($394.43 after rebates)

Rosewill cases are fine for budget builds. I have used them many times. This particular one is set up the same as the CoolerMaster you picked, but a little cheaper.

The OCZ Stealthxstream 500w is more then enough to power this set-up and will do just fine.

The Biostar motherboard I picked is very simular to the Gigabyte board you chose. The are small differences, but over all pretty much the same, same north/south chipsets and all that.

I bumped you up to a Athlon 64X2 4200 for a little more CPU juice "under the hood" so-to-speak.

The Saphire HD 3650 I chose is just as good as the Gigabyte you did, just cheaper. I have used Saphire many times and am very happy with their products.

The G.Skill ram I chose is very inexspensive and I have used this particular set a total of 5 times with no problems.

The WD HDD I chose is the same capacity for a bit cheaper.. only difference is the 8mb cache.. but going from 16mb to 8mb is not noticable to most people. Unless they are using this machine for crazy gameing, benchmarking, and massive file transfers, it wouldnt make a lick of difference.

I put in a Lite-On DVD burner becuase they are a good product and the budget allowed for it.

 

I hope this helps you out and gives you some more ideas on how to build the PC for your familly member. Good luck man!!!

Wasper

 

Haha, well I'd say its even worse when you're the tech man for all your roommates.  Wasper's build is very good, but I'll throw in another variation for fun.  You've got a good deal of choices, so that's nice.  Really the biggest difference with Wasper's build and mine is sacrificing DVD burning for a nicer case and more powerful video card.  Including shipping, this still slides under $450 and if you are able to use their old optical drive, you would be set.  Either way, you should most definitely get the memory both Wasper and I used.  I have used it for builds as well, including my own and it is fantastic, especially for $35!

COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

GIGABYTE GA-MA770-S3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor

MSI GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W ATX V2.2 460W Power Supply - Retail

Subtotal: $401.93

Shipping: $29.89

Grand total: $431.82

So if they could handle going $10 or so over, you could also throw on there a DVD writer.  You could also bump up to the AMD X2 4200+ if you re-used the old optical drive.

Hi

Sorry droped my keyboard.

thanks for the help. I when with jsv35 and added the dvd burner. that Wasper but I am unsure about the motherboard brand you had other than that it looked good.

Have a good weekend.

Tommyboy1900 

Biostar is a pretty good company and have some good budget products, that motherboard in particular is quite competitive with the Gigabyte board that I had mentioned.  I just went with the Gigabyte because it had free shipping and the Biostar had something like $8 shipping, so I just went with Gigabyte.  Hope that works well for you!  Stop back with any other questions/comments!

jsv 

Hey well im looking to build a computer around $650 max with shipping. Im looking to go AMD and i see Jsv has made a list to build a $600 amd pc, but the thing is i dont know how updated it is and im looking to build this so i can play games like COD4 and a new game coming out at the end of the year called Starcraft 2. so im kind of wanting to build a pc that is able to add on at a later time to make things better for newer things if possible. Anyways everything is appreciated.

Hi Jsv35

Well got it built and its running great for a $460 build. Its not WOW but it will make them happy.

Thanks as always. If you are wondering the one I built for me is still running just fine I have not pushed it to hard yet.

Thanks and have a good weekend.

Tommyboy1900

Good to hear!  Hope things keep going smoothly for you!

i was just wondering if i could replace the case+psu in the amd $500 build with a antec sonata iii case with the antec earthwatts 500w and would the motherboard still fit (ie pin-wise, size, or anything). also could i operate the computer with the 770 board and get the graphics card later or did i need it to boot.

The Antec Sonata III/Antec earthwatts combo would work perfectly.  It is the same form factor as the case I had in the thread, so you will be fine there.  As for the motherboard, the AMD 770 chipset does not have onboard video so you will need a discrete video card to be able to boot up.  If you were to get the Gigabyte 780 based motherboard in the $400 AMD build then you could hold off on purchasing the discrete video card.  Hope that helped!

jsv 

hi i'm back again.  I was wondering if i need a soundcard for the $1100 build (http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=10378207). thanks.

Hi niccoism.  I don't think that an add in sound card is worth the money and I'm perfectly happy with my onboard sound.  I didn't see a hard drive in your list, do you already have one you plan on using?

Any chance you could update the first page jsv?

 

Thanks beforehand. 

oh alright thank alot, i went through with getting it.  oh and if u are goin to upgrade the front page i think intels having a price cut this sunday

Hiyas..

Take a look at this$500 build jsv35.. tell me what ya think?

Rosewill R220-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W ATX V2.2 460W Power Supply - Retail

BIOSTAR TA770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO4600DOBOX - Retail

SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400SE5-2048K - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S OEM BK - OEM

Total = $503.93

of course its an AMD/ATI build.. you know me, I love that combo for budget builds :P

I will defend the decision to put in a Rosewill case till the day I die, lol . In this price range, money is better spent on internals. Of course the standard XCLIO 460 stablepower.. if it aint broke, dont fix it.. right? ;)  As you know, Imma big fan of the Biostar MB's for budget minded builds. I was able to afford a 4600+ for this build. I sqeezed that price untill I could get a HD3870 included. A set o Wintec 2GB w/heat spreaders. WD 160 HDD and a LITE_ON DVD burner.

Im trying to shake off the rust, lol... do I still got it? hehe

Hi Wasper!

That's a great build, I took a couple parts from it and threw it in.  I love those Coolermaster cases, and the Elite 330 used to be cheaper, now its jumped way up in price, so the Rosewill case will do great.  I used some Super Talent sticks instead of those Wintec sticks because they were the same price but had better timings.  Thanks for throwing that at me, and you're doing fine!  haha

jsv 

onedestinazn2:

oh alright thank alot, i went through with getting it.  oh and if u are goin to upgrade the front page i think intels having a price cut this sunday

Hope everything goes smoothly for you! 

jsv35:

Hi Wasper!

That's a great build, I took a couple parts from it and threw it in.  I love those Coolermaster cases, and the Elite 330 used to be cheaper, now its jumped way up in price, so the Rosewill case will do great.  I used some Super Talent sticks instead of those Wintec sticks because they were the same price but had better timings.  Thanks for throwing that at me, and you're doing fine!  haha

jsv 

 

Doh, and Double Doh!!

I told you I'm rusty... It just hit me .. and this is something I knew when I was more active... That the BioStar likes to put 8-pin CPU 12V connectors on thier boards when most other companies use 4-pin CPU 12v connectors with simular boards. I double checked, and sure enough, the BioStar AMD 770 voard has a 8-pin.

This poses a problem becuase the XCLIO StablePower 460w PSU only comes with a 4-pin connector.

I did some re-checking and your original Gigabyte board had a 4-pin, so you might be better off with it.

The combo I used came out to $131.98....

BIOSTAR TA770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W ATX V2.2 460W Power Supply - Retail

But as mentioned, it wont work without buying an extra adaptor (which sucks for wire management).

 

Your original picks came out to $136.98... only a $4 difference from the Bio/XCLIO combo I chose, and the PSU and MB will match better. so that might be the way to go.

GIGABYTE GA-MA770-S3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W ATX V2.2 460W Power Supply - Retail

 

 Or, you can use the Biostar, but you'd have to bump up the PSU to a model that has an 8-pin. This Silverstone is very nice, but more pricer then its counterpart. I personally would choose the Silverstone over the XCLIO any day, but it will make the build go over budget a bit more.. This combo would come out to $147.98.. thats $16 more exspensive then the Bio/XCLIO combo.

BIOSTAR TA770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

SILVERSTONE ST50F ATX12V 500W Power Supply - Retail

 

Heh... Still rusty I guess

Good catch!  That would have gone right past me, haha.  I just kept the Gigabyte board in the mix, it is a solid board as well and $5 is hardly a deal breaker.

That Silverstone PSU looks like it is the exact same as the FSP Blue Storm II 500W PSU which goes for $80, not a bad find.  There is a $60 FSP Blue Storm II 400W PSU that is a good option compared to the Antec earthwatts 380W PSU that I found while checking that out. 

Hey jsv35.. I got a doosey of a build for $500 !!  (heh, I know, once you get me started... lol)

This thing is a beast for $500 !! (put a extra case fan in for cooling purposes)

Rosewill R220-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail  $29.99

MASSCOOL FD08025S1M4 80mm Case Fan - Retail   $1.99

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS ATX12V / EPS12V 500W Power Supply - Retail  $59.99

BIOSTAR TA770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail  $79.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition Processor Model ADO5000DSWOF - Retail   $87.00

XFX PVT88PUHF4 GeForce 8800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail   $129.99

WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400C5-2048K - Retail   $38.99

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM  $47.99

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S OEM BK - OEM   $23.99

Total = $499.92 

What ya think??