[james_8970]

I wonder why they put those parts together if they know that they have a high chance of frying out thanks to the PSU, I will look at finding something that doesn't have an Ultra PSU.

Soorena

Margins are higher on lower quality products, why do you think a lot of stuff is produced in China (there are many other things involed with this decision and not everything is junk that's produced there)? Besides if a PSU dyes shortly after the warranty has expired, you'll come running back to them to buy new hardware. It's just money in the bank to them.
James

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Ahh I see also I am having a hard time trying to find a good bundle without that PSU so I just quit all of them are either too high in price or include the PSU.

Soorena

[SOORENA]

Ahh I see also I am having a hard time trying to find a good bundle without that PSU so I just quit all of them are either too high in price or include the PSU.

Soorena

[james_8970]

The OP send me a PM saying the following:

You were talking on my topic yesterday about what I should get. I am cautiously picking and choosing from different posts I have seen. THis is what I have so far:

Asus P5N-E SLI NVIDIA 650i Socket 775 ATX Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz OEM Processor

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz Socket 775 OEM Processor

Memory/RAM
G.Skill 2GB
I don't know if either processor will work with that motherboard so that is why i have them both up there.
Also, you and another person were going back and forth about the PSU, which one should I get?
AS for the case I was probably going to go with the Sonata III 500, but i am not sure if the motherboard will fit in?
I think thats it, hopefully i am not forgeting anything and hopefully you can help me out. Thanks.

I'd go with a P35-DS3L, the only advantage the 650i has over the P35-DS3L is the additional PCIe x8 slot. This slot will not have enough bandwidth for upcoming cards and will therefore limit it's full potential. The P35-DS3L is also cheaper and would serve you just as well.

As for the processor, there are a huge varience between that quad and the dual core processor you have chosen.
As far as the RAM goes, I'd go with some Mushkin for higher quality. If you don't mind mail in rebates OCZ usually has some great deals.
Can you use your old monitor? What kind of case do you currently have?
James

Edited by james_8970, 03 March 2008 - 09:24 AM.

[civiccrazy]

OK, I will go with the P35-DS3L. What is the difference between the processors? Which one would be better? Ill get the Mushkin PC2-6400 Ram 2 GB. I would like to get a flatscreen monitor, i was going to go with the Acer. I don't know what kind of case I have, it just came with the package i bought a couple of years ago.

I am going to have to buy an operating system too, I want to stay with XP. What kind or Hard drive should I get and is there anything else I need?
I plan on keeping my disk drives, and my video card (Radeon 9250) i already have, and my keyboard and mouse

[SOORENA]

Since you PC is 6 years old I'm afraid you can't keep your 9250 since that motherboard doesn't support AGP8x. You can find a cheap PCI-E 16x card thats better for less than 50 dollars.

Soorena

[james_8970]

What is the difference between the processors?

The quad also has a higher frequency so it'll be a little faster. What it comes down to is how much you multi task and what programs you use. If you only use office related programs and no games, the E4500 will be perfect. If you encode video or edit images your going to need a more powerfull processor for better rendering times.

I would like to get a flatscreen monitor, i was going to go with the Acer.

Acers are decent monitors, I wouldn't call any of them high end. If you are only using it for office applications it'll be fine, if your considering gaming it would depend on the monitor and if you are doing photo editing, I'd consider a different brand. What dimensions do you want? What's your budget?

I don't know what kind of case I have, it just came with the package i bought a couple of years ago.

Do you know if it'll fit a ATX motherboard? Or was it BTX? Or mATX (otherwise known as uATX or micro ATX)?

What kind or Hard drive should I get and is there anything else I need?

Anything would really work, again I need a budget. You'll also need a video card, if you don't game, anything will work.

James

Edited by james_8970, 03 March 2008 - 03:22 PM.

[civiccrazy]

My budget is around $500-600, maybe more....that all depends. I dont plan on doing much if any at all gaming, so the acer will work then i guess. I dont know what motherboards will fit into the case, how can i tell?? It has 4 cd drive slots, a floppy drive slot, 5 other slots for hard drives or whatever. no external places to plug anything like usb in. It has a 400 watt duro Power supply. Right now i have a 80GB western digital hard drive. Im guessing bigger is better, i was thinking about maybe some kind of 250 GB hard drive. as far as a video card. any suggestions around $50 or so>

[james_8970]

Could you not use your current monitor? If so, that'd give us a lot of head room. A 500-600$ budget can defiantly be done, but it's going to be tight.
James

[civiccrazy]

I can use my current monitor. I can buy one i want later down the road.

[SOORENA]

I made a quick list to start with and then we can downgrade or upgrade from it:


Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $69.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX ATX12V V2.2 450W Power Supply - $10.00 Mail-in Rebate - $79.99

mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996527 - $44.99

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - $89.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6550 - $169.99

Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack - $89.99

HIS Hightech H260PRFS512DDN-R Radeon HD 2600PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $10.00 Mail-in Rebate - $66.99

Total = $611.93

This doesn't include the mail in rebates so they can be subtracted.

Soorena

[civiccrazy]

Looks good to me. I can get xp from school for $10. So we can take that off. I also, need a case. These prices don't include shipping either, do they? should I try to find a deal on ebay for any of these things? or should I stick with actual computer websites. I put everything i could in the cart at new egg, minus the memory. $476.95. Would anyone happen to have any promo codes or anything for newegg?

Is there anything else I need? From the look of it the video card has a different conection than what i have from my monitor. Do I need some kind of adapter or something for that?

[Troy]

Hi there,

Yes you are right in thinking that you'd need a case. You will also need to include an optical drive - DVD Burners are cheap, and the most common choice.

Here I've done a small re-working on SOORENA's list, excluding an OS as you have said you are able to get this cheap from school. Just make sure it is a legitimate version, with disc, COA, and product key.

Seagate 250GB $69.99
Corsair 450W PSU $79.99 (-$10 for rebate)
Mushkin 2GB RAM $44.99
Gigabyte Motherboard $89.99
Intel E6550 CPU $169.99
HIS 2600PRO $66.99 (-$10 for rebate)
Pioneer DVD Burner $28.99
Cooler Master Case $34.99

Putting this into the Newegg cart comes to $585.92. I am unable to calculate shipping as I don't know your zip code, and I'm in Australia myself!

As for your eBay question, I would stick to a reputable website like Newegg myself. There can be quite some hassles with eBay purchases, especially if they go faulty etc...

This is looking like quite a nice build option for so cheap! Let us know what you think of it.

Cheers

Troy

[civiccrazy]

I have a dvd burner already, so i dont need another one. Umm.... Do i need a cpu cooler? Anything else??? I want to make sure i have everything I need to build this.

[BravoZulu]

That boxed Intel processor comes with the CPU fan. These guys did you a nice job picking out parts =) Build and enjoy.

[civiccrazy]

Should I buy any kind of extended warranty through newegg? And just to make sure, this i all i need right? If it is will order it tomorrow.