Building a pc

H

harrack52

Supreme Geek
My aunt has $1500.... cad :p , (before taxes) and wants a computer. I put something together and would like to know what you guys think. Personnally, I'd take it !

(Prices in cad)

- Barton 2500+ $140
- Kingston 512mb PC2700 $90
- GF4 Ti4200 (OEM) $180
There's a ATI 9500 (BOX) for $230, the non-pro version (she'll be ok with the Ti 4200)
- SL-75FRN2-RL $160
Samsung 955DF $346
- Case (basic one) around $50
- Enermax 450W $110 (the 350w is $75)
- SB Audigy $100
- WD 80gb 8mb $136
- Floppy $20
- CDRW $66
- Volcan 11 $66 (Volacano 9 is $37) (I know the slk-800 is better but it's also more expensive, since you have to buy the fan also)

it amounts to $1464

Is the nforce2 stable enough, or should I go with a kt400 ?
She needs stability first. The reason I'd like to get a nforce2 is because it's more upgradeable)
 
is you aunt a hardcore gamer? :) one thing I could think of is instead of the CDRW, get a combo drive maybe CD-RW/DVD? not sure how good they are though!
 
No she's really not a hardcore gamer.
But she showed me a computer somewhere that cost $1477, and I told her that for that price, she could get something better, and that's what I came up with.

Here's what the other system is:

Intel D845PEBT2
Pentium 4 2.4 ghz
Micron 512mb DDR (+ 512mb for free / speed not written)
Western Digital 80 gb 7200 rpm (upgrade to 120gb for free)
Samsung CDRW
ATI Radeon 7000 64mb
17'' Samsung screen ( Upgrade to 19'' for free, doesn't say which model)
ALTEC-LANSING AVS-300 (2.1)
Integrated Sound
Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse
XP (probably home)
MS OFFICE 2003
Printer-Scanner-copier Lexmark X-74
Rooter
No interest for 6 months
Illimited dial-up for 6 months with AOL
3 free months of High-speed internet

I figured she didn't need the rooter, that a printer is very cheap, that she didn't need office and XP since she already has it, and that she didn't need the keyboard and mouse since I have tons of them, that she doesn't need a gig of ram, neither does she need 120 gb of space although more is better (that's 2mb of cache I'd guess), that with a better video card my cousin would be able to play anything he wants and that that Intel board seems nice but lacks in upgradeability.
- It doesn't support 800 mhz fsb, the frn2-rl supports the 400fsb athlons
- no dual channel and no 400mhz DDR (speaking of which, the memory would have to be 2x256 for $100 instead of 1x512mb for $90 in my system)
- no agp 8x
- no ata-133
- 2gb of ram instead of 3gb for the soltek board, although it's not that important
- no game ports, although has 6 2.0 usb ports whereas the soltek board has 6 usb ports (probably 2 2.0 and 4 1.1)
She could forget about the SB Audigy in the other system and buy a set of speakers with the money, she could also get a cheap gf4 MX440 if she wants to save also and buy that printer.
As for the combo DVD/CDRW, I don't know if they're good or not either, but there's a Samsung for under $100.

EDIT: She could get something very nice that's under $800 (w/out the screen), then again when you have twice the budget, you use it ;)
 
Like mentioned above.... ditch the Audigy.
Soundcards are a blag IMO.
For normal use just get a SB 4.1 or 5.1.

If your a hardcore gamer the Audigy is probably a waste of money too.

I cant be bothered going into the details but the Audigy is stuck in soundcard limbo, its too good for gaming (well too expensive really) but a poor music making card.

Trust me, Ive got an Audigy 2. It is just suffice for the likes of Reason2 but too expensive for a games cards.
 
An nForce 2 board will eliminate alot of cards you'll have to buy. However, as with the other guys, I wouldn't build something excessively more than she needs. Just build it so that you don't need to be over there every other day.

I'd suggest an nForce 2 board with integrated video--which is comprable to a GF4 MX 420. Pop in 512MB of RAM (2x256) and get something like an Athlon 1700 or something. You've got the bulk of your system taken care of. I'm not dissing KT400 boards at all, but with this, all you might need to add is a modem in.
Whatever is a good deal on a hard drive is a good way to go.
 
That's what I thought too, but I thought it would be fun to build a computer which I know cannot afford (I'm sure you know what it's like). That's why I also came up with something under $800 without taxes and monitor : (prices in cad)

Basic Medium case Around $50
Athlon XP 2000+ $104
MSI KT4VL $100 (K7N2G-L is $137, so without the GF it would be $30 less)
Kingston 256mb DDR333 $49 (DDR266 is 1 buck more so...)
GF4 MX440 64mb $66
Enermax 350w $74
SB 128 pci $30 (so cheap, why not, but could go with onboard sound - it's not that bad for music, that's what I have)
Western 40gb $90 (80gb $120)
floppy $20
CDRW $66
(DVD $54)
Volcano 9 $37 (I have the stock fan on mine, and she's better off with another fan)
Creative Inspire 2.1 2500 $70

$700 + monitor (with nforce2/igp board w/out SB)
$726 + monitor (with KT400/GF4/ w/out SB)

She could also play sound on his receiver, so she could take out the speakers to shave off some money and then go with the Soltek Board, which would be a better idea imo, or add 256mb of ram, or both since she apparently has a bigger budget than that.
Anyways, lots of possibilities, both systems are very decent to me.
 
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