new build for ~ $1400

C

cozinator

Geek Trainee
I'm looking to build a new PC and these are the specs I've come up with. I'd love to get one for around $1400 shipped, but I'm not sure what areas I could skimp on and get the same performance/reliability. I already have a mouse and a license for XP Pro.

Does anyone have any thoughts on refurbished parts?

I'll be using it for some graphic design and web development, but nothing too intense. (I currently use a 1.2 ghz laptop and it works fine for my purposes). I'd also like to be able to play some games, thus the decent graphics card.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119078
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WWC Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply - Retail
$84.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144393
Western Digital Caviar SE WD3000JD 300GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
$136.50

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820176825
Atech Flash Xm-4U 11-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Internal card reader - Retail
$22.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824116365
ViewSonic VP930b Black 19" 8ms gray-to-gray (avg); 20ms black-white-black (typ) LCD Monitor - Retail
$409.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16836121123
Logitech X-230 32 Watts RMS 2.1 Speaker - OEM
$33.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827131408
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SOHD-16P9S Black - OEM
$22.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16833124115
LINKSYS WMP54G PCI Wireless-G Adapter - Retail
$49.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814122207
Leadtek PX6800TDH Geforce 6800 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
$209.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820146580
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS1GB667D2 - Retail
$90.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131539
ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$168.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819116198
Intel Pentium 4 630 Prescott 800MHz FSB LGA 775 EM64T Processor Model BX80547PG3000F - Retail
$170.50

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106988
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SOHW-1693S Black - Retail
$39.98

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16823107120
LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail
$5.25


$1,520.96 shipped
 
Look for an AMD64 Setup, it would be better, also you'll need a bigger PSU that what's with the case, it just won't cut it.
If you do decide to go with AMD then you'll need some normal DDR RAM as well as AMD's can't be used with DDR2.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127212
ABIT AN8-ULTRA Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103533
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - $201
Also check out Enermax, Antec, Thermaltake, Tagan, Seasonic for good PSU's
Take a look at these two threads for PSU information:
http://www.hardwareforums.com/power-supplies-you-why-you-dont-want-cheap-psu-updated-9-2-05-a-5218/
http://www.hardwareforums.com/psus-31-tested-15-failed-9-exploded-8369/
 
How does this setup look? Will that power supply be sufficient?

Thanks for your help.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119077
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144393
Western Digital Caviar SE WD3000JD 300GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824116365
ViewSonic VP930b Black 19" 8ms gray-to-gray (avg); 20ms black-white-black (typ) LCD Monitor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813127212
ABIT AN8-ULTRA Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16833124115
LINKSYS WMP54G PCI Wireless-G Adapter - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814161146
HIS Hightech HX80GOQT256-3TOEN Radeon X800GTO IceQ II Turbo 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827131408
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SOHD-16P9S Black - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817103464
ENERMAX Whisper II EG465P-VE FMA(24) ATX12V 460W Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16836121123
Logitech X-230 32 Watts RMS 2.1 Speaker - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16823107120
LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820176825
Atech Flash Xm-4U 11-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Internal card reader - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820227031
OCZ Performance Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model OCZ4001024PFDC-K - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103533
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500BPBOX - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106988
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SOHW-1693S Black - Retail

$1,545.87 shipped
 
Most of it looks good. The only thing you might want to consider changing is the motherboard. The AN8-Ultra seems to have a few issues with it in terms of stability, but this may have been fixed in more recent times. If you're looking to do some overclocking and/or like to tweak, you might want to look at the DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D (a LanPartyUT board is the SAME, but with less accessories and an lower price). If you want something to drop in and go, you might look at the Asus A8N-E instead. The Abit AN8-SLI seems to have no issues, but the Ultra does. However, Abit's seems to be sliding a little and basing some of their price on their brand name.
 
That's a nice system there, the AMD wil certainly be better than the Intel you had in the first list.
 
Looks good to me and the ABIT got a flawless rating so I guess the issues have been resolved. But yeah as an alternative B's suggestions are spot on as usual.
Power supply is also very good, so that won't be an issue.
 
Uhhh, am I incorrect in saying that Intel is generally better than AMD for graphic design? If I am wrong flame me. Well, if I'm right I'll still most likely get a flaming but I thought I had heard that somewhere.
 
max12590 said:
Uhhh, am I incorrect in saying that Intel is generally better than AMD for graphic design? If I am wrong flame me. Well, if I'm right I'll still most likely get a flaming but I thought I had heard that somewhere.
Click to expand...

I'm not doing any intense graphics design . As I said, my 1.2 ghz laptop is almost sufficient for the web-based work I do.
 
cozinator said:
Does anyone know anything about this floppy drive/media card reader?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813998514
Click to expand...

Noo... I dont. But! I dont think you can mess them up too badly. Plus its only $20 so even if you cant return it ... its $20.

Anywho. Looks like your underspending :D I am currently the master of overspending... may I suggest you upgrade your processor and ram a bit more? I have bought (and dearly love) my AMD x2 4400 (cooled correctly can reach the rating of the +$300 4800) along side OCZ Gamer xtreme.

The CPU is self explanatory. Faster and while rendering you can bugger off and play a game / virus scans whatever. its a dream.

The RAM however (OCZ Gamer xtreme 3500 2x matched 512 ~ $250); standard rating is 3500. But it can reportedly do 433mhz with 2-2-2-5 timings and a CMDrate 1 (3v). If you dont know what this means, then take my word for it. Its GOOD! If you prefer the higher FSB for graphics work then loosen the timings and put it up to 500mhz! not only this, its life-time warrantied up to 3.2V. An investment. I love em.
 
max12590 said:
Uhhh, am I incorrect in saying that Intel is generally better than AMD for graphic design? If I am wrong flame me. Well, if I'm right I'll still most likely get a flaming but I thought I had heard that somewhere.
Click to expand...

Video editing favors Intel processors, but if that's not the primary task of the PC, then you're better off with AMD.
 
Yeah video editing prefers Intel, but AMD is just better in almost every other situation.
For RAM if you really want performance stuff get a DFI LanParty Motherboard (the one with insane overclocking options) and some GeiL 1-series RAM, it runs@ 400MHz with timings of 1.5-2-2-5 and 500MHz with thimings of 2-2-2-5, now that's impressive!
 
Ok, yea I thought Intel was better for graphic design. But yea, if you want to play games then AMD would be fine. And if you really want OC'ing RAM get G. Skill. It is thought by many to be the absolute best OC'ing RAM you can get.
 
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