Help with new build ($300 budget)!

[peterhuang913]

ECS SUCKS! -personal experience.

Also, ECS are not sturdy boards. And, why do you have to argue with people?

 

[darksideleader]

Anyone would want a better product even if you get your savings a little later, Its up to Jonathan5 to decide isn it? Thought taxes were like 3% in the states. My mistake if their slightly higher.

We'll im sure my worst enemey's HP ain't dying on him, mabye it is i haven't talk to him in a while...lol

as time is progressing all i see ECS keeping up with other companies a step down a notch, im not a fan of ecs, im getting the Gigabtye 780G motherboard for my HTPC setup.

and im just stating my point of views

 

[aspire]

Here in California I pay 8.75%

 

[peterhuang913]

Here in California I pay 8.75%

just slightly higher

 

[Jonathan5]

I gotta say I really like that price... this is what someone else came up with for me. Let me know what you think.

"CPU - Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 Retail $84.99
Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E2200 Allendale 2.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

Motherboard - Gigabyte Intel G31 Retail $66.99 (I consider this one a little bit better than the ASUS that you listed, plus it supports just about all of the current LGA 775 CPUs out there.)
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

RAM - G.Skill 2GB DDR2-800 $44.99
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory - Retail

Video Card - It's hard to pick this out because it mainly depends on your preferences. Are you wanting higher settings or would you settle for middle quality settings? A very good ATI HD3850 can be had for around ~$170 or a lower end nVidia 8600GT (I would right to get the best card that you can afford. Just look at the charts that I listed earlier.

Hard Drive - Using your old one correct? $0

Optical Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner SATA $22.99
Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM SATA Combo - OEM

Case - The one that you picked out. $29.99/plus a case fan
If you can possibly use the one you have now, just make sure that the motherboard would fit. It would save you $29.99+the fan+shipping=~$50

PSU - I'm not hundred percent what to recommend here. A good PSU would probably be around ~$50<, but remember not to skimp on this component.
Something to go by would be a ePower 500w $46.99
Newegg.com - ePOWER ZU-500W ATX12V Ver. 2.0 500W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CE, FCC, TUV - Retail (This would the lowest I would go.)
Look at the 12v Rails: If it's a single look for at least 28 amps or if it's dual look for at least 18+ amps

Total ~$Under 500 dollars"

I'm comparing the two.

 

[aspire]

Feel free to upgrade to that motherboard as it should still fit in the budget. Everything else should be fine