3 new comps

[Exarchice]

for the first comp i was working on building a new gaming rig, but i pretty much ended scraping every part i was going to use(i was plan on spending $800, but now im going to be spending $1,200). now i need to start from scratch to build a new gaming rig there are some parts in this computer i refuse to go with (ATI and Intel, sorry i gave it some thought but i just cant bring myself to using ATI or Intel) also only the parts i list below or make comments about are going to be the only parts i need, the rest of the stuff i have or can get free.

for a second comp i need every single part, this comp doesnt need to be a high end machine, it is just going to be used for browsing the web, making photos, burning dvds/cds, and some other low end stuff, keep in mind its not going to be used with photostop or any other photo making program besides something the camra/printer comes with(which i already have) just very very basic, and the cheaper the better and the budget on this system needs to be under $500(not a penny over $500(prefer around $400 or less would be nice since anything under $500 goes into my personal pocket, since i am building him this computer instead of repaying him the $500 he let me borrow) including shipping) im even going to need a monitor with this system, and the monitor must be an lcd. oh, i dont need an OS for this system, i am going to be putting windows xp on this system and i already have a copy of it (if i can find it, if not i can get a free copy)
oh on a note for this comp, i forgot fathers day was coming up, so if i do spend over $500 ill just consider it as a fathers day present so i might just not worry about staying under $500 but try to get pretty close to it so he gets something nice)

the third computer is going to be needed for low end gaming, photos, video watching, dvd/cd burning, some flash making and thats about it, altho he may do some video editing/making with it as well. the budget on this system is going to be around $500-800 and i will need every single part for this computer and keep in mind, the cheaper i can make this computer the more $$ i can keep for myself, he is going to give me $800, so anything under $800 will be given to me as payment, also if i end up spending $800 on it i told him ide do it for free lol.

also the 3 budgets cannot interfere with eachother, i cannot take money from computer #1 and use it on computer #2 or #3 and vice versa, one is for my own personal use, and one is for my father-n-law, and one is for a friend of mine who is paying me to build his computer since he was talking about buying an HP and i talked him into letting me build it for him.

computer #1 this is the high end gaming comp(again please dont recommend any intel or ati for this system)

i have 2 nice big roomy cases to choose from (i have a chose between a lay down or stand up full tower case, ill probably go with the lay down one so i can place my printer ontop of it, but im not really sure, ive never built a comp with a lay down case before) i already have a 300 and a 500g HDD, i already have mouse, everything else i will need for this pc (including new case fans i think, i might have some older fans, but fans are so cheap i might as well go with some newer ones)

here are the parts im going to put into it
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/sirquan/pcgame-1.jpg (all my parts)
i dont think i need a network card, i am going to be using a dynex wirless G usb network adapter just so i dont have to run a cable from my bedroom to my computer.

im not sure which case fans yet, ill probably buy them from the store instead of on the egg, i dont want to end up buying something that wont fit.

also i forgot to put in a cd drive, but im just going to use a cheapo cd drive and i actually do believe i have one laying around.


for the second and third computers i was thinking about using a similar build, both these builds are going to be based off the dell xps 625 as i just took similar parts to the computer and added my own monitor

the only difference on the 2 computers will be 1 is running xp the other is running vista, also i might need some parts recommended to swap out for either computer as one has a higher spending limit. and im not sure if a micro mobo will work with this build aswell. and also the current dvd burner is out of stuck which is no biggie, i can always find another for about the same price. the only difference on the 2 i have right now are just the monitors

Newegg.com - Acer V173 b Black 17" 5ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 2000:1 - LCD Monitors (computer 1)
Newegg.com - SCEPTRE X20WG-NagaII Black 20.1" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 - LCD Monitors (computer 2)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/sirquan/pcgame-1.jpg (everything else)
these are the parts i used to compare it to this computer Dell XPS 625 Product Details (last time i looked they had the 5200 instead of the 5600, but that was 2 weeks ago)


on a side note, my gaming pc is only at 1k with listed items, i might go for this instead of the gtx 260 Newegg.com - EVGA 896-P3-1170-AR GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

 

[Thresh25]

What I don't understand is why you will go AMD, but not ati. ATI is owned by amd... Also, intel is by far number 1 in the processor world. with a 1200 dollar budget for build 1 you could definitely build an intel i7 machine that'd blow a phenom II x4 out of the water.

But if you are a fanboy and refuse to go with either I only have a few recommendations for build 1. Get a corsair or pc&c psu. ocz is good, but i've read the wires are stiff and hard to work with. Also, you are getting a biostar board that supports xfire, I would get an amd/nvidia based board if you ever want to add a second card in the future. It still makes no sense however that you would not want to go with ATI since you go with amd. Last, make sure your hdds are sata. hdds are the biggest bottleneck in any system, and you really won't see a huge improvement if you slap in old hdds with a new computer. I also find the same thing with old cd drives. in my first budget build i put old drives in, and it ran slow. My new build in sig i bought a new faster drive and i love how it flies.

2nd build I will scrap together in a moment and edit post accordingly

case and cpu and psu (usually psus that come with cases are crap, but antec earthwatts are actually very reliable.) 140 bucks
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

mobo (has onboard ati graphics, very hard to fine one w/o, can be disabled, but actually for this build onboard would likely be plenty)
65 bucks
Newegg.com - ASUS M3A76-CM AM2+/AM2 AMD 760G uATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

2 gigs of ram, could actually get 2 more 28 bucks
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

dvd 25 bucks
Newegg.com - LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

hdd 55 bucks
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

evga 8600 54 bucks if u must have an nvidia card
Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N761-TR GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

This comes to like 367.
ill let you choose a monitor
(must give credit to hikaricloud, some of this build was stolen from a previous budget build he set up)

 

[Pinscher]

Makes no sense to not go with a company just because. Intel is by far the best CPU company right now and it is in your budget for build #1. Ati is also a great GPU maker and as mentioned by thresh... THEY ARE OWNED BY AMD lol. I think you need to get away from your little grudge or whatever it is you have against these companies.

Oh and don't get a Sceptre monitor. They are crap. I had one and the DVI port broke a couple months after I bought it, then the HDMI port broke a few months after that so I was stuck using VGA until it broke completely last year. They have horrid customer support too. Thats why I never bothered RMAing it after the DVI port broke because I wasn't confident that I would get the monitor back within any reasonable time.

 

[Exarchice]

What I don't understand is why you will go AMD, but not ati. ATI is owned by amd... Also, intel is by far number 1 in the processor world. with a 1200 dollar budget for build 1 you could definitely build an intel i7 machine that'd blow a phenom II x4 out of the water.

But if you are a fanboy and refuse to go with either I only have a few recommendations for build 1. Get a corsair or pc&c psu. ocz is good, but i've read the wires are stiff and hard to work with. Also, you are getting a biostar board that supports xfire, I would get an amd/nvidia based board if you ever want to add a second card in the future. It still makes no sense however that you would not want to go with ATI since you go with amd. Last, make sure your hdds are sata. hdds are the biggest bottleneck in any system, and you really won't see a huge improvement if you slap in old hdds with a new computer. I also find the same thing with old cd drives. in my first budget build i put old drives in, and it ran slow. My new build in sig i bought a new faster drive and i love how it flies.

2nd build I will scrap together in a moment and edit post accordingly

case and cpu and psu (usually psus that come with cases are crap, but antec earthwatts are actually very reliable.) 140 bucks
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

mobo (has onboard ati graphics, very hard to fine one w/o, can be disabled, but actually for this build onboard would likely be plenty)
65 bucks
Newegg.com - ASUS M3A76-CM AM2+/AM2 AMD 760G uATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

2 gigs of ram, could actually get 2 more 28 bucks
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

dvd 25 bucks
Newegg.com - LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

hdd 55 bucks
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

evga 8600 54 bucks if u must have an nvidia card
Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N761-TR GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

This comes to like 367.
ill let you choose a monitor
(must give credit to hikaricloud, some of this build was stolen from a previous budget build he set up)

for the budget builds i could care less if its ati or nvidia (i believe in the link i posted with the budget build items i put an ati card in it)
and the case/psu/cpu combo is pretty nice, ill probably have to go with that over what i posted up (i didnt do any research on parts, i just tried to match part to part with the xps 625 actually heh)
the ram is a $10 more, and they really dont even need 2g ram, but i threw in 2gig ram for 18bucks altho gotta check if it will fit with the mobo you posted, because that mobo is much nicer than the one i chose)
not a bad dvd burner, it would do good for their purposes.
and as far as a monitor goes its $100 is the cheapest i can find for an lcd, so thats what im going with.



for the gaming rig i choose the PSU i did because the price was really good and the ratings on that particular PSU were at 5eggs (with a few 4 eggs and no 3 or under eggs)
and i do agree with the wiring issue on the PSU, but im not too concerned with it, on my build i dont plan on doing much wire management at all, and if i have to ive got leftover extenders from an antec psu if i need to use them.

as far as the mobo goes, xfire will not support sli? im not familiar with xfire at all, i thought that it was just the ati version of sli? the only reason i picked that particular mobo was because i noticed alot of people that had the same CPU had it in their build. also i hear the bios in the mobo are just amazing which is another factor upon me picking it up. i may eventually get a 2nd gfx, but not untill the game im running starts losing major fps down the road.

the HDDs are brand new, they havent even been out of the box yet. my dad picked them up for his rig, but he is going to just give them to me since he really doesnt even need them. altho im not sure which brand they are yet, he usually goes with WD, either way they are sata and they are free heh i remember when satas started getting big about 3 years ago, actually 3 years ago is when i bought my 1st sata drive because i didnt realize my mobo didnt have sata support lol.

as far as a cd/dvd drive go, i dont need anything fancy, the only thing i will ever need the cd drive for is just to install vista and my drivers, other than that ill probably never touch my cd drive lol. but using an older or cheaper cd drive will slow down my performance? even if i dont use it?

also as far as the amd cpu goes, for the price of the cpu i hear its better than the cheaper i7s? is that not the case? i havent done extensive research on ati/intel, i just go by what i hear and i hear people with $1k-1.2k builds its better to go with an amd cpu.

 

[Exarchice]

Makes no sense to not go with a company just because. Intel is by far the best CPU company right now and it is in your budget for build #1. Ati is also a great GPU maker and as mentioned by thresh... THEY ARE OWNED BY AMD lol. I think you need to get away from your little grudge or whatever it is you have against these companies.

Oh and don't get a Sceptre monitor. They are crap. I had one and the DVI port broke a couple months after I bought it, then the HDMI port broke a few months after that so I was stuck using VGA until it broke completely last year. They have horrid customer support too. Thats why I never bothered RMAing it after the DVI port broke because I wasn't confident that I would get the monitor back within any reasonable time.

thanks fo the tip on sceptre, that little story reminds me of my hatachi tv... it took them just over a month to get it repaired so i had to my tiny 32" tv till they fixed it =/ it sucked trying to get 4 people playing halo on a little tv.



as far as the i7s go, those might be able to change my mind if i can find a better i7 than the amd i have listed for roughly the same price, but ive just based my experience off their core 2 duos, they have always ran slower than any comparable amd cpu i have ever ran.

as far as the ati cards go, ive been holding my grudge with them just for so long i cant even remember why i hate them lol. alto the gtx295 is still the dominatrix in the graphics department. and the 260s are a little cheaper than the comparable ati cards i believe (again i dont keep up with ATI at all, so not 100% sure, i have seen some bench marks on the 4870x2 and they seem to do nice tho, alto ive heard bad things about the 4870s =/ not sure if they are true or not, but at this point i wouldnt even know what a good ati card would be for around the price im looking for, and i have no clue if xfire is better than sli or not, or if it even makes a difference because they are the same thing just different names?)


doh sorry, couldnt figure out how to merge my posts together

 

[Pinscher]

Newegg.com - Acer X223Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 2500:1 - LCD Monitors

Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - ASUS P6T SE LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - Operating Systems

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

This will be a much better build than your AMD build and it is in your budget. It has room for an upgrade to SLI later down the road too.

Crossfire is basically the ATI version of SLI but that doesn't mean you can just stick two ATI cards in any board and they will work together or vice versa. The motherboard chipset has to support SLI or crossfire for the respective technology to work. The new x58 chipset for i7 has support for both SLI and crossfire.

The PSU I chose is a much better brand. OCZ can be a little sketchy on their PSUs. Some have fluctuating +12v rails which can cause problems. PC Power & Cooling is the best PSU maker around. They make a solid product.

EDIT: I don't know what you are talking about with the core 2 duos. They absolutely whooped anything AMD in their prime. They still beat most AMDs. I'm sorry but you are very very wrong about the core 2 duos.

 

[Thresh25]

Yeah, intel has really just mopped the floor with AMD for some time now. the athlon x2s were much slower than comparable core 2 duos.

Like pinscher stated crossfire is supported on ati chipset motherboards, that support crossfire. Same for for sli, nvidia chipsets that support sli. You cannot sli on a crossfire board and vise versa.

Unless of course you are building the i7 rig (do it!) the x58 motherboards required to run the i7s support BOTH sli and crossfire.

 

[Exarchice]

Newegg.com - Acer X223Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 2500:1 - LCD Monitors

Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - ASUS P6T SE LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - Operating Systems

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

This will be a much better build than your AMD build and it is in your budget. It has room for an upgrade to SLI later down the road too.

Crossfire is basically the ATI version of SLI but that doesn't mean you can just stick two ATI cards in any board and they will work together or vice versa. The motherboard chipset has to support SLI or crossfire for the respective technology to work. The new x58 chipset for i7 has support for both SLI and crossfire.

The PSU I chose is a much better brand. OCZ can be a little sketchy on their PSUs. Some have fluctuating +12v rails which can cause problems. PC Power & Cooling is the best PSU maker around. They make a solid product.

EDIT: I don't know what you are talking about with the core 2 duos. They absolutely whooped anything AMD in their prime. They still beat most AMDs. I'm sorry but you are very very wrong about the core 2 duos.

what makes that i7 better than the amd i had picked out? wouldnt 3.2g be better than 2.6g?

as far as the psu goes it sais it is certified for 2x 8800gtxs? will it be able to handle gtx260 x2?


also maby ive always got a defective core 2 duo, because ive never had one that has outperformed any amd i have owned. maby its due to the fact that every intel based system ive owned has been purchased and not built, and every amd system i have ever owned i built myself. i ended up returning an hp i bought due to the fact that it could barley handle everquest 2 on the lowest settings. i ended up buying identical parts except for a different cpu/graphics(went with the 7700gtx instead of the gt) card/ mobo and i was able to max out my performance, maybe the different brands i selected for the parts i used might of had a playing factor in the performance, but like i said, ive always had bad experiences with anything that has ever said intel on it.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

what makes that i7 better than the amd i had picked out? wouldnt 3.2g be better than 2.6g?

as far as the psu goes it sais it is certified for 2x 8800gtxs? will it be able to handle gtx260 x2?


also maby ive always got a defective core 2 duo, because ive never had one that has outperformed any amd i have owned. maby its due to the fact that every intel based system ive owned has been purchased and not built, and every amd system i have ever owned i built myself. i ended up returning an hp i bought due to the fact that it could barley handle everquest 2 on the lowest settings. i ended up buying identical parts except for a different cpu/graphics(went with the 7700gtx instead of the gt) card/ mobo and i was able to max out my performance, maybe the different brands i selected for the parts i used might of had a playing factor in the performance, but like i said, ive always had bad experiences with anything that has ever said intel on it.

Clock speed is irrelevant, the i7 is better because it is faster then the Phenom across the board, not mo mention it's a better overclocker on air cooling.

 

[zmatt]

what makes that i7 better than the amd i had picked out? wouldnt 3.2g be better than 2.6g?

as far as the psu goes it sais it is certified for 2x 8800gtxs? will it be able to handle gtx260 x2?


also maby ive always got a defective core 2 duo, because ive never had one that has outperformed any amd i have owned. maby its due to the fact that every intel based system ive owned has been purchased and not built, and every amd system i have ever owned i built myself. i ended up returning an hp i bought due to the fact that it could barley handle everquest 2 on the lowest settings. i ended up buying identical parts except for a different cpu/graphics(went with the 7700gtx instead of the gt) card/ mobo and i was able to max out my performance, maybe the different brands i selected for the parts i used might of had a playing factor in the performance, but like i said, ive always had bad experiences with anything that has ever said intel on it.

Ah n00b mistake #1, you compared clock speed. This isn't 2004, clock speed doesn't mean a thing. The Core i7 is faster than any other desktop cpu out there. No question. And the core2dou beats most AMD chips still.

Sounds like you have a bad case of Fanboy misinformation dude.

For your budget you can easily fit in an i7 and maybe squeeze in a radeon 4890, which can overclock to match a GTX285, which is a $100 more expensive card.