$500 Xmas build for Dad

[patonb]

I always recon AMD to Intel as 80% of the performance for 60% of the price.

Now, just remedmber, 80% of uses will never know the SPEED difference between a 2.4 AMD and a 2.1 Intel..

Farinha makes an excellent point too, AM3 is the new stuff, 775 is the garbage line.

A nd just so you don't think AMDs crap, Intel had to scrap a whole product line, and reinvent an old chi;p just to compete against AMDs chips.

 

[philbar71]

I always recon AMD to Intel as 80% of the performance for 60% of the price.

Now, just remedmber, 80% of uses will never know the SPEED difference between a 2.4 AMD and a 2.1 Intel..

Farinha makes an excellent point too, AM3 is the new stuff, 775 is the garbage line.

A nd just so you don't think AMDs crap, Intel had to scrap a whole product line, and reinvent an old chi;p just to compete against AMDs chips.

yep. before intel launched the Core processors intel was getting spanked pretty badly by the X2's. so AMD is good, heck i've got a AM3 sempron sitting right next to me

 

[memory]

I guess I will go the AMD route. You have made some good points.

Since I am going with AMD, will a Artic Cooling Freezer 7 cpu cooler work or will I have to get a different one?

For the HDD's, he would be fine 2 120gb hard drives. Right now he has a 120gb for back up and a 80gb hard drive for the OS and a combined total of 20gb's of used space. Really he would be fine with a lot less but it seems there is not too many to pick from going that low. I have noticed alot of hard drives have blue in the title, what does that mean? I know green mean energy saving and black means performance. Would blue be right in the middle of the two?

The only thing I am clueless about is the MOBO. Are there certain brands to stay away from? What are some of the better brands?

Some of the stuff I am going to buy off of ebay since they are cheaper on some things. I realize there is going to be a few people that do not recommend ebay but I have used them quite a bit and no problems.

I will try to make a list later. I am going to keep researching.

 

[farinha]

Yes, blue is in the middle. Regarding the mobos my favorites are Asus and Gigabit.

 

[Ste]

I guess I will go the AMD route. You have made some good points.

Since I am going with AMD, will a Artic Cooling Freezer 7 cpu cooler work or will I have to get a different one?

For the HDD's, he would be fine 2 120gb hard drives. Right now he has a 120gb for back up and a 80gb hard drive for the OS and a combined total of 20gb's of used space. Really he would be fine with a lot less but it seems there is not too many to pick from going that low. I have noticed alot of hard drives have blue in the title, what does that mean? I know green mean energy saving and black means performance. Would blue be right in the middle of the two?

The only thing I am clueless about is the MOBO. Are there certain brands to stay away from? What are some of the better brands?

Some of the stuff I am going to buy off of ebay since they are cheaper on some things. I realize there is going to be a few people that do not recommend ebay but I have used them quite a bit and no problems.

I will try to make a list later. I am going to keep researching.

If the harddrives still work you can just reuse them and have 110 more dollars to spend on a better mobo or cpu/ram.

Mobo brands are all about the same for the price your looking for, they all have 1 year warranties anyways. (if you had alot more to spend Id say go with gigabyte, dfi, evga or asus)

I think the green/blue thing with the harddrives is about energy efficieny ratting, its not really important since you will be reusing the drives you already have, and is not a main selling point on HD's anyways.

 

[memory]

Here is what I came up with so far based on the suggestions made.

Case: Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
not really set on this case, seems to be one of the cheaper ones. I noticed this one the PSU mounts on the bottom. Would there be any disadvantages over a top mounted PSU?

CPU: Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

MOBO: Newegg.com - BIOSTAR MCP6P M2+ 6.X AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 / nForce 430 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
What about a CPU cooler, I have an Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro from my build that I am not using. Would I be able to use that with any of these motherboards?

Newegg.com - ASUS M4A77TD Pro AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
Again, I am not to sure on this section. I am open to suggestions. Most likely no overclocking will be done if that makes a difference. I just want something that is reliable. One thing that I have noticed is alot of motherboards have a memory standard of DDR3. Would DDR2 memory be compatible in these boards?

RAM: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Desktop Memory
Again, I am open to suggestions. I think 4gb's is going to be too expensive. I can always upgrade later on down the road. I am definitely not going below 2gb's.

GPU: Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N940-LR GeForce 9400 GT 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
I do have an old ATI card that is not being used. It is an Radeon x600. I may use this card to save money. If I do buy a card, it will most likely be an Nvidia card.

DVD: Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Writer - Bulk - LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

HDD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

OS: Don't know for sure yet. May stick with XP for now. If I were to buy Windows 7, what is the difference between Home Premium and Professional?

The total for this buying off of Newegg minus OS is $537 with a $20 rebate(hate rebates).

I may buy the HDD and PSU off of ebay. I can get the HDD for $33.98 and the PSU for $50.50 or I can make an offer for a savings of about $15.

So it looks like it is going to be around $600. Man, I was hoping to spend a little less than that. Is there any place where I can cut costs without reducing performance?

Thanks for the help so far.

Ste, you must have posted while I was posting. The problem with reusing the old hard drives and cd drives is they are IDE interface. Would I be able to use IDE drive in a SATA machine? I think IDE is one reason his machine is slow.

 

[Ste]

CPU: Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Mobo: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
RAM: Newegg.com - WINTEC AMPX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400C5-4096K - Desktop Memory
Power supply: Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies
Case: of your choice
Harddrive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145241

Comes to around 310 ish + whatever case you choose.

 

[Muffin Man]

Ste, you must have posted while I was posting. The problem with reusing the old hard drives and cd drives is they are IDE interface. Would I be able to use IDE drive in a SATA machine? I think IDE is one reason his machine is slow.

you could still reuse your ide optical and hdds, most mobos still support that interface.

also, you dont really need a dedicated gfx card. you said his main uses for it would be office work, internet and music. you could just use a mobos onboard video and it would be fine for his needs and you could save that money or put it towards something else.

 

[Ste]

SATA otpical drives and HD's are cheap, so

in my last post 310 +
Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 24X DVD-R SATA Black 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

310 + 33 = 343 +

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAJS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

343 + 45 = 388.

still well under 500$.

 

[memory]

Here is an updated list:

CPU: Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
I just noticed this CPU went up $8. Hopefully it will not stay like that for long.

MOBO: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
On this board, DDR2 memory is the standard. I'm not sure but if I buy a DDR3 memory standard board, would I still be able to use DDR2 memory? Just wanted to keep my options open for the future.

RAM: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Desktop Memory

http://cgi.ebay.com/Corsair-XMS2-DH...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5d272c4cd9
I think I am going with 2gb's for now to keep price down. I can always upgrade later. 2gb's should be plenty for him. Which would be the better choice or is there anything better for the same price?

PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W Modular Power Supply - eBay (item 140363841934 end time Dec-06-09 19:05:04 PST)
I will probably buy this if it still around when I go to buy. Unless you think that the Corsair PSU is better than this one specs wise. Isn't modular the way to go? Both are about the same price. In fact, I could possibly get the OCZ for cheaper by making him an offer.

CASE: Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
I may keep looking for one with a side window. Any brands I should stay away from or is a case a case?

DVD drive: Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Writer - Bulk - LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 24X DVD-R SATA Black 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners
Which one is the better choice of the two?

HDD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Same model, just a different size. He really doesn't need 250gb's of space. I can get this one cheaper on ebay too.

GPU: I am not going to buy a video card. I have a spare Radeon X600 that he can use or may just use onboard graphics.

OS: I am going to get Windows 7 Home Premium for around $100.

Is there anything that you would change? Anything not compatible?

Looks like everything comes up to $484.