Time to build a PC, I need your help

[rkf76]

The first computer I ever owned, I built it, so I'm confident enough in my abilities to complete this project. My goal is to have a midline system that will meet the following goals:

Be faster than my current 697Mhz Celeron processor
Be able to play and burn DVD's and CD's
Be able to produce graphics to the best capability of my 19" LCD monitor
Have USB 2.0 ports, maybe even firewire
Be able to produce good quality audio

I mainly surf the net, play/rip/burn music, and the normal things like work with spreadsheets/word processors/etc. I'd like to watch DVD's and play games and have competent resources to do so with no lagging/freezing/skipping. Can anyone suggest some good components that fit these criteria and/or tell me where I can get alot of this stuff online at decent prices?

I'd like to get the tower built and ready to go for under $500

 

[PZEROFGH]

MSI K8N NEO2-PLATINUM ----------> buy mines selling for cheap
9800pro/XT ----------------------------> buy mines selling for cheap
1GB of ram ----->corsair valueselect would do
big hdd -----> im guessing a seagvate 250GB hdd would do
case -------------> anything you like
forton 450W power supply ---> good for the money
3200+ venice

what kind of games do you play, as you said in yuor other thread you arent very much a gamer, and wont be upgrading soon ?

 

[rkf76]

MSI K8N NEO2-PLATINUM ----------> buy mines selling for cheap
9800pro/XT ----------------------------> buy mines selling for cheap
1GB of ram ----->corsair valueselect would do
big hdd -----> im guessing a seagvate 250GB hdd would do
case -------------> anything you like
forton 450W power supply ---> good for the money
3200+ venice

what kind of games do you play, as you said in yuor other thread you arent very much a gamer, and wont be upgrading soon ?

I don't currently play games, but if I had a system that was competent, I might play some. I'm more into sports and driving games, but FPS would be in the realm of possibility with a decent system.

 

[PZEROFGH]

i play NFSMW with mostly high settings and texture and AF or was it AA on med. and its awesoem

and i also play cs and bf2, cs on all high obviously, and bf2 on med-high with 60fps !

 

[rkf76]

i play NFSMW with mostly high settings and texture and AF or was it AA on med. and its awesoem

and i also play cs and bf2, cs on all high obviously, and bf2 on med-high with 60fps !

I know what NFS means, but you lost me on the rest.

So what are some decent components I should try to get ahold of for my new PC?

 

[PZEROFGH]

need for speed most wanted

 

[jolancer]

This is the powersupply hes talking about, and right know it does look like the best bang for your buck PSU....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

I dont know how much performance you expect to see in games, but i went for the eVGA 6800GS when it was $200, its $210 right know i think.

For HDD i guess you can get any of the cheap deals out for the holiday season.

then just get something in the area of a.....

A64 3000+

and a PCI-E motherboard... DFI , MSI are popular, Gigabyte, and Abit are also probably realy good.

and 1GB of value pc3200 ram is $70 knowadays.

if i average $140 for the CPU, $75 for the motherboard, $40 HDD, $45 pc case <--- those are generally probably the cheaps you may find the parts for a reliable price.

that equals about $620, little more then you wont i think, but those parts are all the best bang for your buck at the moment.

 

[rkf76]

This is the powersupply hes talking about, and right know it does look like the best bang for your buck PSU....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

I dont know how much performance you expect to see in games, but i went for the eVGA 6800GS when it was $200, its $210 right know i think.

For HDD i guess you can get any of the cheap deals out for the holiday season.

then just get something in the area of a.....

A64 3000+

and a PCI-E motherboard... DFI , MSI are popular, Gigabyte, and Abit are also probably realy good.

and 1GB of value pc3200 ram is $70 knowadays.

if i average $140 for the CPU, $75 for the motherboard, $40 HDD, $45 pc case <--- those are generally probably the cheaps you may find the parts for a reliable price.

that equals about $620, little more then you wont i think, but those parts are all the best bang for your buck at the moment.

Wow, your recommendations are nearly identical to what I have come up with. This is what I have so far:


ASUS K8N4-E DELUXE Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard $87
AMD Athlon64 3200+ CPU $193.99
XFX GeForce 6600LE PCIe Graphics card $80.00
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 SATA 160 GB HD $60.00
Wintec AMPO DDR400 184pin SDRAM 1GB $75.00
NEC ND3540A DVD/CD Burner combo burner drive $42.00

What do you think?

 

[jolancer]

If your not in a different countery, im in usa...

i found the 64 3200 to be about $152.... newegg has it discounted to $137 in combo priced with the $100 6600GT.

Dont go with socket 754, unless its much cheaper and you dont plan on ever upgrading it.

dont go with any 6600 other than the 6600GT... the GT is just $100 at Newegg right now... that is if you dont go with the 6800GS for $210. see links bellow.... yes theres probably a big difference between the LE and GT 6600, and the 6800GS is probably 2x as fast as the 66GT.

i dont know about wintec, but the Corsair VS 1GB 2x512 is $71

Personaly i avoid Maxtor.... i go for Western Digital, Seagate or Samsung, any of those.

Some one else is going to have to recomend a Socket 939 motherboard to you, cause i just dont have experience with any.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130258

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133129

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?linkid=110&item=20-145-440

 

[PZEROFGH]

DONT GO WITH PNY as they are very bad quality just like XFX

MSI K8N NEO4-F
eVGA 6800GS
AMD ATHLON 64 3200+
COrsair valueselect 1GB
250GB seagate hdd