Suggestions

[JoshSB]

Okay here is the deal, my friend is wanting me to build him a 1,100 budget PC.

Now, I know that his video card is going to be a 7800GT or 7900GT without a doubt, the processor is going to be dual core, either AM2 or Conroe.

The processor will have to be around 550-600W, and I am leaving the case up to him since he will have to look at it for however long this lasts.

He will need at LEAST 160 GB HDD (going to get a SATA seagate one).

Anyways, the main parts are:

CPU: AM2/Conroe

Motherboard: unsure for both AM2/Conroe, do not know of any good boards, does NOT have to be SLI supportive, could be regular depends on price. (would like suggestions please)

RAM: 2 Gigs, probably Corsair Valueselect due to the fact he does not OC. (would like suggestions on this please)

GPU: 7800GT or 7900GT - 180-280

Opticals: Got them covered - $63.98 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106013

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 160 GB - $58.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148149

Basically the two main things I do not know as of this moment are the motherboard (never bought for AM2 or Conroe) and the RAM (again, do not know where to find some cheap DDR2 800 RAM that is not $150 for 1 gig). Anyways, the 7800/7900 issue as well as the processor itself relies on these answers.

Thank guys for any help you can give me.

-Josh

 

[Paul_Wall_117]

I know you will probably be annoyed by this, but I think you should spend about $70 more than the 7900GT and get a connect3D 3056 Radeon X1900XT. It really seems worth it, but you have to make sure you get a good enough PSU to run it, and it is a little big, so a larger midtower wouldn't hurt.

I personally went with AM2 on my new build, getting a Athlon 64 X2 4600+, capable of overclocking to 5000+ speeds on stock cooling (or so I've been told).

I can't help you on the RAM man, I had to go with this after I switched to AM2.

As for a motherboard, I like the DFI INFINITY NF ULTRAII-M2 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra, and I am using it in my build. It of course has on board sound, and is pretty cheap considering what you get for that price.

That processor I was talking about is this.

You'll need a good PSU if you are going to get all of those mid-high end parts, and I personally suggest This one.

 

[Paul_Wall_117]

Oh yeah, I didn't really add up the prices, but I'm sort of sure that it isn't above your budget. You will need to addi t up yourself.

 

[JoshSB]

If you buy a OEM Windows XP you loose access to certain geniune upgrades, so my friend wouldn't be that SOL would he?

How is that GPU faster, it has less Pipelines, more Core clock, less memory clock.

I am seriously wondering, how is it better?

 

[TriEclipse]

Go Conroe. It will whip any AM2 a new one.

As for the videocard, pipelines dont matter as much as they used to before the X1K series. The X1900XT is indeed faster than the 7900GT vanilla, but a 7900GT KO Superclocked ($290, 580/1580) will easily take over even a X1900XTX with slightly higher ovclocking.

This;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004

With this;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012

And some DDR2-800 memory.

 

[JoshSB]

Hmm, he still needs a case and a OEM version of Windows XP and I am already at $1079, unsure if I can go with conroe, may hve to stay with AM2, it isnt all that bad, it will still run anything needed to run for a long while.

 

[TriEclipse]

Something I whipped up in my spare time.

Motherboard – Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - $153.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012

Case – CM Centurion - $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119106

Processor – Intel C2D E6300 - $193.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005

Memory – 2 x 1GB OCZ Gold DDR2-800 - $200.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227124

Videocard – eVGA GeForce 7900GT KO Superclocked - $290.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130016

Hard Drive – 160GB Seagate Barracuda - $59.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148149

Power Supply – 450W Forton PSU - $52.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

Sound Card – CSB Live! - $26.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102176

Optical Drive – Samsung DVD burner - $33.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151133

Cooling – Zalman 7700 - $39.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118114

Total = $1105.

Saying that something will run fine for a long time is no reason to spend the same amount of money for worse performance. Nothing peeves me more than to see people consciously waste money or something that obviously performs worse.

 

[JoshSB]

He does not overclock so I can remove the Zalman, and again, he needs windows XP at LEAST the OEM version which ruins the build by about 150, I will see what he says about it.

However, I may just have to sell him my computer and buy this one myself lmfao, it is KICK hehe.