$500 Xmas build for Dad

[Muffin Man]

actually yes, ther seems to be an incompatibility. that gigabyte mobo doesnt seem to officially support the athlon ii x4 620.

i would just go with the previous mobo Ste had listed for you before. this biostar mobo does say that it supports the 620, plus its the same price.

Mobo: Newegg.com - BIOSTAR MCP6P M2+ 6.X AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 / nForce 430 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

and you also said you want some case options with side windows:

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-BWN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Newegg.com - RAIDMAX Hurricane ATX-248WB Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Newegg.com - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K56W Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

for the dvd drives, not really sure if theres any real major internal differences but im sure something different since theyre different models. besides that, they both just look like regular drives, but the $33 one is retail so it comes in a retail box with a sata cable and some software, the cheaper $31 one is just oem, so you just get the drive. shouldnt really matter though because the mobo will come with sata cables.

 

[Ste]

I didn't look at the manufactureres website, but if the CPU is AM2 and the mobo is AM2, it should work fine.

Maybe the mobo needs a BIOS flash though, I dunnue.

 

[memory]

I may go with the Biostar board just to be on the safe side.

Out of the 2 ram choices I have listed, which would be the better choice?

I would like to get one with a side window but I noticed the ones that have a window doesn't come with other stuff like fan filters. Aargh, sometimes I think to hard on these things. What ever case I choose, I would like to add some case fans.

What about a CPU cooler? Would a ACF7Pro work with this mobo or will I have to buy a different one? Which one would you suggest?

 

[Muffin Man]

I didn't look at the manufactureres website, but if the CPU is AM2 and the mobo is AM2, it should work fine.

Maybe the mobo needs a BIOS flash though, I dunnue.

the athlon ii x4 620 is an am3 cpu.

im not completely sure on this either, but both the mobos are the same price, so IMO, you might as well go with the mobo that officially supports it and has it listed.

for the ram, between the g.skill from the egg and the corsair from ebay, they both should work fine but id go fir the g.skill since theyre $49.99 w/ free shipping while the corsairs from ebay are like the same price but shipping is $5.

the af7 should work on the mobo, but if it doesnt, if youre not gonna be OCing, the stock fan will work.

 

[memory]

I think I have a case picked out. What do you think?

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

What about adding fans to this thing? How many could I add?

I think I will go with the g.skill ram.

I didn't think about the stock cooler. For some reason I was thinking that it didn't come with one. Man all these choices are making me go crazy

I will probably be getting Windows 7 Home Premium unless someone suggests otherwise. Should I get the 32 bit or 64 bit version? Both are the same price.

Thanks for the help. Looks like I have everything narrowed down.

 

[Muffin Man]

yep, that case is fine. not entirely sure how many fans it can hold, but it comes with 1 intake fan and 1 exhaust fan stock already. that will be enough cooling since youre not getting particularly high end hardware.

for the OS, id say just get the 64-bit, incase you ever upgrade to 4+ gigs ram. 32 and 64 bit cost the same anyway.

 

[Trotter]

It comes with all the fans it is made for, the front one and the back one (checked the CM website).

 

[memory]

Okay I think I have it figured out. What do you think?

CASE: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

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
How reliable is this board? It doesn't even have a warranty.

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

PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W Modular Power Supply - eBay (item 140363841934 end time Dec-06-09 19:05:04 PST)

HDD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
I will be getting 2 of these.

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

OS: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems

So it looks like it comes up to $543 without shipping. Anything I can change to cut costs? The only thing I am worried about is the MOBO. I want something that is going to last a long time.

I have thought about using the hard drives he is using right now but I would like to get rid of IDE all together. How much slower is the IDE interface versus SATA? I could save $70 if I reused the old hard drives but I don't know if I want to. I wouldn't mind reusing the optical drives since he doesn't use them that much.

 

[james.wired]

Why get two 160GB hard drives? You could save $31 by just getting a single 320GB:

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

 

[memory]

The reason I am getting 2 hard drives is one would be for the OS and the other for storage and backup. Makes it alot easier when it comes to reinstalling Windows.