Need a Cheap Multimedia PC, Help!

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rjm0827

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Wanting to build a PC with around 500GB of storage. Will mainly store videos and mp3's on it. Maybe play a few PC games, nothing too demanding. Burn CD/DVD's as well. Will stream the media to my Xbox 360. Want to keep costs low. Under $500 if possible.
 
AMD x2 3800 - 63.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103735
ABIT AN52 mobo - 69.00
Newegg.com - ABIT AN52 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 520 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800 - 50.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
eVGA 8600GT - 80.00 (w/MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130297
Cooler Master Centurion - 65.00
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WWC Black/ Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case PEAK: 380W Power Supply - Retail
Samsung SATA 20X DVD burner - 32.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151153
2x WD Caviar 320GB Sata 7200rpm/16mb - 160.00
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM


As is now without the rebate factored in, it's 539.00. you can shave off some if you only get one hard drive for now and get another later on, that will keep it under your budget. The reason I chose 2 hard drives is so you will not have a single point of failure for one, and also you can have the OS on one drive and your movies and what not on the other. (I have an 80GB drive for the OS and a 250GB for my media)
 
Looks good. Really good. Thanks for the help. Would the AMD be better than a Intel in this scenario though? Everything I have read people prefer something like the e2180 for a budget build.
 
INTEL right now is better, but a little more on the expensive side... if you have room to expand your budget some then I would suggest the intel side. but AMD is cheaper, and since your not into frame rates and big time gaming, your not going to see much difference in the 2. I have the same CPU and mobo in a media build I have and for what I want it to do it rocks... and yes I have Doom 3 on it with a 7600GT and it plays just fine...
 
I could get the e2180 for $90 and a decent mobo for $60-70 so it's not too much more. I'll just see what my budget looks like when I buy.
 
My multimedia rig runs on an AMD Athlon 2000+ with no problems. It has a MX4000 in it which allows my wife to play the games she wants to play. It also has a gig of RAM.

Unless you plan on doing some intensive gaming on it, it won't require a lot of horsepower.
 
go for AMD processor and compatible ASUS board. This will keep the prices low. And for all other peripherals choose what ever in your budget.
 
Oh yes... My son plays it on his computer and he as an older socket 939 3700 San Diego single core cpu and plays it great, So I KNOW a dual core will play it just fine.
 
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