Please review ~$600 build for quickie replacement

Status
Not open for further replies.

laurieny

Baseband Member
Messages
26
Location
Utah
My husband's 6+ year old Dell gave up the ghost yesterday, and I need to replace it quick. I bought it back before I started building our machines myself, and so the only things I can salvage from it are the hard drive, monitor, keyboard and mouse. Also, I already bought his Christmas gifts, so I would like to keep the cost pretty low. ;-)

I was shooting to hit $600 but don't have a lot of time to research, and while I have built three boxes previously, I don't keep up with the current components and I forget stuff I learn in between builds. Not going for state of the art here and this was not nearly as much fun as shopping for my son's primo gaming rig. He mostly needs it for web, email, and light gaming (no Bioshock or Crysis in other words) but I don't want it to be too wimpy as I can't bring myself to build too minimalistic of a brand new machine.

Here is what I threw in the cart at Newegg. Please offer opinions, make replacement suggestions if equal quality for lower price, or better quality for same price. I know that the Antec power supply is only average at best, but the combo deal with the case seemed like a good idea (compatible with the case) and saved a few bucks. Thanks in advance for your time and suggestions! -Laurie

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
MB: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
PSU: Antec NeoPower 550 550W ATX12V SLI Certified Power Supply
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
MRY: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit
DVD: SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA SH-S223Q
GPU: MSI N9600GT 512M OC GeForce 9600 GT 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

CPU + MB = 292.28
PSU + Case = 169.68
Memory = 59.99
DVD = 28.99
GPU = 102.99

Total = $654.93 - $45 rebates + $45 shipping = $655
 
get the E8400 or E8300 instead and overclock up unless the price is only $10 either way havent checked newegg for a while.....
other then that looks fine the gpu is a bit pitiful but should manage moderate gaming
 
That 9600 GT should be able to max out bioshock. Just like any card released in the last year basically.
 
With the combo pricing I got, the 8400 *is* only $10 different, so I will stick with the 8500. Thanks to each of you for your input.

On a side note, had to run over to a local shop today for an emergency work purchase. They build "custom" machines and had an almost duplicate system for sale for $1499 (of course it did include the OS, and the couple of things that I didn't need-no monitor though). I told my husband he should appreciate all the money I am saving him ;-)
 
You will actually save him more as with the E8500 you can overclock to 3.8ghz on air which is faster then any core2duo you can buy and will give him better performance in current gaames like bioshock as only one of the cores then any other cpu except the I7 range which are a tad expensive.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom