$800 dollar budget, friend is making his own computer

[Wildside]

my friend wants to build his own computer, n i presume he wants to stay with XP for now. He told me he wants to stay with an $800 budget, but i think he should go for at least $1000. He says that he will be gaming n i want to help him out. I think he will not OC.

any suggestions r much appreciated.

here is what i found so far:

Newegg.com - ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail

Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

for the PSU n video card, i have hard choice to choose from. I dont think he wants to go for the highest-end DX9 card, considering he might want to go to Vista later, but not anytime soon. I might consider him getting a lower clocked version instead.

the computer case, im gonna have to get his right email address n sent him a link of a list of mid-tower cases for him to choose; from newegg that is.

 

[aetherh4cker]

Here is my stab at a pretty good one, unfortunately it comes out close to $1000 (before mail-in-rebates). I'm not sure where to cut costs...

Or did he want specifically AMD? If so... then I guess I'm just talking to myself...

Maybe someone else can tell me a good way to make this build cheaper.

Oh, and he should really overclock at least a little. Even on stock cooling, you basically get free performance.

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

Newegg.com - EVGA 320-P2-N815-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3320620A 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

 

[Apokalipse]

Newegg.com - Foxconn C51XEM2AA- 8EKRS2H AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
has an $80 rebate

if he's not overclocking, the 6000+ will do great.

 

[maroon1]

Get the build that aetherh4cker suggested. It is pretty good build

 

[san21893]

Oh, and he should really overclock at least a little. Even on stock cooling, you basically get free performance.

I think that overclocking should be done big. Yes you still get free performance but is it worth voiding your warranty for 200mhz?

Also, does he need a monitor?

 

[veg1992]

I think that overclocking should be done big. Yes you still get free performance but is it worth voiding your warranty for 200mhz?

Also, does he need a monitor?

but then again nobody really needs the CPU Warranty

 

[Wildside]

I think that overclocking should be done big. Yes you still get free performance but is it worth voiding your warranty for 200mhz?

Also, does he need a monitor?

no no, he has a great monitor! I think he said it was an LG 20" or 22" LCD monitor, 2ms.

so he is covered! I forgot to mention that.

as for the HDD n DVD drive, i think he is good. I have to txt him or something what he wants. I really dont think he wants to OC because for starters he doesnt know how! He want to stay with AMD btw. Thx for the help!

 

[Poizen22]

it is very hard to determine over clocking was the cause of a cpu defect, because it only really happens because of heat damage, and that can occur with out overclocking, so no you dont void yoru waranty by overclocking, amd and intel say it does to scare you away from the idea, btu will never know if it was doen or not, and this was explained to me by a xfx technician over the phone, when he was trying to help me fix my 7900gt.

 

[veg1992]

no no, he has a great monitor! I think he said it was an LG 20" or 22" LCD monitor, 2ms.

so he is covered! I forgot to mention that.

as for the HDD n DVD drive, i think he is good. I have to txt him or something what he wants. I really dont think he wants to OC because for starters he doesnt know how! He want to stay with AMD btw. Thx for the help!

ok... get an evga 590 or foxconn 590 instead for the board

and get a x2 5000+ Black Edition, so you can just tell him to increase the multiplier to overclock, and all you have do is increase it once... and its the speed of an x2 6400+ i think he can increase a multiplier right?

 

[Invisible]

wouldn't he need an aftermarket cooler to get 6400+ speeds?
i'm not an expert on AMD coolers