Newbie..Need Some Build Help

[GHSDogPound]

Hello Everyone, Stumbled upon the forums here tonight and have done quite abit of reading on the suggestions on builds. I'm totally new to build your own have always just bought at the store every 5 years or so, but I think my best option now is a custom build at a price I can afford.

I've been using a HP m7334n Media Center for the last 5 years with three 3 gig of ram.

What I will be using it for, I do website work for our local high school and my own. So I need it to handle that, which won't be much and photo editing and photoshop and programs like that. The most demanding thing I do is game films, so I do video editing on the system and need something that will preform great mulititasking all those things at one time, while being on the internet also. My HP m7334n, seemed to do a pretty good job and I really have no complants about it, but it did die last week and I had a computer tech look at it and he believes it's the mother board, so it would be a good time to look at an upgrade. I don't play any games, so that's not an issue.


I won't need DVD drives or even a hard drive as I had just bought a new sata 1t and also have a 500 g. OS I don't need to buy either as for now I want to stay with XP as I'm used to it and all the programs I'm used to running things.

What package do you guys suggest on a $400 or under budget? I appreciate your help, time and suggestions.

Thanks

 

[bryanschaub]

Good Rock Solid motherboard...
Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

This processor might be a little over kill but its does wonders with video editing/rendering
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Still a lot of power, but more affordable...
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Nice Power supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

Good RAM

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Desktop Memory

And just find a ATX case that you like.


Hope this gives you some direction and price range..

 

[Trotter]

Since it was the mobo that died in your old computer, you could reuse the case and PSU. HP doesn't list the wattage, but I figure it to be 250-300W. I also figure you are using the onboard graphics. If so, the case PSU should be enough to power these.

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
$200 w/free shipping

Newegg.com - MSI P55M-GD45 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
$120 w/free shipping

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT - Desktop Memory
$90

Total = $410 + shipping on the RAM

The i5, being an Intel quad, should be more than able to chew up any editing and encoding tasks you have. I put in 4GB of RAM even though XP 32-bit can only address 3.5GB. Sure you lose a half a gig, but that extra 1.5GB should help you out a good bit.

 

[Muffin Man]

but then he'd be replacing his mobo with an integrated gpu which he was using. if he bought those parts, how would he hook up his monitor though, i dont think im missing something obvious here, but then again...? the product specs of the hp just mention integrated video, so unless he bought a dedicated card, he'd be w/o video.

some other parts; total $381 + free shipping.

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

Newegg.com - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMD4GX3M2A1600C8 - Desktop Memory

youd use the video on the mobo, and just reuse your original psu which Trotter mentioned should work, reuse the case, and you already have an optical and hdd.