new AMD build help please...

[liquidmonkey]

am looking to build a new system for a mate and he wants it to have an AMD chip which is fine but i'm not too knowledgeable on the chips and mobos

here's a rough start and they only use it for some basic games, word processing, photos (lightroom, little PS) and to watch movies maybe.

Processor - AMD Athlon X2 6000 3.0 GHz
MB - nothing fancy needed here, no SLI but 4+ USB and a few SATA ports
RAM - mid quality and max it out for Mobo
HDD - WD 1TB HDD green
Video - Nvidia something
PSU - corsair 650W
DVD - cheap burner
Case - antec three hundred
Speakers - Logitech X-230
Monitor - 22" or 24"
OS - VISTA 64 ULTIMATE


any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

[GibsonSGKing]

am looking to build a new system for a mate and he wants it to have an AMD chip which is fine but i'm not too knowledgeable on the chips and mobos

here's a rough start and they only use it for some basic games, word processing, photos (lightroom, little PS) and to watch movies maybe.

Processor - AMD Athlon X2 6000 3.0 GHz
MB - nothing fancy needed here, no SLI but 4+ USB and a few SATA ports
RAM - mid quality and max it out for Mobo
HDD - WD 1TB HDD green
Video - Nvidia something
PSU - corsair 650W
DVD - cheap burner
Case - antec three hundred
Speakers - Logitech X-230
Monitor - 22" or 24"
OS - VISTA 64 ULTIMATE


any help is greatly appreciated!!

That's a pretty big res, you should probably go with a 9800gt or more. Also, what do you mean basic games? Solitaire? Also, the athlon x2 should be plenty for this build, it's the rough equivilant of the pentium dual core, which is a core2duo with less cache. So it's quite a good processor

 

[worshipme]

A few questions that we need answered to help you.

What is his budget?
Where is are you in the world?
Does he overclock?
What will he be using the system for?

 

[liquidmonkey]

i'm writing to you from sweden and the prices here are much different than they are on newegg but if i'm to guess a budget for my friend i'd guess between $600 - $700 US.

hope that helps out...

and is that athlon really old!?!? what are the newer ones and do they offer the same BANG FOR BUCK?

there will be NO OC'ing.

basic gaming means that he 'might' play COD4 MW and maybe Brothers in Arms but the funny thing is he can't play for more than 15-20 minutes cause he gets all dizzy and stomach sick....kinda funny

 

[worshipme]

You should try the Athlon II or the Phenom II X2 CPUs. And have a look at a 785G board.

 

[Air]

this is something i was thinking about building

AMD Athlon II x2 245
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103687
AMD 785G Micro ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128394
4GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

onboard graphic are okay. and you seem to have everything else.

 

[alienJJ]

Go for Athlon II 250, they are best bang for the back and use the latest 45nm AM3 socket. This means it has very low power consumption and has upgrading capabilities for the future.

As for motherboard you have a lot of choiced but I would go for nothing too fancy because it sounds like your friend is not a gamer. Any MSI, Gigabyte will do, but make sure if you find a motherboard, to read the reviews because some have bugs.

As for Ram, 4gb should be more than enough. Depending on the motherboard you will most likely need a ddr2 6400(800mhz) or ddr2 8500(1066mhz). But check with the motherboard because the newer am3 motherboards use ddr3. But as for price, the ddr2 1066mhz is the best bang for the back at the moment.

Based on what you said, it looks like he doesnt need an extreme video card... maybe something like a geforce 9600gso/gt would be more than enough for his needs. You can get a 9600gso for 30 bucks at newegg right now.

Samsung and LG has the best cheap cd/dvd burners...and i dont think you need a 650w psu for this system.. A 500w will do perfectly fine..but a bit more wont hurt =]

 

[Air]

actually id say that the 240 is probably the best bang for your buck. its $20 cheaper than the 250 and its only 0.2Ghz/ 200Mhz slower. which can be fixed with a small overclock.

 

[alienJJ]

i guess its a matter of preference but i would go with the 250 for 20 bucks more...

 

[liquidmonkey]

just want to thank you all for the suggestions and i'm looking at the following build, oh, plus a few parts are not available where i shop here in sweden i soooooooooo wish we had a viking newegg.

Processor - AMD Athlon X2 AM3 250 3.0 GHz - 775kr
MB - ASUS M4N78, Socket-AM2+/AM3 - 690kr
RAM - OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC6400 4GB KIT CL5 (2x2GB) - 690kr
HDD - WD 1TB HDD green - 899kr
Video - ASUS GeForce GTX 260 896MB core 216 - 1500kr - OPTIONAL
PSU - corsair 650W - 870kr

DVD - Samsung DVD±RW brännare, SH-S223B - 275kr
Case - antec three hundred - 665kr
Speakers - Logitech X-230 - 600kr

Monitor - Samsung SyncMaster 2443BW - 2795kr
OS - VISTA 64 ULTIMATE


now i only found 1 review of this mobo on the net but heaps for the PRO version so i'm going to assume that the 'regular' version is just as good but without the extras.
and the video card listed is purely optional as the mobo has onboard video which is good. any comments on the quality?

and the other thing i'm wondering is if a 500W PS will do, EVEN IF they get the video card????

thanks again for the help!!!