A Desire to Game

As the title suggests, the in-laws are in the market for a PC and I volunteered my services to build them one.

$700 is the budget for tower and monitor. Parts from newegg. AMD is my preference but I have built a few Intel in the past. SSD or faster CPU? Computer will be used for surfing, Office, iTunes, and storing a few digital photos.

I was thinking about going with an 880G mobo with onboard video, 4gb ddr3, 500 or 640gb caviar black, sata burner, 500W PSU, Phenom II x3/x4/x6, and possibly a SSD if budget allows. I would also like to get them the largest monitor possible because that is all they really would notice (22"-26").

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Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

Takaharu

• Mid-low Core i5 or equivalent
• 2GB DDR3
• 1TB SATA-3 HDD (Blue, perhaps)
• ASUS, Asrock or Gigabyte motherboard
• Onboard graphics or really low-end
• 24" Full HD monitor with who-cares response time
• 500W PSU, probably something like the OCZ Stealth 2.

You could do that kind of stuff with a P4 processor, 1GB RAM and onboard graphics.
An SSD would be way, way, way, WAY (etc) over the overkill mark.

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Liqourice

And as for AMD..

Athlon II X2 240e
ASRock 880GXH/USB3
4GB DDR3

Besides that I agree with Takaharus suggestions.

I really don't think 2GB is enough to run Windows 7 smoothly.

A WD Blue is a better choise than Black, perhaps even Green will be good enough.

It will end up becoming a both cheap, energy efficient and silent rig that will handle those things perfectly.

For a system like this it'll be more than enough with a 400W PSU as well.

Takaharu

Works for my workplace and we do a lot more than what's listed here.

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OldBuzzard

Here's a decent build which will do everyhing that you listed, and more.

Case:
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 II Black Steel / Aluminum / Plastic Computer Case

PSU:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 CMPSU-430CX 430W ATX12V Active PFC Power Supply

MB:
Newegg.com - ASRock 880G EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU:
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX

MEM:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TW3X4G1333C9

HDD:
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

DVD:
Newegg.com - LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD Burner - Bulk LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

Monitor:
Newegg.com - HP 2509m Black 25" 3ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 60000:1(1000:1) Built-in Speakers

That totals $708.92 before shipping, which 'busts the budget' by a wee bit, but the monitor is big, and has good reviews on Newegg

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

A Desire to Game

I really want the PC to feel snappy, that's why I was considering a SSD. I was feeling a 60GB OCZ Vertex 2 but am I going overkill? lol. I'm used to building OC'd gaming rigs and am a little out of touch with the capabilities of a normal "off-the-shelf" PC.

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Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

A Desire to Game

Looks good. I need a case but have a copy of Win 7 64-bit so take that off the list.

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Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

blibbax

If you want to make an impression, saving on the CPU a little (i3?) and splashing on an SSD would probably make a really noticeable difference in things like boot and application launch times, which is the only time you will notice the performance difference between a fast and slow PC for these tasks.

A matx case and mobo definitley saves you some too.

4GB RAM yes, for future Windows OS support, but it doesn't need to be fast memory.

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OldBuzzard

With a good HDD and 4GB ram it will still feel "snappy".

An SSD would be 'nice', but to keep to your budget, the SSD would be so small that they wouldn't have room to put much data on it.

It would be better to hav more data storage than speed in this case.

I'll update the list to take off the OS, and go with a larger monitor.

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Liqourice

Trust me, I've got that Athlon II X2 240e I suggested in my HTPC and it is definately snappy enough. For a 45W CPU with such a low price it performs excellently.

Tipstaff

Let us not forget that with a small SSD you will still need to get a regular hard drive for storage. Windows 7 alone will eat up 17GB on that drive, and this doesn't include any apps, and that left over space can disappear real fast.

Instead go with something like the WD WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB drive, or try to find the WD WD7501AALS Caviar Black 750GB drive which is about $20-25 cheaper. Then, instead of sticking with the onboard video, try to grab yourself a low end video card, like the HD5450, or go even further back to something like the HD4550 (which is, again, about $20-25 cheaper than the HD5450). I was running the onboard Intel HD graphics of my main machine, an i3-530 (the i5 uses the same graphics btw, so the performance will be the same), and while it does a good job, going from the onboard to an HD5450 did make things overall more responsive, more "snappier", especially when multi-tasking, or when I was running Firefox with a ton of tabs open. That, along with sticking with a minimum 4GB of RAM, will make things purr along just nicely.

Edit: BTW, I assume you will be going with Windows 7, so right off the bat you can make the system even snappier just by switching to the Windows 7 Basic theme, plus turning unchecking all 3 "Animate" and "Fade", and "Slide Open Combo Boxes" listings under the "Performance" section of System | Advanced System Settings section of the Control Panel. All that crap can make even the fastest machine "appear" like.. well.. crap.

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A Desire to Game

I honestly hadn't considered purchasing a discrete video card. Does anyone else agree that this is needed or would the funds be better budgeted elsewhere? I assumed the onboard HD 4XXX would suffice?

No one else seconds the SSD idea? I was thinking I could go with a cheaper CPU and splurge for the SSD...No? I thought the system would benefit more since they are only doing light computing.

Another thing, looks like I need a mouse, keyboard, and speakers too. Maybe SSD is definitely out.

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Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

OldBuzzard

As long as they aren't going to be doing any heavy gaming, the onboard video should be plenty good enough.

As for going with a "cheaper" CPU...that AII X3 is only $78.00. Going to be pretty danged hard to get anything much cheaper than that. Especially considering that it runs at 3.2Gzh, and with the BIOS options on the MB you have a good chance of 'unlocking' the 4th core to get even more 'bang for the buck".

Mouse and KB? I'm partial to Logitech. Maybe something like these?

Wired:
Newegg.com - Logitech MK120 Black USB Wired Slim Desktop

Wireless:
Newegg.com - Logitech MK320 Black USB RF Wireless Standard Desktop

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Liqourice

Don't compare intel graphics with AMD/ATI IGP's. The HD42x0's runs in circles around those intel igp's...

kris23

you simply cannot use an SSD in a system with that price range and have it still be balanced in performance.

just stick with a nice HDD, tri-core cpu and AMD IGP... itll be really hard to get anything better...

if you want snappiness, load that thing with as much RAM as possible so it doesnt have to retrieve as much from the drive.

there are 4GB density sticks out now so just buy 1 or 2 of those.

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YnHDaRkMaN

QFT!
with my HD3300 IGP (specs below) I can play TF2 @ 1440x900 High settings... try to do that with an Intel IGP

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synthesis204

I'd suggest an AMD X3 or X4, a SSD or 10,000+RPM drive, 4gb of ram (2x2gb would suffice - I highly doubt they'll need more than 12gb (what 2gb sticks will get you in a machine) in the future), and if budget allows, an HD5450/GTX430.

kris23

you do realize that the majority of AMD desktop boards do not use more than 4 DIMM slots and that only the intel LGA1366 platform has 6+ slots... right?

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synthesis204

I wasn't really aware of that fact, but I was pretty sure I had seen 6 DIMM AMD motherboards before.

I don't really see the relevance, though o.O what do you think of my comment, rather? I'm not too sure whether they would even need that fast a drive VS a normal 7200.

Veridian3

*Notes that the first 3 posts in this review all recommend ASRock, just goes to show how far they have come in the last 12-18 months.

I completely agree though, for this sort of system an ASRock 800 series board is perfect. The two you should be considering are covered in ths review: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review...roduction.html

Also, if your budget allows then a nice CPU cooler could help keep noise to a miniumum: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835181012

And Corsairs new entry level 500w PSU is $49.99 with rebate at the moment: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-018-_-Product

synthesis204

I've heard bad things about the CX series from Corsair. Would appreciate it if HH could do a review

And it seems like someone might have a slight Corsair bias. I wonder who.

(Corsair bias is justified, for the most part, at least, though.)

OldBuzzard

Heh, heh...I'm a CONFIRMED Corasir fanboy.

I've put together systems using 2 HX620s, 2 HX520s, a TX500, a CX400, and aa CX430. They are all performing flawlessly.

The only 'bad' thing about the CX series as compared to the others is they they are just High Quality as opposed to Super High Quality

As for ASRock main boards, I've been telling people for a couple of years now that they are a lot better than they have been given credit for.

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

A Desire to Game

I'm glad you guys are showing sooo much love to the ASRock boards because they really do seem like the best buy. I just know they have had a lot of controversy over their quality in the past....but times change. Never used them before but I'll go with it, thanks Veridian.

What's not to love about Corsair?

I was eyeing the Phenom II X3 740 @ 3.0Ghz combo deals. Figured I could unlock the fourth core hopefully.

I really want a SSD for them...but I think it will have to wait.

__________________
Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

A Desire to Game

synthesis204, how do you like your phoenix pro? Was 60gb enough? Was it worth the price tag?

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Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

OldBuzzard

The PhII X3 740 is a nice CPU, but for your application the AII X3 450 is just as good plus it's just a teensie bit faster, and it's cheaper.

I just built a system almost identical to the one I speced for you for my #2 son. The ONLY diffrence was the case and MB. I went with a Coolermaster 690 II case, and an ASRock M3A785GXH MB.

Someone said that you would need a 'better' HSF. Personally, from looking at the one that came with the AII (which I installed on the MB), I'd say that you would only need a 'better' HSF if you are planning on OCing it. For running it at stock speeds, it should be more than adaquate.

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

blibbax

Unlocking cores causes TDP to rise significantly though, right?

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A Desire to Game

Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model AD-7261S-0B LightScribe Support - OEM
$18.99

COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-OWN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$39.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$59.99

Acer X223WDbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
$149.99

Logitech LS11 3 Watts RMS (FTC) 2.0 Stereo Speaker System - Black
$18.99

Logitech MK120 Black USB Wired Slim Desktop
$21.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ...
CORSAIR 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMV4GX3M1A1333C9
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$126.98

AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 3.0GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT75TFBGRBOX
ASRock 880GXH/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
$256.99

Newegg Promotional Gift Card - $20.00

Subtotal: $693.91

Shipping: $22.57

Grand Total After $8 Corsair Promo: $708.48 - $20 gift card = $688.48

__________________
Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

OldBuzzard

That'll work

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

blibbax

Save on CPU for bigger monitor or HDD? :P

Seems overkill given how unlikely it is that they will be running highly multithreaded apps, or epicly multitasking.

PSU is a little excessive too.

And you have no memory, unless I am mistaken :P

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Liqourice

I'm starting to think it's someone else that's gonna use this rig!