Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Spikes on November 28, 2009, 01:31:35 PM
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My Grandpa said he was going to get a refurb dell, told him to hold off and I'd build him one for Christmas...
Here's what I've got so far...he doesn't need anything special as he just got a new Toshiba laptop as well, quite frankly, I'm boggled as why he wants a new desktop, but :bolt:
CPU - AMD Phenom X3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103728
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-MA78LM-S2H - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128408
RAM - Patriot G 4GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220435
HDD - WD Caviar Blue - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098
PSU - OCZ ModXStream 500W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016
CASE - NZXT BETA - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146055
CD/DVD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118031
Extra fans for case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998127 x3
Figured for what he uses it for, onboard graphics are fine.
Grand total with shipping is $430. Don't want to hit above $450, all the parts are compatible from what I can see, any objections?
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Couple of notes.
Good choice for PSU capacity... That will give some upgrade options in the future.
Fans - quiet is best when building computers for family, especially older family. The components don't look terribly hot, so if you go with 3 case fans, make sure they're dead quiet. If you must, buy a multi-fan speed controller so you can turn it up later on if he becomes addicted to gaming and gets a hot vid card, but all he really needs is a very quiet fan pushing a little bit of air over the hard drive.
On the subject of quiet, the WD Caviar Green drives are supposed to be pretty quiet too. Dunno about reliability and absolute price compared to that caviar blue though.
You couldn't find a cheaper 4GB kit for memory? You can probably get a bit more towards $50 there, and not lose much performance.
- edit - damn, ddr3 is expensive. Newegg seems to start around $73 for 2x2GB DDR3. I thought there was a memory price drop recently...
For the CD/DVD, newegg had a black friday sale on an OEM blu-ray player for $49. That deal is probably over, but you might be able to find something similar so he can play blu-ray discs. The onboard radeon 3000 is advertised as good for hi-def playback, but you might want to read some reviews to make sure.
Finally, win7 pro would be my OS choice. He won't use some of the extra features but if you want to set up automatic backups and make sure you have winXP mode available for compatibility with older apps, the pro version might be a good investment. Regardless of which version you get, I'd still go win7.
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What's the cost on the OS and which one are you gonna use?
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Couple of notes.
Good choice for PSU capacity... That will give some upgrade options in the future.
Fans - quiet is best when building computers for family, especially older family. The components don't look terribly hot, so if you go with 3 case fans, make sure they're dead quiet. If you must, buy a multi-fan speed controller so you can turn it up later on if he becomes addicted to gaming and gets a hot vid card, but all he really needs is a very quiet fan pushing a little bit of air over the hard drive.
On the subject of quiet, the WD Caviar Green drives are supposed to be pretty quiet too. Dunno about reliability and absolute price compared to that caviar blue though.
For the CD/DVD, newegg had a black friday sale on an OEM blu-ray player for $49. That deal is probably over, but you might be able to find something similar so he can play blu-ray discs. The onboard radeon 3000 is advertised as good for hi-def playback, but you might want to read some reviews to make sure.
Finally, win7 pro would be my OS choice. He won't use some of the extra features but if you want to set up automatic backups and make sure you have winXP mode available for compatibility with older apps, the pro version might be a good investment. Regardless of which version you get, I'd still go win7.
Fans - I agree, the reviews say they are quiet. I at least wanted to get one, seeing as the case only comes with 1 frontal 120mm fan. I figured one in the back and two on the side if he ever wants to add in a more heat-exposing component.
HDD - Wasn't too sure between the three. I have heard Green's are less reliable, and Blacks are louder, just saw the Blue for cheap so I threw it in...I'm up for suggestions as long as it isn't too much more.
Not sure if he will really use a blue ray player or has any blue ray disks, but I may put in a better CD/DVD rom player over all...that one's pretty cheap.
I will be putting Winblows...I mean Windoze....I mean Windows 7 on it as wel as I have a OEM copy through my dad's work. He says he likes XP, but as it's being phased out and 7 is so much better, I figured I'd introduce it to him (he hates Vista, as does everyone).
@ gyrene - answered above
Monitor - I think he'll be using his one he had before, I believe it's an 17" HP or 19" HP...somewhere in that ball park.
The computer is mainly for quick online surfing and email, he doesn't really watch movies and what not on computers like the rest of the world... :P
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Almost forgot... Monitor. He'll need a monitor. Don't go for a cheapo 19" widescreen... those are teeny tiny. He'll want at least 22" widescreen or 19-20" square. Panel type probably doesn't matter but widescreen and a decent panel would make movies look better.
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Almost forgot... Monitor. He'll need a monitor. Don't go for a cheapo 19" widescreen... those are teeny tiny. He'll want at least 22" widescreen or 19-20" square. Panel type probably doesn't matter but widescreen and a decent panel would make movies look better.
Edited above post about the monitor, eagl.
As for the Triple Core, I was going to get a AMD Athlon II 3.0 ghz...a friend of mine said the triple core has the better cache and it would be a bit faster over all, and it's $2 cheaper. :P Is this processor fine?
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I guess if your building a computer for online surfing and email, I would think a cheaper dual core would work as only 2 gig RAM would be more than plenty.( i suppose this could change with the onbaord video as how much shared RAM would be needed and its intended use were to change)
I just say this for its intended use and saving money.
But then this would leave yourself short if the intended use were to change
Other suggestion is watch for the xmass sales, newegg just had a WD black for 49.00 that would give you 2 more years warranty..it is sold out..there will be more sales
good luck with your build
cattb
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Almost forgot... Monitor. He'll need a monitor. Don't go for a cheapo 19" widescreen... those are teeny tiny. He'll want at least 22" widescreen or 19-20" square. Panel type probably doesn't matter but widescreen and a decent panel would make movies look better.
Yeah , I got to get me one of those 22 incher's , lol .
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I guess if your building a computer for online surfing and email, I would think a cheaper dual core would work as only 2 gig RAM would be more than plenty.( i suppose this could change with the onbaord video as how much shared RAM would be needed and its intended use were to change)
I just say this for its intended use and saving money.
But then this would leave yourself short if the intended use were to change
Other suggestion is watch for the xmass sales, newegg just had a WD black for 49.00 that would give you 2 more years warranty..it is sold out..there will be more sales
good luck with your build
cattb
I was going to get a AMD dual core 3.0 ghz Athlon for $67
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103681
Still torn on the two, just like I was on my build, a 3.2 dual core or 2.8 quad core.
Though he says he is using it for those purposes, I'm unsure what he will use it for in the future. I was going to stick with 2GB of RAM, but if I put Windows 7 on it I may want that extra memory for it's features...
What I'm going to do with the hdd is go a little cheaper (only 10 bucks) and get him a 160gb instead.
Though I don't think the Tri-core will catch on personally, hopefully the extra core will be utilized by more programs in the future.
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lol I started looking at cpu prices, ther isn't much difference once getting down towards 65.00, money wise there isn't much difference
the dual core is 45 nm process which save a little money on electricity(not really much difference)
which ever way you decide best of luck on your build.
on a side note i run a 8750 (OC to 2.8), i thought with stock cooler ran warm and i put a different cooler on cpu.I never thought much of AMD stock CPU heatsink and fan.
cattb
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i run win7 64 in this build: http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=137055 (http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=137055)
works fine, 2GB is more than enough for flash games, web browsing, blu-ray movies, and i even played frame 3 of krupp steel/red storm (with everything set to minimum) on that mini-itx. oh yeah, space saver too!
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i run win7 64 in this build: http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=137055 (http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=137055)
works fine, 2GB is more than enough for flash games, web browsing, blu-ray movies, and i even played frame 3 of krupp steel/red storm (with everything set to minimum) on that mini-itx. oh yeah, space saver too!
Dang! That's sweet, never thought much of the ITX systems but they seem real nice. That same case you have is $37 with a mail-in now. I am probably going to stick with the normal case for now, but for a REAL cheap build for someone, that'll definitely stay in mind!
Edit: All of these things can be confusing...ATX, microAtx, Mini-ITX...
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Did I miss something? I don't see a video card. I'm not fond of micro boards.
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Did I miss something? I don't see a video card. I'm not fond of micro boards.
It has onboard ATI 3000 chip.
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Did I miss something? I don't see a video card. I'm not fond of micro boards.
Onboard graphics (thank god). This is my first mATX build...probably going to try one of those ITX as the next one rolls around.
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After much change, price changes, out of stock, and what not, here's the updated list:
MOBO- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128395
Ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226048
Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146055
Psu - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016
Cpu - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103687
HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075
CD/DVD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276
Hopefully no more changes Till I order Friday.
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After much change, price changes, out of stock, and what not, here's the updated list:
MOBO- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128395
Ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226048
Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146055
Psu - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016
Cpu - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103687
HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075
CD/DVD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276
Hopefully no more changes Till I order Friday.
I like it. What's the total?
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About $417 with shipping, $386 w/o, included in that are those fans, and a few fan filters as well.
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For $30 more you get Blu-ray playback.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106326