low end budget ~$400

[T2urtle]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for.
- computer for GF, will be mainly used to download torrents/ encode/ burn dvd WATCH dvd
- web surfing and the general computer usage. Little to no gaming.
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread.

$400-- no including OS, moniter.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA, whichever place is cheaper, newegg, mircocenter, frys


4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
No brand specfic, would like a nvidia video card and yea...

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
-all new parts.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
- default speeds

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
within the next 2 month spand, no in a hurry at all.



I dont want to get a dell, i've gotten 2 and rather not get a 3rd. Looking for more of a basic build now and upgrade as we go along or sales come up.


Intel Pentium E2200 Allendale 2.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116063 - $80

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128059 - $97

DVD drive - PHILIPS 20X DVD Model SPD2413BM/17 - $25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827248009

Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136178 - $90

-------------
total 297$ and i need a case/PSU and video card.

looking for a more quiet rig as it going to be in a bedroom and on overnight. more suggestions would be great. I've need a lot of fry in store deals where CPU/ board = 100-150$ and i might jump on that pending what i see.

 

[lokiju]

If you wait until June you should be able to snag a Mac Mini at a large discount once the new one comes out, now that they're Intel, you can slap Windows or Linux on there if you so desire and it comes with Leopard already.

Currently they're $599 retail for the base model but sometimes you can find them on the refurb section of apple.com as well for $100 off or so.

 

[chinaman1472]

AMD 780g motherboard that has onboard video might be a decent route to take. Snag 2GB of memory for $30 AR (which you forgot in your build), a $25 dollar dvd drive, $85 for an AMD 5000+ Black Edition.

 

[T2urtle]

yea i just noticed i missed out on ram, its not that big of costly item. never looked at AMD but will take a look into it.

i normally would go off the sites's budget build but they haven't updated lately.

 

[ther00kie16]

Yea, 780g or nVidia's upcoming 8200/8300 (which has multimedia advantages over 780g) with an AMD x2. Don't go with black edition if you intend to run at stock because it's more expensive and doesn't include heatsink (another $20). An intriguing option would be the $105 1.8ghz quad core 9150e coming out soon. The only real advantage might be in encoding so if she doesn't do tons of that, any x2 is a better buy. One thing to keep in mind with AMD is that if you are going to get a higher clocked x2, it's probably better to get a windsor (90nm) rather than a brisbane (65nm) because of the extra L2 cache.

 

[Roguestar]

Get a Dell without monitor.

 

[T2urtle]

i'm trying to stay away from dell this time around as i would like to have a UPGRADE path... and i dislike the mATX boards...

and plus i don't see too many decent $400 towers out there.

 

[chinaman1472]

AMD 780G Motherboard - $90-110
AMD 5200+ - $110
2GB DDR2 - $30 AR (as low as $20 AR at Fry's in store sometimes)
DVD Burner - $30
WD 640GB HDD - $110 ($60 for any 250GB, $90 for any 500GB)
$340-390 AR, before tax/shipping, and still no case or PSU.

You're best bet is to jump on a $100 CPU/Mobo deal from frys, an ATi Radeon 3450 for like $60, $30 for 2GB RAM, $30 DVD Burner, and it'll leave you with about $180 for a case, psu, and hard drive. In all honesty, it'll be a tough build at the budget, since you want an upgrade path. If you could extend it to like $450-500...

 

[T2urtle]

i can push it to 450-$500 no problem.

Its more or less a gift. And honest i know when peiceing out parts its most likely going to go over the projected $$$.

I'm watching out for fry's now and seeing what i can get. I'll probaly grab a 250gb or so now and get 500's later. I also found my old NEC dvd burner. SO i can rule that out. And if anything i have a couple of 2 x 256mb DDR2 sticks from me upgrading that can be added if anything.

 

[Slowlearner]

A pc for $400? There is no way except Dell- you may have to pretend to be a small business, but there is no way you could build your own with OS and monitor for that price:

http://configure.us.dell.com/d...&l=en&oc=brda22m&s=bsd

 

[ther00kie16]

I don't know if there's a live upgrade path right now. Intel's 775 will be dead after this year and AMD's phenoms are having all sorts of problems. And if you don't like mATX, there are full size atx igp boards.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Get a Dell without monitor.

I'd say get a Dell Vostro 200 WITH a monitor. Those deals are usually around $380-450 plus tax (wait for free shipping).

THEN, sell the monitor. Should be able to get a super quick $100 or more for a brand new 19" widescreen.

The Dell Vostro 200 mini tower (not the slim tower) is a nice system. It has PCI-E 16x for upgrades, has 4 RAM slots and does dual channel, can take quadcores and FSB1333.

 

[cparker]

ecs 780g board $65
AMD x2 brisbane $55 or so or get an le-1640 for $49 (single core, but it flies).
Antec Cases with Earthwatts 380 ps can be had for around $50 or so.
Seagate drive 250mb, single platter for 65
DVD burner take your pick for $25 or so.
OS for $100 OEM or Upgrade version (sp1 version of Vista home premium going for 95 at Amazon).
2 gb ram for $30-40 after rebates.

Total: $400 or slightly less.

Monitor will cost another 130 or so. That's $530 total.

So it looks like getting a dell package wins. I think they'll give you a crt monitor with a decent pc for around 400 or so. Add shipping and maybe tax and if it's still significantly less than the build, then you're on. Otherwise, well if it's only 20-30 dollars less, lthen you probably could trim 10 dollars here and there and it would be pretty close.

 

[k0rnh0li0]

i need to do this right now a 400 dollar budget does anyone have ideas?

intel if possible and if not the case AMD at least DC.

thinking case - $60-80 good airflow and comes with crappy psu
board - $50-90
cpu - $60-80 DC. either E or X2
ram - $40 can get me at least 4gigs
video card- 7 series or 8 series for at least $100 dollars.
hdd - sata anything cheap for like 40-50 two drives if possible?

 

[T2urtle]

Originally posted by: Slowlearner
A pc for $400? There is no way except Dell- you may have to pretend to be a small business, but there is no way you could build your own with OS and monitor for that price:

http://configure.us.dell.com/d...&l=en&oc=brda22m&s=bsd

I don't need a montier now.. I just picked one up nor do i need a OS as i have a old XP home edition that i never used.

So $400 is solely be on the computer itself. I'm still looking for fry deals but nothing.

 

[T2urtle]

Originally posted by: T2urtle

Originally posted by: Slowlearner
A pc for $400? There is no way except Dell- you may have to pretend to be a small business, but there is no way you could build your own with OS and monitor for that price:

http://configure.us.dell.com/d...&l=en&oc=brda22m&s=bsd

I don't need a montier now.. I just picked one up nor do i need a OS as i have a old XP home edition that i never used. Also i just upgraded to a 8600GT so i have a x300 PCI-E video card that will go into the build.

So $400 is solely be on the computer itself. I'm still looking for fry deals but nothing.

 

[jae]

Lite-on 20x DVD Burner $23
Rosewill Mid-Tower Case 27
WD SE16 500GB SATA $90ECS AM2/+ 780G Mobo $70
CoolerMaster 460W PSU $40
Logitech Keyboard + Mouse $14G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2-800 RAM $45
AMD X2 5200+ Brisbane w/ free game $102
Subtotal: $412.18
Shipping is going to be about $20 to chicago

Grand Total: $434.10

 

[T2urtle]

Originally posted by: jae
Lite-on 20x DVD Burner $23
Rosewill Mid-Tower Case 27
WD SE16 500GB SATA $90ECS AM2/+ 780G Mobo $70
CoolerMaster 460W PSU $40
Logitech Keyboard + Mouse $14G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2-800 RAM $45
AMD X2 5200+ Brisbane w/ free game $102
Subtotal: $412.18
Shipping is going to be about $20 to chicago

Grand Total: $434.10

i'm liking this build a lot... i'm doing my research on the board and CPU right now before i make the buy

 

[Fatalist]

Don't know where you are, Atlanta Fry's has E2200+ECS945GCT-M1333 for $80 this weekend