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Need an opinion
I have my last semi working computer sitting on the floor next to my bed. Something's fucked up with it, which is the reason that I built my new computer. I ran as many diagnostics on the computer as I could, but I never was able to determine what was wrong with it. I swapped out the motherboard, PSU, video card, and i ran plenty of ram tests throughout the lifetime of the comp. If I fix this computer I'd probably give it to my brother so he can play more recent games (his comp is way older than mine). Is it worth the $50 or whatever that my local microcenter could charge to get this looked at? What kind of performance could I hope for on SC2 or other newer games
Case: Raidmax Sagitta Mid-Tower 420W Gaming Case w/ Side Panel Window
CPU: AMD Athlon™64 X2 6000+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
CD: 18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
CD2: SONY 16X DVD-ROM (BLACK COLOR)
Fan: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
Floppy: 1.44 MB floppy drive
Hard drive: Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 Identical Hard Drives (320GB
(160GBx2) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
Memory: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)1GB (2x512MB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
DDR2 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz / Non-ECC CL5 / 240-pin / Unbuffered DIMM /
Kingston KVR800D2K2/2GR
Video card: PNY GeForce 9600 GSO 784MB PCI Express® (in my current desktop, would put it back in this comp if needed, haven't had any problems so this part works fine)
Sound card: Creative Soundblaster something or other
Motherboard: (Socket AM2)MSI K9N4 SLI-F nForce 500 SLI Chipset DDR2/800 SATA-II
RAID MBoard w/ Dual 16x PCI-Express
OS: Vista
Power supply: OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W (Also in my current comp, so I know this works fine)
Link to blog about trying to fix it myself
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=77729
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It's definitely worth $50
Every computer that can play starcraft is automatically worth $50
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I have about 600 dollars at most for when i get a new computer in May.
Currently i have A gig of memory, and i cant run anything else when i play SC.
any suggestions on what to buy.
BTW i have a PoS keyboard and i plan on buying a razer salmosa.
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check the op
Post from ghermination from July
You can easily update the specs of this build to current prices by searching new egg etc
+ Show Spoiler +On July 13 2009 22:38 ghermination wrote: Because i'm bored, i'll take the liberty of building a budget computer for people who are confused as to what to buy. This will easily play SC2 and other games at mid rates buy dont expect it to play crysis. I'll put this all together off of Newegg to show you how easy this is. RAM: Can't go wrong with Kingston. I've put in 2gb, but go ahead and order 4GB if you're feeling saucy. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134797 $23.99 Hard Drive: Can't go wrong with Caviar, 320GB, not the biggest, but i'll include an alternative 1TB if you feel you need the extra storage space. 320GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136109 $59.99 1TB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433 $89.99 Graphics Card: The 9600GT is the perfect card for the budget gamer. While it may not be as powerful as its big brother the 9800GT, many people are very happy with it as it can easily play most modern games. Protip: You don't need a gig of GDDR5 to play Dead Space. Go ahead and buy two if you feel like SLI'ing it up. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127386 $69.99 (after rebate) Also, if you feel like spending a little extra money, There is the GTS 260, Which is basically at the same place as the 9600GT in the 2xx hierarchy. Its a "budget" card but packs way more punch then you'll ever need for SC2 or even games for the next couple years. Go ahead and buy two if you feel like SLI'ing it up. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130441 $229.99 Case: A case is a case is a case. These things are deceptively pricey. You want a good balance between price and reliability. If you aren't going for a full blown balls-to-the-wall gamer rig, i reccomend a mid atx case because of the cheaper price. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121035 $31.99 However, if you want a little bit more room or feel like upgrading a bit, you can always go with a full atx case, which are quite a bit more expensive. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144196 $79.99 Processor: I'm sure some people will reccomend AMD chips, and thats fine with me. I've just never had consistently reliable performance out of an AMD chip, so i'm going to use Intel chips for this build. First off, for those of you who don't like to spend a lot of money, We have the E2200. A cheap, simple, 65nm processor, that will most likely power you through browsing, some mild-moderate gaming, and maybe some mild overclocking. I really don't reccomend this processor as it is cheap and 65nm is on the way out. Its not particularly bad though. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116063 $69.99 The E6300 Is a baller. It overclocks phenomenally, really you CANNOT go wrong with this processor because 45nm is the way to go. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116091 $87.99 For those of you who feel like going a bit spendy, there is always the Q8400. I have two friends with these and they both say they overclock phenomenally. I've never heard anything bad about these processors, so if you feel like making the price leap This really is worth it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057 $184.99 Motherboard: There are a wide range of motherboards floating around, but i think i'm qualified to make some pretty good reccomendations. First, for those of you who have tight wallets, theres the Foxconn G31AX-K. Its pretty much perfect for the build up until now, although 1 PCI-E slot might be a drawback for some people. Still, it fits our needs. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186146 $49.99 Honestly there are so many comparatively priced motherboards you could go with, but this one just happens to be my favorite as i just used it in a computer build for my girlfriend. This is a bit spendier than the previous board, but is DEFINATELY worth it. 3 PCI-E slots for $69.99? Yes please. Only those of you who feel like ordering more than one graphics card can benefit from this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186153Power Supply: If you've been following the build up until now, this is the last required item. If you've deviated (2 graphics cards, hard drives, whatever) you will need the more powerful power supply. The Rosewill RG530 is perfect for anybody looking to build a low-mid cost box. Again, i've just used one in a build and it runs perfectly and is easy to install, as well as having a good number of connectors for the price. 530w, with the 6 pin connector we need for our 9600GT, as well as some 4 pins for extra fun, if we decide to get into that. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182160 $54.99 If you've deviated from the recomended build, decided to go with the GTX 260 (or two, why are you following this guide?) Have decided to get 3 hard drives etc, then i definately have to reccomend a 700w power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159089 $69.99 Also, if you decide to go with a lot of things to plug in, as in multiple hard drives or video cards, please realize that even 700w may not be sufficient, however i won't list every possible power supply. Now that we're done with the essentials, lets get on to the fun stuff. Monitor: While i assume most of you have a monitor, I can recommend this one because i just bought one and it looks great. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009145 $149.99 CD-Drive: Not really a necessity nowadays, although we will probably need one for SC2, unless you plan on using an ISO (GASP!) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249042 $49.99 Fans & Heatsinks: These are so fun to play around with. I cut four holes in my case and attached four case fans on. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150007 Just buy 10 of these. Shipping is free if you do, and i mean, why not have 10 for only $12.99? Sounds like a deal to me. Find things to do with them. Intel's stock heatsink/fan combos blow. Very badly. If you feel like spending the extra money, invest in one of these, and your idle temps will drop from ~49 degrees (bad) to ~35 degrees (good) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134 $31.98 Also, if you're going to be replacing the heatsink/fan, you need some of this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020 $7.98 Remember, only use a dot the size of a grain of rice. Okay guys. There is a cheap computer build. I'm sure you could find thousands on google, and i'm sure most of you could do it yourself, but i did it for you. Total cost of my recomended build? $449.93. Although that doesn't include shipping OR the multiple rebates i forgot to mention, assume your total price will be around there. Also, i didn't include the OS on purpose. I would obviously recommend a 64-bit OS to get the most out of 4GB of RAM (if you decide to go with that) but it can be more expensive. Go ahead and use XP, Vista, Solaris, Ubuntu, Fedora, i do not care. I'm sure you can take care of the OS.
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But i cant get all that and an OS for under 600$
Are there any stock computers that work well?
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wat
how can you not get all that plus an OS
the total price listed was like $450, windows is like $150 at most, that's $600
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Would you recommend building a computer over buying one.
Even if i don't know much?
Cause i will if its a better choice.
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AMD Phenom 9100-e Quad-Core 2GHz Process
4 gigs RAM
Dual NVidia GTS 250 Graphics Cards
64-Bit Windows 7
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On February 06 2010 02:27 Jlab wrote:
Would you recommend building a computer over buying one.
Even if i don't know much?
Cause i will if its a better choice.
it's cheaper
you get higher quality parts because you know what goes in there
it's really not hard at all
so..yes
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Sweet, thanks for all the help man.
:D
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On February 06 2010 01:54 KOFgokuon wrote:check the op Post from ghermination from July You can easily update the specs of this build to current prices by searching new egg etc + Show Spoiler +On July 13 2009 22:38 ghermination wrote: Because i'm bored, i'll take the liberty of building a budget computer for people who are confused as to what to buy. This will easily play SC2 and other games at mid rates buy dont expect it to play crysis. I'll put this all together off of Newegg to show you how easy this is. RAM: Can't go wrong with Kingston. I've put in 2gb, but go ahead and order 4GB if you're feeling saucy. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134797 $23.99 Hard Drive: Can't go wrong with Caviar, 320GB, not the biggest, but i'll include an alternative 1TB if you feel you need the extra storage space. 320GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136109 $59.99 1TB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433 $89.99 Graphics Card: The 9600GT is the perfect card for the budget gamer. While it may not be as powerful as its big brother the 9800GT, many people are very happy with it as it can easily play most modern games. Protip: You don't need a gig of GDDR5 to play Dead Space. Go ahead and buy two if you feel like SLI'ing it up. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127386 $69.99 (after rebate) Also, if you feel like spending a little extra money, There is the GTS 260, Which is basically at the same place as the 9600GT in the 2xx hierarchy. Its a "budget" card but packs way more punch then you'll ever need for SC2 or even games for the next couple years. Go ahead and buy two if you feel like SLI'ing it up. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130441 $229.99 Case: A case is a case is a case. These things are deceptively pricey. You want a good balance between price and reliability. If you aren't going for a full blown balls-to-the-wall gamer rig, i reccomend a mid atx case because of the cheaper price. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121035 $31.99 However, if you want a little bit more room or feel like upgrading a bit, you can always go with a full atx case, which are quite a bit more expensive. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144196 $79.99 Processor: I'm sure some people will reccomend AMD chips, and thats fine with me. I've just never had consistently reliable performance out of an AMD chip, so i'm going to use Intel chips for this build. First off, for those of you who don't like to spend a lot of money, We have the E2200. A cheap, simple, 65nm processor, that will most likely power you through browsing, some mild-moderate gaming, and maybe some mild overclocking. I really don't reccomend this processor as it is cheap and 65nm is on the way out. Its not particularly bad though. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116063 $69.99 The E6300 Is a baller. It overclocks phenomenally, really you CANNOT go wrong with this processor because 45nm is the way to go. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116091 $87.99 For those of you who feel like going a bit spendy, there is always the Q8400. I have two friends with these and they both say they overclock phenomenally. I've never heard anything bad about these processors, so if you feel like making the price leap This really is worth it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057 $184.99 Motherboard: There are a wide range of motherboards floating around, but i think i'm qualified to make some pretty good reccomendations. First, for those of you who have tight wallets, theres the Foxconn G31AX-K. Its pretty much perfect for the build up until now, although 1 PCI-E slot might be a drawback for some people. Still, it fits our needs. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186146 $49.99 Honestly there are so many comparatively priced motherboards you could go with, but this one just happens to be my favorite as i just used it in a computer build for my girlfriend. This is a bit spendier than the previous board, but is DEFINATELY worth it. 3 PCI-E slots for $69.99? Yes please. Only those of you who feel like ordering more than one graphics card can benefit from this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186153Power Supply: If you've been following the build up until now, this is the last required item. If you've deviated (2 graphics cards, hard drives, whatever) you will need the more powerful power supply. The Rosewill RG530 is perfect for anybody looking to build a low-mid cost box. Again, i've just used one in a build and it runs perfectly and is easy to install, as well as having a good number of connectors for the price. 530w, with the 6 pin connector we need for our 9600GT, as well as some 4 pins for extra fun, if we decide to get into that. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182160 $54.99 If you've deviated from the recomended build, decided to go with the GTX 260 (or two, why are you following this guide?) Have decided to get 3 hard drives etc, then i definately have to reccomend a 700w power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159089 $69.99 Also, if you decide to go with a lot of things to plug in, as in multiple hard drives or video cards, please realize that even 700w may not be sufficient, however i won't list every possible power supply. Now that we're done with the essentials, lets get on to the fun stuff. Monitor: While i assume most of you have a monitor, I can recommend this one because i just bought one and it looks great. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009145 $149.99 CD-Drive: Not really a necessity nowadays, although we will probably need one for SC2, unless you plan on using an ISO (GASP!) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249042 $49.99 Fans & Heatsinks: These are so fun to play around with. I cut four holes in my case and attached four case fans on. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150007 Just buy 10 of these. Shipping is free if you do, and i mean, why not have 10 for only $12.99? Sounds like a deal to me. Find things to do with them. Intel's stock heatsink/fan combos blow. Very badly. If you feel like spending the extra money, invest in one of these, and your idle temps will drop from ~49 degrees (bad) to ~35 degrees (good) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134 $31.98 Also, if you're going to be replacing the heatsink/fan, you need some of this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020 $7.98 Remember, only use a dot the size of a grain of rice. Okay guys. There is a cheap computer build. I'm sure you could find thousands on google, and i'm sure most of you could do it yourself, but i did it for you. Total cost of my recomended build? $449.93. Although that doesn't include shipping OR the multiple rebates i forgot to mention, assume your total price will be around there. Also, i didn't include the OS on purpose. I would obviously recommend a 64-bit OS to get the most out of 4GB of RAM (if you decide to go with that) but it can be more expensive. Go ahead and use XP, Vista, Solaris, Ubuntu, Fedora, i do not care. I'm sure you can take care of the OS.
a lot of bad advice in that post
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well, it doesnt really matter since it's over 6 months old and it was bad then and even worse now. the prices and available options are way different now, you shouldn't use that to build off of.
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On February 06 2010 03:13 mahnini wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2010 01:54 KOFgokuon wrote:check the op Post from ghermination from July You can easily update the specs of this build to current prices by searching new egg etc + Show Spoiler +On July 13 2009 22:38 ghermination wrote: Because i'm bored, i'll take the liberty of building a budget computer for people who are confused as to what to buy. This will easily play SC2 and other games at mid rates buy dont expect it to play crysis. I'll put this all together off of Newegg to show you how easy this is. RAM: Can't go wrong with Kingston. I've put in 2gb, but go ahead and order 4GB if you're feeling saucy. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134797 $23.99 Hard Drive: Can't go wrong with Caviar, 320GB, not the biggest, but i'll include an alternative 1TB if you feel you need the extra storage space. 320GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136109 $59.99 1TB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433 $89.99 Graphics Card: The 9600GT is the perfect card for the budget gamer. While it may not be as powerful as its big brother the 9800GT, many people are very happy with it as it can easily play most modern games. Protip: You don't need a gig of GDDR5 to play Dead Space. Go ahead and buy two if you feel like SLI'ing it up. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127386 $69.99 (after rebate) Also, if you feel like spending a little extra money, There is the GTS 260, Which is basically at the same place as the 9600GT in the 2xx hierarchy. Its a "budget" card but packs way more punch then you'll ever need for SC2 or even games for the next couple years. Go ahead and buy two if you feel like SLI'ing it up. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130441 $229.99 Case: A case is a case is a case. These things are deceptively pricey. You want a good balance between price and reliability. If you aren't going for a full blown balls-to-the-wall gamer rig, i reccomend a mid atx case because of the cheaper price. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121035 $31.99 However, if you want a little bit more room or feel like upgrading a bit, you can always go with a full atx case, which are quite a bit more expensive. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144196 $79.99 Processor: I'm sure some people will reccomend AMD chips, and thats fine with me. I've just never had consistently reliable performance out of an AMD chip, so i'm going to use Intel chips for this build. First off, for those of you who don't like to spend a lot of money, We have the E2200. A cheap, simple, 65nm processor, that will most likely power you through browsing, some mild-moderate gaming, and maybe some mild overclocking. I really don't reccomend this processor as it is cheap and 65nm is on the way out. Its not particularly bad though. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116063 $69.99 The E6300 Is a baller. It overclocks phenomenally, really you CANNOT go wrong with this processor because 45nm is the way to go. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116091 $87.99 For those of you who feel like going a bit spendy, there is always the Q8400. I have two friends with these and they both say they overclock phenomenally. I've never heard anything bad about these processors, so if you feel like making the price leap This really is worth it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057 $184.99 Motherboard: There are a wide range of motherboards floating around, but i think i'm qualified to make some pretty good reccomendations. First, for those of you who have tight wallets, theres the Foxconn G31AX-K. Its pretty much perfect for the build up until now, although 1 PCI-E slot might be a drawback for some people. Still, it fits our needs. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186146 $49.99 Honestly there are so many comparatively priced motherboards you could go with, but this one just happens to be my favorite as i just used it in a computer build for my girlfriend. This is a bit spendier than the previous board, but is DEFINATELY worth it. 3 PCI-E slots for $69.99? Yes please. Only those of you who feel like ordering more than one graphics card can benefit from this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186153Power Supply: If you've been following the build up until now, this is the last required item. If you've deviated (2 graphics cards, hard drives, whatever) you will need the more powerful power supply. The Rosewill RG530 is perfect for anybody looking to build a low-mid cost box. Again, i've just used one in a build and it runs perfectly and is easy to install, as well as having a good number of connectors for the price. 530w, with the 6 pin connector we need for our 9600GT, as well as some 4 pins for extra fun, if we decide to get into that. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182160 $54.99 If you've deviated from the recomended build, decided to go with the GTX 260 (or two, why are you following this guide?) Have decided to get 3 hard drives etc, then i definately have to reccomend a 700w power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159089 $69.99 Also, if you decide to go with a lot of things to plug in, as in multiple hard drives or video cards, please realize that even 700w may not be sufficient, however i won't list every possible power supply. Now that we're done with the essentials, lets get on to the fun stuff. Monitor: While i assume most of you have a monitor, I can recommend this one because i just bought one and it looks great. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009145 $149.99 CD-Drive: Not really a necessity nowadays, although we will probably need one for SC2, unless you plan on using an ISO (GASP!) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249042 $49.99 Fans & Heatsinks: These are so fun to play around with. I cut four holes in my case and attached four case fans on. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150007 Just buy 10 of these. Shipping is free if you do, and i mean, why not have 10 for only $12.99? Sounds like a deal to me. Find things to do with them. Intel's stock heatsink/fan combos blow. Very badly. If you feel like spending the extra money, invest in one of these, and your idle temps will drop from ~49 degrees (bad) to ~35 degrees (good) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134 $31.98 Also, if you're going to be replacing the heatsink/fan, you need some of this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020 $7.98 Remember, only use a dot the size of a grain of rice. Okay guys. There is a cheap computer build. I'm sure you could find thousands on google, and i'm sure most of you could do it yourself, but i did it for you. Total cost of my recomended build? $449.93. Although that doesn't include shipping OR the multiple rebates i forgot to mention, assume your total price will be around there. Also, i didn't include the OS on purpose. I would obviously recommend a 64-bit OS to get the most out of 4GB of RAM (if you decide to go with that) but it can be more expensive. Go ahead and use XP, Vista, Solaris, Ubuntu, Fedora, i do not care. I'm sure you can take care of the OS. a lot of bad advice in that post
Unfortunately a lot of the links are bad too. I think newegg recycles their linkes or something. Other than that i don't think i said anything bad... The only thing i would change at this point is not recommending the e6300 anymore, it's been kind of outstripped by the Athlon II line but this post was quite a while ago.
Maybe i'll make a new one right now because i have nothing to do. Considering i'm putting together an i3 rig for my friend right now (literally have it sitting on my desk, working on cable management) i'll post the specs and how it went together.
As a preface, the theme behind this build was for it to be tiny, quiet, and powerful. While obviously i can't do all three at once, i tried. With a Lian Li mini-itx case and DFI's awesome LGA 1156 lan party board, i tried to put something together with the new i3 processors.
Case: Mini ITX cases aren't made very often. When they are, they are cramped, low quality, and often with terrible OEM psu's inside. I guess Lian-Li got sick of this bullshit because they put out a bitchin' mATX case that's really fun to work with. Keep in mind this thing is smaller than you can believe until you see it... really really small.
LIAN LI PC-Q07 Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112227&cm_re=lian_li_mini-itx-_-11-112-227-_-Product
$59.99
Motherboard: DFI is a fairly unknown company who i've only encountered once before, althought they haven't given my any problems. This is the only mini-itx board available in the LGA 1156 socket. Once again i have to stress how tiny this board is - 6.7" by 6.7"
DFI LANparty MI P55-T36 (LGA 1156)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136073&cm_re=mini_itx-_-13-136-073-_-Product
$139.99
Processor: While it's sold as the "slowest" of the core i3 processors, in reality the i3 530 is in no way different from the others, except for the clock speed it's sold at. This thing is still kind of expensive for the performance it gives - i would recommend waiting 5 or 6 months for the price to drop a bit. (~$20-$30 probably)
Intel Core i3 Dual Core processor, 4mb L3 cache @ 2.93ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115222&cm_re=i3_530-_-19-115-222-_-Product
$124.99
RAM: The good thing about RAM is that it's fairly interchangeable, although fans of one brand or another will insist that their competitors are useless. In reality, I never recommend buying among the big three (Corsair, OCZ, and Patriot, MAYBE Kingston.) because their memory is overpriced. I mean seriously, Corsair, 4gb of DDR3-1600 for $139.99? WTF?
This also doesn't mean you can get away with buying from nameless, bargain-bin companies either. Their RAM will be much lower quality and more prone to failure. It's best to go in the middle, for example, A DATA.
4GB (2x2gb) A DATA DDR3-1600 RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409
$98.99
Video Card: The consumer graphics market is always so confusing. With new products every few months, what might be a deal now in just a couple months will be a bad purchase. We also have some special requirements for our build. Obviously if you're reading this then you probably have some interest in Starcraft 2. Therefore, we can't just put an underpowered HTPC card in the rig, and at the same time, it must be low profile, or else it just won't fit. I present to you: The Sparkle 9800gt low profile. It's faster than a GT240, relatively cheap at just under $100, and there really isn't any competition from ATI in the low-profile video card market.
Sparkle 9800GT 512mb GDDR3 LOW PROFILE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187061&Tpk=low profile
$99.99
Hard Drive: Basically the idea with choosing a hard drive is that first, you find what size you want. Then, you make sure it's not manufactured by Hamachi, and then you buy it. They're all made in basically the same sizes with basically the same prices. Hamachi drives have 10x the failure rate of Seagate and Western Digital drives, and are only a few dollars less in price. Unless you feel like gambling, go with the higher quality. (keep in mind, the case used in this build can only hold one (1) 3.5 inch hard drive. Therefore, if you want more space, get a BIGGER hard drive, not more of them. They go up to 2tb, and if that isn't big enough for you than why are you buying a MINI ITX computer?
Seagate 7200.12 750gb Hard Drive - 7200rpm 32mb Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148445&cm_re=seagate_7200.12-_-22-148-445-_-Product
$79.99
Disc Drive: Unfortunately these don't have much use anymore, but you still need the to install games. The technology hasn't advanced much lately considering how out-dated it is, but you'll want to make sure you pick up a SATA II model that covers everything you need. If you want to get into the realm of BLU-RAY, you're going to be shelling out probably $80-90 extra. I'll include the normal and blu-ray drives just in case.
DVD Drive: SONY BLACK 18x DVD-ROM/ 48x CD-ROM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118031
$18.99
Blu-Ray: ASUS 8x Blu Ray/16x DVD-ROM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135203
$ 99.99
Power Supply: Last, but most definitely not least, is the power supply. The rig we put together doesn't have the lowest power draw in the world, but it doesn't draw much compared to some of the gaming monsters out there. Lately i've been singing the praises of Diablotek, a company that i only remember for their fairly low quality 12, 16, and 32mb graphics accelerators back in the Windows 95/98 days. However they've reinvented themselves with the Diablotek PHD (enthusiast) and DA (money-saver) lines, both of which are extremely high quality for the price. I can't say enough about the value of these PSU's, i've used 4 total so far with no obvious problems after a couple months of running. Also, some people may tell you you need a big honkin' 600 watt + PSU to run a basic rig (something like we put together today) but in reality, this just isn't true. It's nice to have about 100w of headroom, which we have with this power supply.
Diablotek PHD Series 450 watt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817822002&cm_re=diablotek_power_supply-_-17-822-002-_-Product
$29.99
Some of you may be wondering why i didn't include an aftermarket heatsink/fan. While i haven't had a chance to test the real life version (yet), from what i've read, the Core i3 Processors run very cool, partially thanks to the new 32nm process on which they're manufactured. In a case this small, don't expect to achieve too high of overclock. I wouldn't recommend pushing the core i3 past ~4ghz in a case this small, especially with only the stock cooler. Below that you should be within an acceptable range of temperatures.
WARNING: Don't take my word for it. If you plan to overclock, make sure to be extremely careful.
And that's that. Total price? $652.92. That's fairly spendy for the specifications. However keep in mind that:
1. This is a specialty build. It takes up the space of a Shoe box. Of course it's going to be expensive. You could do much better with a normal sized case and motherboard.
2. This is still hundreds of dollars cheaper for the performance than you would get at Wal-Mart or something. Everyone knows that OEM computers are a rip off, but seriously.
3. This thing will overclock very well.
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On February 06 2010 10:35 FragKrag wrote:
Stuff
WTF i wasn't even recommending that to him... i didn't realize he had made a request... I was just documenting something i recently put together...
And Also, i wouldn't go for the Athlon II x2 right now. The performance has been shown to be pretty weak (Which could most likely be attributed to the fairly low 2mb cache)... an x3 would probably be the worst Athlon i would consider, especially since it's only like 10 or $15 more.
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oh ok.
Still if his budget is extremely strict then he doesn't have much of a choice in the matter.
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On February 06 2010 11:06 FragKrag wrote:
oh ok.
Still if his budget is extremely strict then he doesn't have much of a choice in the matter.
Normally when i say stuff like this i have to post a build to back it up, but an x3 510 or whatever the worst one is could quite easily be squeezed into a $600 budget... and would probably be worth it considering adding that 3rd core is cheaper by a lot than adding the second and fourth ones (like $17). The type of video cards you would buy at that point anyway (iirc it would probably be in the $100 range) would be something like the GT220/4670 so a bit stronger of a CPU to pick up the slack there would be a good idea anyway.
Edit: Also the random person who called me an intel fanboy on IRC is just plain wrong.
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I think there are only a few x3 cores that AMD offers and none of them fall under the 5 series. There is 720X3 BE which is out of his budget, and the 400 series which s the Athlon II
Nevermind the 720X3 BE is within his price range if he cuts a few other components, but he'll need to buy a 3rd party cooler if he gets it from newegg.
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EPT
