Building a budget PC - need advice

[timberwolf1]

Hi all

I'm helping a friend to build a budget PC. The components I've selected are listed below.
Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Antec SLK1600 Mini Tower w/300W PS = $50
Leadtek WinFast K7NCR18D-Pro, nForce2 = $116
(OEM)AMD Athlon 1700+ ThoroughbredA CPU = $57
Vantec Aeroflow VA4-C7040 heatsink/fan = $29
256MB Corsair XMS PC3200 CAS2 = $87
ATI Sapphire Radeon 9000, 64MB = $62
Creative Modem Blaster DSI V.92 D/V/F = $33
WD 800JB, 80GB, 7200RPM, 8MB cache = $104
Lite-On IDE 16X DVD-ROM/48X CD-ROM = $35

Total comes out to $572., which leaves me about $30 to spare for tweaking.
I heard a lot about nForce2 motherboards, so I'm giving it a try here.
Not sure if 256MB RAM is enough these days, though.

Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

Best Regards
Gary Hendricks
<A HREF="http://www.desktop-video-guide.com" target="_new">http://www.desktop-video-guide.com</A>
Learn to shoot, capture and edit your own digital videos!

 

[Teq]

My only suggestion would be that you look into a better Modem than the Creative...

Go with 3comm/USR hardware driven modems. Lower CPU usage, better data integrity, more stable drivers... Yes, they're a bit more expensive but they are worth every penny.



--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[knowan]

A few suggestions.

Go with the retail CPU with the retail heatsink. It's good enough and costs less.

To get full advantage of the nforce 2 mobo you'll need 2 sticks of RAM. Otherwise you're just as well off with a cheeper kt400 or kt333 mobo.

The Creative modems suck. Get an a-open if you want cheep and a USR if you want good.

I've got the video card you listed and if I had the choice again I think I would have sprung for the pro version.

Antec is a good brand, but I just don't like mini towers. Get a case fan or two if you decide to stick with a mini-tower. It's not necessary but you could probably cut a few dollars off by getting a cheeper generic case, or a chieftec which is an antec knockoff.

--------------
Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

 

[4Ryan6]

Heres a suggestion for you:

CaseowerMax Mid-Tower comes with 350W P/S-------$34.00
M/B: MSI KT4VL comes with Onboard Sound & Lan------$79.00
CPU: AMD XP2200+ TB Core---------------------------$99.00
Heatsink: Vantec Aeroflow-----------------------------$25.00
RAM: Kingston 512Mb PC2100/266FSB------------------$65.99
Hardrive: Maxtor Diamondmax 40G 7200RPM ATA-133----$69.99
Video: Gainward GF3TI/450 w 128Mb DDR RAM----------$95.99
DVDROM: Sony 16X-----------------------------------$35.99
CDRW: MSI 52/24/52---------------------------------$49.99
Modem: Super Fast V.92 56K w Lucent Chipset---------$12.00
Floppy Drive: -----------------------------------------$9.99
________________________________________________________
Total--------------------------------------------$576.94 + S&H


50w more in P/S w case, 256Mb more RAM, M/B runs 266,333,and 400 FSB and can be upgraded past the AMD XP 3000+ w BIOS flash, Kick ass video card, adds a CDRW and Floppy Drive not mentioned.

You'll find these prices at <A HREF="http:// www.directron.com" target="_new">http:// www.directron.com</A>



<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>

 

[bonesdad1]

Definately get 2 sticks of 256MB RAM. Also check out the EPoX 8RDA+ board at Newegg. Sale now for $94 shipped...hella deal. Onboard sound (Nvidia APU...excellent sound close to Audigy performance), onboard Lan, USB 2.0, and firewire headers. Excellent price for excellent board...will OC great too if he is interested!

my sig left me for an Honorary Guru...

 

[khha4113]

Unless you overclock, instead of 256MB of Corsair, you can get 512MB Crucial PC2700 (~$80).
If you get that Creative <b>Win</b>modem, you might as well go for cheaper one (Conexant, used the same chipset on Creative) for $12.

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.