Office PC that will experience light gaming

[tylerthedruid]

My friend's dad has been looking for a PC for a while and I decided to see what I could find on newegg. I searched around a while and came up with this list.

My hope was to keep it under 800$ although I blew that by 11$.

Does there seem to be anything wrong with this setup?



Monitor
Fujiplus FP-988D Silver-Black 19" 12ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 600:1 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824168005
289.99 (199.99 after 90.00 rebate) 14.50 three day shipping

Motherboard
TUL AX480A7-F Socket 754 ATI XPRESS 200P ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813190002
45.00 4.89 three day shipping

Processor
AMD Sempron 64 2600+ Palermo 800MHz FSB 128KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104249
65.00 4.99 three day shipping

V-Card
SAPPHIRE 100110L-GN-H Radeon X300SE HyperMemory 256MB 128-bit DDR HyperMemory (64-bit 128MB Onboard

VRAM) 128-bit DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102528
52.00 3.99 Three day shipping

Memory
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit

System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
81.00 4.81 Three day shipping

Case
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -

Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068
44.99 12.99 Three day Shipping

Power Supply
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RS-430-PMSR/P ATX12V Max: 400W, Peak: 430W Power Supply 90~132V / 180~264V

(Selectable) Nemko / TUV / cUL / CE - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007
33.95 6.99 Three day shipping

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148065
108.00 4.99 Three day shipping

Disk Drive
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 1.5M Cache IDE Combo Drive - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106992
28.99 4.89 Three day shipping

WinXP pro, Mouse, and Keyboard already available.

811.96 total, including shipping

Can a 1000mhz mobo utlize a proc with a 800mhz FSB?

Should I use a case that comes with a PSU or are they usually crap PSUs?

Will this computer run office applications quickly, including burning CDs and doing multiple tasks?

Is there any reason to go with Dell for office computing?

 

[tylerthedruid]

**** OR ****

Dell office computer such as the B110 with CD burner upgrade and hard drive upgrade for 484$
Lower quality, smaller hard drive, slower speed in all aspects (video, RAM, processor), less RAM smaller monitor by 2" - but cheap.
734$ with a 19" monitor instead of 17".
Prices are only acheived after a 50$ mail in rebate to dell.

 

[Heyyou27]

Looks good for office computing, but bad for gaming.

 

[ardisian]

Easily done for an office pc. now about the light gaming...you mean COD2? er something less intense. either way it should keep up with non-graphical gaems.

 

[tylerthedruid]

Can a 1000mhz mobo utlize a proc with a 800mhz FSB?

Should I use a case that comes with a PSU or are they usually crap PSUs?

Does anyone know the answer to these? I'm pretty noob as far as mobos go

 

[mdd1963]

"Can a 1000mhz mobo utlize a proc with a 800mhz FSB?
"

The "1000 MHz" refers to Hyper Transport..., bi-directional. meaning 2000 MHz in Marketing Speak....(800 MHz, 1600 MHz bi-directional on many socket 754 boards)

The FSB of the cpu and mem is 200 MHz....(200 Mhz, DDR, dual channel is how they equate that to 800 MHz, or 200x2 (DDR) x 2 (dual channel mem access)...

(Socket 754 is not dual channel capable anyway)

 

[pat]

The FSB of the cpu and mem is 200 MHz....(200 Mhz, DDR, dual channel is how they equate that to 800 MHz, or 200x2 (DDR) x 2 (dual channel mem access)...

(Socket 754 is not dual channel capable anyway)

You dont get it at all. The memory bus and the hypertransport link are 2 independent bus. The single channel memory run at 200 MHz (400 DDR) on a 64 bit wide channel. Dual channel run at 200MHz(400 DDR0 on a 128 bits wide bus.. not faster, simply wider. DDR stand for double data rate... the bus is running at 200 MHz all the time, only the DATA is transfered faster, 2 times for each bus clock cycle.

The HT link is the bus that connect the CPU to the chipset. The base clock is the same 200 MHz clock, but running thru a multiplier to make it faster.

Multiplier goes from 1x to 5x. from 200MHz to 1000 MHz. a CPU that has a 800 MHz HT link connection will make the bus running at 4x default. Socket 754 has a 4x (800MHz) normal operating bus. Socket 939 has a 5x (1000MHz) normal operating bus. But, at normal operation, even a 3x (600MHz) bus is enough to keep the CPU busy.. so, using a 1000 MHz bus simply means that you are wasting more bus spped that at 800MHz.

The bidirectional speed is simply marketing. bigger number are better seller. if you take a road that has a speed limit of 50 to go somewhere, and you come back using the same road running at 50 too, does that means you were doing 100? same thing for the bus. data goes at 1000 on one way and 1000 on the way back. That is still 1000 to me.

 

[Crashman]

ATI's onboard graphics ARE X300SE. And HyperCache means it uses onboard memory, the onboard graphics also uses HyperCache.

I'd skip the graphics card and use onboard graphics.

Also, you can get the Cooler master Centurion 531, a very nice case, with the power supply you listed, for $90.

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Scratch the X300SE (above reasons, same performance as the onboard - no joke), consider:

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/products_motherboard_2.cfm?pName=6150K8MA-8EKRS
...if you can get it.

Also the Samsung HDDs offer the same features (7200 rpm, NCQ, 8 MB cache, etc) but at a lower cost, and slightly lower noise level, than the Seagate offering. (Perhaps where you live the situation is reversed though).

With the cash saved on the X300SE consider moving to a Athlon 64 (Socket 939) version, and get 2 x 256 or 2 x 512 MB of PC3200 (Socket 939 is dual channel, Socket 754 isn't. So using 2 x DIMMs will give extra performance in S939 vs S754).

The onboard GeForce 6150 performs better than the Radeon X200 / X300SE/HM, esp considering the 6150 in this case has the benefit of 128 bit Dual-Channel RAM, while the S754 mainboard in your above config only has 64 bit wide single channel RAM also being used for video.... thus extremely low performance....

.....Anyways the GeForce 6150 is basically free, and provides higher quality video playback / deblocking IMHO. There is also a GeForce 6100 (vs 6150) variet of the same mainboard which has lower quality deblocking on the video playback, and won't handle some WMV9 High Definition streams.... The 6100 is slightly cheaper. However, the 6150 can handle WMV9-HD though so worth a few extra dollars IMHO, even in your case.

The upside of this is, at least down the track you can install a AMD64 dual-core CPU as an upgrade (Socket 754 is at end of life now, and does not support any more than Athlon64 3700+, assuming you can find the S754 version to begin with ).

Then later on (when you have some more cash) look for a ATI Radeon X800 GTO / XL or nVidia GeForce 6600 GT / 6800 GS to install in the PCIe x16 slot (as you sound a little low on cash, they'll give good 'bang for buck', even in 6 months time for 3D performance).

If you dig around on the mainboards you can always find a good deal, like on the Winfast / FoxconnChannel board above. . It also uses a decent, but low cost varient, of the nForce 4 chipset, and still supports both nVidia and ATI (and other) PCIe video cards as upgrades.

Price / Performance / Feature wise, you can't do much better (than the above). But you can get a case w/ PSU for lower cost perhaps (?). Just look for a decent 350 - 400 Watt PSU as part of the case offering.

Contact: http://users.on.net/~darkpeace

 

[Crashman]

Hey, I like the 6150K8MA, but early tests that showed it having a huge lead over ATI turned out to be flawed. So I did my own testing and found similar performance.

ATI has far better TV output, if that ever becomes a factor, and other boards, both with ATI and 6150 chipsets, are available with DVI, whereas the 6150K8MA doesn't have it.

I recommend the 6150K8MA-8EKRS for anyone who's sure they'll absolutely never need TV or DVI output from the board, especially for people who plan to use video cards. Which means I recommend it for high-end HTPC, where the substitution of a video card is a given.

 

[pat]

The upside of this is, at least down the track you can install a AMD64 dual-core CPU as an upgrade (Socket 754 is at end of life now, and does not support any more than Athlon64 3700+, assuming you can find the S754 version to begin with ).

Doesnt socket 754 supposed be dead since 2 years now??? And what about SocketA, or Socket478, or AGP, or PCI, or PATA, or SDRAM, or ... isn't socket 939 dead too.. now that they announced that no more new CPU will be announced for it because of new socket AM2 is planned by the half of the year.

You see, when something is stopped to be produced, it doesnt meand that all the computer based on it will stop working. The socket 754 CPU he'll use in his office PC would probably be still functionning in 4-5 years. And by that time, he'll probably built another PC based on socket xyz anyway, not simply use a new CPU.

If the PC is making fits his needs now, I don't see anything wrong be it socket 754, 939, 478 755...



Exemple of dead product are ISA slots ..

 

[baracuda73]

I think you would be better off uping the cpu away from semperon there just dont perform well.
try http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
$160

and it really only needs about 300w-350w for the psu with an x300 video

try http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104931
$34.99

I know that probably puts you $50 or so over budget but the performace difference would be noticable in both gaming and in office applications.

 

[pat]

I think you would be better off uping the cpu away from semperon there just dont perform well.
try http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
$160

and it really only needs about 300w-350w for the psu with an x300 video

try http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104931
$34.99

I know that probably puts you $50 or so over budget but the performace difference would be noticable in both gaming and in office applications.

I've used sempron in some simple and inexpensive computer that are doing some light video editing and I don't find them to perform bad at all..

I have experiences with those socket 745 A64 and Sempron. And with some 939 CPU. And I can say for light gaming and basic stuff, you won't tell which cpu is which and and gaming will more than likely be limited by the video card anyway.

 

[baracuda73]

To clairify what i meant to say was not today but in 1 year down the road the difference between the 2 would justify the better cpu today.

 

[tylerthedruid]

Monitor
Fujiplus FP-988D Silver-Black 19" 12ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 600:1 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824168005
289.99 (199.99 after 90.00 rebate) 14.50 three day shipping

Motherboard
BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100-M7 Socket 754 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138266
59.99 4.99 three day shipping

Processor
AMD Sempron 64 2600+ Palermo 800MHz FSB 128KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104249
65.00 4.99 three day shipping

Memory
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit

System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
81.00 4.81 Three day shipping

Case
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -

Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068
44.99 12.99 Three day Shipping

Power Supply
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RS-430-PMSR/P ATX12V Max: 400W, Peak: 430W Power Supply 90~132V / 180~264V

(Selectable) Nemko / TUV / cUL / CE - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007
33.95 6.99 Three day shipping

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148065
108.00 4.99 Three day shipping

Disk Drive
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 1.5M Cache IDE Combo Drive - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106992
28.99 4.89 Three day shipping

WinXP pro CD, Mouse, and Keyboard supplied by me.
741.20

CHANGES:
Changed Motherboard to one supporting Nvidia 6100 onboard. Reviews made it look decent.
Rid of the video card.
Chose to keep the 754 since the 939s will cost a bit more.

**** OR ****

Dell office computer such as the B110 with CD burner upgrade and hard drive upgrade for 484$
Lower quality, smaller hard drive, slower speed in all aspects (video, RAM, processor), less RAM

smaller monitor by 2" - but cheap.
734$ with a 19" monitor instead of 17".
Prices are only acheived after a 50$ mail in rebate to dell.



1. QUESTIONS
Is there anything better about the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104931 FSP

PSU than the one I have listed? I'm quite noob in the PSU area.

2. COMMENTS
You guys ought to list your paypal accounts in your signatures so people can give you tips! Thanks a

ton from the help. I've taken some advice from each of your posts.

I seem to have opted for the 'cheap' route in a few ways since this computer will never see full-scale

gaming; but it's for a 50 year old man, so it should be fine if it's only slightly upgradeable. The PCI

express slot on the mobo might allow it to run some tougher games on low resolution.

 

[tylerthedruid]

Oh and BTW I'll be calling him today to find out what he wants.

When I get this thing going (provided he doesn't want the Dell), I'll make sure to post some pictures.

 

[pat]

Socket 754 don't need dual channel memory, so a simple generic 1 gb stick will do fine and cost less

 

[tylerthedruid]

Socket 754 don't need dual channel memory, so a simple generic 1 gb stick will do fine and cost less

oops! Forget the simplest things sometimes... I'll fix that right now.

BTW, we've weighed the ups and downs and realized it would cost a crapola to buy a Dell with anything near these specs, especially with the 90.00 rebate on the 19" monitor (as much as I hate rebates). Plus, Dell has some nasty hidden extras, such as crap motherboards and non-upgradeability as far as hard drives and RAM goes.

Odd; for some reason I can't find any non-dual channel DDR400. I did find some for 71 bucks but the reviews were aweful.

 

[pat]

It's not the memory that is dual channel, but rather the memory controller. So, a single memory stick would run single channel with a single channel memory controller as well as with a dual channel. Now, add an identical memory stick to the first one, and if the memory controller is a dual channel enabled one, then the memory will run dual channel. And 2 sticks with a single channel controller will run single channel anyway..

What I means is, don't pay for 2 memory sticks that has been tested in factory and has similar enough timing to ensure dual channel operation with dual channel controller, but worth nothing with single channel memory controller.

So, to make it simple, simply get the 1 stick that is inexpensive and with a lifetime warranty