Need Help - Decent rig as cheap as possible

[capsaisin]

Okay so heres my quandry
I am a college student and my fiance is a school teacher, which means very very small budget.
-I need to build a decent computer that can handle general activities and some occasional video editing and photo shop.
-I DO intend to at least attempt to get a Pentium D 805 up to around 3.6 - 3.8 Ghz but i dont know the best MoBo to get.
-I DONT need SLI or anything too fancy, just the minimum setup possible to deliver a stable and capable general duty machine.

Any advice on MoBo, Memory etc would be extremely helpful!!

Thank you!

 

[The_Prophecy]

Mobo: Asus P5LD2

RAM: OCZ Gold DDR2-800 @ 5-5-5-10

Video: XFX Geforce 7600GT

Aftermarket CPU Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9500

Optional...

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB SATA2

You already know what CPU you're going for, and a 450W power supply should be just fine, so long as you don't try to go any higher than 3.8... If these parts I've suggested cause budget problems, you can go for a 7300 series card instead of the 7600 I picked out.

 

[capsaisin]

Hey Prophecy

thanks for the advice!
question though, if i stepped down the RAM to DDR2 667 instead of the full 800 to save money, would it have a huge impact on my system? I know It sounds cheap, but every penny counts in this. Also, what makes this MoBo better than the $70 ASUS? Oh and if I kept to the onboard video and audio for a while, would that be a terrible thing?

 

[The_Prophecy]

i suggested the DDR2-800 because of the amount of overclocking you plan to do. If you wanted to only OC to about 3.2... then 667 would have probably been fine. I suggest you keep the onboard audio, since it's good enough for most people anyway. Onboard video is really crappy for video editing.... if you're going to be doing that, you need a seperate video card.

Which $70 Asus board are you refering to?

 

[angry_ducky]

i suggested the DDR2-800 because of the amount of overclocking you plan to do. If you wanted to only OC to about 3.2... then 667 would have probably been fine. I suggest you keep the onboard audio, since it's good enough for most people anyway. Onboard video is really crappy for video editing.... if you're going to be doing that, you need a seperate video card.

Which $70 Asus board are you refering to?

He can always use a memory divider with the DDR2-667.

 

[The_Prophecy]

ya that's true...

 

[capsaisin]

By the 70 dollar board (actuall about 75) i was refering to ASUS P5RD2-VM
I really dont know much about this so i dont know what the real dilfference is.
If it is really different, will I lose a lot of important functionality?

What is a memory divider? I do intent to get it up to about 3.8 if I can, but as i said, i intend to start out as cheap as possible to get it running, then add more functionality later as i get more money. Im just tired of trying to get things done on my gfs old emachines 1 Ghz celeron trash pile.

Thank you for your help!!

 

[The_Prophecy]

By the 70 dollar board (actuall about 75) i was refering to ASUS P5RD2-VM
I really dont know much about this so i dont know what the real dilfference is.
If it is really different, will I lose a lot of important functionality?

What is a memory divider? I do intent to get it up to about 3.8 if I can, but as i said, i intend to start out as cheap as possible to get it running, then add more functionality later as i get more money. Im just tired of trying to get things done on my gfs old emachines 1 Ghz celeron trash pile.

Thank you for your help!!

There are differences between the 2 boards (besides the price), but for your situation, they do not apply. The only thing you need to remember is that the P5LD2 is a standard ATX board, whereas the P5RD2-VM is a micro-ATX board. This is fine except that with the amount of overclocking you plan to do, if you decide to get the P5RD2-VM, you will need to put it into a standard ATX sized case because their may not be enough air inside a mATX case to provide sufficient cooling for the OC'ed 805.

 

[capsaisin]

AHH I didnt catch that.
alright well i guess ill stick with the one you suggested.
thank you!

 

[The_Prophecy]

I should also point out the fact that there won't be enough room for the Zalman CNPS9500 heatsink in a mATX case either.