AM2 build- any recommendations?

[chased13]

building a computer for a relative- ..heres what i have in mind

(all egg prices)

x2 3800- $153

x850xt (seems like a great deal) $120 or osmething

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) System Memory - Retail link
- only thing im shaky on (any other ram recommendations?) $150

m2ne mobo that everyone raves about -100$

320gb wd harddrive -100


i am being asked for a budget gaming build- i wanted some future upgradeability- core duo is more expensive, mobos are more money, and prob not stable yet.

i just wanna slap this thing togetther and go.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Suggested Changes:

RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 <-- If you're not going to get DDR2-800, you might as well get a socket 939 rig. 667 (or in some cases the non standard 675 is used) will actually make this perform worse than a 939 rig with 2GB of ram.

 

[chased13]

thanks thats what i needed... the ram you suggested will work well in this computer?

the budget for thiss computer is supposed to be around $800 usd, though it will prob be around 900 tax and shipping.

the ram you suggested is $255, is there any cheaper 2gb ram that will do a decent job?? can i buy offbrand ddr2 800 ram? i heard ocz doesnt work well with amd.

is that the only "reasonable" 2gb ram, can you suggest something cheaper?

 

[The_Prophecy]

This G.Skill set should be ok.

 

[chased13]

thanks alot!!

i find that im pretty well educated in most areas of computers, but sicne i havent upgraded my OWN memory and researched it, that is the one spot where i needed help.

i feel crummy because my 3rd grader cousin's computer whips my p4's (WILLAMETE BABY) ass lol

i know conroe is awesome but i really didnt think i could put a build together that could beat this one for the price. - if i wanted conroe i prob couldnt put in 2 gb of ram and such etc.

 

[Neofight]

Unless you have read that the Gskill has worked in the ASUS I would stick with the Corsair which reportedly works well. THe ASUS boards were being reported as very finicky with other ram.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Just a suggestion, but a Core 2 Build can be done for less than 800....

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

RAM: G.Skill 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800

Video: eVGA Geforce 7300GS <--- Grab one of these for now, and upgrade to a high end card once the DX10 cards arrive (approx. 6-9 months away)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2

Total before taxes and shipping: $723.96

 

[The_OGS]

AM2 build- any recommendations?

Yes - Conroe.

 

[chased13]

i also need a power supply and case AND windows included so.... conroe really isnt in the picture

the x2 3800+ and mobo is more than 100$ cheaper. money is an issue.

does anyone have any recommendations on a cheap case+ psu combo (i know you shouldnt skimp on a psu!! but i need something well under 100$ usd)

 

[shadowduck]

AM2 build- any recommendations?

Yes - Conroe.

Now how the hell is that helpful? If you want to be an Intel fanboy fine, but at least post a suggestion for a build. That post is just a waste of everyones time.

 

[shadowduck]

i also need a power supply and case AND windows included so.... conroe really isnt in the picture

the x2 3800+ and mobo is more than 100$ cheaper. money is an issue.

does anyone have any recommendations on a cheap case+ psu combo (i know you shouldnt skimp on a psu!! but i need something well under 100$ usd)

Sonta II is right at $100 USD, and comes with a good PSU and its a nice case. Case+PSU is going to run you around $100 a good PSU. Cannot really skimp there. I supposed you could buy a $12 case and $69 PSU, but the case will be awful for airflow.

 

[The_Prophecy]

i also need a power supply and case AND windows included so.... conroe really isnt in the picture

the x2 3800+ and mobo is more than 100$ cheaper. money is an issue.

does anyone have any recommendations on a cheap case+ psu combo (i know you shouldnt skimp on a psu!! but i need something well under 100$ usd)

You could get XP the not-so-legal way..... I'm not saying you should, i'm just saying it's an option....

 

[chased13]

thanks shadow duck- i guess im gonna go with the sonata.


i think im gonna drop down to 1 gb of ram for this build. i need to save money somewhere. of course more ram can always be added later

this way i wont feel that ill be using cheap components (just less of them lol)

really the kid is 8 god damn years old he aint gonna notice the difference between 1 or 2 gb of ram

btw ill drop to using gskill (just one stick) from what ive read that the m2n e only does 1.95v for ram but this ram is rated at 2.1 ---- will this give me problems?

 

[The_Prophecy]

Go with 2 x 512MB instead of 1 x 1GB. Always keep dual channel operation if possible. Here, it's very possible.

 

[chased13]

:twisted:



mab if i "skimp" on my operating system..... i could afford the 2gb of ram...

if i bought one stick of 1gb and then later bought another one, would it be dual channel?

 

[htpcgb]

:twisted:



mab if i "skimp" on my operating system..... i could afford the 2gb of ram...

if i bought one stick of 1gb and then later bought another one, would it be dual channel?

Yes, it would be dual channel. You would just have to make sure that the second stick is the same brand/size/model number as the first.

An OEM copy of XP Home comes at about $110, OEM XP Pro comes at about $150. (However, your above statement makes me think that you had no intention to buy legal at all...)

 

[The_Prophecy]

Actually an OEM copy of XP Home goes for around $90... XP Home with SP2 - OEM, and an OEM copy of Pro goes for about $140... XP Pro with SP2 - OEM

I still think Conroe would be a good idea, because then you don't have to get matching sticks. For example, you could get a 1GB and a 512MB stick and still have dual channel operation. Intel refers to this as their Flex Memory technology. (For anyone else reading this post, Flex Memory tech. is only in certain Intel chipsets. Look up your chipset at Intel's website before attempting this.)

The P965 chipset supports Flex Memory (The Gigabyte board I suggested uses said chipset), so if you went that route, you could drop to 1.5GB of ram to help offset the cost of the other parts.

 

[chased13]

final line up

x2 3800+

2gb gskill ddr2 800

m2n-e

sapphrie x850xt

250 gb wd caviar

antec sonata II

all of this comes to around 850

i am almost willing to bet that you cant build a conroe that will beat this for this price. youd have to ddrop to 1gb ram or get a cheap psu / case.

worse comes to worse i cant get windows to work and ill have to buy it


*now i just have to save up for that e6600, x1900xt mobo , ram and a sata hdd - for myself

 

[The_Prophecy]

Any Conroe will beat that.... it will just cost about $70-100 more.

 

[chased13]

exactly- 70-100 more...70-100 more that my aunt wont spend on my cousin

conroe mobos are like 70$ more than the m2ne and the processor is like 80 more so thats 150 more

i spent like an hour trying to put together a conroe system for 850 (shipped) and it just isnt possible. (i live in nj where we get sales tax )

the computer will definitly suit its needs.

plus it will be upgradeable to k8l or w/e later on.

 

[david_uk]

If the pc is being built for an 8 yr old kid I would buy as cheap as possible, consider even second hand, as it won't last a year or 2 before he buggers it up. As far as ram is concerned, I would say that more ram is necessary (ie. 2gb rather than 1gb) since younger people are less likely to pay any heed to the limitations of smaller amounts of ram (ie. by making sure they close down one program down before opening next program). I would go with 2gb cheap ram and amd3800x2. Also large hd. On the other hand, if you do go with 1gb of ram, windows xp can be fairly easily configured to strip out all unecessary processes running in the background. I actually have 2gb of cheap ram but also have windows xp stripped right down so I could have easily got by with 1gb of ram and spent more on processor (eg. dual core instead of single core)

I wouldn't say one-liner (or even 1-word) posts are a 'waste of time' as they take just one second to read, process and ultimately reject. Annoying, yes. Waste of time, no (except for the idiot that posts them).

 

[bigsby]

AM2 build- any recommendations?

Yes - Conroe.


... you fail.

Any Conroe will beat that.... it will just cost about $70-100 more.

... you fail even more.

I don't see why it's that hard, he said he doesn't want conroe, so don't give him conroe. A limited amount of fanboyism is fine, but when you shove off everything that isn't conroe, it pisses people off and makes you look stupid. I like conroe too, but I'm getting an AM2 build, because you're all pissing me off with the conroe crap.

 

[Crimson_Yachiru]

conroe board for 100:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121035

i think that should take off some 50-70 dollars for a conroe board, so it evens it out

 

[ikjadoon]

A few things....Dual-Channel doesn't really matter in AM2 as much in Core 2 Duo.

Core 2 Duo is faster, agreed, but I feel more comfortable with AMD, maybe a sign of fanboyism? I'm not 100% sure that it is fanboyism, but I feel inclined to believe that. G-Skill had some issues with AM2, but I believe that was user fault, probably picked the Intel version. OCZ also seemed to issues with AM2, but I think those are solved. Here is a great deal on DDR2800 CL4:

$165: OCZ Platinum 2GB (2x1GB) 4-5-4-15

The Sonata is a very respectable case. Looking good, nice choice on the GPU: Very fast.

~Ibrahim~

 

[MG37221]

final line up

x2 3800+

2gb gskill ddr2 800

m2n-e

sapphrie x850xt

250 gb wd caviar

antec sonata II

all of this comes to around 850

i am almost willing to bet that you cant build a conroe that will beat this for this price. youd have to ddrop to 1gb ram or get a cheap psu / case.

worse comes to worse i cant get windows to work and ill have to buy it


*now i just have to save up for that e6600, x1900xt mobo , ram and a sata hdd - for myself

If funds are that critical, perhaps you should consider socket 939 instead. DDR is 1/3 to 1/2 as expensive as DDR2. Motherboards such as an MSI Neo4F are quite inexpensive and there's still the option of a processor upgrade while they last (another year or so). This way you could also bump your X850xt to a 7600GT and get a licensed copy of XP (I strongly object to software piracy).

Note also that socket 939 X2 3800 will be a bit quicker than an AM2 version due to the much higher latencies with DDR2. (These latencies tend to disappear with higher clock speeds but that doesn't apply to a 2GHz X2 3800).

Oh yeah, I don't know about DDR2 but I'm running 2GB of OCZ on my Opteron 175 and it works perfectly. Just installed it the other day with nice tight timings and it really works well. This is socket 939 obviously.