super budget build !!!!!!!!

[Gadzookie]

what do you guys think of this budget build ? im trying to be as cheap as possiable ! im hoping to build this computer soon if i can save up 400 bucks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147001
Rosewill Case W/ 400 Watt Power Supply 24 Pin 54.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103637
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Orleans 85.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130050
MSI K9N Neo-F Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard 76.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231080
G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) System Memory 69.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106
Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive 43.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106019
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X
DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE
DVD Burner W/ LightScribe 30.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143054
3D Fuzion 3DFR76256GSE Geforce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card 89.99

Total 452.93 !

is everything compatiable especially the ram ?

 

[4745454b]

I hate to tell you this, but your going to have some issues.
First, your price will be off, by quite a bit. That case and psu doesn't cost $54.99, but $71.61 once you count shipping. (that doesn't count tax, that will only add more to the cost.) Once you throw the shipping in, your total will be over $500.
You will also be using a powersupply that came with a case, something that you'll want to correct as soon as you can.
The ram will work, but you'll be limited to single channel performance, and sub DDR2 800 speed. If you're using ram this slow, realise that a S939 system is now faster.
Your video card requires a 6pin PCIe power plug, but your cheap PSU doesn't have one. Your motherboard and Video card don't include one either, so you'll need to buy that too.
Those are the problems that jumped out at me. The shipping/price and lack of video power adaptor are the only deal breakers.

 

[Gadzookie]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156053
RAIDMAX xB ATX-528B Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 22.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954
FSP Group (Fortron Source) 450W Power Supply 51.50

how about that power supply and case ?

can you recomend me s1 gig of ram the cheaper the better ?

i dont have to worry about shipping i have extra money for shipping i want the whole build to be less then 500 bucks

 

[moparman390]

Everything should be fine. It's all compatible. The memory is fine. The motherboard is a simple motherboard with lots of nice features for a basic system and it's got a good layout. The processor and video card are also good choices for now and you can always easily upgrade them later on if you wish. The power supply should be fine, Rosewill is just about the best powersupply you can get bundled with a value case. The build is fine, you should be "good to go" with it.

Some suggestions to make this even better for small bucks. ($29 more for all three)

If you need more storage space, you can get double that for $10 more.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014+103530091&Subcategory=14&description=&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=

I would go up to the 3500+ for $5 more, 200MHz for $5 is well worth it. It will show in improved preformance.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103633

And most importantly, spend the extra $14 get dual channel memory in matched pairs. This will also show preformance gain.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820236102

 

[4745454b]

Thats a good price for a good psu. It has the video card plug that you need, so if you have the money for shipping, your now good to go. (I happen to agree about the rosewill comment, thats why I simply said replace as soon as possible, and not yank it for something else.)

 

[rwaritsdario]

The first change ild make would be the video card, the X800GTO 256MB DDR3 is a MUCH better option for the price, I can ensure you that.

Then well idk about you but I wouldnt trust that power supply, it just doesnt look right. Look at this Antec LifeStyle SONATA II with a 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 case! Antec in my opinion makes one of the best power supplies. If you feel that ones a bit too expensive this Antec Solution 350W case, since it has free shipping its like $40 less than the other one.

As far as the memory goes, ild recomend this Corsair DDR2 667 (PC2 5300). Its only $3 more than the PNY memory and you get Corsair quality wich your motherboard recommends.

Are you planning on upgrading this system in the future? Because if you arent, ild go for a 939 setup. The price would go down noticeably.

Let me know what youve tought and what youre planning on buying. It looks like a nice budget build =]

 

[phreejak]

COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W ($50)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159040
Great buy for the price because it has dual 12v rails with strong amps (18 per rail).

It has the added bonus most in this price range do not with Active PFC, which protects against things like voltage fluctuations and electrical irregularities that can affect the efficiency of your power supply. There are three types of PFC: active, passive, and non-PFC. Active PFC provides the best protection, while non-PFC provides the worst.

With a more efficient PSU there is less waste and, therefore, less heat produced by the PSU. This, in turn, means a reduction in it's contribution to overall system heat.

The PSU that comes with the case is a cheap Rosewill model that has a single 12 rail and only 17amps on it. It gives no mention of having any sort of PFC.

 

[rwaritsdario]

COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W ($50)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159040
Great buy for the price because it has dual 12v rails with strong amps (18 per rail).

It has the added bonus most in this price range do not with Active PFC, which protects against things like voltage fluctuations and electrical irregularities that can affect the efficiency of your power supply. There are three types of PFC: active, passive, and non-PFC. Active PFC provides the best protection, while non-PFC provides the worst.

With a more efficient PSU there is less waste and, therefore, less heat produced by the PSU. This, in turn, means a reduction in it's contribution to overall system heat.

The PSU that comes with the case is a cheap Rosewill model that has a single 12 rail and only 17amps on it. It gives no mention of having any sort of PFC.

That PSU doesnt have a PCI-E connector, are you sure itll work with any video cards he picks??

 

[phreejak]

It's not SLI certified but any videocard that goes into a PCIe slot will come with a 4-pin molex adapter for a PCIe card power connector. Granted, PSUs on this level of expense aren't the best and the sleeved condition of the Coolmax makes it look like it was built by someone from the rainbow coalition but, as far as budget concerns are addressedm it'll do. I'd personally recommend somehting a bit more expensive but this is not my money.

Fact of the matter is that while people will spend alot of money on graphics cards, CPUs, HDDs and soundcards, people generally try and get by on the cheap where PSUs are concerned. That is problematic because even though the PSU is not as glamorous a component as, say, a 1900XTX, it's every bit as important, if not more important.

In this PSU I was just trying to find the best bang for the buck that offerred some features - quality notwithstanding

 

[rwaritsdario]

It's not SLI certified but any videocard that goes into a PCIe slot will come with a 4-pin molex adapter for a PCIe card power connector. Granted, PSUs on this level of expense aren't the best and the sleeved condition of the Coolmax makes it look like it was built by someone from the rainbow coalition but, as far as budget concerns are addressedm it'll do. I'd personally recommend somehting a bit more expensive but this is not my money.

Fact of the matter is that while people will spend alot of money on graphics cards, CPUs, HDDs and soundcards, people generally try and get by on the cheap where PSUs are concerned. That is problematic because even though the PSU is not as glamorous a component as, say, a 1900XTX, it's every bit as important, if not more important.

In this PSU I was just trying to find the best bang for the buck that offerred some features - quality notwithstanding

haha definetly the sleeves catched my attention too, but under a uv light they should look rather cool, in a 70s psycodelic way lol. As far as a glamorous PSU you can always go for a ultra or aspire, theyre pretty, of course but yould have the fear of it blowing up on you eventually...

Im going for a OCZ GameXStream 700W. Its a really bang for buck if you ask me, four 12v rails, PFC active, SLI certified, and it looks good. Its a shame it isnt modular otherwise ild call it the ulmatite perfect PSU lol
How much was your Silverstone psu?

 

[phreejak]

My Silverstone 750 was $200 and change from Newegg. I was using an FSP 700 but had issues with it because of the low amperage. I've got quite a large energy demand on my system and needed something more powerful and stable. It powers alot of components and I haven't had any trouble since. BTW, that OCZ PSU that you are going for rocks. It's a very good PSU.

My system:

CoolerMaster Stacker Case
Presler 955 3.46
Abit AW8D
2GB DDR2 800
XFX 7900 GTX Extreme
2 Raptors HDDs
320 WD Sata HDD
Creative XFI Fatality (with drive bay unit)
(4) 40mm fans (modded Abit Voltage regulator heatsinks)
(2) DVD R/RW Drives
56-1 card reader
floppy drive
Dual cold cathode light
(assorted USB devices)
SilverstoneE SST-ST75ZF 750 PSU


Watercooling System
1/2 ID inch tygon tubing (11/16 OD R3603)
Swiftech MCP655 Pump
Danger Den Koolsah GPU Waterblock
Voltage Regulator waterblock for 7900 GTX
Maze 4 Northbridge Waterblock
Custom Drivebay Reservoir
Swiftech Peltier 226watt waterblock
Bay drive voltage adjuster for CPU Peltier Waterblock
(2) dual 120mm rads (mounted externally) - each has 4 120mm fans in a "push-pull" configuration
Meanwell 600 SE12 Secondary PSU (for peltier)

 

[angry_ducky]

To save some money, I'd get a Sempron 64 2800+ for $50 and overclock like hell. Save some money on the mobo by getting this ASUS board.

I'll second the recommendation for the Antec case and the X800GTO.

 

[rwaritsdario]

Watercooling System
1/2 ID inch tygon tubing (11/16 OD R3603)
Swiftech MCP655 Pump
Danger Den Koolsah GPU Waterblock
Voltage Regulator waterblock for 7900 GTX
Maze 4 Northbridge Waterblock
Custom Drivebay Reservoir
Swiftech Peltier 226watt waterblock
Bay drive voltage adjuster for CPU Peltier Waterblock
(2) dual 120mm rads (mounted externally) - each has 4 120mm fans in a "push-pull" configuration
Meanwell 600 SE12 Secondary PSU (for peltier)

nice, youve got everything covered. I wanted to keep things cheap and a bit simple so im going for a Kingwin AS-3000, my first shot at liquid cooling. But I was noticing just now that the tubes may have different widths o_o Would you check that for me please, since you seem alot more experienced lol
What kind of coolant are you using? Because I need another one (not the one in the package) since im definetly not risking it with anything thats not non-electrically conductive.

 

[4745454b]

I would try to splurge and get the 3000+ for a mere $10 more. Reason is the 2800+ has only 128kb of L2 cache while the 3000+ has 256kb. You can always overclock to get more frequency, you're stuck with however much L2 cache came with the chip...

 

[phreejak]

I never noticed this before about that Kingwin kit but it uses both 1/4 ID and 3/8 ID tubing at different places in its cooling loop.

It's not a bad idea to use nonconductive liquid - it's all I've been using for about a year now. It is a bit pricey though - about $20 for 32oz. I use Primochill ICE in my system. Then there is FluidXP which is almost twice as much for the same size. I know Innovatek has theirs for $13 in a one liter bottle. I can only speak for Primochill ICE though as it is the only "non-conductive" coolant I've ever used. It works. I'e spilled it on my PSU and a PCIe slot (rather, leaks developed) and nothing happened except the mud puppy that formed in my shorts just out of panic. Thank goodness it really was non-conductive.

A word about non-conductive fluids though - you sacrifice about 1 to 3 degrees in cooling versus standard coolants for the safety. This is basically true for all non-conductive fluids. Of course, it's non-conductive so the choice was easy.

You can get nonconductive fluids at:

FrozenCPU
http://frozencpu.com/

Performance-PCs (HUGE selection of coolants here, basically, a HUGE selection of anything that has to do with watrcooling here - even some hard to find European parts)
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php

Voyeurmods
http://www.voyeurmods.com/index.php

 

[rwaritsdario]

I never noticed this before about that Kingwin kit but it uses both 1/4 ID and 3/8 ID tubing at different places in its cooling loop.

It's not a bad idea to use nonconductive liquid - it's all I've been using for about a year now. It is a bit pricey though - about $20 for 32oz. I use Primochill ICE in my system. Then there is FluidXP which is almost twice as much for the same size. I know Innovatek has theirs for $13 in a one liter bottle. I can only speak for Primochill ICE though as it is the only "non-conductive" coolant I've ever used. It works. I'e spilled it on my PSU and a PCIe slot (rather, leaks developed) and nothing happened except the mud puppy that formed in my shorts just out of panic. Thank goodness it really was non-conductive.

A word about non-conductive fluids though - you sacrifice about 1 to 3 degrees in cooling versus standard coolants for the safety. This is basically true for all non-conductive fluids. Of course, it's non-conductive so the choice was easy.

You can get nonconductive fluids at:

FrozenCPU
http://frozencpu.com/

Performance-PCs (HUGE selection of coolants here, basically, a HUGE selection of anything that has to do with watrcooling here - even some hard to find European parts)
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php

Voyeurmods
http://www.voyeurmods.com/index.php

I was thinking about getting the fuild XP+, its at $25 in frozencpu, because it seems better. But if you spilled the PC chill and nothing happend then I have nothing to worry about. How did you clean it after??

 

[rwaritsdario]

Look what ive put together after gathering some opinions:

Antec Solution Black Computer Case 350W Power Supply(5 stars average rating)
$69.99

MSI K9N Neo-F Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard (I rather it above the Asus board because that ones crippled by being microATX and having lower DDR2 standars)
$76.99

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (I coudlnt find any sempron for AM2 and even so you arent in SUCH a tight budget, youll be pleased with this one)
$91.00

CORSAIR VALUE SELECT 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) (you dont need DDR2 800 for a budget build and if youre lucky youll be able to overclock this one to a little more than 700, also dual channel matched pairs will give you a gain in performance as stated above)
$86.99

HITACHI Deskstar 160GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (twice the storage for only $10 more)
$53.99

POWERCOLOR Radeon X800GTO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 (best video card for under $100 ive seen in my life! very nice bang for buck! the reviews say it runs oblivion on med settings o_o)
$89.99

LITE-ON Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner W/ LightScribe (LITE-ON is a realiable brand and it even has Lightscribe)
$31.99

Subtotal: $500.94
shipping: $9.54
and it comes to the grand total of: $510.48!

Its just a little overbudget but its a really good bang for buck build, it has a nice AM2 board wich makes it upgradable. If you want to spend a little more, for the other Antec case I suggested, the power supply is beefer.
Enjoy and let me know on what you finally buy =]

 

[phreejak]

After I stopped freaking out, I unplugged the PSU from the wall as a precaution, took the PSU out of the computer and gently cleaned off the leakage. I waited a day before I plugged everything back in also. I came to find otu that I didn't need to do anything beyond just cleaning the excess simply because it was non-conductive but you can't help but freak out the first time it happens.

Listen, PC Chill worked for me but you can't put a price on peace of mind. There is nothing wrong with you putting your stamp on somehting and using FluidXP - it has been around and it is supposed to work well. Give it a try and if you like it keep using it.

 

[Fursecul]

It's ok and the first case is way cooler than the second one

 

[rwaritsdario]

After I stopped freaking out, I unplugged the PSU from the wall as a precaution, took the PSU out of the computer and gently cleaned off the leakage. I waited a day before I plugged everything back in also. I came to find otu that I didn't need to do anything beyond just cleaning the excess simply because it was non-conductive but you can't help but freak out the first time it happens.

Listen, PC Chill worked for me but you can't put a price on peace of mind. There is nothing wrong with you putting your stamp on somehting and using FluidXP - it has been around and it is supposed to work well. Give it a try and if you like it keep using it.

I hate marketing... you can never tell whenever something is better or not, just if it LOOKS better. But ill go for the fluid XP cos its bio-degrable and non-corrosive, things that even if the Primochill is, they dont state it. Plus it has a longer shelf life.