Your opinion on this budget build is appreciated

[akbar_k]

My goal is to buy three new computers with the same core components for as low a price as possible while being very fast for web browsing (25+ pages open full of flash ads) as well as video chat using the new msn 8 messenger.

I currently have two computers that I built a few years back but I no longer enjoy surfing the commercial web which is full of advertisements and full motion flash video because it feels too clunky and slow on my computers. The new msn 8 is just too slow to even run on these computers, and video chat using msn 7.5 slows my computer so much I just feel frustrated.

Just to give you a feel, the machines I have currently:
Athlon 600 Mhz, 384 Mb, 80 GB
Athlon 1000 Mhz, 512 Mb, 80 GB

I am not looking for a software solution. I enjoy surfing using Firefox and I like to be able to see all the videos from the major sites and I like enjoying the web 'the way it is meant to be'.

I am buying three computers because one is for my wife and myself, one is for my brother, and one is for my father. I think it will be easier to support them if they are all the same core components. I will buy my father a snazzier case with a racing stripe on it 8)

I don't want to buy a Dell because I like homebuilt computers and I find them easier to support when something inevitably goes wrong.

Here is what I'm looking at right now, your opinion is very welcome and appreciated:

Corsair ValueSelect 1 GB DDR 400 PC3200 (VS1GB400C3)
MSI K8MM-V Socket 754 VIA K8M800 Micro ATX
AMD Sempron 64BIT 3000+ S754 Palermo
Fortron Sparkle FSP/SPI ATX-400PN 400W ATX12V 20/24PIN

Video, Sound, and LAN is all on-board, and it should be sufficient.

I already have 80 GB and 40 GB IDE hard drives and CDRW drives as well. I'm going to reuse some old ATX cases but not their PSU's. I will buy my father a new fancy case with a racing stripe :lol:

I chose 1 GB of RAM because I know that Firefox and msn 8 with video chat really likes memory, especially when I have tons of stuff open.

I picked the good PSU because I don't want the computers to burn out, I really want them to 'just work'.

The motherboard is the one I am most unsure about. Small form factor is not needed, I just picked this one because it's not ECS and it has onboard Video/Sound/LAN and the price was right. I had a bad experience a few years back with an ECS board, but Asus, MSI, Tyan have served me well. Perhaps my opinion about ECS is outdated.

Your opinion and advice is very appreciated

 

[CrimsonKain]

Here's some pretty inexpensive S939 solutions for just a bit more than your S754 setup.

MSI Board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130541
ASUS Board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131035
Athlon 3000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537

The only reason I mention this is because with S939 you could eventually move to a dual-core system down the road when more applications take advantage of the capabilites. I've personally built a number of systems at my job (local computer store) with that ASUS board and it's been very reliable. If you don't plan on upgrading, though, your system will do just fine for a budget rig. Just my $.02

 

[shadowduck]

Here's some pretty inexpensive S939 solutions for just a bit more than your S754 setup.

MSI Board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130541
ASUS Board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131035
Athlon 3000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537

The only reason I mention this is because with S939 you could eventually move to a dual-core system down the road when more applications take advantage of the capabilites. I've personally built a number of systems at my job (local computer store) with that ASUS board and it's been very reliable. If you don't plan on upgrading, though, your system will do just fine for a budget rig. Just my $.02

I agree with going S939. I have that 3000+ and tis great CPU that will take care of you.

Avoid ValueRAM, its really garbage RAM. Hit or miss if its going to bad or not.
Buy this G.Skill RAM instead: 1) it lets you go dual channel since S939 supports it 2) it has better timings 3) its slightly cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231030

 

[jrabbitb]

Case w/ 350 power (plenty strong enough for this setup)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129148

Motherboard with onboard video, room to upgrade ram and video card on new standard pci x-16.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813138027

Dual Core 3800+ @ 2GHz
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103735

1GB ddr2 667MHz in dual channel (2 x 512MB)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145568

80GB SATA2 HDD 7200rpm
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822145082


With this setup you are spending a whooping $466 when i speced it at newegg today. Its designed so you can upgrade to future technology if you need to, get better graphics, more ram, even on the AM2 socket so if you want you can go to the quad core when it comes out. The dual core gives you more then enough power for now but will last for quite some time.