Budget Barebones with expandability

[jerschwab]

Hi there, this is my first post on this group of fine knowledgeable people! An excellent encouraging resource for sure! If I'm breaking any rules with my first post, please don't hesitate to shove me in the right direction... I'll expediently correct my ways. =P

I'm looking at piecing the following together with my existing PSU (450W), case, and hard drives. Basically, my motherboard fried so it's time to start with something new. This is all from http://www.hltechnology.com.

I am looking at the following for a very reasonable price:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0Ghz ($162 CAD)
ASUS M2N-E-SLI SKT.AM2 NF500SLI ATX ($94 CAD)

Not sure on the memory... but probably start with 2Gb of the following (not in dual channel configuration I don't think)
Transcend DDR2-667 1G 667MHz PC2-5400
DDR2-667 1G 667MHz PC2-5300 Major (Samsung, Infineon, Hynix...)
Rendition DDR2-667 1G 667MHz PC2-5300 (RM12864AA667)


Also, I suppose I'll probably need a new heat sink and fan? Any recommendations from the following?
http://www.hltechnology.com/prod_sub.php?subid=46

I'm not sure on the motherboard, seems to do what I want... which is just the basics (need at least 6 USB, onboard LAN, a few SATA ports, some expandability... I'm not picky about onboard sound). I have a video card (PCI-E EVGA e-GeForce 7200 GS 256MB)... but it will probably be upgraded in the future. I'm not too picky about graphic intensive gaming (like to play some oldies though). I'm also running Windows Vista 32-bit. But I could install 64-bit. I have the discs for that too.

Any suggestions given my budget? I need a motherboard, CPU and about 2 GB of memory and heat sink & fan for about $400. I would like to be able to expand and add memory, new video card, etc. in the future. I don't really care about overclocking, but I may look into it.

Is a 450W PSU going to cut it? I could look at upgrading that in the future too. Would be nice to have something last for a couple years!


Thanks so much for you help, it is very much appreciated!

 

[akhilles]

AMD 6000+ AM2 $162
ASUS M2N-E-SLI $94
OCZ25332048VDC-K $88

You don't overclock so you can use the stock cooler. The cpu & mobo you picked out are pretty decent. You'll need a pci or pci-e video card & some other parts. What's the make & model of the psu?

Why don't you shop at ncix?

 

[jerschwab]

HL Technology seems to be cheaper than NCIX (I have bought a few computers from them). I usually shop at TigerDirect actually... but I'm saving huge with HL and shipping is cheaper.

So, getting PC2-4200 533 Mhz OCZ is better than the PC2-5300 667 Mhz RAM from another vendor?

 

[akhilles]

See, that's why I said ncix. At most stores, you can get ocz ddr2 2x1gb for $50 tops after rebate. That HLT store doesn't have rebates.

Of course, faster ram is better, but for how much more? $88 for 533mhz at HLT or $50 for 800mhz at ncix.

 

[jerschwab]

I dunno, maybe I missed it but the OCZ DDR2-800 2x1GB pack was $77 (edit: I see it for $50 at TigerDirect, aarrrgh). Anyhow, I stuck with the one vendor... got the 667Mhz 2x1Gb Transcend for $58. No rebates to hassle with.

I may regret not shopping around on the memory... but at least I'll have it all tomorrow.

I will likely buy another 2Gb in a month or two.

I also went with the M2N-E non-SLI version based on the nVidia NF570 chipset. I don't see myself needing two video cards anytime soon.

Thanks for your help!