Building kids computer...trying to keep under around 500$

[y2kgtp]

Building a kids computer based loosely off my Computer I just built. (E8400, 4GB Ram, EVGA 8800GT, etc with the same case & motherboard.) I figure when I upgrade my computer in the future, my parts will just go into this one.

Case, Motherboard & Chip are decided, the rest are still up in the air. I am trying to keep this right around 500$ and I am slightly over right now. I have OS, 19" monitor, keyboard (might have to get a mouse). Wife prob does not think the kids need to play some games, but I thought I would sneak a card in there as well....


If you got a better suggestion for a video card, please speak up! I just grabbed a 8800GS as it is a 'poor mans' 8800GT, from what I have been reading.

1st 5 items are pretty much decided, under the ~~~~~ are not.


Rosewill R102-P-BK 120mm Fan MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147111

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078

Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EVGA 384-P3-N851-AR GeForce 8800 GS 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130332


LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-04 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106263

Added Mouse....used these for years, no problems:

Microsoft U81-00009 Black 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Compact Mouse 500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105166

 

[bnbader]

Hmm...E7200
P31DSL
2GB RAM
Get the antec sonata 3 which comes with a very good power supply!
88GT
and your set

 

[royalcrown]

at least spend the money on a good corsair power supply and save yourself future headaches, specially if your gonna give em your old parts, don't cheap out on the powersupply you'll have to replace later !

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

it's gonna hurt budget wise, but you wont have to replace it the minute you upgrade your kids stuff.

 

[y2kgtp]

Hmm...E7200
P31DSL
2GB RAM
Get the antec sonata 3 which comes with a very good power supply!
88GT
and your set

I'm going to build in the case\mobo\chip as I had listed above. I use them and they work great, and take up very little space. Can't beat a 25$ case & 59$ Motherboard.

 

[cmashwin]

ditch the rosewill unit..

 

[y2kgtp]

at least spend the money on a good corsair power supply and save yourself future headaches, specially if your gonna give em your old parts, don't cheap out on the powersupply you'll have to replace later !

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

it's gonna hurt budget wise, but you wont have to replace it the minute you upgrade your kids stuff.

Will do....I have the same PSU in my current build....and I see the price dropped slightly.

Edited my top post for items picked. I am at 540$ b4 shipping with 40$ of available rebates so still real close to 500$ still

 

[bnbader]

The Earthwatts 500W is a very very good PSU i reccomend strongly going with what i said!

 

[royalcrown]

Yah, if you look on jonnyguru.com...you'll find that a lot of the cheap high wattage units blow up at half load or less ad that the nice power supplies (corsair included) actually can run over 100 percent load and live.

Is it their bdays or something ? he / she / him / they are gonna flip...you get the cool dad award !

 

[paq7512]

Get this powersupply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104953

Why are you buying such a big psu?

 

[bpogdowz]

that hard drive only got 8MB cache what is he trying to do piss the kids off. 8MB cache on HD is horrible make it a 16 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

 

[y2kgtp]

that hard drive only got 8MB cache what is he trying to do piss the kids off. 8MB cache on HD is horrible make it a 16 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

Well, the kids currently use an old laptop. 700Mhz - 168M Ram, 10GB drive running XP Pro....Anything is a step up at this point.

EDIT: Updated Drive to suggested.

 

[y2kgtp]

Yah, if you look on jonnyguru.com...you'll find that a lot of the cheap high wattage units blow up at half load or less ad that the nice power supplies (corsair included) actually can run over 100 percent load and live.

Is it their bdays or something ? he / she / him / they are gonna flip...you get the cool dad award !

Well, the current laptop they use is quite slow (700mhz) and I want something that will last a while and easily upgradeable (aka my old computer parts when I upgrade MY computer )

 

[y2kgtp]

Get this powersupply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104953

Why are you buying such a big psu?

550W is not that big, is it? It is what I currently run for my E8400 & 8800GT setup. This computer will eventually get these parts when I upgrade my computer in the future (same case & MoBo as this build) in the future.

Think of it as kid computer hand-me-downs...... :lol:

 

[royalcrown]

Y2kGTP...bpogdows is incorrect on the hd...the main attributes which determine the speed are the:

seek times/ rotational speed
and the density of the platter, the cach gets written to and emptied in a fraction of a second, and after that it is the speed that the heads can read from and write to the platters that is the limiting factor. 8 meg is fine and so is 16, but you'll never see a difference in speed based soley on cache size, save the money.

consider a sata drive with 8 vs 16 meg cache running at 150 for instance:

8 meg / 150 meg per sec = .053 sec to fill or empty
16 meg = .106 sec

after that, it's all from the platters
and sata 300 deplete and fill em in 1/2 that time. This is very rough math and there are other factors, but the cache deal is just for bragging rights or buffering when the system is busy.

 

[y2kgtp]

Y2kGTP...bpogdows is incorrect on the hd...the main attributes which determine the speed are the:

seek times/ rotational speed
and the density of the platter, the cach gets written to and emptied in a fraction of a second, and after that it is the speed that the heads can read from and write to the platters that is the limiting factor. 8 meg is fine and so is 16, but you'll never see a difference in speed based soley on cache size, save the money.

consider a sata drive with 8 vs 16 meg cache running at 150 for instance:

8 meg / 150 meg per sec = .053 sec to fill or empty
16 meg = .106 sec

after that, it's all from the platters
and sata 300 deplete and fill em in 1/2 that time. This is very rough math and there are other factors, but the cache deal is just for bragging rights or buffering when the system is busy.

Yeah, I'm not sure if you could tell the performance difference really. Regardless, I bought a 500GB 32M cache for my personal computer :lol:

 

[royalcrown]

I'm awaiting ups this am for my wd 640, upgrading from a 40 ide...so I can't wait !

 

[SuicideSilence]

Why such a big powersupply? Just get a corsair 450 Watt.

 

[y2kgtp]

I am thinking of this for a video card. It was listed on Tom's as best buy this month for under 130$, and this is 99$ with a 20$ rebate.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-cards,1965-2.html

ASUS EN9600GSO MAGIC/HTDP/512M GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121255

EDIT: added to my list at the top.

 

[y2kgtp]

Why such a big powersupply? Just get a corsair 450 Watt.

For future upgrades.....

 

[royalcrown]

the 8800gs will destroy that 8600, but if your gonna give em your card then go for it, plus if they are lil still, lil kids games don't use much.

edit: link

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249707-33-marvelous-evga-8800gs-review-benches

 

[y2kgtp]

the 8800gs will destroy that 8600, but if your gonna give em your card then go for it, plus if they are lil still, lil kids games don't use much.

It's a 9600GSO aka renamed 8800GS nVidia card. I would not even bother with a 8600 series, I agree.

 

[dirtmountain]

I'm not sure if the DDR2 on the Asus 9600GSO has the same effect on it as it does on the 8600GT. Same price for this 8800GS from EVGA that uses the 384 DDR3. I'm just not sure if you noticed the change by Asus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130332

 

[y2kgtp]

I'm not sure if the DDR2 on the Asus 9600GSO has the same effect on it as it does on the 8600GT. Same price for this 8800GS from EVGA that uses the 384 DDR3. I'm just not sure if you noticed the change by Asus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130332

I'm not too sure what the performance differences really are, but the kids are not going to play Crysis or high end games, so either one should do fine.

 

[bloodymaze]

8800gt = very cheap as of late as well....

 

[orangegator]

Get the e2200 instead of the e7200. With that cheap motherboard, you won't be overclocking the e7200. At stock speeds, you won't notice a big difference between them and you will save $50.