[Solved] Inexpensive ($500) Business Machine needed

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: (this week) BUDGET RANGE: ($500)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (compiling/developing; video encoding; gaming)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: (keyboard, mouse, monitors, speakers)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: (newegg.com) COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: (USA)

PARTS PREFERENCES: by brand or type (AMD CPU)

OVERCLOCKING: Yes SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe / Future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: (currently have 1440 x 900 and 1280 x 1024)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: (light gaming, much more a business rig for heavy multitasking, compiling/building and some video encoding)

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Here is a potential shopping cart:


(if this image is not visible, I will repost -- I'm not sure of the best way to upload shopping carts?)

I would really love to trim this down -- any ideas on where to save $50 - $100? Are my selections compatible and good choices?

Thanks for all your help!!

I see no optical drive. May or may not be an issue, depends if you have another to use. You could save quite a few $$$ if you stepped down in the mobo and cheaper memory (DDR2 mobo and memory). You could also drop back to a dual or tri core CPU.

For your primary purpose, compiling/developing those step downs would have minimal impact.

Good luck.

If it was mostly for business, i'd just buy an off the shelf pc, and then throw in a 9800 gt for 100 bucks. just get one with a quad core with more than 2.5 ghz.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+F [...] 41&st=quad core&contract_desc=null

Stepping down the CPU is a BAD idea for your uses. CS4 will benefit a lot from the extra processing power. OC and it will win most all the comparisons. And then you won't have to upgrade the CPU later.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/106?vs=121

I think keeping the USB 3.0 is a good idea at this point of building new. Especially if you plan to do external backups. It will make a big time diff if you have a USB 3.0 external drive.

The samsung spinpoint F3 1tb is a great drive and save a few bucks.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

This ram will save $10, but if you look, can probably find a combo to save even more:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820226154

Not a fan of rosewill PSUs. OCZ would be my pick in this budget.

Thank you for all of the replies!

First, I will be building my own -- for quality of parts, even though it may cost me more than Best Buy, etc.

As to the memory -- I was looking for 7-7-7 timing, and the RAM I picked had that.

As to the HD -- I see the big difference being brand name. My cart had a Western Digital, 6.0 Mb/s SATA, 64 MB Cache -- the Samsung has 3.0 Mb/s SATA, 32 MB Cache. So for $20, and West. Dig. vs. Samsmung, I have twice the cache and twice the (theoretical) throughput. Any other differences? Is SATA 6.0 not ready for primetime yet, or will I notice a big difference on hard drive read/writes?

mosox -- no Crossfire, and no onboard video (which you are replacing with a standalone Sapphire card). Is this better today and/or also better to upgrade in the future?

Thanks again for all the replies -- I will see what cases/PSU I can come up with.

no, its only twice the connection speed from the drive to the motherboard, mechanical drives don't fully utilize SATA 3.0Gbps so you won't really notice a difference, especially fro $20

you should be good to go, you may need some sata cables and stuff but i think you are set. unless you want to get some media drives.

The memory sub system really isn't as critical as it used to be. Reality is, the advances in memory speed have outpaced the other bottlenecks, so the memory isn't holding you back, even at CAS 9. Unless you're getting into heavy OC'ing, the timings aren't that important. After you get to 1333mhz, focus on timings as at that point, they do more than raw speed will. So you could get cheaper ram, maybe a 1600mhz CAS 9 and down clock it to 1333mhz CAS 7 for less.

What type of OC are you gunning for? If you're trying to max the chip, a HSF would be a good idea for the CPU. If you're looking for a moderate bump, the stock fan should get you 3.2-3.4 ghz just fine.

The case you have chosen is a beast. You could get sound performance from something less expensive if you're trying to come in under budget. We'll explore that if you want. But as it stands, no conflicts foreseen.

well the case is future proof, but the psu really isent, the new gpus now all call for 600watts or more.

are you planing on geting the bulldozer when it comes out.

can you post your mobo model number? I cant see it in the picture.

The MoBo is a Gigabyte GA-880GA-UDH3H -- $109.99 at NewEgg.

The PSU is 600 Watts, OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V. In a combo deal with the CPU (AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz) both are $154.98 with $20 rebate.

The next combo deal is the G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) and LIAN LI Case. Total for this combo is also $154.98, with no rebate.

Now, for the hard drive, I see the wisdom from previous posts in the Samsung F3. Altogether, this setup is $494.94 with $20 in Rebates ($474.94 net) before tax & shipping.

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Option 2 would be to select a combo with the Samsung F3 and the Thermaltake V9 Case. If I remove the LIAN LI Case, this total is $519.94 with $45 in rebates ($474.94 net) before tax & shipping.

So, what do you think? Thanks!!

Yeah, I'm definitely leaning towards that Thermaltake V9 case. Some of the customer reviews of the PSU say to make sure the case has bottom PSU -- which the Thermaltake V9 has. I also like the fans and ventilation layout.

I did upgrade the RAM as you suggested.

I am now at $524.94. Are all heatsinks, thermal compounds, etc. that I should need included? I'm not going to push the OC too much, but that Athlon II x4 635 is just itching to be bumped up a little!

Reality is, ram isn't a part that needs a ton of decision put into it. Even CAS 9 isn't going to hold back your system and CAS 6 isn't going to make it notable faster. As long as you're not buying junk no name ram, you'll be fine.

Here's my order of picking specs for ram:

Get at least 1333mhz.
Then look for one of two factors, either Cas 7 at stock voltage or Cas 9 at low voltage (1.5.
Getting 1600mhz Cas 9 with low voltage is also good. A little bump in voltage will make either OCing or timing tightening very effective.

Here's a couple links of what I think will do well.

1333 Cas 9 at 1.5v and THG Best of Award
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148262
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 462-7.html

I even think these would perform well:
1333mhz Cas 9 1.5v. Cheap because it looks like quality control issues in comments.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231253

As you can see, heat spreaders are over emphasized as the toms article linked points out it actually hinders performance. Most of those heat spreaders are applied with thermal tape that act more like an insulator than conducting heat away.

1600mhz Cas 9 1.5v
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231277

Lots of options, might be easier to say what to avoid.
1066mhz
1333mhz Cas 9 at 1.6+v
1600mhz Cas 9 at 1.7+v

Okay, I'm just rambling at this point because I've been up since 430a. Might be time for a nap.

So what all did you finally get?

And from the looks of what you have picked i think it all was retail, and not OEM. Retail kits come with cables fans heatsinks, etc... oem kits are usually the piece of equipment with no extras. eg. oem cpu = only CPU, retail cpu = cpu, owneres manual, box, fan, heatsink, and usually a longer warrenty.

I found that out the hard way back in the early e8400 days when they were selling otu the day they came in, and i thought i was geting a good deal, but ended up with an oem when i thought it was a retail, needless to say my thermalright aftermarket cooler and fan are much better than stock however that was another 80 bucks for them.

yep cali is the worse state to live in if you buy online... everything seems to based there lol.