The best buy gift certificate build 500 showdown

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tedsomango

tedsomango

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I just received a 500$ gift certificate from best buy, i want to put together a rig that i will be able to play games and watch movies on i would be willing to spend 200 extra dollars of my own money on this as well. I would like to put all the orders in and make the decisions bye the middle of next week.

I am from the u.s.a

What i have, monitor, mouse, will power.

What i need is everything else including an operating system.

I would like a nice enough video card, i like ati as a company. dont know much about them
i only need 320 gb of hard drive.
i would like 4 gb of ddr3
i dont know anything about motherboards
cpu i would like advice

basic i have never built a computer and would like to try with this budget.

500 best buy gift card
200 anywhere else new egg and so on

So my challenge how to build a good computer that i will not soon out grow.
 
Solution
Proximon
I can't find ANY voltage figures on the RAM. That's a problem. Give them a call and verify that it operates at 1.65V or below and then it's a go.
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killwish

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http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Factory-Refurbished+Pavilion+Desktop+/+AMD+Athlon%26%23153;+II+Processor+/+6GB+Memory+/+500GB+Hard+Drive/1014601.p?skuId=1014601&id=1218208322612

i tried to build one but best buy's prices seemed to kill it.. if not for the giftcard, building a pc on newegg would yield a nicer system..
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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Antec 300
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Antec+-+Three+Hundred+Computer+Case/9254656.p?id=1218069452235&skuId=9254656

Asus 5770
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+ATI+Radeon+HD+5770+1GB+GDDR5+PCI+Express+Graphics+Card/9749039.p?id=1218166512457&skuId=9749039

Corsair 650TX (same price as the 550VX, so might as well.)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+-+650W+ATX+CPU+Power+Supply/9358269.p?id=1218090911783&skuId=9358269

i3 540
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Intel%26%23174%3B+-+Core%26%23153%3B+i3-540+3.06GHz+Processor/9715079.p?id=1218156774313&skuId=9715079&st=i3%20540&cp=1&lp=1

ASRock H55M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157182

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253&cm_re=DDR3_1333_4Gb-_-20-231-253-_-Product

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3320418AS 320GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148469&cm_re=320gb_hard_drive-_-22-148-469-_-Product
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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No OS or optical drive. I'll have to go with my first hunch.... BB links have issues and may fail, but I'll label everything.

AMD Athlon II X4 630 -110
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AMD+-+Athlon%26%23153%3B+II+X4+Quad-Core+Processor+630/9877529.p?id=1218187477733&skuId=9877529&st=Athlon%20II&cp=1&lp=2

Corsair 650TX -100
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+-+650W+ATX+CPU+Power+Supply/9358269.p?id=1218090911783&skuId=9358269

Asus 5770 -156
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+ATI+Radeon+HD+5770+1GB+GDDR5+PCI+Express+Graphics+Card/9749039.p?id=1218166512457&skuId=9749039

Antec 300 -70
http://www.bestbuy.com%2Fsite%2FAntec+-+Three+Hundred+Computer+Case%2F9254656.p%3Fid%3D1218069452235%26skuId%3D9254656

Seagate Barracuda 500GB -55
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+-+500GB+Internal+Hard+Drive+for+Desktops/8294632.p?id=1172880157923&skuId=8294632

LG DVD drive -50 (Uses up all your gift cert although this is way overpriced :( )
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+24x+Internal+Double-Layer+DVD%26%23177%3BRW/CD-RW+Drive/9713627.p?id=1218156144640&skuId=9713627

Gigabyte 870 board and G.skill RAM -150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.443520

Win 7 64-bit OEM -100


This all puts you about 100 dollars over, but that was as close as I could come with the limited parts list and price inflation from BB. $700 would have gotten you more from newegg.
 
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tedsomango

tedsomango

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This is great though because the best buy gift certificate is free money basically so i am getting a great system for very little!! thank you for your hard work on this, so i will get to deal with the fiasco of building it!! Are there good guides on here for that?
 
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tedsomango

tedsomango

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Yeah im a kayak guide at doe bay and can see the main land everyday, it helps yo know that you all still exist over there!!
 
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tedsomango

tedsomango

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another question:

For performance and price and durability would it be better for me to go with:

Athlon II X3 440

Athlon II X4 635

Core i3-530

and how do you decide what mother board companies are the best, is it that a higher priced mother board is of more quality than a lower price or is it individualized bye the company that produces the product?

one last one what does the acronym OEM stand for,

thanks


 
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wannaturnuptheheat

wannaturnuptheheat

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Intel CPUs almost always perform better than identically-clocked AMDs, at least in the current generation. They also run a bit hotter, and are considerably pricier. Here's a tech site's review of Athlon II X4s vs i3s, linked to the 'value' page of the review -- there are 17 other pages for you to go over if you wish. Note that the AMD you want edges out the i3. The i3 can overclock better, but with your budget, you can't afford extraneous cooling solutions sufficient for a hot Intel CPU.

Don't know enough about mobos to help you there.

OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer" -- in other words, it's the company you've never heard of that does the actual manufacturing of a "SAMSUNG BRAND SUPER DUPER HDTV" (just an example). ATI, for example, is the OEM of Radeon graphics cards, but the cards are actually produced by companies like XFX, HIS, Sapphire, etc., NOT ATI. Alternatively, it can refer to parts that are put into finished computers -- as in the OEM version of Windows 7. It's no different from a consumer copy, but it lacks all the cost of shipping to software stores that adds to its price.
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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Yes, that was why I wanted to try the i3 build first but it was too far out of budget.

The X4 635 might be a bit more "durable" for you if you play strategy games or multi-task a lot. More games in the future WILL make use of the extra cores.

MB selection is based on experience, consensus, and engineering. We have actually done polls around here on the subject. I personally have spoken with many people that build alot of machines that must be reliable.

You will find Gigabyte and Asus to be quite high on most folks lists. ASRock also does very well, then down the list there are MSI and DFI....
 
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tedsomango

tedsomango

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I think i figured out a way to go i3 with some price point 100 over including operating system,

I was wondering if phenoms would run the same price as i3. but here it goes.

i3 and mobo combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.443519

LG - 24x Internal Double-Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+24x+Internal+Double-Layer+DVD%26%23177%3BRW/CD-RW+Drive/9713627.p?skuId=9713627&productCategoryId=pcmcat189600050010&id=1218156144640

Memory Master - 2-Pack 2GB PC3-10666 DDR3 DIMM Memory Kit
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Memory+Master+-+2-Pack+2GB+PC3-10666+DDR3+DIMM+Memory+Kit/9360032.p?skuId=9360032&productCategoryId=abcat0506001&id=1218090909602

Western Digital - Scorpio Blue 320GB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive for Laptops (OEM/Bare Drive)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+Scorpio+Blue+320GB+Internal+Serial+ATA+Hard+Drive+for+Laptops+(OEM/Bare+Drive)/9861731.p?skuId=9861731&productCategoryId=pcmcat189600050008&id=1218186269455

Antec - Three Hundred Computer Case
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Antec+-+Three+Hundred+Computer+Case/9254656.p?skuId=9254656&productCategoryId=abcat0507006&id=1218069452235

Asus - ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+ATI+Radeon+HD++5770+1GB+GDDR5+PCI+Express+Graphics+Card/9749039.p?skuId=9749039&productCategoryId=pcmcat182300050008&id=1218166512457

Corsair - 650W ATX CPU Power Supply
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+-+650W+ATX+CPU+Power+Supply/9358269.p?skuId=9358269&productCategoryId=abcat0507009&id=1218090911783

what do you'all think
 
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