Friend needs P4 system on budget, I'm clueless

HolyShiznit

Distinguished
Nov 21, 2002
687
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18,980
The budget is $600 (USD). I'd recommend some parts but I am completely lost with P4 systems. He already has some parts: CD-R, Keyboard/Mouse, Monitor, WinXP.

Any suggestions? I'd prefer NewEgg.Com.

Thanks.

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Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
I'd start looking at OEM's myself. You can find a wide selection at stores like Compgeeks and TigerDirect, occasionally with such niceties as an AGP card and DDR!

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dhlucke

Polypheme
$600 and a P4? Dear god. Start considering a 1.6a and overclocking.

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Jeff68005

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May 4, 2001
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Recent example that should be within your specified budget. What you find on the market may vary:
No labor costs included. This assumes you or your friend build it.
Room for future growth incorporated in MB.

Ebay purchase: midtower 10 bay XPCBoX case (4 hidden+2 3.5) 4 5.25 slots) 450 W power supply under $60.00 delivered.
Redesigned version 2 uses larger fan in front replacing 4 80mm fans. Write wecare@ezbpc.com if not currently offered on Ebay. They also offer a 7 bay version.

CAUTION: Read the auctions CAREFULLY. This seller sells this case with different Power Supplies - different wattages and number of connectors. He is usually very clear as to what he is offering, but READ carefully. We have 6 of his cases with 450w PSUs.
He also auctions them with motherboard and CPU AMD or Celerons.+

I like both motherboards by Gigabyte GA8IEXP (max DDR 266) or GA8PE667 Ultra (max DDR 333) either board under $140.00 delivered.
These boards are upgradable is primary reason for the recommendation. FSB will operate either 400 or 533. It has incorporated USB 2.0, sound and network card.
Caution in selection of a AGP video card tho. Go for AGP 4X board video and avoid AGP 2X.

DDR memory after rebate under $40.00 per PC2100 256 MB stick. With careful shopping, we got 3 sticks of PC2700 in PC2100 packages at $39.99 less rebates last month.

CPU P4 of your choice. $130-$250 and up. Check Pricewatch.com.
Good candidates depending upon budget.
P4 1.8a (insist on the "a" version) It is 100/400 FSB.
P4 2.4B (insist on the "b" version to get 133/533 FSB.

Video card choice pricing will affect P4 choice in order to stay in budget. $40.00 and up.

Floppy drive about $10.00
Hard drive of your choice $50.00 to $100.00 after rebate.
20 to 60 gig Maxtor with a little effort.
various cables under $50.00

OPTIONS for later:
16X DVD player under $50.00
CDRW reader/writer under $50.00

This is a real life example as we did it in October and upgraded since. Most of the above I could do again. Sales and rebate offers vary by the week.

Shopping website suggestions:
Ebay purchased computer case
PriceWatch.com
PriceGrabber.com
FatWallet - Hot Deals forum

Every working computer must be improved .... or replaced ...
 

slvr_phoenix

Splendid
Dec 31, 2007
6,223
1
25,780
Here are some various tidbits take from Pricewatch.com without S&H included to give you some ideas. They aren't meant to be solutions, just configurations to get you thinking. :)

DDR SDRAM Setup:
Antec SLK1600 Case with 300W PS = $50
(retail) Intel P4 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB = $190
Albatron 845PE motherboard = $76
Samsung 512MB PC2700 CL2.5 = $128
Maxtor 30GB 7200RPM HD = $76
ATI Sapphire Radeon 9000 = $58
Lite On 52x CD ROM = $18
----------
TOTAL = $596

RDRAM Setup:
Antec SLK1600 Case with 300W PS = $50
(retail) Intel P4 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB = $190
Intel D850EMV2 850E motherboard = $134
Samsung 128MB PC1066 32ns RIMM = $50
Samsung 128MB PC1066 32ns RIMM = $50
Maxtor 20GB 7200RPM HD = $68
ATI Sapphire Radeon 9000 = $58
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TOTAL = $600

As you can see, because of the price differences between RDRAM parts and DDR SDRAM parts, the DDR configuration got it's own primary CD drive instead of using the burner as the primary CD drive. It also got twice the RAM and 10GB extra hard drive space.

Of course depending upon price differences at Newegg or personal preferences in hardware your parts may vary. :) But you <i>can</i> configure a P4 system without OCing and even with RDRAM when on a tight budget.


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vermis

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Jan 12, 2002
20
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Why does he need a pent 4 versus an amd system? Does he want to overclock? Will he be gaming?

Newegg only carries the pent 4 1.7 or higher now, price starting at $124 just for the CPU alone and the XP1700 T-bred for $51 would safely OC much faster.

If he went AMD, he'd be able to get a much better vid card and an overall faster computer.

For around $600, he could get a XP 1700 on a nforce 2 MB, a 8 mb chached Hard drive and a really nice 9500 pro vid card. Also, with the nforce 2, there is no need for a extra sound card.

Just my 2 cents.

Something like this-



Qty Product Item # Unit Price Qty x Price

Cases (Computer Cases, ATX Form)
ENLIGHT Model# EN-72500AZ (BEIGE) ATX MID-TOWER CASE w/ 300Watt POWER SUPPLY - RETAIL
AMD Approved & Pentium 4 Ready One Year Warranty. Virtually screwless case assembly, universal I/O shields, more drive bay options than other cases on the market and more!
Specifications:
Material: 0.8 mm thick SECC rustproof & galvanized JIS steel
Drive Bays: External 4 X 5.25" - 2 X 3.5" Internal 1 X 3.5"
System Board: Full ATX 12" x 9.6"
Expansion Slot: 7 Slots
USB/IO: Dual USB on front
Standard Fan(s): 1 X 80mm Ball bearing fan (front)
Dimensions: 7.7" (W) X 16.7" (H) X 18.9" (D) more info>
* (Includes FedEx Saver Shipping) N82E16811116122 $59.00
$58/10 pcs*
$57/20 pcs*
$56/30 pcs*
$59.00


CPU Thermal Paste / Grease
Arctic Silver's NEW Premium Silver Polysynthetic Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 3. 3-gram( 1 cc. ) tube. Artic Silver more info>
N82E16835100003 $6.00
$6.00


Fan - Case
Thermaltake SMART CASE FAN II. Variable Fan Speed Control, by temperature sensor. Fan Dimension: 80x80x25 mm. Two Ball Bearing. 3-Pin. FAN Speed Control Setting: 1300 rpm at 20°C~ . 4800 rpm at 55°C. Air Flow: 20.55 CFM at 1300rpm. 75.7 CFM at 4800rpm. more info>
N82E16835999111 $17.00
$17.00


Fan / Cooling Device - CPU
Thermalright SK-7 ( Heatsink ONLY ). All Copper heat spread. Dimension: 85 (L) x 65.5 (W) x 42 (H) mm (without fan). Can be used with 60MM, 70MM, or 80MM fans.Retail. Please see the image. more info>
N82E16835109006 $25.00
$25.00


Floppy Drives
Alps 3.5 Inch Floppy Disk Drive (Beige) - OEM
Specifications:
LED: green
Connector: Standard Floppy 34 Pin
Rotation speed (min-1 {rpm}) 300
Data transfer rate (bps) 500K/250K
Settling time (ms) 15
MTBF (POH) 80,000 more info>
N82E16821103301 $12.00
$12.00


Hard Drives
WD WESTERN DIGITAL 40GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD400JB - OEM, DRIVE ONLY
Specifications:
Size: 40 Gigabytes
Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA133
Seek time: 10.9 ms
RPM:7200
Cache 8MB
OEM(Drive alone) 3 Year Manufacturer Warranty more info>
N82E16822144126 $87.00
$87.00


Memory (System Memory)
(2) ►Hot Item! CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM Offer Time Limit Will End Soon. 184-Pin, CL=2.5-Unbuffered 2.5V, 6-Layers CT3264Z265 Requires DDR supported Motherboard - Lifetime Warranty. OEM more info>
N82E16820145001 $55.00
$55.00


Motherboards - AMD
LEADTEK Motherboard K7NCR18D-PRO Nforce2-ST for AMD Socket A Retail
Specifications:
Supported CPU: for AMD XP and Duron CPU's
Chipset: Nforce2 SPP + Nforce2 MCP-T
FSB: 333 MHz
RAM: 3x 184-pin DIMM sockets for DDR-SDR
IDE: Dual IDE ATA-133/100/66/33 Channels, (up to 4 Devices)
Slots: 1x AGP(8X), 4x 32-bit PCI, 1x ACR
Ports: 2x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard, 1x RJ45, 2x USB(rear) *supports up to 6x USB, 1x LPT, 2x Serial, Audio ports
Onboard LAN: Built in 10/100 NVIDIA Ethernet
Onboard Audio: Built-in NVIDIA Soundstorm Audio with Dolby Digital 5.1 Encoding, SPDIF Digital Output and 6-channel speaker support.
ATX Form Factor more info>
N82E16813122106 $112.00
$112.00


Processors
►Hot Item! AMD Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred /266 FSB Processor CPU 1700+/ 1.47GHz -OEM, AXDA1700DLT3C The Ultimate Digital Media Experience in an x86 Platform.Tailored for Microsoft® Windows® XP. Featuring QuantiSpeed Architecture for Rapid Execution of Applications. Tomorrow’s Technology Today.The Power of a Reliable Partner.
Specifications:
CPU: 1.47 GHz
Type: 1700 XP
Cache: 256K
BUS: 266MHz
Micron: .13
Socket A (PGA)
OEM - CPU Only more info>
N82E16819103351 $55.00
$55.00


Video Cards
ATI OEM RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB DDR DVI BULK
Specifications:
Chipset:ATI RADEON 9500 PRO
Memory:128MB DDR
Bus:AGP 8X 128-bit floating-point color precision allows for a greater range of colors and brightness
Memory Bandwidth: 2GB/Sec
Directx 9.0 Supported
Supports Modes SmartShader2.0 SmoothVision2.0 Truform 2.0 and much more
Ports:VGA + DVI + Svideo Out (s-video cable included)
OEM Bulk Kit, (see pictures) more info>
N82E16814102258 $180.00
$180.00


Subtotal » $608.00
Shipping and Handling Charge »
>How Newegg.com calculates shipping< $ 17.68
APO/FPO - Military ONLY FedEx Standard Overnight FedEx 2Day FedEx Express Saver Choose which State to ship AA AP AE ALASKA ALABAMA ARKANSAS ARIZONA CALIFORNIA COLORADO CONNECTICUT DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DELAWARE FLORIDA GEORGIA HAWAII IOWA IDAHO ILLINOIS INDIANA KANSAS KENTUCKY LOUISIANA MASSACHUSETTS MARYLAND MAINE MICHIGAN MINNESOTA MISSOURI MISSISSIPPI MONTANA NORTH CAROLINA NORTH DAKOTA NEBRASKA NEW HAMPSHIRE NEW JERSEY NEW MEXICO NEVADA NEW YORK OHIO OKLAHOMA OREGON PENNSYLVANIA PUERTO RICO RHODE ISLAND SOUTH CAROLINA SOUTH DAKOTA TENNESSEE TEXAS UTAH VIRGINIA VERMONT WASHINGTON WISCONSIN WEST VIRGINIA WYOMING
Grand Total » $ 625.68


With this set-up, all he would really be missing is enough ram for newer games. The crucial 2100 should also be able to OC to 166 MHz. After a year or more, all he would really need is a cheap barton cpu (which will fit in this MB) and some faster ram (which will be much cheaper). Maybe some speakers too if he dosent have any, which are also dirt cheap for a nice set.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by vermis on 01/14/03 03:34 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

ad_rach

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Nov 16, 2002
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18,980
go with vermis' recommendation.that is a great system regardless of price but the near $600 cost makes it that much better.

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]
 

Civilized

Distinguished
Sep 4, 2001
753
0
18,980
I understand you have a budget and all but I would not even consider pc2100...I would at least get some pc2700 to assure you upmost stability without having to overclock the memory to reach ddr333 speeds
 

vermis

Distinguished
Jan 12, 2002
20
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18,510
I agree with civilized too. I would go a bit more over budget and get faster RAM. Maybe go with a cheap vid card since the better vid cards will be dropping a lot in price pretty soon.

By the way, I have almost the same set up but I am using a ati 9700 pro and my crucial 2100 hits 166(333) FSB fine. Of course, luck is involved here.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by vermis on 01/14/03 03:42 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

HolyShiznit

Distinguished
Nov 21, 2002
687
1
18,980
Thanks for all of the responses guys. I've tried to convince him that on his budget the AMD solution is a better one, but alas, he's not changing his mind.

I've told him to look at <A HREF="http://www.cyberpowerpc.com" target="_new">CyberPower</A> for ideas. I'll send him your input too. Thanks all.

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Guns kill people just like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
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