Is this a good budget system?

[yesdiseases]

Hey, I'm building a low budget system for my brother (at most $ 550 without monitor, preferably around $500 (us dollars everywhere)).

hERE are the parts i have from newegg.com. any suggestions/ changes?

ENLIGHT MICRO ATX CASE MODEL # 76020B1 - OEM Support Micro ATX Motherboard 300Watts Power Supply - AMD Approved & Pentium 4 Ready 5 Bay - 2 5.25" 1 3.5" 2 3.5" (Hidden) 4 Expansion Slot One Fan USB Port include Cable Dual USB Ports - support Abit, Asus, Epox, MSI, Soltek, Transcen and Intel motherboard - One Year Warranty.
$45.00

24-Inch. IDE ATA 100/66, Flat Cable for IDE Hard Drive, CD ROM, DVD ROM or CDRW, 3-Connector, 24 Inches Long. Please See Image 21AT-10124
$4.00

On Sale! Asus A7N266-VM AA (AMD Assured Version) NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard Micro ATX- Retail
Socket A AMD Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP up to 2100+
nForce 220D
FSB:266/200 MHz
Slots:3x PCI 1xAGP PRO 4x
Onboard LAN:10/100 Mbps
AC97and Dolby Digital (AC-3) Encoder Audio
Nvidia Nforce GeFORCE2 Video.
$72.99

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
$60.00

SAMSUNG (Original, made by Samsung) 512MB DDR RAM PC2100 - OEM184 Pins CAS 2.5 2.5V non-Parity. NON-ECC- Lifetime Warranty.
$135.00

IBM 40GB 7200RPM Hard Drive Model # IC35L040AVVN07-0, Part # 07N8450 - 120GXP OEM, DRIVE ONLY
Size: 40 Gigabytes
Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA100
Seek time: 8.5ms
RPM:7200
Data Transfer: 40MB/sec
Cache 2MB
OEM(Drive alone) 1 Year Manufacturer Warranty--* Works With PC & Mac
$80.00

Samsung SM-332BEA32x10x40 CD-RW/ 12x DVD OEM Combination of CD-R/RW and DVD-ROM
Specifications:
32X CD-Recording, 12X CD-Rewriting, 40X CD-ROM Reading, and 12X DVD-ROM Reading
Burst Transfer Rate PIO Mode 4 (16.6 MB/sec) DMA Mode 2 (16.6 MB/sec)
Average Access Time CD: 110ms, DVD: 120ms
Data Transfer Rate Write on CD-Record 10X ( 1,500 KB/sec)
Write on CD-Rewrite 32X 2,700 KBsec
Read CD Titles 40X 6,000KB
Read DVD 12X 16,200KB
OEM (Software manual and CD audio Cable included see pic) more info-> N82E16827151007
$82.00

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

Cooler Master's DP5-6I31C-A1 CPU Heat Sink and Fan For Intel PIII CuMine up to 1.13 GHz and higher P III Tualatin up to 2.2 GHz. Celeron up to 850 MHz and higher. AMD Athlon up to 1.4 GHz. Athlon XP up to 1900+ GHz. Duron up to 1.7 GHz. K6-2/3 up to 600 MHz. Heat Sink Dimensions: L80 x W60 x H41 (mm). FAN Dimensions: 60 X 67 X 13 mm. Rated Voltage: 12 VDC. Rated Speed: 5400 R.P.M. Air Flow 27.72: CFM. Noise Level: 38 dB(A) more info-> N82E16835103127
$7.00

Panasonic Panaflo Axial Fan 92x92x25.5mm, Ball Bearing, DC 12V, 5.16W, 3450 RPM, 68.8 CFM, 43.0 dB-A Model: FBA09A12U1A - OEM Bearing Type: Hydro Wave. Connector Type: Plug-In. Aerodynamic blade and venturi design. Locked rotor protection and auto-star funciton. Lower circuit noise by new IC. Easy value-add access to lead wire via plug-in connector on housing.
more info-> N82E16835180013
$7.00

TOTAL: $498.99

Few more things - a dvd drive and a cdrw drive are absolutely necessary, this computer will not be overclocked, this computer will not be used for gaming - mostly just everyday stuff. Is this system a good value? Can I eek anything more out of the $500?

 

[halkebul]

Greetings. Select the Lite On 48x24x48 CDRW Model LTR-4824S at newEgg for $58.99 and LITE-ON LTD-166S16X DVD ROM Drive for $45. Spend the few extra dollars for a 60GB hard drive. Everything else is very solid. I built a similar system for my younger brother. He's very happy with it.

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[ad_rach]

yeah.steer clear of combi drives as a rule.

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

 

[yesdiseases]

unfortunately if i get the lite-on i will have to buy a separate dvd drive, which will increase the cost by about $20 dollars. Bigger hard drive sounds good.

 

[ad_rach]

i suppose so.i have a 40gb ibm deskstar like the one you mention-very fast no problems and fairly quiet too.once you get to 40 gig it's usually only $15 or so to 60 gig.

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

 

[yesdiseases]

Hey this will be my first full computer build. Am i missing anything?

 

[Crashman]

I got bad news for you on the DVD/CDRW combo. Samsung CD drives are garbage, the lowest quality I've seen except for maybe BTC. I'd recommend two drives like the last guy did simply for reliability.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[yesdiseases]

how about a toshiba dvd/cdrw combo?

 

[Crashman]

Yes, Toshiba makes nice equipment.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[fozz]

Yesdiseases...you sem to have misread Halkebul's response...he said:
"Select the Lite On 48x24x48 CDRW Model LTR-4824S at newEgg for $58.99 and LITE-ON LTD-166S16X DVD ROM Drive for $45"

So he has covered your options..he is saying to get two seperate drives (A CDRW and a DVD drive) for cheaper than what you are proposing spending on that Combo drive you mentioned.
I'd go with the seperate drives in this case and spend the extra elsewhere, or just make the saving.

later!

 

[yesdiseases]

the toshiba combo drive is $80. $45 on cdrw + $58 on dvd drive is more (=$103, about $20 more for separate drives).