Planned BUDGET Build

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:06 am

First of all, this is my first post but I have been roaming this AWESOME SITE and the forums for the last 6 months or so wishing I could get started with my build. But I'm a poor college student...

I have been trying to wait so I could save up enough money to build a better system that will last me longer. (Although I couldn't resist a few minor upgrades...which will help the final build be a little cheaper!) Even with waiting and saving up some money, I'm still looking to build on a budget, preferably under $700 or so (The one I have here is about 670 using newegg prices). Here is my proposed system:

Antec SOLO case
Seasonic S12-430 -- already have (one of my upgrades)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (Probably will try stock HSF first and see how it is)
ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 (Not sure what Mobo to choose...really open on this right now)
ASUS 7600gs 256MB (It is a heatsink only version, no fan)
Corsair XMS2 1GB DDR2 800 (Thought about getting 2GB and maybe only the 3800+ CPU...suggestions?)
WD Caviar SE16 250GB Sata2
Samsung 18X DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe -- already have
Lite-On DVD/CD-RW Combo drive -- already have
Nexus fans -- already have (another of my upgrades)
Running XP and maybe Vista eventually? (Can get OS's free from school!

)

I would be using this system mostly for basic things such as music, internet, MS Office, etc. Don't play many games, a little Counter Strike here and there, but I would like to have some capability to play games in the future. What does everyone think? Anything that should be changed for sure? Thanks in advance for any advice, and PROPS to the Admin's for the great site!!

kater · Post by **kater** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:35 am

looks very decent, components are well matched, no serious issues here as far as i can see

still, there are a few things that may be worth addressing

cpu - since you're not getting the newly released brisbane (right?), you can try and get the EE version with 65w TDP - as compared to the standard 89w version. they're bit more expensive but easier to cool down.

cpu cooler - when/if you find the stock cooler too loud (given the rest of your components it'll probably be the loudest part) and still want to keep your budget low, you can try arctic cooling alpine or arctic cooling freezer pro - these two should work particularly well with the EE cpu. alpines are dime a dozen and provide v decent cooling at low noise for their price. (i recently heard one in my friend's rig - it was really queit).

ram vs cpu - i'd go for dual core cpu. it's true 2 gb will give you slightly better performance in modern, demanding games, but otherwise there's little need for that. oh, maybe if you do some heavy photo & video editing or software development & compiling.

Janzki · Post by **Janzki** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:43 am

2 GB of RAM would probably be a good idea if you're going to use Vista:

http://anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2917&p=3

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 8:23 am

kater:
Sorry I wasn't real clear on the CPU...I said only the 3800+, but I meant X2 3800+. I definitely want to go dual core, just wasn't sure whether there was $35 worth of an increase in performanc between the X2 3800+ and the X2 4200+, and if I would be better served by spending the $35 towards another gig of RAM. I had been considering the 65w version of the X2 4200+ as well, since it is the same price, and I had been looking at the new brisbanes...just wasn't sure whether they were proven enough yet. I did see that newegg has the brisbane X2 4000+ listed about $5 cheaper than the standard X2 4200+ I was looking at, so maybe that's the one to go with??

As far as the CPU cooler...I realize that it will likely be loud. I'm only thinking it because I am currently running a stock cooler on my old AMD 2600+ and even with my quiet PSU and Nexus fans (the system is very quiet really) I don't notice the CPU fan when I go below 90% with speedfan. The quiet stock HSF is probably just wishful thinking...

Janki:
I do realize 2gb would be better suited for Vista....just wasn't sure how soon I would go to that. I ran RC1 for a while on my old system w/ 1.5gb DDR 400 ram and didn't have too much problem....so I thought maybe the faster CPU and faster DDR2 800 ram would be ok if I did choose to install Vista. I wasn't real impressed with Vista...other than cool GUI (ex: 3d window scrolling with the Windows/tab key) so I'm thinking I'll wait on it a while.

Anyway, I'm going on and on now....sorry. But thanks a lot for the suggestions, anything advice and suggestions is helpful! Thanks again....and more advice/suggestions still welcome.

kater · Post by **kater** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:55 am

goody

so, one more thought from me on cpu - you can either get the slowest one or the one you think has best price/power ratio - even the slowest model will be plenty if your're not into hardcore gaming and seeking that one additional fps. plus, you can always overclock it a bit - that is, if you ever find it too slow. either way, its unlikely you'll feel any difference between 3800 and 4200 - c'mon, its just 200 mhz, isn't it? what kind of performance boost that you can see in real life can it give you? *none* - so go for the best priced cpu you can find. but do get the 65w one, yeah.

brisbane - know nothing on them so i'll just shut up (only read a few articles saying weird things about strange dividers etc)

ram - you can always get another stick, say, for your next birthday/xmas/whateverday

and vista, at least for me, is not that attractive. personally, i'm not the one to jump right into a new system - it's bound to have some issues and i'd rather wait some time before getting it. plus, the price :E

cpu cooler - with a low power cpu in idle you'll be able to slow down the fan *way* low - so it just may be it won't be offending. if not, alpine will sure be ok and cheap as dirt

vincentfox · Post by **vincentfox** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:01 am

I built a similar Intel-based system recently and I'm very pleased. The Antec Solo is quite nice to work with.

I went with a 7600GT though with a ZM80D-HP fitted to be silent yet give me some more headroom on the graphics. On balance, your list looks like a good low to middle build. It's not really fair to call it low-end as you aren't using a Sempron. I am not anxious to go into Vista though, as the gaming is reportedly degraded on it. Even if I am just gaming on my system a few evenings a week, I see no reason to handicap myself. Maybe in a year or two I will move to Vista, but I see no reason to let it factor into purchasing decisions now.

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:32 am

Thanks for the replys and suggestions!

I definitely agree with you vincentfox and kater on Vista. Like I said....I set my comp up for a while so I could boot up into Vista or XP. I just wanted to see what Vista had to offer...and I really wasn't impressed. It's just XP with a couple graphical changes as far as I'm concerned. Maybe a year or so down the road I'll switch over....who knows. Cost of an OS is no issue to me as I said, since the college has a license term with Microsoft where we can get the OS's, Office, etc. free! It's an awesome deal really.

kater: I was thinking along the lines of you with the 3800+ vs 4200+ as I've been reading more reviews today. Definitely thinking I will go with the 65w X2 3800+. (And probably the Arctic Cooling Alpine considering it is only $10 from newegg. Just to make sure...I assume the fan can be replaced with a 92mm Nexus?) With the saved money from the CPU...it leaves extra room to go for 2GB ram. The Corsair XMS2 that I had been looking at is $125 for 1GB....but I was looking at this 2GB set from G.Skill, as it is only $185 for 2GB... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231098 So I can get 2GB and still stay under $700!!

Would this RAM be ok? I don't know enough about the timings and all of RAM, but I would assume this runs slower than the Corsair XMS2 considering the much lower price?? I figure 2GB is better than 1GB though, pretty much no matter what...

kater · Post by **kater** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:04 pm

i'm not sure if you can swap alpine's fan with nexus - just look at it - it's one of those funny looking ac fans. it just may be possible that you can put anothe fan on top of alpine hs - i'll try to check it tomorrow as i'm visiting a friend who has it (i'll try to check it before we get the booze - later on the whole checking thing might not be so reliable...). from what i know, the fan is really good in terms of noise - unles you're a real hardcore silence freak you'll like it

ram - i don't think you'll see any difference in performance due to the timings - you might get 2% increase that'll only show in benchmarks. the more expensive sticks will probably overclock better but even then you're not likely to feel the difference. just get whichever sticks you like more

frankly, i'm no big expert on ram but i'll bet there's not a lot to be gained from those nanofractionseconds :/ (somebody confirm this/spank me)

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:44 pm

haha Thanks kater. Understandable on the booze......I just may not be capable of reading this forum later tonight

I figure the stock fan will be fine....just thought I'd check because I have 3 92mm Nexus fans currently...and the case only takes 2 in the front, and the Nexus fans are just awesome!!

Just as I figured with the RAM really...so 2 GB it is!!

Ok, so I'll post my final plans one more time...before I go spending!!

Antec SOLO case
Seasonic S12-430 -- already have
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (65w)
Arctic Cooling Alpine 7
ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2
ASUS 7600gs 256MB (It is a heatsink only version, no fan)
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy -- already have
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 800
WD Caviar SE16 250GB Sata2
Samsung 18X DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe -- already have
Lite-On DVD/CD-RW Combo drive -- already have
Nexus fans -- already have (another of my upgrades)
Running XP and maybe Vista eventually? (Can get OS's free from school!)

Other components I already have...
Samsung 19" flat pannel
Logitech MX3000 Wireless keyboard/mouse combo
Logitech Z2300 speakers
320GB External HD

With some final "OK's" on this system....I'm gonna go for it! I just can't wait to get the parts and put it together!!!

And again...BIG Thanks to everyone who replied/gave advice/suggestions!! Very much appreciated!!

Beyonder · Post by **Beyonder** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 6:39 pm

Janzki wrote:2 GB of RAM would probably be a good idea if you're going to use Vista:

http://anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2917&p=3

I've been running a Vista system on 1GB, and it works quite well. 2's always nice, but if I had my way, I'd have 4.

cyberspyder · Post by **cyberspyder** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 7:38 pm

Why not go Intel Core 2 Duo? Performance trumps AMD's X2, and the TDP is only a mere 65W.

kater · Post by **kater** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:02 pm

cyberspyder wrote:Why not go Intel Core 2 Duo? Performance trumps AMD's X2, and the TDP is only a mere 65W.

$$$ ?

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:43 pm

1GB is plenty for Vista. I'm running it on the system in my sig and it's butter, everything runs very smooth. If you game, though, you'll probably want to stay away until driver support is better. I don't, and I was also able to get it for free through my university's MSDN AA, so I figured why not and loaded it up.

For the memory, NewEgg has Kingston 1GB sticks for only $68 shipped each, so you could get 2GB for $136. The only catch is that it's DDR2-667. I'd tend to think for a light gamer the difference between 667 and 800 would be trivial, but you might want to research it a bit and make sure the savings would be worth it.

Plissken · Post by **Plissken** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:43 pm

kater wrote:
cyberspyder wrote:Why not go Intel Core 2 Duo? Performance trumps AMD's X2, and the TDP is only a mere 65W.
$$$ ?

I was waiting for the Intel vs AMD showdown in this thread.

But the OP title includes the word BUDGET. In all caps, even.
Intel C2D rules the roost for price/performance, but for dual core AMD is currently the BUDGET king. At least until the E4300 comes down to expected levels.

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:43 am

Yes, I figured the Intel vs AMD argument would come up at some point. Kater and Plissken got it right!! BUDGET!! The Intel E6300 is around $50 more expensive than the AMD X2 3800+. Even the E4300 is $40 more. I've had both AMD and Intel CPU's so I'm not set on either one....but I've read lots of reviews...and its true that Intel comes out ahead....but it is usually not by much, and usually in gaming situations. Like I said....I only game occasionally. I'm talking maybe.....twice a month?? Sometimes less....sometimes more. So yes...money for me is the main reason for going AMD.

frosted flakes:
hmmm....I'll have to do some checking into the DDR2 667 vs. 800 idea. That's some good savings in mullah....and I like the sounds of it!

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions!! I'll probably be ordering end of next week....so more suggestions are still welcome!!

PopCorn · Post by **PopCorn** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:08 pm

get the X2 3800+ im using one and i easly over clocked it to 2.5 with very little tweeking... if you really spent time you could most likely get it up to 2.8... i got it up to 2.7 but then wasnt very stable but i didnt do alot of tweeking