Budget PC build

Atomiktoaster · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:24 pm Post subject: Budget PC build

Posted this on Tom's Hardware too, thought you guys might be some help.

My friend's parents had the power supply burn out on their 5 year old compaq presario. Since compaq used a proprietary ATX pinout with a couple odd voltages, replacing the PSU is not an option. Since money is tight, I'm looking to spend as little as possible. The old machine had a 40 gb IDE HDD (which works in my computer), an AGP video card (which might or might not have gone with the PSU), and DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives (which could be replaced with a single DVD-RW) and a floppy (which I can reuse).

The budget is less than $200. This is where I was starting off:

Case, PSU, Motherboard, CPU: Athlon 64 3800+, MSI K9MM-V Socket AM2, Ultra Defender Case+PSU $100
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3528200&CatId=31

Memory 2x1 GB DDR2-800: $23 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227189

Heatsink: Cooler Master TX2 $2 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103031

Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA $26
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118002

Am I forgetting anything critical? Is there some way to go cheaper on any of the parts (maybe look for a used computer?)? The upgrades I'd anticipate might be a bigger HDD (in addition to the salvaged one) and maybe a faster processor in the future. Also, would the Athlon 64 suffer greatly from using DDR2-533? I have some I would use if it only hurt performance 5% or so.

Also, does anyone know if the copy of XP on the old drive will freak out if all the parts change? I think it's an OEM license, but I'm not sure if I can just type in the old product key off the Compaq case or not. Not a huge deal, as I can buy an academic license for $17.

AlMightyBob · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:03 pm Post subject:

Something close to my price range of $0, at last!
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Wang Chung · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:22 pm Post subject:

I'd look for a new power supply.

You basically chalked up $40 in MIR. MIR isn't necessarily bad but it's kind of flaky. Be precise with that.

2GB of RAM and the SATA DVD drive seem wasteful. Salvage the old drives, it looks like you've got 2 IDE headers. Given the price of the RAM, go for it, unless you can find 1GB DDR2 sans rebate for a lower price.

That processor fan is goofy but I guess with the MIR, you can't beat the price.

The barebones kit is pretty fly but be very wary. The hardware in such kits, and low-priced motherboards, are pieces of shit. There's a limited warranty on them for a reason - they'll die eventually, sooner rather than later.

But for under $200, not bad.

Yes, the XP hard drive MAY freak. It may not work at all, it may work with XP doing some repairs, it may work and be all fucked up, it may be fine. I'd be ready to get docs off in case you need to reformat.

No, DDR2-533 will not hurt. If you can get a gig of that for cheaper, I'd do it. Your bottleneck is really going to be the IDE hard drive. Hard drives are almost always the bottleneck in modern systems, and an older IDE disk isn't helping.

For under $200 though, this thing'll run and do internet just fine. Won't upgrade too well. Hopefully this thing's only a liason PC - this thing won't have endurance.

P.S. for checking RAM prices use www.dealram.com and use Pricewatch.com to check whether or not you've got the best price. I used to try and use pricewatch to shop with, but that's a dumb idea. Find the product at a good place and if it's lower somewhere else, a lot of places price match. I guess that won't quite work with Newegg, but for big box it does. Sorry if you already knew any of this.
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Atomiktoaster · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 3:10 pm Post subject:

Would you look for a new power supply for the compaq or to replace the one in the Ultra case? There are no new psu's the match the compaq pinout; the best you can do is a refurb for $130. That's for a 200W PSU! The ultra PSU isn't top of the line, but I'd think it could handle this build, even with two HDDs and an AGP card. The CPU is the low wattage design, 45W max.

There's only one IDE header, one floppy header, and 2 sata ports. The old optical drives don't open or something, so they want to replace them (plus they don't have a DVD burner). I went SATA to avoid putting the optical on the same channel as the HDD. How much more performance would you see with a new SATA HDD? They were looking to get some more HD space anyway.

HDD 160 GB SATA: $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075

I have 2 gb of DDR2-533 that I would like to swap out for DDR2-800 (in case I want to OC a core 2 duo in the future). If you think it won't hurt the AMD's performance to do that swap, what do you think I should put in my machine?

Crucial Ballistix 2X1 GB DDR2-800:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

I'm leaning that way due to the reputation for high quality.

The fan actually has some pretty good reviews, considering the price.
http://www.cpu3d.com/content/view/2789/52/

I've done MIR a good bit, it doesn't bother me too much. I've never actually gone and price matched though. Big box customer service is usually so shitty, I'm not that eager to try.

Raed · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 6:58 pm Post subject:

Atomiktoaster wrote:

Would you look for a new power supply for the compaq or to replace the one in the Ultra case? There are no new psu's the match the compaq pinout; the best you can do is a refurb for $130. That's for a 200W PSU! The ultra PSU isn't top of the line, but I'd think it could handle this build, even with two HDDs and an AGP card. The CPU is the low wattage design, 45W max.

There's only one IDE header, one floppy header, and 2 sata ports. The old optical drives don't open or something, so they want to replace them (plus they don't have a DVD burner). I went SATA to avoid putting the optical on the same channel as the HDD. How much more performance would you see with a new SATA HDD? They were looking to get some more HD space anyway.

HDD 160 GB SATA: $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075

I have 2 gb of DDR2-533 that I would like to swap out for DDR2-800 (in case I want to OC a core 2 duo in the future). If you think it won't hurt the AMD's performance to do that swap, what do you think I should put in my machine?

Crucial Ballistix 2X1 GB DDR2-800:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

I'm leaning that way due to the reputation for high quality.

The fan actually has some pretty good reviews, considering the price.
http://www.cpu3d.com/content/view/2789/52/

I've done MIR a good bit, it doesn't bother me too much. I've never actually gone and price matched though. Big box customer service is usually so shitty, I'm not that eager to try.

That SATA HDD should be fine.

The RAM is a good pick. Micron D9 IC's are awesome for over clocking, and they're pretty much guaranteed to be found in Crucial memory since Micron owns Crucial. RAM prices are pretty low right now, so it would be a good time to buy. The quality of RAM thats sold between companies isn't really that different, all the chips are made in the same few plants, lol. It comes down to price, customer service, and RMA process. Thats partly why OCZ, Corsair and Crucial have good reputations, they actually give a damn about their customers.

As for the PSU,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2974490&CatId=1077

That seems to be the one that comes with the case. It should hold up with those components fine.

I don't think XP will work properly if you install the old drive with the new components. If you have a retail version you probably won't have much of a problem, but if it is OEM you'll probably need a new key.
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Atomiktoaster · Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:59 pm Post subject:

I ended up going all newegg. I was able to go with the same board but put in an AMD 64 X2 Brisbane, which should be a nice upgrade.

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=9851287

I also found a case with free shipping, which saves a lot. Thanks for the input!

Atomiktoaster · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:22 pm Post subject:

Got the parts and built it today. Two for two on success POSTs on the first try!

massive · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:48 pm Post subject:

Cheers!
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Raed · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:10 am Post subject:

Arr!

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