Building a basic PC

tgdrums1990 · Post by **tgdrums1990** » Sat May 05, 2007 6:20 pm

Ok. I need to build a basic pc on a budget meaning 200-250 shipped.

Here is what this thing will need to be able to do. It needs to be able to run Vista, Office 07, Itunes, just basic office software. He will also be watching DVD's. This needs to be a basic computer, but I would like him to have the option to run a few apps at once with out a hit to performance if possible.
HE WILL NOT BE GAMMING

Since im on such a tight budgjet I plan to go with an AMD Processor... Any recomendations?

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Sat May 05, 2007 6:58 pm

I agree that AMD is a good choice on a budget. $250 should just barely get you a low-end Sempron system. Make sure to get Socket AM2 as well. This way he will have an upgrade path to dual-core and quad-core down the road.

Does he plan to run Vista Premium or Basic?

tgdrums1990 · Post by **tgdrums1990** » Sat May 05, 2007 7:23 pm

He will be running XP for now and upgrade to vista later on...

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Sat May 05, 2007 7:35 pm

Do you have any old components you can reuse? Optical drive, hard drive, case, power supply, fans?

Other than that, a budget microATX AM2 board, single stick of 1 GB DDR2 RAM (or if you're really pressed, 512 MB - but it won't be pleasant with Vista), and the cheapest Sempron available will do the trick. It won't fly, but it won't crawl either.

vanhelmont · Post by **vanhelmont** » Sat May 05, 2007 7:41 pm

I just did an upgrade to am2 with an msi k9vgm-v motherboard. It is passively cooled, and has on-board video. New Egg has it "open box" (but I think it's OEM, not a return) for $34.99. It needed jumpers for the audio, and I had to correct the memory setting in bios, but then it installled 64 bit ubuntu without a hitch. Nothing fancy, but I've had good luck with via chipsets in the past, and it has 2 ide channels so I can recycle my ide hdd. I haven't used it a lot, but so far no complaints.

The oem works for me cause I have all the cables, but if you can't scrounge cables the retail is $20 more.

tgdrums1990 · Post by **tgdrums1990** » Sat May 05, 2007 7:47 pm

here is what I come up with...

Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103046

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813135010

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820211064

DVD Burner:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827136108

He plans to use his currnet hardrive now...

The Specs are:

AMD Athalon 3600+ 64 X2
Basic Micro ATX Motherboard
1 gig of Hi performance Memory
DVD Burner
Case

And the price is...

242.95 + Shipping and Handling

and with out the case

205.96 + Shipping and Handling

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Sat May 05, 2007 8:39 pm

I would suggest a single RAM stick - you will be able to upgrade easily by just adding a second one. (Majority of cheap motherboards have only two RAM slots). Something like this Kingston should do the trick, and save you a bit too.

What case are you getting?

Pretty incredible that you're able to buy a dual-core computer for $200...

(Also, that X2 3600+ is $10 cheaper than what we have in Canada. Yay!)

Building a basic PC

Building a basic PC

...

Cheap mother board

...