Help me build a reasonably priced pc!

[avanti]

I am pretty sick of my pc right now and will probably buy a new one instead of wasting more time on this one.

Requirements:
- Cheap and reliable and quick enough to do all of the tasks mentioned below (possibly at the same time...)
- The case should not be higher than 50cm.
- possibility to connect a tv to the videocard

I use my pc for the following; surfing, downloading, webdesign (dreamweaver) and I use photoshop a lot too. ZERO gaming!

I will use eprice.it

Thanks in advance.

edit:
I will use xp pro

[BlitzR]

Case: MiniTower Cooler Master Elite 340 € 32,90
CPU: Intel CORE 2 DUO E8200 2.66GHZ BOXATO € 142,90
RAM: CORSAIR DDR2 DIMM 2GB (2X1GB) PC2-6400 800MHZ 5-5-5 € 42,90
Optical drive: LITE-ON DVDROM 16X 48X SATA BULK BLACK WO SOFTWARE IN € 13,49
PSU: CORSAIR Corsair VX PSU 450W € 58,90
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L S775 G31 MATX € 56,90
Hard drive: SEAGATE BARRACUDA 160GB 2MB SATA 300 12.4MS 7200RPM € 39,00
Video card: XFX GF 8600GT 512MB DDR2 PCI-E DUAL DVI HDTV 540MHZ IN € 74,99
Total: € 464,48
Took awhile to find hard drives on that website The case is under 40cm, the video card has s-video out I think, you could probably lower the CPU and the video too (could drop the video card and use onboard but will only have vga out). I think it's a good starting point

[MadCow809]

^

What Blitz said.

Except for if you want to save more moolah on the build, you can do the following

Swap the E8xxx for an E7xxx

E7200 €120 (€20 saved, pretty much the same performance)

Swap the 8600GT for a HD2600XT (€64 and slightly faster, €10 saved)

Hard drive is good, DVD-RW is spot on with Lite-on, mobo is perfect with that Gigabyte G31 (good choice there)

Total Price €434.48

[essentialatom]

Are you going to use XP Pro 64-bit or 32-bit? You might be better off going for 4GB of RAM in a 64-bit machine for your extensive Photoshop use. If it fills up on memory then it'll slow down to a crawl and piss you off a lot.

/Though I'm only commenting from what I've read; I don't know firsthand how likely it is that you'll require more than 2GB of RAM but it's advice I've read in several magazines.

[Yaco]

Can you use anything from your old pc? It can cut costs alot when you use old HDDs, RAM, and various other components.

[avanti]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!
I could use the video card and sound card and dvd drive from my old computer. Not sure about 64/32 bit, but I will probably go for 4gb of ram anyways.

Regarding the case, I would like to have the possibility to expand, this case is about the same price, what do you think?
http://www.eprice.it/default.aspx?sku=1429975

with the parts I can use from the old pc and MadCows suggestions and new case/4gb ram I get this:

Case: MiniTower Cooler Master Elite 333 € 34,90
CPU: INTEL - CORE 2 DUO E7200 2.53GHZ SKT 775 1066M 3MB BOXED IN € 119,99
RAM: CORSAIR - DDR2 DIMM 4GB (2X2GB) PC2-6400 800MHZ € 84,90
Optical drive: my old one €0,00
PSU: CORSAIR Corsair VX PSU 450W € 58,90
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L S775 G31 MATX € 56,90
Hard drive: SEAGATE BARRACUDA 160GB 2MB SATA 300 12.4MS 7200RPM € 39,00
Video card: Onboard for now, or maybe my old one €0,0
Total: € 394,59

Should I order asap, or do you have other suggestions?

[avanti]

I decided to go ahead and order, this is what I got, hope you guys approve :

(I decided to get the dvd drive too since it was so cheap.)

[Crazyjeeper]

Looks good to me

[MadCow809]

I decided to go ahead and order, this is what I got, hope you guys approve :

(I decided to get the dvd drive too since it was so cheap.)

Looks good to me as well.

Coolermaster makes great cases, you shouldn't have any problem with it : )


And let me know if the onboard X3100 gfx card can run photoshop smoothly. I have the same mobo, but instead of using the onboard graphics, I'm running a dedicated 7600GS card.

[jeffy777]

And let me know if the onboard X3100 gfx card can run photoshop smoothly.

Should run photoshop alright. Photoshop has been around for ages, and has ran on much crappier graphics than that

[avanti]

Thanks again guys, one question regarding assembly;

Since I am using my 2002 version of Win XP Pro, will I experience the same sata related problems now with the new machine?

[MadCow809]

^

not that I know of.

Been using WinXP Pro SP2 + 4 sata drive, and it's pretty reliable.

[matt2000]

Only 160Gb HDD?! What's going on? Surely you need something bigger than that.

Or maybe that's just me.

[MadCow809]

Only 160Gb HDD?! What's going on? Surely you need something bigger than that.

Or maybe that's just me.

It's not just you..

I've got almost 2Tb of stuff on my PC. While my sister has over 1Tb of stuff stored on her pc that belongs to me.

[avanti]

Surely you need something bigger than that.

Its not the size that counts etc...

[essentialatom]

Its not the size that counts etc...

You wouldn't believe the compression I can achieve.

[avanti]

a quick question while I am waiting for the parts to arrive;

will installing the same (genuine) copy of XP Pro on multiple computers cause problems? With regards to windows updates etc..

[Viper007Bond]

will installing the same (genuine) copy of XP Pro on multiple computers cause problems? With regards to windows updates etc..

Multiple PCs at the same time? Possibly.

Different PCs? No. I've been using the same XP key through 3 computers now (removing it from the old PC as I go).

[avanti]

Multiple PCs at the same time? Possibly.

On 2, maybe 3 computers at the same time.

[Crazyjeeper]

If they are coming from roughly the same IP, you will probably be Ok.