Building my other sister a PC, need input

cvrefugee said:
It will cost you $323.83 + an expensive AGP video card to build that system. I say you start from scratch with a system that will have some sort of future upgrade path.
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That means buying a mobo, RAM, a CPU, and a PSU. That's gonna run like $300-400, no?
 
Viper007Bond said:
That means buying a mobo, RAM, a CPU, and a PSU. That's gonna run like $300-400, no?
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Well, I mean start with this ($375 after shipping and coupon) then add the speakers, monitor, and video card. You can easily make up the difference by selling your old stuff. I'm guessing $30-40 for the CPU, $40-50 for the RAM, $20-30 for the motherboard and $30-40 for the PSU. Worst case scenario you make $120, $160 on a good day. Plus you can get a better PCI-e video card for cheaper than sticking with AGP.
 
Managed to talk her out of wanting to play high end games like Mass Effect (she can use the other sister's PC for now), so maybe upgradable is the way to go, especially since a P4 3GHz is a POS.

I'm just worried about it being a refurb and/or it being a POS performance wise. Plus, nothing is really upgrade proof. I mean, sure PCI-E helps a lot, but CPU/RAM would become the bottleneck and they change CPU connectors every 2 days it seems.


EDIT: And if we did buy that HP, I probably wouldn't sell my parts. I'd keep them and use them for a HTPC or file dump probably.
 
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Okay, I'm with cvrefugee on this one now -- PCI-E is the way to go. Nothing obviously will be future proof (CPU connectors change, new types of RAM, etc.) but at least this way she won't be hardware capped.

I'm hesitant to buy a prebuilt though (are they all standard ATX parts? and of good quality?) and even more so a refurb.

Thoughts on upgrading some prebuilt off Newegg versus just building from scratch?
 
I still think you should stick to your old parts and build an AGP system. It will be much cheaper. As for future upgradability - there is no guarantee the nVidia 430 chipset will be competitive in a year time.
Get an HD3650 and she shouldn't have any complaints with games like Wow and Spore.

Hell, my old desktop with Athlon 1800+, 512DDR and 6600GT runs WoW on 1024x768 no problems at all.
 
Hmm. The P4 3.0GHz is a pile of crap now though. On my other sister's PC (same specs with a 3850), her CPU is her bottleneck I think.
 
_HighVoltage_ said:
I still think you should stick to your old parts and build an AGP system. It will be much cheaper. As for future upgradability - there is no guarantee the nVidia 430 chipset will be competitive in a year time.
Get an HD3650 and she shouldn't have any complaints with games like Wow and Spore.

Hell, my old desktop with Athlon 1800+, 512DDR and 6600GT runs WoW on 1024x768 no problems at all.
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My onboard video could run any game at 1024x768, but that doesn't mean it's the best solution. Viper, if you have a Fry's Electronics try to get one of their CPU + mobo combos. The mobo is generally pretty cheap (ECS) but unless you're overclocking it should be fine. I would spend $100 or less for that. A dual-core AMD system would work great on a budget. You could easily get 2GB of DDR2 RAM for $20 or less after rebate if you shop around for deals. The extra money you spend on the CPU, mobo, and RAM will be worth it when you start shopping for a video card. PCI-e will always be cheaper and better than AGP.
 
cvrefugee said:
Viper, if you have a Fry's Electronics try to get one of their CPU + mobo combos.
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Closest one is an hour away. Gotta stick to Newegg.
 
Then I would look around for a good deal. I remember seeing a CPU and case combo at Newegg for $100, I think it was an AMD X2 5600+ and an Antec Sonata III.
 
Viper007Bond said:
Closest one is an hour away. Gotta stick to Newegg.
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How much budget do you have for this build? If you can re-use the case, DVD drive, and HDD, you can pick up the rest for about $400.

E5200 + 4GB G.SKill PC2-6400 combo $140 http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/AddToCart.aspx?Submit=ADD&ItemList=Combo.126566

ECS P45T-A mobo $90 ($75 after MIR) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135093&Tpk=ecs p45t-a

EVGA 9600GSO $100 ($50 after MIR) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130356

Rosewill 500w $42 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182016

I actually built a quad core rig for a friend with that mobo and ram, the ram can do 425mhz easily on 1.95v, the motherboard I got it up to 355fsb for my friend (355x9). The e5200 has 12.5x multi, most people hit 3.6-4ghz out of it (with aftermarket cooler of course, you'll probably only get 3ghz with the stock cooler). The 9600GSO is basically a 8800GS, so it should perform ok on most game still. For $50 it can't be beat.
 
awdrifter said:
How much budget do you have for this build? If you can re-use the case, DVD drive, and HDD, you can pick up the rest for about $400.
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The cheaper the better. She's trying to save for school.

There's also no case, DVD drive, or HD to reuse as I am using them all.
 
It'll probably cost another $150 for them then.
 
Just read the thread title again and...
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Sorry I couldn't help it. Onwards!
 
Figuring out what case, etc. is easy. The only real trouble I have is what mobo, CPU, and RAM to get as there's so many to choose from. Or does everyone agree that awdrifter's recommendations are sound?
 
Crazyjeeper said:
I don't think a P45 chipset is necessary. I'm going to assume that your sister just wants a computer that will turn on every time more than one that can push a processor.
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Correct. No video encoding or anything like that. She needs something to play WoW on and play moderately new games (Source mostly I guess).

Ideally it could handle 720p (although what can't?) and maybe even 1080p, but that'd just be a bonus. It's not required at all.
 
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