Help a miltary officer with PC choice!

[bmiesle]

I need to purchase a new PC. My Pentuim II 400mhz has seen its better days. I want to build my own PC but don't now how to begin. I plan to use a couple of periphials off my old box (ie cd-rom, monitor, keyboard, speakers, wireless card(pci) mouse, maybe HD). My budget is about $500 (I know -- cheap). Not sure whether AMD or Intel. ATX vs BTX. Is this a difficult process? Please help a Air Force gal.

 

[poisonthewell]

Let us know what programs/applications you plan to use and we'll send some suggestions your way. Almost every person here will tell you to build your own. I used this guide when I built mine.

 

[mwmorph]

for $50 ,get a hp/gateway/dell. it's a better deal. would actually cost more for you to build it since the big companies have big rebates on lower end systems so a $1000 comp can be bought for $500.

 

[bmiesle]

The apps I will be using are mostly home office things (Office, quicken, internet browsing, etc.) My two boys are starting to grow up so they might start getting into the gaming scene. Nothing too fancy.

 

[Icepick]

I'd recommend an AMD CPU with a motherboard that has integrated video and audio. The integrated solution will work well with general office productivity applications and web browsing. You didn't mention any 3D gaming so I didn't recommend a graphics card. Inexpensive value RAM is fine. Make sure you buy two RAM modules since this CPU benefits from dual channel memory access.

$82.00 Motherboard: ASUS A8N VM CSM 6150 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131570
$0.00 Video: Integrated
$0.00 Audio: Integrated
$76.25 RAM: Corsair Value Select 2x512MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
$163.00 CPU: AMD Athlon64 3200+ (Venice core) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

That puts you at $321.25 plus shipping. Obviously there's plenty of wiggle room here. I would also recommend a new power supply since your current PC is pretty dated. Will you reuse your old case or purchase a new one? There's plenty of money left in the budget to purchase a case and power supply. Will you use this PC for 3D gaming? If so, you would have to budget for a graphics card as well.

 

[bmiesle]

AMD or Intel or does it matter? Any systems you prefer?

 

[kitkat22]

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ $157
ASUS A8R-MVP $111
Corsair Valueselect 512MB $43
Antec SLK1650B w/350W PSU $65
eVGA GeForce 6600GT $134

This puts you right at $500, you'll have to reuse your CD drive and the HD, but that should keep you pretty happy for a while

 

[Silversierra]

Ok, you could build something like this.
Motherboard, Msi radeon xpress $78.50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130520

Cpu, Amd athlon 64 3200+ $165
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

Ram, corsair vs 1gb $81
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

Case, antec w/ 350w psu, $82
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129150

Windows xp home sp2, $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102059

Total <$500 inc. shipping.
It has integrated video, so you wouldn't need a graphics card, but has a graphics upgrade slot, if you'd ever want to add a video card.
If your current cd rom is white, then you could get the white version of the case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129149

Here are two pc building guides.
http://sysbuild.corsairmemory.com/report.aspx?id=2&sid=2
http://www.hardwarezone.com/guides/amd-socket939/20

 

[ribbon13]

$105 - Antec SLK3800B not the best, but quality and fits your budget.
$165 - AMD OSA144BNBOX 1MB L2 cache which is double that of the 3200+ and easily makes up for being 200MHz slower, and when your PC gets dated and 939 CPUs are cheap or you feel like tinkering, you could overclock it and get more performance from your dollar.
$108 - Epox 9NPA+ Ultra Good solid board.
$111 - G.skill 1GB Standard Issue
$65 - Sapphire 100118-RD Low end GPU, but it's better than onboard or super-cheap cards because it doesn't use system memory or memory bandwidth. And its got a full DX9 feature set, so games can look in their full glory, but at high-res it will look choppy.

Goes a bit over, but it's stuff that won't crap out on you or provide dissappoint performance.

 

[Silversierra]

Everyone seems to be forgetting an windows xp in their price, if the current system is a 400mhz, I doubt it has a very current Os to reuse.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: bmiesle
AMD or Intel or does it matter? Any systems you prefer?

Does not matter like it did 6-8 years ago. AMD is really kicking Intel's butt now, faster, cheaper, and more efficient in all fronts with the latest chips. They are also a significant partner with Microsoft and have been for about 3 years (they have been a key sponsor of Microsoft's ultimate nerdfest, the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference.)

So, all of the AMD systems listed will be faster than equal dollar systems if they have Intel inside.

You said gaming is possible. Note that Call of Duty 2 has some pretty heavy requirements for graphics. Did you include that in your usual suspects? - Edit - "starting to get into the gaming scene" - OK, there can be an upgrade later with a new graphics card. You have time for prices to fall.

 

[ribbon13]

Maybe she can get it real cheap being in the military?

 

[bmiesle]

I am running Win XP Home SP2. Had to to run 802.g wireless card.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Maybe she can get it real cheap being in the military?

That is an idea. The commissary may have some of the full package HP Pavillion AMD systems and there are some that are definitely under $500 that will do basics as listed. They are OK systems.

 

[bmiesle]

Is this a good system for the price?
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp...s/hp_pavilion&storeName=computer_store

 

[Aztech]

You don't sound ready for building your own. Save the time and hassle and buy something pre-built or customize something online. Check Hot Deals daily for the latest deals. Office Depot has been clearing out desktops at great prices. HP, CompaQ and eMachines. Look for the thread in Hot Deals or just go by your local Office Depot. But don't get talked into something other than what you went for. Regular retail prices are high, so you gotta find the deals. Also, DeLL deals abound. Look for the latest coupon codes.

I guess another option for you would be AAFES.com, which I've noticed runs some nice deals according to some threads in Hot Deals.

She's not ready to build, just point her to the best pre-built deals online or B&M.

Good Luck!

 

[Malladine]

emachines/hp are you best bets for a sub $500 machine, considering it doesn't sound like you'll be gaming or using heavy software of any kind.

Your sons will want a video card upgrade option though if you want them to be able to game down the line. Make sure any system you get has an agp or pci express slot to allow for that.

512mb ram is highly recommended also. 1gb for gaming but that's another upgrade that is very easy to install.

Oh and I would go AMD. A64 3200+

 

[mwmorph]

everyone that recommends the pc, forgets that hp includes windows xp($100) and ms works($100?) so add wiggle room there, then add a mouse and keyboard and it will cost more. and dont forget, tech support...

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

ask around for the resident geek at your command. Every command I've ever been to or heard of has one. :salutes; Good morning ma'am :/salutes;

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: bmiesle
Is this a good system for the price?
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp...s/hp_pavilion&storeName=computer_store

They have been good. Not the greatest thing since sliced bread, but more than adequate. The speed it will give compared to what you are running will knock your socks off. Check with your base store and see if they offer a package that is similar as you can save some money that way that is not available to civilians like me.

 

[kamranziadar]

Are you going to overclock or not.

 

[mike3uz]

I dont think so.

 

[dannybek2]

del

 

[Wolfshanze]

(needed WinXP because...) Had to to run 802.g wireless card.

Actually I have an 802.g wireless card in my old Win98SE laptop and it works just fine. But you already have WinXP so that's a good thing.

Maybe she can get it real cheap being in the military?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is an idea. The commissary may have some of the full package HP Pavillion AMD systems and there are some that are definitely under $500 that will do basics as listed. They are OK systems.

Being Air Force military myself, there's few deals to be had anymore at any AAFES facilities. The best thing is military gets to purchase things tax-free, but given the fact that AAFES overcharges these days for almost everything, and you can get tax-free on the internet anyways, there's few bargains to be had on-base.

Oh, and I don't think they sell computers at the commisary... maybe it's between the fruits and vegetables?!? The overpriced computers are usually in the BX! That's if you're lucky enough to have a BX even stock computers (mine barely carries any software, some BX's don't even have that).

I will agree however, that it's hard to beat these uber-cheap computers that places like Dell and Gateway sell for under $500 when building your own. At least in horsepower to cost matters... it used to be where building your own meant instant cash savings... nowadays, the only benefit of building your own is getting EXACTLY what you want and having the satisfaction of doing it yourself, but you're usually not saving any dough anymore.

Vance AFB out!

 

[zagood]

Dell and HP both offer employee pricing online to military. Don't know where you'd track down your code, but a friend of mine that works for the army (civilian) just did it last week, I'll try to find it for you.

-z