I'm trying to shave $100 off this build (I'm at $880)

[firewolfsm]

I'm building a comp with a friend and I can't find out what to cut to fit the $800 limit.
Here's what I have so far.

E4300 - $180
******/product/productdetails.aspx?item=19-115-013

Gigabyte S3 - $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017

Corsair 2 x 1GB DDR2 675 - $185 w/ $30 MIR (out of stock for now)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...145015&ATT=20-145-015&CMP=OTC-d3alt1me

EVGA 7900GS KO - $170 w/ $15 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130056

Western Digital 250GB 8MB - $70
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101220-11

Cooler Master Centurion - $50 w/ $10 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119106

XClio 450BL Power Supply - $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817189003

Samsung 18X DVD w/ LiteScribe - $32
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151136

I'm not sure about the power supply but the others are so much more expensive. I've heard good things about XClio.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[jpeyton]

If he's got an $800 hard limit:

Replace the Corsair memory with Kingston Value RAM.

Replace the 7900GS with a 7600GT.

Or explain to your friend that $80 will get him better memory and a faster video card.

 

[firewolfsm]

Nothing else? The motherboard maybe?

 

[stogez]

Text
Don't know how that compares with the 7900GS but its cheaper

Try picking up a couple of those items in the FS/FT forum? Probably get the mobo for under $100 pretty easily. Another thing would be to just get 1GB ram for now and add more later.

 

[magreen]

Replace the GA-965P-S3 with a Biostar TForce965PT. It overclocks just as well or better for $15 cheaper.

I assume he's overclocking? Otherwise get a $50 motherboard and DDR2 533 ram.

 

[DNyholm]

COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

This case is $44.99 with a $15 MIR, that'll save you a whopping $10...but $10 is better than nothing!! Unfortunately, it only has one 120mm fan so you might want to buy another fan for the front of the case!!

 

[hellokeith]

Mobo, memory, and vid card are the candidates. Pick two to cut down on.

 

[tcG]

Change mobo to the Biostar TForce P965T... it's better, and cheaper.

The RAM you chose is bad... but for $155, what can you expect...

This card is much better than the 7900GS.

Get this power supply.

 

[Skott]

RAM & Video Card are always the easiest to upgrade/replace so I'd concentrate there for fine monetary tuning. Later on you can always get better when money is availble. Although I agree the S3 isnt that great of a mobo be careful about buying something cheap and cheesey otherwise upgrade plans later on dont work out very well. The DS3 is a better mobo than S3 and cheaper @ about $130 depending where you buy from and how much shipping to your house.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Drop from 2gb to 1gb on the ram

 

[Zepper]

If you live near SVC.com (San Jose, CA) you can get a nicer case for about the same money - the CoolerMaster Mystique 631 - several models at $50. Or if you want a better case in several technical aspects - look at the Rosewill R5601 at Newegg/ChiefValue or the R6A series. one has a $20. instant discount and the other has free shipping. (see my review here. I mention both the R-560x series and the R6A series in the review. The R6A is the same as the Antec SLK3000-B with diff. (better IMO) exterior treatments. Get the 560x if he eventually plans to have a fan controller or any other 5" bay device with protruding knobs - it't the only one that has the clearance behind the door. And note that the 5601 has a 270 degree door (can fold alway against the side of the case.
. And I'd recommend starting with 1GB RAM too. Can always add more later if needed. And there are several brands that match Corsair w/o the premium price - Crucial for one and no rebate to mess with. Centon, Mushkin, Patriot and PQI are brands to check out as well.
. Check out Asrock (Asus budget line) mobos too - you get an awful LOT for your money.

.bh.

 

[BurnItDwn]

You could maybe trim a bit off the price by going with a less expensive 200gb drive.
It also might be worth it to see about getting a case with a power supply, sometimes Antec cases go on sale and you can get a nice case with a PS for under $80.
You could possibly save a few bucks going with a different optical drive.

The only way to shave off enough to get it under the limmit though, would be to do as others have said, and change mobo, ram, and/or vidcard ... pick 2.
Otherwise, an easy way would be to go with an AMD X2 3800 bundled with a mobo .... at stock speed, the 3800 is just a little tiny bit slower than the E4300, however the 4300 is a monster overclocker where as the AMD X2 3800 is not so well of an overclocker. I know I've seen Fry's Deals where a 3800+ and an AM2 mobo together go for under $150.

One other note: If the PC is for games, do NOT skimp on the video card. A $200 mobo+CPU with a $300 Vidcard will almost always perform better in games than a $300 mobo+CPU and a $200 vidcard.
.

 

[firewolfsm]

Thanks for all the advice, it's helped a lot. I've got it down to this now, it goes just over the limit after the shipping and tax but I think it'll be fine.

$163 - Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz 2MB L2 Cache
$105 - Biostar TForce965PT, LGA775, Intel P965 Express
$155 - Corsair XMS2 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-675 TWIN2X2048-5400c4 ($185 - $30MIR)
$155 ? HIS Radeon X1950 Pro ($175 ? $20MIR)
$53 - Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache
$70 - Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache
$31 - Lite-On 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA SH-16A7S-05
$40 - Cooler Master Centurion - $50 w/ $10 MIR
$38 - XClio 450BL Power Supply

I might bump the mobo up to a DS3.

 

[athfbum]

Get the Biostar mobo. It has the world record for a E6600 OC
And it doesn't have the nasty D9 problem.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
Otherwise, an easy way would be to go with an AMD X2 3800 bundled with a mobo ....
...
One other note: If the PC is for games, do NOT skimp on the video card. A $200 mobo+CPU with a $300 Vidcard will almost always perform better in games than a $300 mobo+CPU and a $200 vidcard.
.

OMG, HERETIC... BURN HIM!!!111!!

LOL, all the suggestions of cutting RAM and video card, and not one about the CPU until way down here. I know everyone's in C2D-or-Bust mode around here, but really, without knowing whether the "friend" will overclock and what this "friend" intends to use his computer for, how can anyone recommend things like cutting the RAM, video or even CPU?

Hey, firewolfsm, what will your friend be using this computer for?

 

[firewolfsm]

It's a family computer so a lot of e-mail and stuff, but he wants to game on it too, which is why it's not a dell.

 

[Howard]

I guess shipping isn't included?

 

[SickBeast]

You should be able to get a nice Antec case/PSU combo for less than $90.

I would go for the 16MB cache hard drive (it might cost $5 more).

 

[secretanchitman]

how about replacing those hard drives with a seagate 400GB sata hard drive? i think its still for $120 at newegg.

 

[athfbum]

Why not reuse your 7900GT?

 

[Zebo]

This is what I'd build if I only had $800 and it would smoke all these builds in gaming and load times.

* BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail 63.99
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO3600IAA5DL - OEM $100 make into FX60++
*OCZ Gold 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $91
* Leadtek WinFast PX8800 GTS TDH GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail $350
*"goodpower" 500W PSU $50
*Coolermaster Mystique case $24.99
*Western Digital WD2500KS 250GB 16MB cache $66
*Samsung 18X DVD w/ LiteScribe - $32
*Arctic cooling 64 $14

=$791

 

[Zepper]

Mystique 631 isn't $29. any more unless it's somewhere other than SVC. They're $45. now but that's still about half their original price.

.bh.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Mystique 631 isn't $29. any more unless it's somewhere other than SVC. They're $45. now but that's still about half their original price.

.bh.

Yeah thats what i thought too until you go to check out and it's $24.99
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=2001952&enterthread=y

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: Zebo
This is what I'd buld for $800 and it would smoke all these builds in gaming and load times.

* BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail 63.99
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO3600IAA5DL - OEM $100 make into FX60++
*OCZ Gold 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $91
* Leadtek WinFast PX8800 GTS TDH GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail $350
*"goodpower" 500W PSU $50
*Coolermaster Mystique case $24.99
*Western Digital WD2500KS 250GB 16MB cache $66
*Samsung 18X DVD w/ LiteScribe - $32
*Arctic cooling 64 $14

=$791

FTW :thumbsup:

 

[Zebo]

Some people will never understand video video video baby!!!

I can beat my C2D@3.7/ 7900GTX with SLI 7900GTX's & stock 2Ghz X2 all day long. Thats why I'm looking at 8800GTX but I don't like the heat profile it puts in my silent water loop. Hurry NV with 80 or 65nm...