Rate my brother's first PC.

[DAM]

I convinced my little brother to build his own PC and this is what he has so far. I've been out of the PC business for a long time and I'm not completely up to speed on everything. What do you guys think about this list? Any advice?

Thank you.

Power Up ATX Mid-Tower Case - Black, Front USB, Ultra 500-Watt Power Supply $50

Masscool 120mm Sleeve Bearing Case Fan $10

LITE-ON DH-20A4H-08 E-IDE Burner with Lightscribe Technology (RETAIL) - 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±RW $30

Western Digital Caviar SE16 (Perpendicular Magnetic Recording) 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive OEM WD7500AAKS $147

A-DATA Value Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory $41

BIOSTAR TForce TF570SLI AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard $88

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor $72

EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS Video Card - SSC Edition, 256MB DDR3, PCI Express, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, Video Card $120

 

[LOUISSSSS]

the proposed build doesn't look too good


that case comes with a crappy 500watt psu with only 28a on the +12v rail
a better/cheaper case fan is the Yate Loon 120mm fans from www.jab-tech.com
a-data ram is pretty low end... look into OCZ, corsair, mushkin, g.skill
Biostar is also a low end MB company with a very old sli chipset. look into asus/abit/gigabyte/DFI motherboards with p35 chipsets to meet his budget
that cpu is very underpowered, look into the Intel 2180 for under $100
the 8600gts is a very bad choice of video cards, it is old and also underpowered compared to the more recent cards such as the ATI 3850 which is aroudn the same price range and much more powerful

 

[DAM]

Thank you so much for the suggestions, anyone else?

dam

 

[BlueAcolyte]

LOUISSSSS already took most of the suggestions I was gonna make.

Just a couple:

1) Swap the IDE DVD Burner to SATA, it's neater and a bit faster.
2) This Antec for $95 shipped is a better choice for Case and PSU. You could get a cheapo case and a better power supply, but I don't think you need it.

 

[richwenzel]

i just want to agree with louissss on the graphics card...

right now 3850s can be had for $155 and the 9600 for about $165...that $10 discrepancy can't hold, so eithe rthe 9600 goes up (and which it will start to compete with the 8800gt which can be had for sub 200 now) or the 3850 goes down...i think the latter is more likely to happen...so i wouldnt be surprised if the 3850 was 130 soon and that is night and day different than the 8600

rich

 

[BladeVenom]

A-Data RAM should be fine.

 

[DSF]

I wouldn't buy the fan you chose either. Yate Loon isn't a bad choice, but Scythe slipstream fans offer impressive air flow with very little noise.

The Scythe SY1225SL12L I just put in my Solo is incredibly quiet and pushes almost as much air as that Masscool. (Compare the Masscool's 26dB noise rating with the Scythe's 11dB.)

I wouldn't buy an IDE drive nowadays. In my opinion, buy a SATA drive and get the bulky ribbon cables out of the picture. The other recommendations in the thread are good as well.

 

[tynopik]

stolen from the $500 rig thread

$77 ABIT IP-35E
$86 Antec LifeStyle SONATA II + 450W power supply
$72 E2160
$0 stock cooler
$34 Corsair XMS2 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800
$200 EVGA 8800GT
$154 WD7500AAKS 750GB
$28 Samsung SH-S203B DVD Burner (the number one ranked burner at CDFreaks)

$651 total

if you really want LightScribe, you can get the SH-203N for $34

OC the 2160 and it will perform far far better than the X2 4600+
plus the P35 motherboard offers tons better future options

if you want to save money, the first place i would look is the HD, you can save over $60 by stepping down to 500GB

i'm assuming the main purpose of this rig is gaming, if it's not, you can step back the video card a lot

even if it is, stepping down to the 9600GT saves another $30

 

[DAM]

Awesome guys, this is some great information.

Thank you.

dam

 

[richwenzel]

ignore...i saw that you were going for case/psu together...

rich

 

[MarcVenice]

I think the smartpower in the Antec Sonata II is a crappy PSU as well, with infamous caps that are notorious for going bad. And I'd get this 8800gt: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150253 it's XFX, so double lifetimewarranty, and it's factory overclocked, and the EVGA isn't. You could overclock it yourself, but factory oc-ed for the same price, is a no brainer of course.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
I think the smartpower in the Antec Sonata II is a crappy PSU as well, with infamous caps that are notorious for going bad. And I'd get this 8800gt: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150253 it's XFX, so double lifetimewarranty, and it's factory overclocked, and the EVGA isn't. You could overclock it yourself, but factory oc-ed for the same price, is a no brainer of course.

I agree on the case/ps, for $15-20 more the Sonata III is a much better deal as it includes the seasonic made earthwatts 500w PS