Building PC for friend--Need an evaluation.

RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
edited January 2006 in Hardware
Hey,

The time has come to build another PC :rockon: My friend asked me to build a PC for him(I said I would, as long as he would make that baby fold for Team 93) beings all the desktop PC's we looked at just werent what he was looking for. For now he only plays World of Warcraft but has played FPS in the past and I'm sure he'll play some in the future. He plans on keeping his PC for about 3-4 years. Below are what I have picked out for him... If you see anything that you believe that I could do better, don't be afraid to say so :thumbsup:

Budget
$790 USD

Processor
AMD Athlon 3200+ (Venice Core)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103535

Motherboard
ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131569

Case and Power Supply
Antec Sonata II ATX case with Antec 450Watt SmartPower 2.0
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129155

Video Card
eVGA 6600gt (128MB, 128 Bits) PCI-eX16
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130214

RAM
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145440

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar 250GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache 300 MB/s....It's OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822144701

Speakers
Logitech x-530's 5.1
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16836121118


Thanks!

Comments

  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited January 2006
    I say everything looks great except the RAM.. I know that Corsair is popular, and I have some myself, but I would go with OCZ ValueRAM. Just my opinion.
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited January 2006
    pilotwings119 wrote:
    I say everything looks great except the RAM.. I know that Corsair is popular, and I have some myself, but I would go with OCZ ValueRAM. Just my opinion.

    Is Mac paying you to be the OCZ spokesman :confused2


    Ill take some more suggestions on the RAM....If you agree/disagree with him then speak up, But I believe that Corsair is going to fit right in.

    EDIT: I have OCZ as well and I think their just wonderful. Just wondering why you would recommend it over the Corsair???
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited January 2006
    Yeah I don't mind if I lose 56 to 1, I just had to say it :p

    Corsiar just doesn't OC well, at least not the RAM I have. I've heard nothing but good about OCZ, so it seems like it would be better.
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited January 2006
    Well, Since it's VALUE RAM, I dont plan on it to overclock well, or at all for that matter.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2006
    You kinda forgot the Optical Drive...
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited January 2006
    I'm going to strip the CD-ROM and Floppy Drive out of his old computer.
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited January 2006
    Double post :shakehead
  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2006
    Ah, makes sense...I had no idea.
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited January 2006
    RiversCuomo wrote:
    Hes going to strip the CD-ROM drive and floppy drive out of his old computer and put it into his new one.
    RiversCuomo wrote:
    I'm going to strip the CD-ROM and Floppy Drive out of his old computer.
    :tongue:

    Okay thats fine you don't want to overclock it. I don't even care anymore.. I was just giving you my opinion.
  • NightwolfNightwolf Afghanistan Member
    edited January 2006
    You can get some better ram (OCZ) thats not valuecrapalicious for around the same price!
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited January 2006
    You can also check around and see what Patriot and GSkill are offering in ram at that price point, as well as Mushkin. All the ram manufacturers mentioned so far make quality products and I would buy the cheapest/best out of the bunch.
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited January 2006
    I think you did very well with your Budget. Go with what you have selected so far....:thumbsup:
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited January 2006
    If your friend is a gamer, you would be better suited to work a 6800gs into the equation, it will be a waaay better card then the 6600gt which is adaquate for all Current games
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    Gobbles has a good point. If your friend wishes to keep the computer for several years, and he's a gamer, you should give him some headroom for more advanced games. I really doubt that in two years from now he'll still be satisfied playing today's games.
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited January 2006
    Those are exactly the kinds of responses i was hoping to get. I tryed looking up benchmarks for that card but I really couldnt find any. I didnt know how well it performs or any of that. I saw that newegg has been putting a lot of them on sell lately, as well. Ill go check those out right now :D

    Thanks
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    RiversCuomo wrote:
    Is Mac paying you to be the OCZ spokesman :confused2

    I noticed that OCZ RAM was never really recommended very highly around here until Mack started working for them, and I wondered about it too.

    I came to the conclusion that OCZ's quality increased enough for it to be recommended all the time here because Mack got the job for them. Let's give credit where credit is due! ;)
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited January 2006
    GHoosdum wrote:
    I noticed that OCZ RAM was never really recommended very highly around here until Mack started working for them, and I wondered about it too.

    I came to the conclusion that OCZ's quality increased enough for it to be recommended all the time here because Mack got the job for them. Let's give credit where credit is due! ;)

    Oh yeah, nothing against OCZ, I can defintetely vouch for them as i have a gig of their RAM in my system and it runs flawlessly.

    And...about that video card. What do you think about the XFX 6800GS?

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150118
  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2006
    Basically all the nVidia cards are the same under the fancy stickers and non-reference coolers. They all use the reference PCB design and the same components, they only vary by way of stock overclocks and maybe the ram used.

    What it all boils down to is a few percentage points of difference in performance and the included bundle. My rule of thumb is to look for the best price/bundle/warranty with the stock clocks being secondary.

    On the upside the XFX card has that nifty brace running it's length to help stop the dreaded sag that the heavier all copper coolers seem to add.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    RiversCuomo wrote:
    Those are exactly the kinds of responses i was hoping to get. I tryed looking up benchmarks for that card but I really couldnt find any. I didnt know how well it performs or any of that. I saw that newegg has been putting a lot of them on sell lately, as well. Ill go check those out right now :D

    Thanks

    A 6800GS is very much like a 6800GT and you can poick one up for about $189.00 right now.

    As for the ram! I use the Corsair Value Select in a lot of cheaper builds. it runs games and other things fine. I would stick with the corsair. they offer the same warrenty and are easy to deal with. OCZ has a nice added premium of a few bucks that can be used towards the 6800GS... :)
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited January 2006
    As im not a fan of western digital I would also go with a seagate drive.
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited January 2006
    Gobbles wrote:
    As im not a fan of western digital I would also go with a seagate drive.

    I have 2 wester digital drives of my own and they have never done me wrong. I think they're great and I know some others feel the same way.
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited January 2006
    As long as you're not going with Maxtor, I agree with your hd choice :p
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