$500. What can you get me.

Living-Dead-ChildLiving-Dead-Child Detroit New
edited October 2003 in Trading Post
I have $500.

primesuspect told me that someone on here would be able to get me these parts for a bare bones system:

Tower Case
500 mhz Power Supply
AMD 3000 processer
Good motherboard (preferable Asus)
1Gig of RAM.


Now, Who wants the money?

Thank you.
«1

Comments

  • Living-Dead-ChildLiving-Dead-Child Detroit New
    edited October 2003
    Yea, I was kind of hoping for a better deal than there.

    primesuspect said I should try here.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    No, what I said was if you post your budget, these guys will be able to help you configure system. :rolleyes:

    Also, the PSU is measured in watts, not MHZ - just for future reference :)

    Here we go:

    http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4833
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Living Dead Child said
    I have $500. We can do it but not what's lised below.

    primesuspect told me that someone on here would be able to get me these parts for a bare bones system:

    Tower Case
    500 mhz Power Supply shrug.gif
    AMD 3000 processer How about an XP2500 that can be OC'ed to 3200?
    Good motherboard (preferable Asus)How about a real good OC'ing Abit?
    1Gig of RAM. rotfl.gif512 fit the budget.


    Now, Who wants the money? laser.gif

    Thank you.

    Let me know if these sound OK and I will begin.

    BTW
    Welcome aboard! :wave:
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited October 2003
    First off LDC, welcome to Short-Media! :)

    Do you require any other parts for your system, or will you be carrying over an optical drive, floppy drive, hard disk, video card, etc..?

    Next off, what exactly will you be doing with this computer? Any hard-core 3D gaming (ie Half-Life 2, Doom 3, yada yada yada)? This will have a severe impact on what parts you will require. :)

    Make sure to let us know :)
  • t1rhinot1rhino Toronto
    edited October 2003
    500w PSU
    NF7-S - Great OCer
    1800 tbred guarenteed to run at 2.5ghz
    512mb Samsung DDR400 - 1gb adds another 100 bucks.
    Chenming A2ESW
    = $490 USD with the exchange rate.

    Unfortunately, I live in Toronto. So there were have to be some driving involved.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited October 2003
    After pricing exactly what you want on NewEgg, here's what I can come up with. You'll notice that the 3000+ processor costs an arm and a leg. Would you consider overclocking a slightly slower processor and saving almost $150 for use on other components (like better RAM or a video card?)

    RaidMAX Model 268WGP (Green/Silver) 10-Bay Mid-Tower ATX ($27.00)
    Antec TruePower 480W PSU ($85.00)
    Asus A7N8X NForce2, AGP8x, LAN, Audio, 2xDDR400, USB2 ($93.00)
    AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton @ 2.1 GHz, 512 KB L2, 400 FSB ($261.00)
    Retail AMD Heatsink
    512 MB Apacer Value Select PC3200, CAS 3 ($76.75)
    512 MB Apacer Value Select PC3200, CAS 3 ($76.75)

    Total Price: $619.50 USD
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    ABIT NF7-S $112
    xp2500+ $85
    KINGSTON HyperX-3700 (2 x 256) $156
    CHIEFTEC Server Chasis (Aluminum Workstation) BLACK w/450Watt (throw away the power supply) $72
    ENERMAX EG465P-VE(FM). 460W $79

    TOTAL $504
  • Living-Dead-ChildLiving-Dead-Child Detroit New
    edited October 2003
    I have all the CD ROMs and Hard Drives.

    And I will be playing Doom3 and Half-Life 2.

    I am going to worry about the video card after the new year.

    Thank You
  • Living-Dead-ChildLiving-Dead-Child Detroit New
    edited October 2003
    mtgoat had this to say
    ABIT NF7-S $112
    xp2500+ $85
    KINGSTON HyperX-3700 (2 x 256) $156
    CHIEFTEC Server Chasis (Aluminum Workstation) BLACK w/450Watt (throw away the power supply) $72
    ENERMAX EG465P-VE(FM). 460W $79

    TOTAL $504

    I looked at this case on newegg myself. Why do you suggest throwing away the power supply?
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    You can save some money by buying the case locally.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited October 2003
    Living Dead Child had this to say


    I looked at this case on newegg myself. Why do you suggest throwing away the power supply?

    In General, the Power supplies that come along with cases are of marginal quality.

    Weak PSUs are one of the top causes of computer instability, but usually the last thing suspected and checked. So to avoid problems a quality PSU was & is suggested
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited October 2003
    That's one reason I often purchase Antec cases. Sure, they cost a bit more than the Chieftecs or other brands, but they come with Antec PSUs. Granted it isn't a TruePower, but it's still a good quality PSU. In the end it puts you a little ahead because a good PSU can inflate the cost of those Chieftecs to above the cost of an Antec.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Actually if you look, that is only $1 more than the case w/o a PSU. If you really wanted, do a s a2jfreak said. Yopu can even buy one with a TruePower in the Antec 1080 case. The PSU in that particular one is also Foxconn/ Austin Power and it doesn't get much worse than that.

    BTW

    I realized I had forgotten the HSF:
    Thermalright SLK-900A $19.95 + godd 92 MM fan.

    With this there is not doubt that you will have a good solid overclocker capable of what folks often spend much more for.
  • Living-Dead-ChildLiving-Dead-Child Detroit New
    edited October 2003
    mtgoat had this to say
    BTW

    I realized I had forgotten the HSF:
    Thermalright SLK-900A $19.95 + godd 92 MM fan.

    With this there is not doubt that you will have a good solid overclocker capable of what folks often spend much more for.


    The Thermalright SLK-900A is 37.99, not $19.95. and in the specs it reads that it is compatable with AMD: Athlon XP Palamino, Thoroughbred, and Barton 2800+ and up
    and I plan on getting the Athlon XP Barton 2500. I believe this should not make a difffence, as a guess a socket A is a socket A and if it will cool at 2800, it bloody well should cool a 2500. But I wanted to make sure before I shucked out the money.

    Also what is "godd"?
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited October 2003
    SVC.com has the Thermalright SLK900A for $30. Last week it had a $10 off special.

    The Thermalright is SLK947U is $32

    Any SLK version (700, 800, 900, 947) will cool any current Athlon XP (current Max XP 3200+ (2.2ghz))
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    primesuspect had this to say
    Living Dead Child had this to say
    Also what is "godd"?

    Well now, LDC, that is a very big question.

    ;D

    Ooops! :D

    godd = good

    God = avatar.php?userid=82&dateline=1065219991
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Lian-Li pc-7b case:black - $90.00
    Antec True480w - $85.00
    ABIT NF7-S V2.0 - $112.00
    AMD Athlon XP 2100 T-bred - $65.00
    (2 sticks) Kingston Hyper-X 256mb DDR433 - $132.00
    =$484.00 or about $501.00 after shipping
  • Living-Dead-ChildLiving-Dead-Child Detroit New
    edited October 2003
    Thank you all for your help. Here is what I have decided on getting:

    ANTEC Performance PLUS Model PLUS1080AMG- with Antec Original TRUE 430W P4 Power Supply ATX12V Retail $112.00
    Thermalright SLK-900-A ( Heatsink ONLY ). $37.99
    ANTEC All Clear 80mm SMARTCOOL PLUS Case Fan $16.99
    Apacer 512MB DDR PC3200 RAM 32X8 CL=3 (Mosel or Powerchip Chipset) Oem 2 Quanity $153.50
    ABIT KD7A ,VIA KT400A chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A ATX RETAIL $78.00
    AMD ATHLON XP 2500 "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- OEM $85.00


    For a total of $483.48 Without shipping.

    I will order this on Wednesday, if no one replies with a reason why I should not.

    Thank you all.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited October 2003
    1 reason to NOT get that motherboard: VIA CHIPSET.

    ABit NF7 is a must. If you don't want to spring for that one, go for the Asus A7N8X, but DEFINATELY get an NForce2-powered motherboard. You'll regret it if you don't...

    //Edit: You'll enjoy better CPU temperatures if you utilize a 92mm case fan instead of the 80mm case fan. :)
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    I'm gonna back up Simguy on that one - i've mentioned it to you about FIVE THOUSAND TIMES: GET THE ABIT NF7-S.

    Why oh why won't you just listen to me? :rolleyes:
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    Couple things:

    1. You could save a few $$ on that case by going with either the SX1040BII or the SX835II, either of which would be fine. And yes, a 350w PS is more than big enough, if it's a quality unit (which the Antec is). If you're planning on putting 3+ hard drives and a high end video card in the system, you'll need something bigger. But, for two hard drives and a Radeon 9700 Pro or something, that 350w Antec should be fine... Our CAD/CAM (Radeon 9800 Pros, 1GB PC2700, 2800+, 80GB 7200RPM HD) systems run off Antec SL350s. So do our new servers (P4-2.8Cs w/GF2MX400s, mirrored 80GB HDs, 1GB DDR400, etc.). 350w is big enough for all but the most extreme systems.

    2. You're going to need more cooling than the two stock case fans can provide. The cheapest quality fans you'll be able to get from Newegg are the $4.50 Antec ones (Newegg PN N82E16835129027 ). Order 3 if you get the SX1080 Plus or the SX835. If you get the SX1040BII, you'll only need two.

    3. That CPU fan is a bad, bad, BAD idea. It's thermally controlled. The thermistor that controls it's speed is built into the fan motor's hub. This means that it's reading the temperature of the air before it reaches the cpu. Which means it will never speed up. Which means that it could potentially cook your CPU. That would be bad. Since the SLK-900 supports 92mm fans, get yourself a Thermaltake 90x90x25mm fan (Newegg's listing is wrong- it's actually 92mm).

    4. Quality RAM is a must. That Apacer stuff isn't what I'd call quality RAM. Cough up the extra $$ for Samsung (or at least Samsung chips), Kingston, or Corsair RAM. There's some more expensive Apacer DDR400 with Samsung chips, and I'd get that, unless the Corsair ValueSelect DDR400 for $83 is in stock by Wednesday.

    5. Dump the KD7. You won't get much of an overclock out of it (Via chipset), and if you're not overclocking, there's no reason to get a SLK-900. The KD7 is a decent board, but the NF7 is far, far better. I'd recommend a NF7-S, because it's got Serial ATA for newer HDs. The NF7 series overclocks much better than the KD7 does, since the nForce2 chipset is far better suited to overclocking than the KD7. It's also faster at stock speeds than the KD7 will be. Spend the extra $$ for the NF7 or NF7-S.

    The total, with the extra fans, an NF7-S, and the upgraded RAM, is a hair over $500- $531.98, to be exact.

    HOWEVER, the system you're looking at is a pretty high-end overclocker's/tweaker's system. If you're not looking to overclock your system to insane levels, you don't need PC3200 DDR, or a SLK-900. You could save quite a bit of money by going for more mid-range stuff (e.g. PC2700 and a SLK-800 or SK-7 or something) instead. You wouldn't loose any performance @ stock levels, and you'd still be able to overclock somewhat...
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    Well, with the statements I made above in mind, I just went and configured a system on Newegg real fast. Here's what I came up with as a starting point:

    Antec SX835II case
    As I stated, for most people, there is no reason to go for a bigger PS than the one this case has. The exceptions would be:
    Dual CPUs
    and/or
    High end graphics card, plus 3 or more hard drives
    and/or
    5 or more hard drives

    Also, the case itself has better cooling than the Antec 10x0 series.

    Abit NF7 motherboard
    The main difference between the NF7 and the NF7-S is that the -S has serial ATA and firewire. SATA is new enough that it's not a necessity, and few PC users use firewire. So, neither one is terribly important to have, and you'll save some $$ by going with the regular NF7. Besides, if you need the extras later, you can always buy a PCI card...

    2x 512MB Buffalo Tech PC2700 DDR
    I went with PC2700 because I'm going to assume that you won't be interested in having the highest possible overclock. Since the nForce2 allows asynchronous FSB and RAM speeds, the PC2700 won't hold you back, until you get well above 200MHz on the FSB, which is still a very good OC. Also, the Buffalo RAM has Samsung chips, which are some of the highest-quality chips around.

    Athlon XP 2600+ Barton CPU
    Newegg has a Barton core 2600+ for a few $ more than the 2500+. The only difference is that the 2600+ runs at 1.9GHz vs. 1.83 for the 2500, and it's $17 more. I figured that for $17, it'd be worth it. However, if you want to save as much as possible, go with the 2500.

    Dynatron BH-610 CPU HSF
    This is a pretty good little HSF. It's awfully hard to screw up a copper, thin-fin heatsink topped with a 7000rpm Delta fan. The performance on this guy is going to be very good. Not SLK-900 level, but very good nonetheless, and it's significantly cheaper than the SLK. The only drawback is that the Delta 7k fans are pretty loud. This particular one is not unbearable (I had one in my comp. for almost a year, and only took it out to upgrade the heatsink, not because it was too loud), and my dad has one in his computer, as well. My dually had two of them in it, until I upgraded the heatsinks to larger ones... They're louder than normal, but once you've used the computer for a few hours, they just blend into the background noise.

    5x Enermax Adjustable 80mm fans
    3 fans for the front of the case, plus two more to replace the stock exhaust fans. These guys will keep your computer more than cool enough at their maximum speed, without getting too loud, and they can be turned down if you want something a bit quieter.

    Total: $457.99
  • Living-Dead-ChildLiving-Dead-Child Detroit New
    edited October 2003
    Here is the recent update to what I am going to buy:

    ANTEC Performance PLUS Model PLUS1080AMG- with Antec Original TRUE 430W P4 Power Supply ATX12V Retail $112.00
    Thermaltake 90X90X25mm FAN, 2 Ball Bearing, 2850+/- 10% RPM, 56CFM Air Flow, with 3pin/4pin adapter. Retail. $5.99
    Thermalright SLK-900-A ( Heatsink ONLY ). All Copper heat spread. $37.99
    ANTEC All Clear PRO 80mm 4 pin Fan for all 80mm Computer Case cooling requirements 3 quanity $12.75
    Kingson 512mb (2x256mb) DDR400 PC3200, Model KVR400X64C3AK2/512 2 quanity $202.00
    Question: I have a vague idea of what the pc3200, means. Can someone provide a exact defination.
    I almost went for the KINGSTON HyperX Series 184-pin 512MB DDR333 (PC2700) 64X64 DDR RAM modules but I figured for and extra $3 apiece, I get the pc3200.
    Question: What exactly is 64x64, of 2x256?
    Question: What is Latency?
    ABIT NF7-S ,nForce2 SPP chipset Support AMD Socket A with 200/266/333 FSB ,8X AGP,SATA 150 ATX motherboard Retail
    $112.00
    AMD ATHLON XP 2600+ Barton 333MHz FSB PROCESSOR CPU- OEM $99.00


    I am going to add a Ati Radion 9800 after the new year.
    I may be doing some serious overclocking. When I was a computer tech. overclocking was a matter of changing jumpers on the motherboard. So I am new at modern overclocking. However, I did originally want a 3 gig processer.

    So if there is no other objections, and please feel free to object if I am making a mistake, I will order this stuff on Wed.

    It is amazing how quicky I betrayed my vision of a $500 computer.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Upgrade the CPU heatsink. Right now at SVCompucycle.com, you can get the Thermalright SLK-947U for $31. Deal!
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    That DDR won't work, unfortunately. The "2x256mb" means it's a set of 2 matched 256MB modules... which is fine, if you want only 512MB of ram. However, if you get 2 of them, you'll have 4 modules. Which won't work very well, since the the NF7, like most nForce boards, has 3 DIMM slots... if you want 1GB of ram, you'll have to go with 2 512MB sticks.

    64x64 is some kind of indicator of the size of the chips on the RAM in megabits or something like that... I'm not entirely sure what it stands for, actually...

    Latency is basically the response time. Lower is better. Ideally, you'd want a Cas Latency (CL) of 2. However, that kind of latency in DDR400 or faster means it's probably going to be expensive. CL 2.5 is more common in DDR400 and up. What you'd like to avoid (ideally anyhow) is a CL of 3 or greater, which is what a lot of the really cheap DDR modules have.

    PC3200 a.k.a. DDR400 is capable of running at 200MHz. DDR400 stands for the effective speed of the RAM (400MHz) and the 3200 stands for the speed in GB/s- 3200 = 3.2GB/s.

    --- Basic RAM info ---

    So your computer has a frontside bus speed, which is controlled by a clock generator chip somewhere on the board. The clock generator controls the number of oscillations per second that the bus' signal makes.

    SDRAM sends data at the peak of each cycle
    DDR sends data at the peak and the valley of each cycle

    So, at a given speed, DDR runs effectively 2x as fast as SDRAM, which is why PC3200 DDR (200MHz) is sometimes called "400MHz".

    DDR speeds:
    Type Transfer Rate Effective speed Actual speed
    PC4200 4.2GB/s 533MHz 266.5MHz
    PC4000 4GB/s 500MHz 250MHz
    PC3700 3.7GB/s 466MHz 233MHz
    PC3500 3.5GB/s 433MHz 216MHz
    PC3200 3.2GB/s 400MHz 200MHz
    PC3000 3GB/s 375MHz 188MHz**
    PC2700 2.7GB/s 333MHz 166MHz
    PC2100 2.1GB/s 266MHz 133MHz
    PC1600 1.6GB/s 200MHz 100MHz***

    ** I've never actually seen PC3000 DDR in use; Newegg lists it, but it's not common.

    *** PC1600 is obsolete. It's slow, it's old, and it's no longer in use for the most part.

    If you're going to do serious overclocking, then you want the fastest, highest-quality RAM you can get. Since the NF7 won't do more than 250MHz FSB speeds, you don't need anything faster than PC4000 at MOST. However, PC3200, 3500 or 3700 is more than sufficient. Even PC2700 and 2100 will suffice, although they will limit your overclock somewhat.

    There's no way you're going to get the best RAM on the market with a $500 budget though- a gig of Corsair XMS PC4000 is $350 in and of itself.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    1. Get the SLK-900A from SVC.com as Leonardo said. They were 29.99 when I kust looked and with the cost of shipping will be less than at Newegg for the price of the HS alone. You can also get your fans there. I would highly recomend the 92mm YS-Tech 66 CFM fan that they have and it is less money. It is the only place I have bought my cooling gear for 2 years now and they are great. I also recomend getting one of these adapters for 99 cents unless the fan you order has one included because I do not like running big fans off the mobo and this way you still have speed monitoring.

    2. Yes, go with the S version since it also has SoundStorm audio not present on the plain NF7.

    3. You will regret getting cheap memory!!! I would stick to PC3200 or higher with cas 2 even if it means getting 512 instead of 1 GB.
  • edited October 2003
    SimGuy had this to say
    1 reason to NOT get that motherboard: VIA CHIPSET.

    ABit NF7 is a must. If you don't want to spring for that one, go for the Asus A7N8X, but DEFINATELY get an NForce2-powered motherboard. You'll regret it if you don't...

    //Edit: You'll enjoy better CPU temperatures if you utilize a 92mm case fan instead of the 80mm case fan. :)

    I was going to post the same thing myself.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Leonardo had this to say
    Upgrade the CPU heatsink. Right now at SVCompucycle.com, you can get the Thermalright SLK-947U for $31. Deal!

    Wow! :eek2:

    It took me a few times to realize you posted the 947. Now that is a real killer deal!

    Leo,

    Once the "U" series are installed do you need to remove the board from the case to remove the HS or is the plate on the bottom pasted to the bottom of the board? Having to remove the board was why I opted for the 800 at the time because I got tired of all the work involved with my Swifty and Aplha HS's.
  • edited October 2003
    Is the only diff between the 947U and the 900A, is that the 947U is a bolt-on?

    I suppose that would put less stress on the socket.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    I've been keeping an eye open for a 9800pro128 ...as I told mtg I found 2 places that sell these oem for under $299 ...one place has it for $290. http://www.buyxtremegear.com/ati9800128o.html
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