Bargain system for my brother advice needed

[StoneRyno]

So I have some older parts from my PC I had before the PC I just built and from the PC before that. From the oldest PC is the case and PSU which is a Allied 400W (AL-B400ATX). From my previous to this new PC I build I have abit AN52 mobo with it's dual core AMD athlon 64 6400+ and 4x1GB Gskill DDR2 800 RAM. And a BFG 8800GT video card. Problem is the PSU is not sufficient if that GPU is used. He doesn't game so any video card will do. So the way I'm thinking there are two options. Get a better PSU or lower end video card. Which ever is cheaper and more reliable I would think. Neither option has to be a new component as long as the used one is like new so that we aren't getting a lemon so to speak. We discussed him buying my old stuff for a total of $100 if that is a fair deal not including whatever it would cost to get this final part to make it a complete system. Thoughts and advice?

 

[MattNo5ss]

You won't be able to get a better GPU than the 8800GT for $50 or less unless you get lucky on a used one. So, I would get a new PSU, a good 400-450W for $50 or less like one of these. That Allied only has 15A on the 12V rail...

 

[ssjwizard]

If he doesnt play games just pick up an old card from the egg or ebay for cheap and move on. A quick glance at newegg and they have a nice big selection of low power GPUs for $30 shipped. If you have classifieds access at some of these sites you might find something, but its likely well past that PSUs capabilities and his needs.


Edit. THIS is a deal.

 

[StoneRyno]

It looks like we will go with that antec psu unless the mail in rebate is still available after christmas. Personally with the little if any price difference between the two without a rebate the psu looks like hte better option to me since it is modular and overall better than the one in the system currently. I'll keep an eye on the thread if any more info is added or others want to reply. I've not built a system from older parts in a long time like this

 

[StoneRyno]

I'm resurrecting the thread to point out my disappointment that this PSU was changed to a non-modular one. We did not think we needed to check to make sure it was the identical product it was back when I posted my previous reply confirming our decision on what to buy. He delayed ordering the PSU until a couple weeks ago for various reasons unknown to me. But anyways I wonder why the same model changed from being a modular to non-modular. That would be something antec did since I doubt newegg would have done a switcheroo with the listing being for one item and then a different item with the same model numbers and linking IDs etc so that when i followed the same link as before to get to the product that I seen back in december that it was a different product on that page when we went to it to order it. A strangeness I figured I'd share in the thread.

 

[briansun1]

really slow but since he dose not game why not use the intagrated graphics?

 

[StoneRyno]

We would have gone that route but the mobo doesn't have integrated graphics. If I recall back when I built that system originally it was rare to see ones with integrated graphics. Shortly after, I think, just about all of them were coming out with integrated. Now that is even changing to the graphics being integrated into the CPU if I'm understanding what I hear from friends.

 

[briansun1]

almost all intel cpu's have intagrated gtaphics now...

 

[StoneRyno]

The good news is the system is up and running despite our disappointment with the change from modular to not modular with that model PSU. The bad news is problems with the cd key for the win7pro install. I stumped the tech guys forum technicians with the problem. Awaiting their reply on who I should contact at microsoft since it is genuine product and a valid win2k key that is supposed to work with the disc that I purchased, which states on the disc to use the product keys from existing licenses. It worked with my other versions of windows but not win2k for some reason.

 

[Conumdrum]

Then you call MS and work it out. I have had to do that more than once. They have a phone #.

Not an issue, part of how the system works, good luck.