under $500 rig for those looking for a ideas

[Evilsizer]

after some thought and suggestions to people on another forum. i set out to make the cheapest oced rig possbile, ocing maxmizes the price/performance of your setup. what did i come up with you ask...

CPU
$59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116064
or
$84.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116052
Motherboard $49.99,support for the 45nm dual cores
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157119
Ram well this will be where you choose.
start with 2 gigs$44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145015
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231119
want 4gigs $94.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231120
Video card $104.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102725
Psu $89.99 w/MIR for $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007
case $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119149
DVD $31.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129009

E1200 w/2gig = $422 w/mir = $392
E1200 w/4gig = $472 w/mir = $472

E2180 w/2gig = $447 w/mir = $417
E2180 w/4gig = $497 w/mir = $467

but wait you say you said ocing but this doesnt look like a ocing setup to me.. thats where this comes in
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=499340
the pad mod fools the motherboard into thinking its a faster fsb cpu. what does this mean with the 2 cpus above, simply this. the E1200 is stock 1.6ghz that would then become a 2.66ghz dual core for $60. with the E2180 stock speed of 2ghz you have the ability to turn it into a 3.33ghz cpu. though i have my doughts at the monent since i havent used the E2180 yet to run that speed at stock voltage. you could use the other pad mod on the cpu to make it a 2.66ghz cpu instead. that is if you think the extra 512kb L2 for 1mb is worth it over the E1200.


**** you will have to excuse some of it as i posted it for one of my gaming clans. they are not much onto ocing like we are here. after looking more into that board it does have ocing features in bios you can if wanted avoid the pad mod. as noted in the manual the board when running a 1333fsb cpu has the pcie oced to 115. it states both pci/pcie speeds to be locked but does not indicate at what speed the pci buss is running.

 

[gwetmore]

I was actually looking into buying my family (wife and kids) a budget system and oddly enough picked out some of the same parts as you. Here are all the parts I went with, I'm too lazy to link right now but all can be found on newegg as well


CPU - E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz (Figured could be overclocked to 2.2-2.4 on stock fan) $78.99

MB - Same as Evilsizer $49.99

Mem - CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 2 667 $39.99

PSU - Same as Evilsizer $79.99 w/ $30.00 MIR

Video - SAPPHIRE 100195L Radeon X1650 512MB $54.99

HD - WD Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $42.99

Case - Sam as Evilsizer $39.99

DVD - LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Black SATA Model LH-20A1S $28.99

The total is $415 plus the $30 MIR from the PSU which makes is only $395 for a complete system.

 

[Evilsizer]

thats not to bad either... its gonna be a good mid range gaming box thats for sure!!

oddly enough i might build the E1200 setup to play with.. its not like i need another rig though, like my sig doesnt give that away! lol

 

[gwetmore]

I like the memory you chose as well, I'll definitely look into that before purchasing, I could probably go lower on the video card to maybe an ATI X1300 or something for like 20bucks and maybe on the case but the Coolermaster has a lot better cooling solution for such a cheap price then most cases out there I looked at and figured my son would want to play some half-way decent games too.

 

[Evilsizer]

yea not much more cost for tighter timings and at such a low ddr2 speed it would be imo better to get them.. only $5 difference... yea with a card like that it will leave lots of room for upgrading down the road.

 

[Melee Penguin]

That's a REALLY cheap system, kudos for the writeup.

I'm throwing a vote in for a $1000 rig write up if you'll humor me.

The wife wants to build a new PC when I build my rig, but she doesn't want to spend as much as I am.

 

[Evilsizer]

i can PM you some suggestions. doing a $1k rig is a bit more tricky..as with the many boards you can choose from. really i make sure the person gets a board that fits with what the need/want. as its for your wife so i assume she doesnt need raid on the mothreboard. she might play games? that would then mean a mid range card like the one above or actually with a 3870 or 8800GT since both are at the $230 mark.

what would she like to be able to do on it? store music and pictures, ect stuff like that..

 

[Melee Penguin]

i can PM you some suggestions. doing a $1k rig is a bit more tricky..as with the many boards you can choose from. really i make sure the person gets a board that fits with what the need/want. as its for your wife so i assume she doesnt need raid on the mothreboard. she might play games? that would then mean a mid range card like the one above or actually with a 3870 or 8800GT since both are at the $230 mark.

what would she like to be able to do on it? store music and pictures, ect stuff like that..

She plays WoW on her PC for the most part right now, but it's capable of running (and she's played) Half-Life 1 & 2, Doom 3, Sims 2 etc....

She uses Photoshop extensively as well. (Both of us minored in graphic arts) She draws/colors with a tablet for fun sometimes.

She does store her music/pics/stuff on the PC.