Rate this Rig for under $750+ shipped

[Kaswyn]

I'm on a tight budget for a programming rig. I won't be gaming. Any suggestions would be good.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz Socket AM2 CPU - $119.00
GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD MB - $74.99
A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $54.99
Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s HD - $49.99
ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler - $29.99 (after $10.00 mail-in rebate)
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner w/12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe Technology - $33.99
Rosewill RP500-2 ATX12V v2.01 500W Power Supply - $44.99
POWMAX CP0327PL-4 Window Black/ Silver SGCC ATX Mid Tower Case - $29.99
Acer AL2016WBbd Black 20" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor - $189.99
MITSUMI Cold Gray 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive - $5.99
Thermaltake CL-C0034 Copper Fan & Heatsinks - $18.99 (for Northbridge chipset)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - $5.99
...

Subtotal: $668.89 (under $750 including shipping and keyboard/mouse)

I'm just relying on the onboard video card since I won't be gaming on this system.

**********************************
**********************************

EDIT (November 23, 2007):

Thanks for all your input. I decided to wait for Black Friday for some awesome deals and it paid off.
All told, I paid $824 (shipping included) for this rig.

Intel Q6600 CPU -Retail
( Bought it from Frys on Black Friday. It came with a MB combo, but the CPU itself was quoted at $168.08 !!!)

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128059

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail
Item#: N82E16820231098

MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E OC GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814127286

Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support 300 cd/m2 700:1 - Retail
Item#:N82E16824009094 ( I bought this at CompUSA on Thanksgiving night at 9 PM for $169.99 after rebates )

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136075

ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T - Retail
Item #: N82E16827135156

Microsoft N71-00007S Black 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Wheel Mouse - OEM
Item #: N82E16826105026

Logitech 967973-0403 Black PS/2 Standard Deluxe 250 Desktop Mouse Included - OEM
Item #: N82E16823126017

RAIDMAX SAGITTA ATX-921WB Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811156087 ($59.99 - $59.99 rebate = FREE)... I just have to pay shipping though Take a peek at it guys. This case looks awesome.

Rosewill RP550V2-S-SL 550W SLI Ready-ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply - Retail
Item#: N82E16817182030 (I bought this over the bigger brand names because of all the good ratings)

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail
Item #: N82E16835186134

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007

 

[AngryArtichoke]

Looks like a solid build for a budget PC. Good job!

 

[UnrealAlex]

It's not bad but a Core 2 Duo system would be cheaper and better...an e2180 processor...not sure how it stacks up against that AMD though.

 

[attack]

Not bad, but I think you can do a little better by shaving some things and moving onto others, I'd give your setup a 7/10
drop the heatsink...CPU and northbridge. That saves 50.
Then drop the CPU/mobo, now we have 250 to work with.
Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2, 75 bucks, onboard video, can handle quad cores.
That leaves us with enough cash for an E6550.
Now, we're going to have to rely on stock cooling, but thats ok!
I know we all want awesome cooling and everything else, but it's not needed. My rig is running at 9x300 with the stock cooler (had to rip out water for deployment). That's 50% OC on stock air.
Now, this E6550 will easily hit 3.0+ on stock air also, and 3.0+ w/4mb cache will stomp that 5200+
The motherboard will be fine without any added cooling as well.

You could even go with an allendale E4500 and buy an aftermarket heatsink. The E4xxx series is 800mhz FSB which gives it high multipliers and easy OC's to high speeds which will keep motherboards that won't OC in check (because if OC to 1333 FSB from 800 the motherboard will be running at a rated designed speed).

I'd still stick with the E6550, but just giving you another option

 

[Kaswyn]

Not bad, but I think you can do a little better by shaving some things and moving onto others, I'd give your setup a 7/10
drop the heatsink...CPU and northbridge. That saves 50.
Then drop the CPU/mobo, now we have 250 to work with.
Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2, 75 bucks, onboard video, can handle quad cores.
That leaves us with enough cash for an E6550.
Now, we're going to have to rely on stock cooling, but thats ok!
I know we all want awesome cooling and everything else, but it's not needed. My rig is running at 9x300 with the stock cooler (had to rip out water for deployment). That's 50% OC on stock air.
Now, this E6550 will easily hit 3.0+ on stock air also, and 3.0+ w/4mb cache will stomp that 5200+
The motherboard will be fine without any added cooling as well.

You could even go with an allendale E4500 and buy an aftermarket heatsink. The E4xxx series is 800mhz FSB which gives it high multipliers and easy OC's to high speeds which will keep motherboards that won't OC in check (because if OC to 1333 FSB from 800 the motherboard will be running at a rated designed speed).

I'd still stick with the E6550, but just giving you another option

What's the difference between the E6550 and E6300 besides more cache and a faster stock speed? The E6300 seems to be only a few bucks more expensive. The E6300 is a better overclocker? Btw, I'm not going to overclock this system.

Also, all the benchmarks I'm looking at seem to show the 6000+ at par with (and sometimes better than) the E6550 and better than the E6300. Think I'll get more bang for my buck with the 6000+ and stick with stock cooling?

http://techreport.com/articles.x/12091/6
http://xtreview.com/review208.htm

 

[attack]

The E6300 is an older CPU...that's why it's expensive. The 6000+ does seem to stack up evenly with the 6550 C2D, but the 6550 C2D has a ton of headroom left for OCing. Your sig shows you have OC'd rigs, and with the way C2D scales compared to current X2's it's a much better choice IMO.

If you are gonna stay stock for sure, then it's still a tossup, I'd go C2D because of the potential and the option of OCing in the future. But both are definetly on par for stock price/performance.

 

[White_Pawn]

if you do alot of number crunching, a Q6600 would be real nice. Otherwise, it looks fine.

 

[inkfx]

"Rosewill RP500-2 ATX12V v2.01 500W Power Supply - $44.99"

I would definitely switch that out with something else. Check out the Corsair PSUs.

 

[jimmsch]

Any time somebody can piece together a fairly high end...maybe between mid range and high range...PC for under $700 they have my respect!

 

[White_Pawn]

"Rosewill RP500-2 ATX12V v2.01 500W Power Supply - $44.99"

I would definitely switch that out with something else. Check out the Corsair PSUs.

i forgot to say change that.

You don't need to always buy a corsair psu, but something like an antec triopower, thermaltake, fortron is much better than a rosewill.

 

[WoW_STORM]

I agree with the comments that both ajrettke and inkfx said. Quad core and better ps.

 

[inkfx]

i forgot to say change that.

You don't need to always buy a corsair psu, but something like an antec triopower, thermaltake, fortron is much better than a rosewill.

but.. they are such good deals.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=533199

good till tomorrow

 

[JamesXP]

http://jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=48&page_num=4

Got an 8.5 at jG

 

[inkfx]

Fuhjyyu caps. This baby needs to be used in a well ventilated case

Aren't those the same caps that plagued the Antec TP series?

 

[JamesXP]

Read the whole review he explains

 

[inkfx]

Didn't get a bad review, but I still wouldn't buy it. Maybe that's just me.

 

[Kaswyn]

In case you missed it, I just want to give you all an update on my progress and I want to thank you all for your input. I decided to wait for Black Friday for some awesome deals and it paid off. All told, I paid $824 (shipping included) for this rig.

Intel Q6600 CPU -Retail
( Bought it from Frys on Black Friday. It came with a MB combo, but the CPU itself was quoted at $168.08 !!!)

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128059

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail
Item#: N82E16820231098

MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E OC GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814127286

Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support 300 cd/m2 700:1 - Retail
Item#:N82E16824009094 ( I bought this at CompUSA on Thanksgiving night at 9 PM for $169.99 after rebates )

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136075

ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T - Retail
Item #: N82E16827135156

Microsoft N71-00007S Black 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Wheel Mouse - OEM
Item #: N82E16826105026

Logitech 967973-0403 Black PS/2 Standard Deluxe 250 Desktop Mouse Included - OEM
Item #: N82E16823126017

RAIDMAX SAGITTA ATX-921WB Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811156087 ($59.99 - $59.99 rebate = FREE)... I just have to pay shipping though Take a peek at it guys. This case looks awesome.

Rosewill RP550V2-S-SL 550W SLI Ready-ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply - Retail
Item#: N82E16817182030 (I bought this over the bigger brand names because of all the good ratings)

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail
Item #: N82E16835186134

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007

 

[xbiker321]

Damn, you scored some great deals...especially on the free case and Q6600 + mobo combo

 

[ancalime]

Nice. You really took advantage of the Black Friday deals.

The Rosewill is an OK PSU, you probably should of dished a little more and got the Corsair 450VX or something though. Other than that, nice rig!

 

[satandole666]

Nice setup.

If you don't do any major overclocking you should be alright on a crappy PSU. Back when I was young and dumb I ran my entire (OCed) setup on a 500W PSU that came with a case. It took it 4 years to die, but it finally did and took my harddrives and motherboard with it.

Lesson of the story...when you get a spare $75 or so grab a nice PSU and sell the Rosewill. It isn't a big rush, but you'll sleep better at night.