[aolforbroadband]

A friend of mine recently decided it was time for a new PC. I told him to try to build his own as a method to both save money and have more control over what he wants/needs in his PC.

He told me he wants a pretty fast/modern computer, with a 3GHz+ processor, preferably by Intel(but if AMD is faster/cheaper, that would be better I guess), and everything else pretty up to date. Here are his current Gateway PC specs:

2.4GHz Pentium 4
768MB DDR
64MB GeForce MX440
Sound Blaster Audigy LS
2x80+GB HD's

So I guess a modest upgrade would be nice. He's trying not to pry apart his old PC except maybe for some things(1 hard drive) because he may give it to his little brother or something, or use it as a 2nd machine. So I guess this would call for a new CPU, mobo, case, etc.

Hope you guys can help him out with building a kick ass PC for a great price, Thanks!

 

[darian]

Give me a price to work with and I'll give you a good pc. Otherwise it would be a 3000$ PC.

 

[aolforbroadband]

$400-600

 

[darian]

At that price it might be better to go with Dell or other people like that, but you can still put together a decent pc.

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester $153

Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 Mobo $85

Corsair ValueSelect DDR 400 1gb memory $77

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B080P0 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM $66

ASPIRE X-Dreamer II ATXB4KLW-BK Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window - Retail $70

Leadtek A6600 GT TDH Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail $151

Total $602
Best I could do while keeping it good. If your friend doesn't need the hard drive but needs something else (keyboard, mouse, speakers) then you should get rid of that. But it would be very hard to make a full comp with that price.

 

[DarkAurora]

Don't go with a company. They put in the cheapest parts possible and then your computer runs like crap. The only time you go with a company is if you want a laptop.

 

[aolforbroadband]

Keep 'em comin'.

BTW, I don't think he's looking for state-of-the-art graphics, so a value Radeon or something should be fine.

 

[darian]

That's not state of the art. That is the best value you will find.

 

[JanusX]

I agree with Darian's specs (unless the $600 requires having a monitor in which case price wise he's sunk.)

 

[INCA]

For a harddrive tell him pick one up at Staples. They have Maxtor 250gig harddrive for $70. It has lots of space at a good price.

 

[WindHydra]

Why not just get a new processor (or mobo also, if it's crappy like the Compaq one I'm using :rant: ) and graphic card? Your friend can just replace the parts that matters the most and keep all the other stuff.

 

[PiggyFlyer]

one word.. DO NOT GET A P4!!..

Read all of the reviews, AMD is soon gonna demolish intel, it is blatantly obvious.. look at the new reviews of amd's dual core cpus.. crushes intel, not only that but AMD is alot better for running games

if he is just gonna be doing desktop stuff, just use either company.. i highly recommend AMD for gaming though.

oh.. and DO NOT stick with the stock HSF (if you buy just a tower).. they suck, buy a good copper one with a decent fan.. the computer will have way less problems with heat that way

 

[aolforbroadband]

So which is the best processor for around $150-200?

 

[stilz]

I'd say this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103536

 

[darian]

I'd say this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103536

Yep, but you probably don't want OEM.