Build Guide for Teens

[shozzking]

DONT BUY THAT PSU!!!!
i would only buy corsair, antec and thermaltake PSU's. the rest arent good at all

 

[dude_56013]

That entire post just screamed fanboy. Corsair, Antec, and Thermaltake aren't the only companies that manufacture quality PSUs.

 

[Mutant Corn]

Thanks! That seems affordable and thrifty Is it worth it, though? I mean... 2.4 is slow. How fast do you think I can keep it going at a nice, cool rate?

That isn't good at all. That's the old phenom, not the new phenom II. It's cost/power ratio is terrible compared to others. A new Athlon II would be cheaper and faster than that. Since the i3 deal is apparently over, I'd go with the phenom II 550. It's only two cores but will still be faster.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680

Do NOT get a diablotek PSU. The Cooler Master combo is better than that, though still not very good. If you're going to get something crappy, don't make it the PSU.
If something just has to be a bottom-of-the-barrel part, make it the case. That won't affect performance much.


What is your budget really? If you really only want to spend $350 or $300, say something, because the rig I posted up on the last page is very solid, and is well within the $400 budget you gave. Here it is again, though with a different mobo:

CPU- Phenom II x2 550 ($99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680

Mobo- ASUS M4A78LT-M LE ($70)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10011719

RAM- Kingston 2x1GB, DDR3 1066 ($47)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007851

Hard Drive- Western Digital Caviar 600GB 16M ($56)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101259

PSU- Thermaltake W0070RUC ($37)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=370565&prodlist=celebros

Case- Azza Orion 202 ($40) ($25 rebate) (Decent, but no NZXT)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517003

DVD burner- Sony Optiarc ($26)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030


Total cost: $375 shipped, $350 with rebates, and so far is still better than anything else posted.

edit: It's capable of unlocking the other two cores as well.

 

[nickelodeonn]

DONT BUY THAT PSU!!!!
i would only buy corsair, antec and thermaltake PSU's. the rest arent good at all

Really?! Cuz it got 5-stars...

That entire post just screamed fanboy. Corsair, Antec, and Thermaltake aren't the only companies that manufacture quality PSUs.

That's what I'm thinkin...

That isn't good at all. That's the old phenom, not the new phenom II. It's cost/power ratio is terrible compared to others. A new Athlon II would be cheaper and faster than that. Since the i3 deal is apparently over, I'd go with the phenom II 550. It's only two cores but will still be faster.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680

Do NOT get a diablotek PSU. The Cooler Master combo is better than that, though still not very good. If you're going to get something crappy, don't make it the PSU.
If something just has to be a bottom-of-the-barrel part, make it the case. That won't affect performance much.


What is your budget really? If you really only want to spend $350 or $300, say something, because the rig I posted up on the last page is very solid, and is well within the $400 budget you gave. Here it is again, though with a different mobo:


edit: It's capable of unlocking the other two cores as well.

I might get that CPU, but not anything else. I really like my build right now... I'm more concerned with the CPU value. That one looks amazing! Is it capable of unlocking more cores on the board I have listed? And how do I got about doing that? Is it less complicated than I think?

(This is the board I'm talking about)
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail



I really would go with what you're saying, but I don't know if I will anymore because the RAM is so dang expensive!! (DDR3) I mean, for $24 more, I can get 4GB (in 2GB STICKS!) of DDR2 RAM!

 

[Mutant Corn]

You get 2GB more, but it'll run slower, and you can't really upgrade it anymore, which you'll probably want to do at some point. DDR2 is dead. As in, most manufacturers don't put it in new computers anymore. DDR3 is a newer, better technology.

And honestly, if you're like most people, you won't use much over 1GB anyway. I generally use just over 1gb on my laptop, and that's running Vista. Win7 takes less than Vista, and Ubuntu takes next to nothing...500MB at the most. You could actually get away with just 1GB total on Linux, though I wouldn't recommend it since you plan on switching to Windows.

Also, from what the comments say, that motherboard doesn't support windows 7 64 bit very well, which is what you'd want when you switch to windows. Food for thought.

As for the PSU, shozzking was a little fanboyish, but the diablotek psu you picked really isn't very good. That's not a good brand. Trust me, you do want to get a quality psu, even if everything else is crap. If the PSU fails, it can potentially fry every component in your computer.

 

[Holysky]

DONT BUY THAT PSU!!!!
i would only buy corsair, antec and thermaltake PSU's. the rest arent good at all

That's just like saying buying a Dell is WAY better then building your own

 

[Mutant Corn]

That's just like saying buying a Dell is WAY better then building your own

How?

Those 3 may not be the only companies that make good PSU's, but AFAIK they're the most well known, and for good reason.

 

[VINMAN46]

You get 2GB more, but it'll run slower, and you can't really upgrade it anymore, which you'll probably want to do at some point. DDR2 is dead. As in, most manufacturers don't put it in new computers anymore. DDR3 is a newer, better technology.

And honestly, if you're like most people, you won't use much over 1GB anyway. I generally use just over 1gb on my laptop, and that's running Vista. Win7 takes less than Vista, and Ubuntu takes next to nothing...500MB at the most. You could actually get away with just 1GB total on Linux, though I wouldn't recommend it since you plan on switching to Windows.

Also, from what the comments say, that motherboard doesn't support windows 7 64 bit very well, which is what you'd want when you switch to windows. Food for thought.

As for the PSU, shozzking was a little fanboyish, but the diablotek psu you picked really isn't very good. That's not a good brand. Trust me, you do want to get a quality psu, even if everything else is crap. If the PSU fails, it can potentially fry every component in your computer.

i wouldnt say ddr2 is dead its far from dead

 

[Mutant Corn]

i wouldnt say ddr2 is dead its far from dead

It's been replaced. There's no good reason for a new computer to have it.

 

[nickelodeonn]

You get 2GB more, but it'll run slower, and you can't really upgrade it anymore, which you'll probably want to do at some point. DDR2 is dead. As in, most manufacturers don't put it in new computers anymore. DDR3 is a newer, better technology.

And honestly, if you're like most people, you won't use much over 1GB anyway. I generally use just over 1gb on my laptop, and that's running Vista. Win7 takes less than Vista, and Ubuntu takes next to nothing...500MB at the most. You could actually get away with just 1GB total on Linux, though I wouldn't recommend it since you plan on switching to Windows.

Also, from what the comments say, that motherboard doesn't support windows 7 64 bit very well, which is what you'd want when you switch to windows. Food for thought.

As for the PSU, shozzking was a little fanboyish, but the diablotek psu you picked really isn't very good. That's not a good brand. Trust me, you do want to get a quality psu, even if everything else is crap. If the PSU fails, it can potentially fry every component in your computer.

Thanks for all the advice! I won't be using it so often, so I don't think my PSU will overheat, if that's the problem. What does the PSU do that might fry the parts? I don't want to spend more on the PSU, I really like that $35 deal.. plus it has 5-stars. Oh, by the way, it won't let me edit it, but I chose 2GB 1333Mhz DDR3 RAM for $50 on TigerDirect, and I also changed the motherboard to one that supports Athlon II, DDR3, and AM3