$400 build for a friend

[Grantofhell]

Are you kidding me? My media build can par or even 1-up that PII Calisto and it cost me 320 shipped. + It's Intel...

 

[Mutant Corn]

AM2+ is a great platform

But it's no longer used.

and DDR2 works just as good.

Uh....no. No it doesn't. Why would they even come put with DDR3 if it did?

if someone is asking for a PC for 400$ they should knwo they arnt getting max everything.

Better to enable good upgrades later than to take that little bit of extra power now...

Are you kidding me? My media build can par or even 1-up that PII Calisto and it cost me 320 shipped. + It's Intel...

What platform is it?

It's much more cost-effective to make a computer that will last a long time with minimal upgrades than it is to make a slightly faster one now and basically build a new one when it comes time for an update.

AMD's next generation of CPU's will be on AM3, but not AM2+, and won't support DDR2. Intel has already dropped 775.

 

[sniperviper21]

Are you kidding me? My media build can par or even 1-up that PII Calisto and it cost me 320 shipped. + It's Intel...

True, but Mutant was talking about AM3/LGA 1366/B

But it's no longer used.


Uh....no. No it doesn't.

it is being used, trust me. just because AM3 is the new 'thing' dosnt mean AM2+ is obsolete, and NOTHING takes advantage really of DDR3+ atm really.


Better to enable good upgrades later than to take that little bit of extra power now...
if the OP wants any kind of future upgrade path, he needs a bigger budget then 400$

--

 

[Grantofhell]

DDR3 only makes sense in an Intel system where you can push the FSB really hard. Since the lowest DDR3 I've seen is PC3-8500 (1066MHz DDR / 533MHz SDR) Which means you would need a 533FSB to be getting the most out of that RAM at STOCK speeds. So DDR3 is really only effective in a system where you are using The QPI, The HT, or you are severely OC'ing.

Plenty of things are "taking advantage" of DDR3. Lower voltages, tighter timings (most come shipped with a 1T Command rate). 1156/1366/AM3 and even 775 if pushed hard can all use DDR3 effectively.

 

[Mutant Corn]

it is being used, trust me. just because AM3 is the new 'thing' dosnt mean AM2+ is obsolete

Technically, yes it does. AM3 is a newer standard.

if the OP wants any kind of future upgrade path, he needs a bigger budget then 400$

Um..no he doesn't? The current build has plenty of upgrade paths.

 

[Grantofhell]

What do you mean by upgrade paths? I'll whip something up in a bit and post it.

 

[Mutant Corn]

He means the ability to get better parts once the current ones become absolete. AM3/DDR3 is a good platform for this...AMD's next generation of products will be based off of AM3. We'll probably see AM3+ somewhere in there, but flashing to AM3+ or even swapping a mobo is much better than having to swap the mobo, cpu, and ram all at once.

 

[Grantofhell]

Well. Based on the OP's statement of "Play most games well" I went pretty heavy on the GPU for a 400 dollar budget. So the build cost is 420 dollars (no shipping). I'm working on another build design. I'll post that a little later. It's a bit hard to pack a graphical punch AND a CPU punch with a decent amount of RAM and still sufficient cooling for under 400. Talk to him and see if he might be able to afford 500 shipped?

First build:

Intel E5300 <--- Hell of an overclocker. Not a terribly bad architecture.

Asus P5QL

GSkill (2x1) PC2-6400

Sapphire HD5670

SeaGate Barracuda 7200.12 320GB/16MB <---(I would normally suggest the 500GB, but it appears to be out of stock. It's only 5 dollars more.)

CoolerMaster eXtreme Power 500w

CoolerMaster Elite 330 Mid-ATX

 

[Mutant Corn]

Faster hard drive, 500GB, $5 more
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&N=2010150014 103530113 1035307886&name=500GB

Same case, but cheaper:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=141815

 

[sniperviper21]

*editing*

wtf?