$1,000 budget build, please critique!

[vogyson]

Hello all,

I have built myself two computers over the years, both of which I was extremely pleased with. Now my sister has asked me to build her a computer on a $1,000 budget and I am trying to go with an AMD/ATI build hoping it will provide her with more bang for the buck. My last AMD/ATI build I made was about 7 years ago, and so I am sort of unfamiliar with the current technology. I was just hoping you guys might be able to check out my build I came up with after doing a few hours of research and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Note: I am going to purchase Win7 and MS Office through my university for cheap, so do not factor either of these into the $1,000 budget.


Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $99.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $99.99

ASUS Crosshair III Formula AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard $199.99

XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 $159.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready $109.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory $109.99

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core $159.99

The prices listed are after all rebates.
So that brings me to $948.43 after shipping from newegg.
I still need to add a disc drive though, any suggestions?

 

[RemoteTechs]

Consider buying some of this hardware through eBay?

The AMD Phenom II X4 955 (New) is going for $130. May be able to upgrade some of the hardware if you go that route.

 

[reeve]

if you dont mind giong SLIGHTLY over budget by a few $ then how bout this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...205&cm_re=bluray_drive-_-27-135-205-_-Product

also if you want to give your sister something that is different from every other case (and a WEE bit smaller due to vertical mounting of hdd's + ODD) try this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...10008&cm_re=GMC_corona-_-11-110-008-_-Product

this will bring you back under the $1000 mark by about $20 or so

 

[Atomic Rooster]

Nice build.

Here's a great burner that wont break the bank: LG Black 22X DVD+R

 

[lewblue83]

Asus m4a89gtd pro/usb3 is a great feature packed mother board and its 50 bucks cheaper than the one you linked.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3131631&cm_re=m4a89gtd-_-13-131-631-_-Product

 

[wol-va-rine]

Consider buying some of this hardware through eBay?

The AMD Phenom II X4 955 (New) is going for $130. May be able to upgrade some of the hardware if you go that route.

definitely not...

what will she be doing with the computer...? if she's just gonna be browsing the web, doing some word processing, checking email and watching videos that system is way overkill, you could probably build her a decent one for less than $400 if that's all she's gonna do with it...

think of how happy she'll be if you give her the computer and hand her back X amount of dollars because it was too much...

 

[RemoteTechs]

definitely not...

what will she be doing with the computer...? if she's just gonna be browsing the web, doing some word processing, checking email and watching videos that system is way overkill, you could probably build her a decent one for less than $400 if that's all she's gonna do with it...

think of how happy she'll be if you give her the computer and hand her back X amount of dollars because it was too much...

Well if they purchase the items through eBay, if not to upgrade their hardware(with what they're saving), they still could save a chunk of change.

Just a thought.

 

[wol-va-rine]

Well if they purchase the items through eBay, if not to upgrade their hardware(with what they're saving), they still could save a chunk of change.

Just a thought.

ebay is a cheap option and yes I have used it, but the condition of the product and the shipping time can vary, plus there's always a chance of getting scammed, if you have the money to buy new that's usually the way to go, especially if this ends up being a HTPC type build, it won't be that expensive anyway...

 

[eslfish]

Great build! Nothing looks wrong to me, I wish I had 1k to spend on a build.

 

[lhuser]

If she's not gaming or being a hardcore OCer, then I wouldn't waste too much on a motherboard.
Here, that's the ASUS M4A89GTD Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131633
$140, with SATA III (6Gbps) and with USB 3.0