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08-07-2006, 08:19 PM
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#1 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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College Computer Build
Ok, so I'll first admit I used SteelyDan's build as a starting point. I've made a couple of changes, and I just wanted to see if anyone had any more suggestions. I don't want to spend a LOT more money, but if there are any other upgrades that I could make that would give my computer a noticeable boost or longer lifespan, I'd be all for it. Like perhaps the next step up in mobos? I dunno...
As for what the computer will be used for, mostly games, music, some video editing maybe. Case - Thermaltake SOPRANO VB1000BWS Black Steel/Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133145 Price - $59.99 Monitor - LG L1717S-BN Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 600:1 0.26mm Pixel Pitch - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005071 Price - $164.99 CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103747 Price - $185.00 Motherboard - ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131022 Price - $94.99 RAM - CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034 Price - $254.00 Video Card - eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT CO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130283 Price - $162.99 PSU - Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103932 Price - $96.99 HDD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140 Price - $94.99 Optical Drive - LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE 16X DVD±R DVD Burner - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106013 Price - $33.25 Total - $1147.19 Last edited by yellowsnow; 08-08-2006 at 01:10 AM. |
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08-07-2006, 08:25 PM
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#2 |
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Kickin' it
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 7,723
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Looks good to me. Don't forget Windows XP.
 Good catch newbuilder14. Heres the link snow : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140
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Fold for PCMech: Team 13761 Last edited by Alaron; 08-07-2006 at 08:46 PM. |
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08-07-2006, 08:38 PM
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#3 |
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Not so new
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Maryland, United States
Posts: 2,576
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I'd recommend a SATA hard drive. Also consider the Intel Core 2 Duo processors.
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08-07-2006, 08:49 PM
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#4 |
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Member (7 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 87
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Do you have a budget?
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08-07-2006, 09:56 PM
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#5 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Oops, yeah, I meant to get SATA...hold on.
Budget...preferably under $1200, but $1300 is ok. |
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08-07-2006, 10:51 PM
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#6 |
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Not so new
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Maryland, United States
Posts: 2,576
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For around $120 more, you could upgrade to an Intel motherboard and get an Intel Core 2 Duo e6400, which in test, beat the Athlon 64 x2 supposedly by a significant amount. Check out Ewiz.com and Zipzoomfly.com, they have them onsale for $200-350+.
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08-07-2006, 11:00 PM
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#7 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 398
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If you do chose intel, make SURE to wait a little bit before you order a core 2 duo, prices are just stupid on them almost anywhere, zzfly is good though. I would wait until newegg gets their price gouging under control.
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08-07-2006, 11:10 PM
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#8 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Thanks guys.
I would use your suggestions but I just realized that unfortunately, California has a wicked sales tax that is making my computer too expensive already. I think I'm just going to stick with this build, but thanks all the same. |
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08-07-2006, 11:36 PM
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#9 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 398
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have someone out-of-state get the parts for you then and mail em... if it is a relative they may even pay the shipping for you !! lol
I guess that is the only advice I have now haha |
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08-08-2006, 12:04 AM
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#10 |
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Defenestrator
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: NYC & NJ
Posts: 1,371
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19" LCDs are dropping in prices, specifically the Samsung 930B, which is going for about $199 on sale, sometimes with rebates.
Even with a 17" monitor, it looks pretty good so far. If you don't already have, don't forget about a mouse/keyboard, and possibly a 2.1 speaker setup.
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ToolGuyd.com - My Tool Blog |
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08-08-2006, 12:10 AM
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#11 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Does anyone have any insight on Aspire's cases? They're good eye-candy and they seem to get pretty good reviews.
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08-08-2006, 12:10 AM
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#12 |
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Member (11 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,616
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Try pricing your build from zipzoomfly. It doesn't look like they ship out of CA like Newegg does, so no sales tax.
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Laptop HP DM4t / i5-560M / 14.1 WXGA Widescreen / 1GB Radeon Mobility 6370 / 4GB RAM / 320 GB 7200rpm HD / DVD-RW / 802.11n & BT wireless First Build Abit IC7-G Max II Motherboard / 2.8C 800mhz P4 / 1024 DDR 3200 (2x 512 in Duel Channel) / Saphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128 / Samsung 120 GB SATA HD / Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM / NEC DVD-RW |
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08-08-2006, 12:11 AM
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#13 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Ok, I'll check those out, thanks.
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08-08-2006, 12:12 AM
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#14 |
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Member (11 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,616
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Aspire cases are fine. Just don't trust the PSUs farther then you can chuck them.
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08-08-2006, 12:16 AM
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#15 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Right on, and I believe you are right about zipzoomfly. Too bad I already ordered several things...
Argh, scratch that. Oh well.
Last edited by yellowsnow; 08-08-2006 at 12:22 AM. |
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08-08-2006, 12:19 AM
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#16 |
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Member (11 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,616
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Sorry. I just did a double check. It didn't say anything about a CA sales tax in the shopping cart, but their RMA address is Cali. Didn't see that at first.
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08-08-2006, 12:27 AM
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#17 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Same thing I did.
Also, I won't forget keyboard, mouse, or speakers, but is there anything else I'm forgetting (small things)? I already have XP, and I bought a SATA cable for the OEM drive. |
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08-08-2006, 01:45 AM
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#18 |
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Member (11 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,616
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Nope. looks like you will have everything. You actually didn't need the sata cable either. If you look at the images for your motherboard it shows all the accessories it comes with (well minus the stand-offs and screws, those are a given with a retail board). It comes with two sata cables and two sata power adaptors incase your PSU didn't have sata power native.
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08-08-2006, 05:29 AM
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#19 |
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Forum Administrator
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 37,765
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ZZF will nail you for sales tax too, they are physically located in CA. See how much of your list you can get out of Directron or (SHUDDER) Tiger Direct, and compare prices.
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08-08-2006, 10:31 AM
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#20 |
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9mm wins.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Behind my Glock 34.
Posts: 4,544
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I second Directron. I work with them and NewEgg all the time and they both are great.
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08-08-2006, 12:43 PM
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#21 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Thanks for the heads up on Directron. I went ahead and ordered much of the rest from Directron, which saved me a fair amount. Everything is ordered now.
Thanks to all. |
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08-08-2006, 01:02 PM
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#22 |
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9mm wins.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Behind my Glock 34.
Posts: 4,544
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Have fun with you new build and let us know how it goes.
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08-08-2006, 03:49 PM
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#23 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Blue Springs, MO
Posts: 1,766
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Nice rig, but might I suggest you take a look at a lower budget build. Frankly, far too many good looking computers just get up and walk out of dorm rooms. I don't know why, but it just happens. At the very least you want a case that doesn't look like a million bucks.
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CH "All you need is love." |
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08-09-2006, 06:39 AM
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#24 |
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9mm wins.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Behind my Glock 34.
Posts: 4,544
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There are also mounts and locks available to secure your computer to the desk if you worried about theft.
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08-09-2006, 07:44 AM
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#25 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Blue Springs, MO
Posts: 1,766
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My point is that a nice computer, especially if it is nice looking like yellowsnow's, is an attraction in a college dorm. Yellowsnow has to think about security. Otherwise he is going to wake up some day wondering what happened to his term paper and the computer it was in.
One of the classic approaches to dorm security has been to wrap real computing horse power in a plain jane enclosure and then to put unique and easily identifiable decals on the outside. Mounts and locks are also important. Last edited by Computer Hobbyist; 08-09-2006 at 10:38 AM. |
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08-11-2006, 01:14 AM
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#26 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Definitely good to think about, but I think I should be ok, at least for this year. It's a small college, and one that I don't think would be as open to theft. I also have a single, so the door will remain locked, and it won't be anybody's responsibility but my own. I may still invest in a lock though, as that is not a bad idea. Thanks.
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08-11-2006, 06:25 AM
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#27 |
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9mm wins.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Behind my Glock 34.
Posts: 4,544
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Your welcome, let us know how your new build is when it is done.
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08-11-2006, 09:17 AM
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#28 |
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Wx geek
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Indiana
Posts: 6,638
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A laptop would walk off MUCH easier...I can't imagine trying to walk off with a desktop (unhooking it, then lugging it out, etc)
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"It is the way of man to make monsters and it is the nature of monsters to destroy their makers." |
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08-11-2006, 09:41 AM
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#29 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
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Well I'll have both as candy for theives, so...
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08-11-2006, 11:29 AM
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#30 |
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9mm wins.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Behind my Glock 34.
Posts: 4,544
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Or... what you can do is assemble a DECOY build with a ECS board, some generic PSU (DEER, Ultra, etc.), and some other crappy parts and LET them steal that one.
A computer built with ONLY the lowest quality parts will teach thieves not to steal when they attempt to power it on and it blows up with enough force to take out a city block hehe.
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