2nd Build

[Demo Bob]

With all your great help on my first build, Im thinking of rebuilding an old family desk top used for email, internet and low end internet games. Its a six year old Dell Pentium D, 40g HD, 512m of ram. My thoughts were to replace the CPU, Mobo, Memory, Hd, DVD. Re using the case and PSU. I can get a AMD Phenom x2 560 black box and a Asus M4N68T-MV2 on a bundle deal for $99.99. Do you think is a good or bad idea. I appreciate and respect your opinions.

[EzyStvy]

You'll have problems with a non Dell mobo in a Dell case.

Your windows cd won't work on a non Dell mobo and the current hard proabably wont work either with out doing a repair install.

[Nuclear Krusader]

You're essentially building a whole new system. Not worth reusing that case and PSU. (Assuming that PSU is not proprietory.)

[Demo Bob]

Thanks for the head up, I'l start doing some research on parts in my budget and post them.

[Demo Bob]

Here's what I've come up with. I can buy everything from my local Micro Center for $287.94 plus tax. They have a bundle deal for the CPU and Mobo for $99.99. Many years ago I had a bad virus and Dell would not help me reinstall my resourse disk. So I bought a copy of XP and Office Home and Student and formatted the HD myself. I am not opposed to buying another copy of Win 7 oem for this machine. I would just like to use my old software. If I buy Win 7 should I go with the 32 bit or 64 bit? Any comment or suggestions would be appreciated.

AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition Callisto 3.3GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor HDZ560WFGMBOX

ASUS M4N68T-M V2 AM3 NVIDIA Geforce 7025/nForce 630a Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z Black SECC / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model KHX1333C9D3B1K2/4G

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V V2.2 Intel Core i7 Compliant Dual 80mm Fans Full Cable Sleevings Power Supply

[glc]

You might as well reuse your copy of XP, but if you buy 7, buy 64 bit.

[Demo Bob]

Can I use 4gb of ram with XP, also I am tring to keep the price down on this build but don't want to buy the wrong parts. Can I have a list of preferred power supplies to choose from.

[Demo Bob]

glc, I just read your sticky on building a computor using XP. I read this a few times but don't really understand it. Does this apply to my build?

[glc]

XP will recognize and use about 3.25gb of that ram.

That Thermaltake will work and be reliable. Just don't try to run much of a video card with it.

Which sticky? Link, please.

[Demo Bob]

Under "build your own pc" 2nd sticky from the top, Building a new computor with windows XP

[jdeb]

I am an Asus fan but not that board. I do not like the Nvidia chipset with and AMD CPU. I have found them to be flaky. You may be better served to use the Biostar A780L3G board, just my opinion (I will probably get hammered). I have built a couple of budget systems with that board and they are good.

[glc]

You may or may not need a floppy - it all depends on the SATA controller and mode of operation. It's no big deal if you do even if the motherboard doesn't have a floppy controller, you can use a USB floppy drive.

[Demo Bob]

I'm starting to re think my low budget build. I do not want to sacrifice reliability for $287.00. I would rather put in another 100 bucks or so maybe top it off at $500.00. However I have no idea which way to go. I do not mind integrated graphics. Any suggestions?

[glc]

How about this?

Newegg.com - ASUS P8H61-M (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz 2 x 256KB L2 Cache 3MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I32100

The rest of the stuff is fine.

[Demo Bob]

glc, I like, do I need a video card with this and if I do please recommend one or two.

[Nuclear Krusader]

You don't need a video card unless you're gaming. The video system in Sandy Bridge is quite good.

[glc]

You should also be able to load XP without a floppy if you set the SATA controller to IDE mode.

[Demo Bob]

Thanks everyone

[Demo Bob]

If I set the SATA to IDE, goes that mean I cant use SATA cables?

[glc]

No..........

That makes it so the controller emulates an IDE controller, which XP should have native drivers for.

[Blue Flux Blazer]

I totally agree with everything jdeb wrote.

I love building basic budget boxes. I just built a dedicated Linux distro hopper with a Biostar board (A780L3L) that is $10 cheaper than the one jdeb listed, and it is excellent for it's purpose.

If you want to build an email, surfer, and low end internet game machine, an AMD Athlon X2 250 3.0 and an ASUS M4A78LT-M are more than up to the task, and are rock solid reliable choices to include in your build.