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View Full Version : Please critique this $550 build



Bonzi
03-02-2009, 03:09 AM
Edited: Now $500

Never put together a PC before. Any mistakes mentioned or constructive criticism would be appreciated. I'm not a gamer, so I'm thinking this would be more than enough. Would like to watch videos from the PC to a HDTV though.

Is there anything else I need? I have the items from my old PC such as a monitor, OS, keyboard mouse, speakers, etc. I already have some thermal compound also. Do I need any extra fans? Anything else?



Antec Three Hundred ATX Case- $45 (http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0283272)

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail- $70 ($60 after MiR) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003)

GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail- $80 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380)

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail- $120 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206)

OCZ Vista Upgrade 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail- $40 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227195)

Apollo AP-HD4650 256MB DDR3 Radeon HD 4650 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail- $60 ($55 after MiR) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814140102)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM- $60 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288)

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM- $26 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173)

Total- $501 ($486 after MiRs)

RickyTick
03-05-2009, 12:17 AM
I don't really see any problems with your list. Looks good to me.

You list 4gb of ram. Is your OS 64-bit? If it's Windows XP 32-bit, then 2gb of ram will be more than enough.

You shouldn't need any more fans either.

Best of luck.

Bonzi
03-05-2009, 01:54 AM
You list 4gb of ram. Is your OS 64-bit? If it's Windows XP 32-bit, then 2gb of ram will be more than enough.
Yes, it's Windows XP 32-bit. What about when Windows 7 comes out? If I get it, will I be better off just having 4gb of ram now?

If I go with 2gb of ram, is it better to get it all on one stick or two? Which should I go with between these choices?:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231108
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231121

Thanks for getting back to me.

RickyTick
03-05-2009, 06:05 PM
The DDR2 800 is definately the best choice between those two. You could just stay with your original choice of the OCZ 4gb (2x2gb), then you'll be ready when you update later to Windows 7.