Budget Home PC

[pzjr317]

I've been reading up on the MySuperPC website and following the forums here for a good 10 to 12 months on and off; and i think that i am just about ready to build my own. This first build i want is supposed to be very simple but upgradeable (as any Super PC should be.)

I've noticed that the Budget builds on the forums are AMD now. Can an intel build not be 'budget' anymore? Anyhow, i want to spend the very minimum on this first build without sacrificing on the Mobo (as all future upgrade-ability runs through here.)

Case/PSU: Antec Sonata III 500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

CPU: Intel Pentium E6300 Wolfdale http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116091

RAM: G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

Graphics card: Not yet

Sound card: Integrated

Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAKS 250GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161

Optical Drive(s): Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

Monitor: ACER 24" that I just got; or my SONY 32" wall-mounted TV.

Speakers: Old 5.1 surround sound system i have hooked up.

Operating System: Was planning on installing XP Pro through work. IT lady says that it shouldn't be a problem installing from her CD's as long as i have my old key.

Subtotal: $438.94 before tax and shipping without an O/S.

[RickyTick]

Welcome to the forums.

For a budget build, it's really hard to beat the price to performance ratio that AMD has. They certainly seem to have an advantage over Intel in this area. The build you listed is just fine. It would be nice if you could step up the cpu to the E7400, but that's about a $40 increase.

That motherboard can handle faster ram. Take a look at this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231144).

[RickyTick]

You can get the Western Digital Caviar Blue 320Gb for $44.99 with free shipping from Newegg if you use Promo Code EMCMNPM46.

Better Hurry!!:D

[pzjr317]

Thanks for the tip. Just ordered that HDD and the rest of it as well. I'll let you know how it all went down once i've built it.

Thanks!

[pzjr317]

Funny thing happened to me last night...

Got all of the parts in yesterday. Everything looks great. Put it all together and went to grab my monitor and hook it up...

There is no onboard video for this monitor. DOH! Didn't think I'd need a GPU quite yet, but i do. I'm gonna order one ASAP and would appreciate any input on one that would work well with the system mentioned above.

I'm leaning towards the SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 recommended in the "a step above budget build"

[RickyTick]

Oops!! Sorry, I totally missed that. That 5770 is an excellent card.