My 1st pc build

[N8N8N8]

Hello...

I will post my questions in here and not keep making new threads and hopefully this thread will expand

Im looking to build a pc for muti-tasking and have a few basic questions.

My budget is about $500-600 for everything.

Performance wise.

1. Is it better to have a dual core processor or quad core? What would be a fast cpu 3.0ghz?
2. Is the better to have a on-board sound and video or
get a separate graphics card and sound card. Will it make a difference if I dont play games on my pc?
3. Will I get a better performance with a 7200rpm or 10000rpm harddrive?
4. how many watts will be sufficient to power a computer 400-500?

Thanks again
N8

[ShyguyXPC]

1. depends on what your doing or using the PC for, and whether those tasks are optimized for Dual or Quad core CPU's. for Multi tasking, a Quad can be nice, but depends on the level of multi tasking you'd be doing

2. depends on what your doing or using the PC for, for gaming in general onboard sound is fine, unless your hooked up to some high quality speakers, as to video, its almost always better to have a dedicated Video card, unless its really light (low level graphics) gaming. If your not going to be gaming on the PC, then most onboard video chips will suffice.

3. depends on what your doing or using the PC for, 10K RPM drives are nice and can give a decent increase in games and similar situations where data is read of the Hard drive constantly, but in general, a 7200RPM drive is more than sufficient, and in fact there are some models on the market nearly as fast as the 10K RPM drives. mainly if your planning on doing tasks that will frequently read and write to the hard drive a 10K RPM can be nice to have, but considering the price, its usually best to get the fastest 7200RPM drive you can find, you'll have more storage and less price, and comparable if not slightly slower performance.

4. this all depends on the hardware used in the system, if its a light duty basic use PC with light gaming duty, a good quality brand name 350-400W PSU should be more than adequate, for a moderate to high level gaming rig, 400 to 800W would be recommended. again, it all depends on the hardware in the PC, primarily the big factor would be the type of Video card installed if you wanted a dedicated card, or even multiple cards. if this system is to be used for every day tasks, multi tasking as in office apps, and using basically all onboard components (sound, video, etc), then a quality 300-350W PSU should be enough.

[ShyguyXPC]

Under $500 budget:

Newegg.com - ASRock M3A785GMH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT - Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - Antec Basiq BP430 430W Continuous Power ATX12V Version 2.2 Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - APEX TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Case is personal taste, but I figured for a basic use multi task system, something like that with the built in handle was kind of nice.

no dedicated video card, but the onboard video has 128MB of dedicated Memory, so should be more than adequate.

the 430W PSU is more than that system needs, but does leave option to upgrade to a medium size Video card down the road if you wanted or needed one, just opens up some upgrade options for future use, one less component to upgrade, and its not THAT much overkill for what you need now.

DDR3 RAM, 4GB total, if you use a 32-bit OS you won't be able to use all of it, but should be still able to use about 3.5GB of it at least.

3GHz AMD Phenom II Quad core, more than enough for multi tasking.

Western Digital Caviar Black series is one of the 7200RPM drives I was referring to, this one is on sale marked down, and free shipping, so costs the same as the 500GB model, so for same price you get an extra 250GB of storage.

SATA DVD Burner, smaller cables so less clutter. the only thing that will be a pain in the ass is tucking the excess power cables away to enable proper airflow in the case.

after shipping its just under $500, leaving another $100 for an Operating system, Windows 7, or XP or whatever...

if you opted for a Triple Core, that would lessen the price still maintain a decent multi tasking system, and even give some cash to spend on things like better case fans or add in a Flash Media card reader or something.

[Theophylact]

Some nice recent guides:

Tom's Hardware $650 Gaming PC

Ars Technica's Budget Box ($600-800)

AnandTech's System Buyer's Guide: PC's Under $800 (soon to be updated)

I could build a very nice system with this motherboard ($90 from Newegg). Add 4 GB of DDR3 1600 for $88 and a Phenom II X2 550 for $102, and you have the guts of a solid PC for $270. You've got decent integrated graphics and you could add a relatively cheap video card for $100. Another $250 for a 1 TB hard drive, DVD burner, mouse, keyboard and case (Antec has good cases with decent PSUs included), and $150 for a 22" monitor, and there you are (except for the operating system, and you can buy Windows 7 Home Premium OEM for $110).

[N8N8N8]

If I get a motherboard with onboard video and sound, do I still have the option to upgrade the video and sound or do I need to buy a new motherboard to do that?

[nickslick74]

You will still have the option to upgrade both the sound and video if you wish.

[ShyguyXPC]

keep in mind Theo's list of parts exceeds your budget by a good $100, not even including an dedicated video card and operating system. for a "Complete" System.

don't know what he's talking about with a $250 1TB hard drive, most I've seen are around $90-100 these days.

DDR3 1600 IS NOT needed if your not going to be doing any overclocking, and with a 3GHz CPU there's really no need anyways, money can be saved a bit by going with DDR3 1066 or 1333Mhz instead.

relatively cheap video card is NOT $100 (maybe if your into gaming, but from the opening post, its safe to say this will not be a mid range or even budget gaming rig), you can get a decent one for $50 on average.

[N8N8N8]

I would like to stick close to $500. I have an OS I can install so I don't need that in the budget. ($500 for just the hardware) If I were to lean towards a "budget gaming pc" what would I need to upgrade? Just the video card and mabay the sound-card or don't even worry about the sound card? Will the sound card even matter If I have good speakers with a sub. Also as far as the hard drive goes I think 500gig is more then enough. What are the pro's of having a better video card if your not playing any games?

Thanks again

[ShyguyXPC]

aside from maybe better Video playback, or encoding/decoding, not much really. (video card)

Budget gaming rig, decent dedicated Video card, must have, sound card, not needed, onboard sound should be fine, even with quality speakers.



for a good idea of new parts, what are you current PC's specs?

Nevermind, found them from your first post:

Quote:

Originally Posted by N8N8N8

Current PC..


Base processor
Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2 GHz

• 2000 MT/s (Mega Transfers/second)
• Socket 939

Chipset
ATI Radeon XPress 200

Motherboard

• Manufacturer: ASUS
• Motherboard Name: A8AE-LE
• HP/Compaq motherboard name: AmberineM-GL6E

Hard drive

• 200 GB
• 7200 rpm

Modem
PCI K56flex data/fax modem

Video graphics
Integrated graphics

Sound/audio

• Controller: AC97 audio
• Location: Integrated

16x DVD(+/-)R/RW DL LightScribe drive






NEW PC SPECS


CASE: Azza Orion Gaming Mid-Tower Case with See-Thru Side Panel

POWER SUPPLY UPGRADE: 600 Watts Power Supplies (SLI Ready Power Supply)

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology

COOLING FAN: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK

MOTHERBOARD: Asus M3A76-CM AMD 760G Chipset DDR2/1066 SATA RAID PCIe Mainboard w/ATI 3000 Graphic

MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory

VIDEO CARD: On-Board Radeon X1250-based Integrated Graphics

OPTICAL DRIVE: LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Dual Layer Drive

SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION 7.1 AUDIO

NETWORK: Gigabit LAN Network

OS: NONE - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY

**I will install my own OS**


How does the old one compare to the new one? Will there be a huge different in performance?

Thanks again

[ShyguyXPC]

Newegg.com - Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-G41M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model VS4GBKIT800D2 G - Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-1220-LR GeForce GT 220 512MB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred + BP430 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 430W Power Supply - Computer Cases

Newegg.com - Microsoft B7S-00003S White 103 Normal Keys 3 Function Keys PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - Keyboards

$499.98 before shipping, $507.44 after.

CPU is near 3GHz, Motherboard is a good brand, has decent onboard video, not great for gaming, but perfectly fine for anything else, if you feel the need for a video card for light gaming, the one listed there should be more than adequate for it. Otherwise, remove the video card and you're well under the Budget, could get a better Mouse/Keyboard combo if needed.

right now that 750GB drive is priced the same as the 500GB model, might as well grab that for same price now while you can.

case is good, and includes good PSU that should more than be able to handle the entire system.

no monitor factored in, but assuming that you should be able to use your current one.