suggestions for a 500-700$ basic machine?

[Specialist[X]]

so my uncle tells me he wants me to assemble him a complete rig. this is for pretty basic in home stuff... here is where im having problems. the thing is, i only concentrate my knowledge on the high end stuff value stuff as you can see in my sig below. what im thinking of is getting him an a64 setup with a pcie platform, for future upgradability. hes asking me to build this for his kids, and doesnt want an intense gaming machine. maybe a little moderate stuff but nothing with max settings. what i would like to ask of all of you guys is what are the cheapest but most highest value components right now?

heres my plan, all prices estimated
a64 3000+ (140)
msi k8n neo 4 plat (150)
9800pro/6600gt(maybe a little too fast) (150-200)
benq dw1620 pro (55)
2x512mb ram but from what? corsair value select? who makes the better value/performance stuff right now for ram? (100-150)
maybe a 120 gigger, he doesnt need that much space
hm, should i stick with a stock hsf retail from amd? (60)
psu... ehh... fortron 500w bluestorm? 12v v2.0 (80)
sound blaster audigy zs (70)
what case??!?! ahhhhh.... (100)
maybe a tv tuner card with leftover cash
thinking maybe a hauppauge pvr150? (75)

no need for monitor/speakers/mice/keyboard or other junk.

ahh crap est total not including tax/shipping is like 1080$
where can i cut down?

i think my problem is putting in too much new higher end stuff...

 

[kirbyrj]

To cut that much money, you need to get...

Different motherboard...the Chaintech NF4 Ultra maybe? $100
Different video card...6600 (non-GT) $130-140
Different PSU...not sure what's a good value...look around in the PSU section of the forum
No SB Audigy...use onboard sound
Corsair Value Select is sometimes on sale 2x512 for less than $100. Just buy anything that would run at PC3200 speed. You can always run a divider if you want to OC.
Spend less than $100 on a case . You can get a nice one for pretty cheap. I got a Chieftec Dragon for $30 a few weeks ago.

I like the idea of 939 and PCI-E in a "basic" machine though . Maybe these suggestions will help.

 

[MrMitch]

well if you went with a neo4 you'd have to cross that 9800pro right off the list. Do you need the neo4 plat. they have a neo nforce4 (non ultra) board for like 90 bucks. Is an external sound card truely need? just something to think about.

 

[Specialist[X]]

you guys are right, i stuck too much onto the case, but he might be the type of guy to judge a computer on the appearance on the outside rather than whats inside. and yea the value select ram is on the egg right now for 86$ i think. the 9800 pro was going to go into a neo 2 plat. stability and longevity are on priority here. does the 6600 non gt outperform the 9800pro by the long shot? i havent looked into the 6600 series much, except the gt. is that chaintech board rock solid stable? havent heard much from them. im just going by whats most popular on this forum.

 

[spectr]

nf4 eh, you dont need the msi, get something a little cheaper.
drop the soundblaster audigy zs and use onboard, because it should offer enough performance for the owner(s).
i believe a 9800 nonpro will suffice
oem hsf is good enough.
get a psu with a lower wattage rating [500 is overkill]
chieftech dragon sounds good

 

[Specialist[X]]

looking for a psu strong at heart, thats all...

keeping the rule of thumb, never skimping out on the psu.

 

[Friendlypirate80]

Antec Black ATX Mid Tower Case Model "SLK3000-B" 55.50
ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 420W Power Supply 76.00


AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939 146.00
CHAINTECH NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra 103.00
Corsair Value Select 512MB DDR PC-3200 46.77
Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive 60.50
NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy Drive 8.00
NEC 16X Black Double Layer DVD±RW Drive 51.99
EVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT PCI-Express 179.00

Total 726.76

the antec case is great btw ! nice and quiet has a huge 120 mm fan in the back and you can add a second 120 mm fan to the front ! make sure you get the one with no Power supply !

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-152&depa=1

only thing that sucks is that you cant run dual channel cuase you only got one stick of ram :-( but its hard trying to make a decent build around 700 bucks

maybe a 6200 graphics card ?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-145-108&depa=1

i never used one so i cant comment on it but you might wanna look around

i hope this helped

 

[Specialist[X]]

how are those chaintech boards in terms of stability?

 

[Friendlypirate80]

so far so good but i have only had it a day :-P

a friend i know online recomended it im not into overclocking but he says it overclock very very good i was surprised !

also it was booted up on the first try and everything didnt have any problems installing windows

good little board only thing i didnt like what they including ugly flat ribbons :-P no nice rounded cables :-P

 

[Bullitt]

go s754 and an nf3 based mobo. It will shave off another $50 and I'll bet your uncle wont be able to figure out the difference. And if you're worried about "future-proof" why bother? For the $500 total cost, in 3 years when they want to upgrade, you'll just get them to buy a dell because yer sick and tired of doing software/hardware tech support for the past 3 years on that box.....Not that your box is bad, but relatives are SOOOOOO high maintenance when it comes to computer problems.

 

[Specialist[X]]

looks like i ended up getting him a dell

dimension 8400
standard + the following
raised up to 1gig of ddr2
free 16x dvd burner
free 19" entry level whatchamacall it lcd (i think it was the efsomething19)
raised to 80gig drive

total of 1k-300$ coupon (saved my ass)
= ~$700

 

[Epicenter]

long perfect list of parts

Wow. Way to post exactly .. EXACTLY what I was going to (for a general use gaming box anyway, this guy can do with less I'm sure). Am I rubbing off on you?