Welcome.

This thread will be about what components are the best for your budget at the moment. I will try to update it regularly but don't expect miracles.

First off:

If you want a quality build for a good system without a lot of hassle you might want to look at this : [link] . Alienware is good but you pay for the brand. It is possible to get a system a lot cheaper than that.

So, on to the components.


Under $300


AMD Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte M61SME-S2
Processor: AM2 Sempron LE 1100
Graphics: Integrated
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 512Mb Generic DDR2 800
Hard Drive: Maxtor 80G SATA
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 215BK
Case with included Power Supply: Antec Sonata III 500

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Asus P5GC-MX 1333
Processor: E1200
Graphics: Integrated
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 512M-800 Generic
Hard Drive: Maxtor 80G SATA
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 215BK
Case with included Power Supply: Antec Sonata III 500


Under $500


AMD Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte M61SME-S2
Processor: AM2 DualCore 4000+
Graphics: 512MB 8600GT Generic
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2x1G Generic DDR2 800
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 212D
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU)*
Power Supply: Gigabyte 460W

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Asus P5VGC-MX 1333
Processor: E2160 $82
Graphics: 512MB 8600GT Generic
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2G A-Data 800mhz DDR2
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 215BK
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU)*
Power Supply: Thermaltake 430W


Under $800


AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M2N SLI
Processor: AM2 DualCore 6000+
Graphics: Hitech 256mb HD3850
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2G 800mhz A-DATA
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G.
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 18x 215BK
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU)*
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 500W

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-S3L
Processor: E2180
Graphics: 512MB Asus HD3850
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2G A-DATA 800Mhz
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 215BK
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU)*
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 500W


Under $1000


AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M2N-E-SLI
Processor: AM2 DualCore 6000+
Graphics: 512MB 8800GT Generic
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2x 2G DDR2-800 A-DATA
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 320G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 215BK
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU)*
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 500W

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-DS3L
Processor: E4500
Graphics: 512MB 8800GT Generic
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2x 2Gig PQA DDR2 1066
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 320G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 20x 215BK
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330 (no PSU)*
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 500W


Under $1500


AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M2N SLI
Processor: AM2 DualCore 6000+
Graphics: 2x 512mb 8800GT Generic
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2x 2G-800Mhz A-DATA
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 500G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 215BK
Case: Coolermaster CM 690*
Power Supply: Corsair HX-620W

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-DS3P(Pro)
Processor: E6750
Graphics: 2x 512mb HD3870 HIS
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2x 2Gb PQA DDR2 1066
Hard Drive: 2x Seagate SATA 400G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 212D
Case: Antec P182*
Power Supply: Corsair HX-620W


Under $2000


AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M2N-E SLI
Processor: AM2 DualCore 6400+
Graphics: 2x 512mb 8800GT Generic
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 4x 1G-800 A-Data
Hard Drive: 3x Seagate SATA 500G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 212D
Case: Antec P182*
Power Supply: Corsair HX-620W

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-DS3P
Processor: E8400
Graphics: 2x 512Mb HIS HD3870
Sound Card: Integrated
RAM: 2x 2G A-DATA 800Mhz
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 500G
Optical Drive: Pioneer SATA 215BK
Case: Antec P182*
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 600W


Optional Peripherals:

Low-Budget

This is pretty obvious. A 17" LCD screen, a keyboard, a mouse and a pair of speakers is esentially what you need[color="darkred"][/color]


Mid-range - Gamer

Monitor: 19" 5ms DVI Benq FP92W
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech G11, Logitech MX518
Speakers: Logitech X530 5.1


High-end Gamer

Monitor: HP w2207 or Dell E228WFP (AG Neovo H-W22 seems to be a good choice too)
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech G5/G7 mouse, Logitech G11/15 Keyboard
Speakers: Creative Gigaworks S750


Questions anyone? Please share your opinion with me or recommend something.

*) There are a lot of cases and those are not necessary the only ones for that set. Some good are: Cooler Master CM690, Antec P182, Antec 900 (although it tends to get a little dusty after a while due to the open design nad huge fans), Thermaltake Soprano,Thermaltake Armor Junior.

Things I might do later:
-Add comments to every component
-Comment about the whole system
-Check prices (Because I'm from Finland I have no clue of what the prices in the US are, so please tell me if you know a good computer hardware site)
-Check Language

Comments:
* Yes, I'd definitely recommend comments with reasons for choosing the parts that you did. A list of parts is ok but, personally, if I'm going to spend money on a computer system I'd want more then just a list of parts. I'd want to know why I'd be picking a certain part over another.

* Yes, I'd also recommend adding approximate prices for each piece so whoever buying the parts knows if they're getting a good deal as well as maybe adding a few places to buy (NewEgg, Tiger Direct, etc..)

Also, you might want to consider your audience. Just because someone wants to save money by building a PC by themselves doesn't mean they would know how to do so. You might want to consider either linking to a few guides about PC assembly or -- if you can't find a good one -- write your own.

I was kinda guessing that most of the people here (except for the few of us who get kicks out of building our own PC) would ask a professional to do it. The main reason being that you get warranty. But yes I'll have to edit the OP a bit. Lets say that this is only the beta version of it

Edit:
Seems to be so that I can't edit the OP... I'll have to quote it then.

This post has been edited by stuki: Mar 8 2008, 02:06 AM

If you're going to pay a professional to do it you may as well just buy a prefab somewhere.

That's actually not true.

If you want a PC and don't want to pick the parts, chances are that you pay for the brand, and therefor pay a lot more than if you were to buy the components and buy a building service from where you bought the parts.

I would almost recommend that if you ever will be buying a PC, take your time in researching in components, have a look at some reviews, prices etc. etc. And when your ready to buy it take the parts to a professional, no matter how good you are at building PCs (note: don't be offended, IMO it's just a lot easier to give it to them).

But of course this is a personal preference. And I agree that when you've built a system from scratch and boot it for the first time, and it works, it feels good.

That might be something that you want to include in your post then -- the cost of the parts + having it built vs something similar from HP, Dell, Sony or whoever.


That I disagree with in part. If you're good at building PCs, it seems to me like a waste of money to have someone else do it. It may be less hassle but I can't see how it could possibly be a good idea to pay $100-$200 to someone else for something that I could do myself. If you're totally clueless about PCs then yes, have someone else do it.

You said that getting someone else to do it was a good idea because of a warranty, but if you buy the parts and build it yourself, the individual parts are warranted anyhow unless you buy OEM parts. If a warranty is the main reason then it's not really a reason at all.

Even for the processor?

You get no warranty in Finland if you put your processor in place by yourself. Which is very irritating.

Oh, and why can't one edit the OP?

This post has been edited by stuki: Mar 8 2008, 06:30 AM

Yep. In the US, if you buy the retail boxed version of a processor you get a warranty. I think that AMD's is 3 years but I don't recall off the top of my head. I know so for a fact because I had to RMA a processor a few months ago. Worked like a charm.

As I'd said, OEM versions tend to not have warranties (or have very limited ones -- around 90 days) but retail versions have pretty decent warranties.

As far as why you can't edit? No idea. Probably just how the board is setup. I'll leave that question for an admin or mod.

Only that in Finland it doesn't matter what you buy you still won't get warranty if you put it in yourself

I'll update the list sometime (perhaps tomorrow, if I have enough time)

A long time ago I worked for CompUSA in the tech shop...we charged $175 in labor for building a PC, and that was without software installation (i.e. the OS, which ran another $90)...that was about 5-6 years ago...I'm sure it's a lot more now to have one professionally built.

---

I see some potential issues with your pricing guide. For instance: in the rigs you have listed "under 2000" you have 3x 500GB hard drives on the AMD build...almost nobody needs this much space. You could narrow that down to one 640GB drive (which is about $130), and it's still more than most people need, and leaves a lot of money left over for things such as a high-quality sound card, like the X-Fi series. You're also using Pioneer optical drives in every build, which are overpriced and only average quality. You could go with something for almost half the price of the Pioneer and still get the same quality.

I also think you should consider some better cooling in the high-priced builds, since dual video cards and powerful processors generate a lot of heat, proper cooling is necessary for the function of the computer. I'd suggest you include high-flow case fans and better CPU fans, maybe even throw water-cooling in for one of the more expensive builds.

None of the builds you have constructed have an operating system listed either...you may want to mention an OS and the pricing of it (for instance, in the US XP Pro OEM can be obtained for about $120, as can Vista Premium)...after all, the computer is useless without the OS.

Also, the Power Supplies in the rigs with dual video cards are not powerful enough.

This post has been edited by grihn: Mar 15 2008, 09:50 PM

Cheers for the comments.

But as you see, this is only the Alpha version. Soon I'll have some vacation, so I might update it then.

If your going to a laptop I highly suggest going with one of the lower costing lenovo systems. They make great laptops.

If you have the cash go with a macbook, if you like..

I think that going for low-price "PC" build over the high priced "Apple/Mac", is a bad comparison. MacBooks are completely different from the run-of-the-mill laptop, cheap or expensive.

I think ASUS makes some quality laptops, in my opinion.

People need to stop looking at media hype when they go to buy a computer. Do your own research and compare prices, and read up on the latest computer technology, so you don't get ripped off.

old thread I closed it, if you want it open for discussion pm a staff member