Budget build

zero9046 · 10-31-2009, 10:54 PM

A friend of mine and I recently decided to help another friend of ours out (who is still in college), by building him a PC to replace is six year old emac (a real dinosaur...80gig hd, 1gb memory, single core pre intel proc).

We bought only the main components of the computer and the OS, as we had speakers, monitor, mouse, and keyboard on hand to pitch in. I'll list the configuration below, but it went together very easily, booted up correctly the first time, installed Windows 7 home premium (64 bit) lightening fast, and took all drivers on the first try. All in all, it was really cheap, as me, my friend and two others pitched in $150 a piece and had the whole thing pretty much covered. Here are the parts:

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAJS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136113

Standard Return Policy

$44.99

. 1

PNY XLR8 VCG98GTEE5XEB GeForce 9800 GT EE 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card ... - Retail
Item #: N82E16814133279

VGA Standard Return Policy

$94.99

. 1

AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX240OCGQBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103688

CPU Replacement Only Return Policy

$60.00

. 1

Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817371016

Standard Return Policy

$64.99

. 1

Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM
Item #: N82E16827118030

Limited Replacement Only Return Policy

$29.99

. 1

ASUS M4A77TD Pro AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131397

Standard Return Policy

$89.99

. 1

COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811119115

Standard Return Policy

$39.99

. 1

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007

Consumable Item Standard Return Policy

$6.99

. 2

Crucial 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model CT25664BA1067 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820148149

$79.98
($39.99 ea)

Again, this was meant to be a cheap computer, and the bar wasn't set real high...but it ended up going together really well. Windows performance index rating is 5.9 only because of the hdd...every other score was 6.1 or higher.

10-31-2009, 10:54 PM	#1 (permalink)
zero9046 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: North Texas Posts: 32 OS: Vista Home Premium	Budget build A friend of mine and I recently decided to help another friend of ours out (who is still in college), by building him a PC to replace is six year old emac (a real dinosaur...80gig hd, 1gb memory, single core pre intel proc). We bought only the main components of the computer and the OS, as we had speakers, monitor, mouse, and keyboard on hand to pitch in. I'll list the configuration below, but it went together very easily, booted up correctly the first time, installed Windows 7 home premium (64 bit) lightening fast, and took all drivers on the first try. All in all, it was really cheap, as me, my friend and two others pitched in $150 a piece and had the whole thing pretty much covered. Here are the parts: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAJS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Item #: N82E16822136113 Standard Return Policy $44.99 . 1 PNY XLR8 VCG98GTEE5XEB GeForce 9800 GT EE 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card ... - Retail Item #: N82E16814133279 VGA Standard Return Policy $94.99 . 1 AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX240OCGQBOX - Retail Item #: N82E16819103688 CPU Replacement Only Return Policy $60.00 . 1 Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail Item #: N82E16817371016 Standard Return Policy $64.99 . 1 Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM Item #: N82E16827118030 Limited Replacement Only Return Policy $29.99 . 1 ASUS M4A77TD Pro AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Item #: N82E16813131397 Standard Return Policy $89.99 . 1 COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811119115 Standard Return Policy $39.99 . 1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM Item #: N82E16835100007 Consumable Item Standard Return Policy $6.99 . 2 Crucial 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model CT25664BA1067 - Retail Item #: N82E16820148149 $79.98 ($39.99 ea) Again, this was meant to be a cheap computer, and the bar wasn't set real high...but it ended up going together really well. Windows performance index rating is 5.9 only because of the hdd...every other score was 6.1 or higher.