Budget non-gaming PC (1 Viewer)

[Chris Tsutsui]

I'm building a very basic internet PC that is not going to play modern games but would like to be fast for software, browsing, and multi-tasking. I just wanted to see what suggestions and tips people have.

I may end up needing to build 5 of these for work purposes and for friends. I'd like to buy them in bulk so I can just build them all at once.

Anyways, here are a few requirements:

Integrated ethernet and sound with at least 3 PCI slots, ATX.

I was looking at motherboards with integrated Geforce2/Geforce4 MX graphics which all seem to be in the $100 range. I wonder if it would be better to buy a $60 motherboard and a ~$50 agp graphics card though. Reason for a graphics card is because it's nice to have the option to play games. I'd also like a motherboard with 533mhz FSB for intel, and 333mhz AMD.

The processors would be like an Athlon XP2400 or P4 2.4ghz.

Memory will be single channel DDR 512megs. (I'd prefer PC2700 though not too high quality since it won't be overclocked whatsoever). I did find sticks of 512meg PC2700 Mushkin DDR for $40 which seemed like a pretty good deal.

The biggest decision is about the graphics card and motherboard so any suggestions as to how to get good bang per buck is appreciated. (Low budget of $100-150 for graphics card and mobo)

I'll probably spend about $60 on a case w/PS, more silent the better. I was planning on buying everything at newegg so I can look for free shipping and current sales on products.

Basically just a cheap computer internet pc budget cpu so if you have cheaper ideas please let me know.
Thanks

 

[Tekara]

here's a great motherboard for what you need, it doesn't have the 333fsb support, but I'm not really sure you'll need that unless you plan on upgrading the cpu sometime in the future; if you plan on upgrading the cpu in a few years there might not be anything to upgrade to since all the AMD solutions are attempting to shift to a 400fsb.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...ription=a7n266

it's an nforce1 chipset, good onboard sound with integrated geforce2 graphics and only 72$

pick up a AMD 1700+ and some really inexpensive ram and you'll have a slick budget computer.

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but it does sound like you want a bit more future proofing. so my next line-up is the MSI k7n2g-ilsr. it's an nForce2 solution and it's no slouch when it comes to performance. this motherboard has all the amenities with soundstorm audio and an integrated gf4mx440. this one still comes in really inexpensive at 131$.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...82E16813130400

you MUST use two sticks of ram in this however as the integrated video will siphon off the ram's bandwidth so you need to use the dual channel setup on it.

so that would be an AMD 1700+ and two sticks of pc2700 256mb

 

[DonRoeber]

Keep an eye on the deals forum ( a link to gotapex.com ). There are many great Dell deals to be had. I just got a new server for less than $500.

 

[DaveGTP]

If you aren't playing games on it or doing video compression, a 2.4 ghz chip is way over and beyond overkill. A cheap Athlon 1700+ and a board with integrated graphics will do for internet surfing. In fact, I have a K6-2 350 mhz board, chip, and a voodoo3 2000 laying in a box in the closet that worked fine for internet surfing!
A Duron 1.2 or an Athlon 1.1 200mhz FSB can be found for about $30, and a cheap Socket A board for less than $50, and some cheap PC133 SDRAM for like $30. DDR memory, multiple-ghz chips, and high end graphics are not needed for office and internet usage. My fiancee has an Athlon 1.1, original Radeon, 384 MB PC133 RAM passed down from me.

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

Thanks for the help,

Rob M.G. I was highly considering that on sale mobo you mentioned which is what I'm going to pull the trigger on.

I think I may go for an Athlon XP 1800 fpr $65, and the $72 mobo. 512megs of PC2100, and a $60 enlight case.

Cost about $300.

 

[Tekara]

that's great to hear, the nforce1 motherboards actually still have a psuedo-soundstorm solution on them, it's a 5.1 high quality sound. the only difference between it and the current nforce2 solution is that the nforce2 solution has some signal-to-noise ratio requirements, which in all honesty are easy met by the nforce1 solutions.