Budget computer ~500

J

jack23

New Member
Hey guys im a college student on a budget. My back is f-ed up from my laptop, so i want a desktop. Dont want dell/hp/compaq/emachines for a few reasons.
1. always wanted to build my own comp
2. i THINK i can get more bang for the buck
3. i want a cool looking case .. lol i know i know .... :o:o

What i will be using it for:
-web design. graphic design
-will run PS, Dreamweaver and other like programs simultaneously, so i think i need a lot of ram (4 GB)

I DONT PLAY GAMES ON THIS COMPUTER, so will an integrated gpu be enough? or should i dish out a few bucks to get a separate one.?

here is a setup my friend and i put together

motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131172

cpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103211
OR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272


ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231087


hd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075

optical drive+sata cable
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151171
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812198012

psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103942

case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
can you help me pick another one that has a clear side but isnt crap?

keyboard/mouse
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126174

monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009139

came out to aprox ~~ $480 - 510


thanks in advance guys



EDIT:
Found this deal online:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?threadid=1139401
then after a little more searching found this
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=533491&t=1139745
+10 for dual optical drives
+60 for 22" widescreen flat panel
+tax
free ship
total = 686

looks really good
chip has good reviews..
3GB ram (dont have to upgrade that)
dont have to upgrade HD
screen looks good

so hopefully this thing turns out to be nice

should be a good setup for PS Flash and Dreamweaver and some other bullshti opened at the same time :P
 
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From my personal experience and advice, do not get an AMD Dual Core. That's what I have with 2 GB of ram and its hard for me to run Photoshop and Dreamweaver and Flash all at the same time. Normally it worked really well but it did seem to die off over time. Put the extra money into either a Intel Dual Core or if you can upgrade to a AMD Phenom quad core, much faster. or the e7 core from intel :D
 
Also get a hard drive over 250 gb if possible, with all the programs you plan on running. Thats what I have. Granted I have that pesky virus that has screwed up over 8 million computers. You computer is built virtually how mines built, it looks good but too many programs will slow it down.
 
ok lets say i bump my budget to 600, what would be the best setup then?

I just remember reading a lot of places that in the lower price range AMD>INTEL any day of the week, but when it comes to high end, INTEL blows amd out of the water..
 
E5200 is a nice one, but it's easier to find good AMD board with good onboard video in lower price range. I would go for 6000+ and 780G motherboard (pick one with best rating), you would get ATI 3200 video with it which is going to be good for what you want to use it.
And yeah pick 4Gb for $39.99 with free shipping

Look at this Samsung for $20 more but with FREE shipping, it has DVI and better rating
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001245

By the way I really like this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147105

It has side window, 3x 120mm fans, durable, lots of space inside, fans are quiet from Silverstone, fits all boards and all videocards. I have used it many times - FREE SHIPPING
 
Get this mobo, someone, else may have put it, but this will be just fine for what you need it for.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135075
Get this CPU, it has added cache, and is better for mutlitaksing, you can overclock this thing to 3.0ghz with no voltage changes and it will preform better than 6000+.
CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

Get this PSU: You have no need for 3 12v rails, especially if you don't even have a deticated video card
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006
 
that motherbored sucks for the price
go with this one its cheaper and 100% better http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138105

with your cpu go with the 5000 if your on a cheap budget you wont see a huge differnce

with the ram spend 10 more dollors to get twice as much, i prefer 2 gig sticks anyway because then you can upgrade to more and it wont take as many slots http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

you dont need a dedicated gpu for photoshop, if you were editing videos you would but photoshop mainly relies on your cpu and ram

this harddrive has twice the cache and space and its 10 dollors more trust me youll see the spend differnce with the 8 megs of cache space
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161

you wouldnt need to by seperate sata cables your motherbored comes with like 2 i think so you can take that off your list

yeah lolz
 
techjunkie08 said:
From my personal experience and advice, do not get an AMD Dual Core. That's what I have with 2 GB of ram and its hard for me to run Photoshop and Dreamweaver and Flash all at the same time. Normally it worked really well but it did seem to die off over time. Put the extra money into either a Intel Dual Core or if you can upgrade to a AMD Phenom quad core, much faster. or the e7 core from intel :D
Click to expand...

dude your computer prolly slowed down from you having to much crap on it clean it off and it will be as fast as it was when you bought it, lol i had a amd 3000 with 1 gig of hyper x and a 7600 on windows xp it was one of the fastest computers ive ever been on because i kept the junk clean!
 
hmm, thanks for all the advice guys and sorry if I wasted any of your time, but if u didnt see the post, I purchased one from dell.. it cost me 686 with EVERYTHING (ship, tax, screen, etc..) it looks really good. (chip looks pretty fast, 3GB ram, so I dont have to upgrade that, hard drive looks good, and screen is very nice, its 22 widescreen,)
 
you probably wouldve saved about a 100 bucks if you wouldve made it yourself, i dont know i would i like making my system myself because dell and other companies put really crappy motherboreds in there systems and its impossible to upgrade, 4 gigs max ram 2 dimm slots!!! ftw!! 5 pci slots 0 pci e slots! ftw! lol nah jk but they do do that
 
im sure i can still cancel the order, but how could i put that same system together for that cheap (inc a 22'screen.)?? can you newegg it real quick if you have time? :P

i really would prefer to put my rig together too just for the fact that I can upgrade it later on... but this thing cant be THAT bad lol.. you're right they probably put bs together.. idk it looked good.
 
jack23 said:
Should I just jump on this deal guys? or put my own together... How easy will it be to upgrade this to 4 GB? cas dell want 140 but i know its too much through dell.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?threadid=1139401
Click to expand...

RAM is an easy upgrade for computers. I can't find the specifications of the power supply for that Dell computer you are looking at. Be warned that there is a bunch of garbage software pre-loaded on Dell computers from what I hear. Most Original Equipment Manufacturers assemble their systems with poor quality power supplies and also give no operating system installation disc.
 
jack23 said:
will I be able to OC this thing? is it worth it? Can't wait. It'll be here on the 26th.
Click to expand...

Overclocking isn't for beginners. Read a lot about it if you decide to try it. I doubt you can do it with Original Equipment Manufacturer (Dell) anyway. They don't allow the option in their BIOS.

Overclocking causes a system to run less stable and generally only boosts performance by about ten to twenty percent. If you do it wrong you can damage your system components.

I would seriously think about buying another power supply to replace the poor quality one Dell will likely give you.
 
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